Walter Pater flourished as a literary and art critic, novelist, and story writer in England during the late nineteenth century. His older contemporary Matthew Arnold said of this period: “There is not a creed which is not shaken, not an accredited dogma which is not shown to be questionable, not a received tradition which does not threaten to dissolve” (“Introduction”,
The English Poets, ed. T. H. Ward, 1880, para.1). Pater was one of the questioners and shakers who helped to revolutionize thinking during the period, drawing upon his extensive knowledge of the history of Western philosophy, history, art, and mythology; British, Continental, and American literature; the higher criticism of the Bible; and the latest discoveries in geology, biology, archæology, anthropology,…
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Citation: Inman, Billie Andrew. "Walter Pater". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 April 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5073, accessed 25 November 2024.]
