How swiftly the indefatigable eagle flies! How he hovers and balances in his harmonious sky! He dives into it, loses himself in it, soars, descends again, disappears, then returns to his starting place, his eye more brilliant, his wings stronger, intolerant of rest, quivering, athirst for the infinite.

/Berlioz, on Beethoven's C-minor Piano Trio

I wish this still counted as legitimate criticism, as a legitimate response to aesthetic experience.

Unfortunately if I turned in anything to my professors that read like that, I think I'd find crusted to it their dried mucus from their scoff as they gave me an "F."