Word: werners
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Dates: during 1874-1874
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...likens it to Goethe's "Faust." It is, however, fortunate for the poet, that he mentions his having heard "Faust" but once, or he might be accused of plagiarism. And yet "Manfred" is not an English idea; its conception is foreign to the spirit of English poetry, and like "Werner," which we know to be an imitation, shows its German origin. Manfred has, like Faust, control over the spirit-world; like Faust, he summons them to do his bidding; but their efforts are of no avail to destroy the deep-rooted despair with which he is possessed, the horror...
...Werner," in particular, is labored, its versification most prosaic, and in several places a literal paraphrase of the novel which supplied him with his idea. The "Deformed Transformed" is less so. Caesar is a very human devil, partaking more of a cynical adventurer than of a minion of the Prince of Darkness. His master is also an adventurer, but of less intellectual pretensions...