On poetry and belles-lettres: The function of the poet. Humor, wit, fun, and satire. The five indispensable authors (Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Goethe, Shakespeare) The imagination. Critical fragments: 1. Life in literature and language. 2. Style and manner. 3. Kalevala.
Reviews of contemporaries: Henry James: James's tales and sketches. Longfellow: The courtship of Miles Standish. Tales of a wayside inn. Whittier: In war time, and other poems. Home ballads and poems. Snow-bound: a winter idyl. Poetry and nationality. W. D. Howells: Venetian life. Edgar A. Poe. Thackeray: roundabout papers.
Two great authors: Swift: Forster's life of Swift. Plutarch's morals. A plea for freedom from speech and figures of speech-makers.