Read it through once

In conclusion, the function of criticism is to maintain and revive a living tradition, to mediate between the artist and the public, and to educate and improve taste. The critic must be at once a student of history, a close reader of contemporary work, and an interpreter for the public. Such criticism is not a luxury but a necessity for any healthy literary culture. Without criticism, the tradition atrophies; without criticism, the artist is isolated; without criticism, the public is left to the chance of fashion and ignorance. The critic's responsibility is therefore a creative one: by illuminating the relations of literature to its past and present, he helps to shape the future of the art.