Poetry as a representative art

Preface

n^HIS work is intended to be complete in itself, developing from beginning to end the whole subject of which it treats. But this subject is a part of a larger one, connected with which are many underlying principles and practical inferences not mentioned here, although some of them, apparently, are not outside even of the limited range of discussion prescribed for this book by its title. To obviate the criticism which the omission of any reference to these may naturally occasion, it seems necessary to state that Poetry as a Representative Art is only one of a series of essays, most of which have been thought out, many written, and the whole, when completed, intended to present topics arranged somewhat as follows :

The Distinction between Nature and Art — Between Useful and ^Esthetic Art — The different Theories held concerning the Latter, and their Effects upon its Products — The true Theory, its Philosophical Basis, and the Classification of the Arts as determined by it.

The Fact of Representation, and its Bearings upon the Methods of the different Arts — Poetry as a representative Art {the present work) — Representation in Music — Painting — Sculpture — and Architecture.

IV POETRY AS A REPRESENTATIVE ART.

The Manner of Representation — Derivation of the Elements of Form from their mental and physical Sources and the Development, according to physical and mental Requirements, of these Elements so as to produce, when combined, the different Art-forms — Characteristics of Form essential to ^Esthetic Effects in all the Arts — How differing, when manifested in different Arts — How conditioning Rhythm and Tune in Poetry and Music — Proportion and Color in Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture.

The Matter of Representation — Kinds of Truth derivable from Nature and from Man — Distinctions between Religious, Scientific, and Artistic Truth — Between different Phases of the Latter, as expressed in all the Arts — And as differently expressed in the different Arts, with Illustrations showing the Necessity of making these Distinctions.

These essays have been planned with the hope that they may prove genuine contributions to the literature of the subject with which they deal. How far they may succeed in doing this, must be decided of course by those who read them.

Before closing, the author wishes to express his indebtedness to Messrs. D. Appleton & Co., Houghton, Mifflin & Co., and others, for their kind permission to insert in this work certain entire poems, of which they hold the copyrights.

Princeton, N. J., September, 1885.

I. Page

Poetry anp Primitive Language . . . 1-18

Introduction, I — All Art Representative, 3 — Poetry an Artistic Development of Language, 4 — Language Representative of Mental Processes through Material Sounds or Symbols, 4 — This Book to show how Language, and hence, how Poetic Language, can represent Thought, by pointing out, first, how Sounds represent Thought in Primitive and then in Poetic Words and Intonations : and, second, how Sounds accepted as Words are used in Different Senses, and how these represent Thought in Conventional and then in Poetic Words and Phrases, 5 — Primitive Words are developed according to Principles of Association and Comparison, partly Instinctively, as in Ejaculations ; partly Reflectively, as in Imitative Sounds, 5 — This Theory need not be carried too far, 9 — How Language is a Gift from God, 10 — Agreement with Reference to Ejaculatory and Imitative Sounds would form a Primitive Language, 11 — Sounds represent Thought both in Single Words and in Consecutive Intonations, 12 — Elocution, the Interpreter of Sounds used consecutively, 12 — Representing that Blending and Balancing of Instinctive and Reflective Tendencies which express the Emotive Nature, 12.

II

Conversation, Discourse, Elocution, Versification ........ I 9~3i

Representative Character of Intonations, 19 — Every Man has a Rhythm and a Tune of his own, 19 — Physiological Reason for this, 20 — Cultivated by Public Speaking, 21 — Recitative, and the Origin of Poetic and Musical Melody, 21 — Poetry, Song, Dance.

VI CONTENTS.

all connected : but not developed from each other, 22 — Poetic Pause and Accent are Developed only from Speech, 23 — Pause, the Source of Verse, 25 — Breathing and the Line, 25 — Hebrew Parallelism ; Greek, 25 — The Caesura, 26 — Accent, the Source of Rhythm and Tune, 27 — Feet : how produced in English, 28 — In the Classic Languages, 29 — Metrical Possibilities of English, 30.

III. Elocution : its Representative Elements Classified ........ 32-36

Pause and Accent, 32 — Analyzed, the Former gives us the Element of Duration, the Latter gives Duration, Force, Pitch, and Quality, 33 — Must find what each Element represents in DISCOURSIVE ELOCUTION, developed from Ejaculatory or Instinctive Modes of Utterance, and in DRAMATIC ELOCUTION, developed from Imitative or Reflective Utterance ; and then apply to Poetry, 33 — General Statement of what is Represented by Duration, Force, Pitch, and Quality, ; Rhythm the Effect of the First Two, and Tune of the Last Two, 34.

