William Hazlitt

Biography

William Hazlitt (1778–1830) was an English essayist, literary critic, and philosopher, widely regarded as one of the greatest essayists in the English language. Born in Maidstone, Kent, he began as a painter and philosopher before finding his vocation as a writer. Hazlitt’s essays—collected in Table-Talk (1821–22), The Spirit of the Age (1825), and other volumes—are celebrated for their passionate, direct prose, acute psychological observation, and fearless literary judgments. A political radical and admirer of Napoleon, Hazlitt brought intensity and personal conviction to everything he wrote.