'The Art of English Poetry' may be roughly described as an English version of the 'Gradus ad Parnassum'. At least that is the tradition to which it belongs. Its immediate predecessor was the pleasant 'English Parnassus: Or, a Helpe to English Poesie' compiled by a Middlesex schoolmaster named Joshua Poole, and this work was avowedly modeled on Ravisius Textor's 'Epitheta' and the 'Thesaurus Poeticu's of Joannes Buchler. But whereas the 'English Parnassus' was designed for the schoolroom, 'The Art of English Poetry' was designed for the world of polite letters, and so may be called the first example in English of the handbook for the serious poet.

Vol. for 1867 includes Illustrated catalogue of the Paris Universal Exhibition.