“It caught to be the first endeavour of a writer to distinguish nature from custom, or that which is established because it is right from that which is right only because it is established; that he may neither violate essential principles by a desire of novelty, nor debar himself from the attainment of beauties within his view by a needless fear of breaking rules which no literary dictator had authority to enact”. The above passage considered to be the death” knell of the neo-classical criticism is attributed to ____

Correct option is C

The passage quoted is from the preface to Samuel Johnson's Lives of the English Poets, published in 1783. In this passage, Johnson argues that writers should not be constrained by artificial rules and conventions. Instead, they should focus on writing in a natural and authentic way.
Johnson's statement is considered to be a death knell of neo-classical criticism because it challenges one of the fundamental tenets of neo-classical thought: the importance of following rules and conventions. Neo-classical critics believed that there was a set of rules that all writers should follow in order to produce good literature. These rules were based on the works of ancient Greek and Roman writers, and they were considered to be the only way to write in a truly civilized and cultured manner.
Johnson's rejection of these rules and conventions was a radical departure from neo-classical thought. It paved the way for the development of new literary movements, such as Romanticism, which emphasized the importance of individual expression and creativity.