Originally published in 1921 this volume consists of the first of Croce’s literary criticisms to be published in English and as well as a section on Shakespeare, it contains unique essays on Ariosto and Corneille which together inaugurated a new era in literary criticism. The essays are based on Croce’s Theory of Aesthetic - a theory which to many is the only one that completely explains the problem of poetry and the fine arts - and as a result are profound and suggestive.