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The ideal critic looks past ego to engage genuinely with art. True evaluation requires an unbiased observer who combines sharp discernment with the capacity to appreciate and reward complete creative expression.

Fragment 5: Whom should I choose for my Judge?

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 – 1834)

Whom should I choose for my Judge? the earnest, impersonal reader,
Who, in the work, forgets me and the world and himself!

Ye who have eyes to detect, and Gall to Chastise the imperfect,
Have you the heart, too, that loves, feels and rewards the Compleat?

What is the meed of thy Song? ‘Tis the ceaseless, the thousandfold Echo
Which from the welcoming Hearts of the Pure repeats and prolongs it,
Each with a different Tone, compleat or in musical fragments.

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