IV

The Elements entering into Rhythm : Duration, and Force, 37 — Duration : Fast Time Instinctive, representing Unimportant Ideas ; Slow Time Reflective, representing Important Ideas ; Movement a Combination of the Two, 37 — The Pause as used in Elocution, 38 — In Poetry, at the Ends of Lines, 39 — In the Csesura, 40 — Run-on and End-stopped Lines, 40 — Quantity, Short and Long, in Elocution and Poetry ; as produced by Vowels and Consonants, 41, — Movement or Rhythm as influenced by Pause and Quantity, 44 — Feet of Three Syllables should represent Rapidity, 45 — Predominating Long Quantity injures English Hexameters, 46 — Feet of Four Syllables represent Rapidity, 49.

V. Elocutionary and Poetic Force . . . 50-56

Force, representing Instinctive Tendency of Utterance, or Physical Energy, 50— Different Kinds of Force, 50 — The Degree of Force, 51— Loud and Soft Force as Used in Elocution, 51 — Their

CONTENTS. Vll

PAGE

Poetic Analogues, 51 — Loudness and Softness, Strength and Weakness, Great and Slight Weight as represented by Long or Short, Accented or Unaccented Syllables, 52.

VI. Force as the Source and Interpreter of Poetic

Gradations of Force or Stress, representing Reflective Influence exerted on Instinctive Tendency, 57 — What is represented by the the Different Kinds of Elocutionary Stress, 58 — Why Elocutionary Stress corresponds to Poetic Measure, 59 — Classification of English Poetic Measures, and their Classic Analogues, 60 — What is represented by Initial Double Measure, 62 — Its Classic Form, 63 — By Terminal Double Measure, 65 — Why used in Our Hymns, 67 — Its Classic Form, 67 — Triple Measures ; Median, 68 — Its Classic Form, 70 — Initial Triple Measure, 70 — Could also be termed Compound Measure, corresponding to Compound Stress, 70 — Its Classic Form, 72 — Its Use in Greek Pseonics, 72 — In Pathos, corresponding to Tremulous Stress, 73 — Terminal Triple Measure, 74 — Can correspond to Thorough Stress, 74 — Its Classic Form, 75 — Blending of Different Triple Measures, 75 — Of Triple and Double Measures to prevent Monotony, 76 — Quadruple Measures, Di-initial and Di-terminal, 77 — Blending of all Kinds of Measures to represent Movements, 79.

VII. Elocutionary and Poetic Regularity of Force, 82-88

Regularity of Force, combining its Instinctive with Reflective Tendencies, and representing Emotive Influence, 82 — Abrupt and Smooth Force, as used in Elocution, and Irregular and Regular Accentuation corresponding to them in Poetry, 82 — Abruptness in short and long Lines, 85 — Imitative Effects, 87.

VIII. Elocutionary and Poetic Pitch — Tunes of Verse, 89-102

Elements entering into the Tunes of Verse : Pitch and Quality, 89 — Pitch representing Reflective Tendency or Intellectual Motive, 90 — On its Instinctive Side by High and Low Key, 91 — What each represents, 91 — On its Reflective, by Rising, Falling, and Circum-

Vlll CONTENTS.

PAGE

flex Movements, 92 — What each represents, 92 — When Influences from both Sides express Emotive Colorings, by Melody, 94 — What Different Melodies represent, 94 — Pitch as used in Poetry, 95 — Which was formerly chanted, 95 — And has Tunes at Present, 96 — Shades of Pitch in Speech as Numerous as, and more Delicate than, in Song, 96 — Scientific Proof that Short Vowels usually suggest a High Key, and Long, a Low Key, 97 — Light, Gay, Lively Ideas represented by the Former, 99 — Serious, Grave, Dignified by the Latter, 100.

IX. Poetic Pitch — Rising and Falling Tones . 103-114

Correspondence between Elocutionary Inflections or Intonations and certain Arrangements of Verse-Harmony produced by Sounds of Vowels and Consonants combined, 103 — Effects of Rising Movements produced by Lines beginning without Accents and ending with them, 104 — Of falling Movements, by Lines beginning with Accents and ending without them, 105 — Of Circumflex Movements, by Combinations of both Arrangements, ic6 — What the Marks of Accent indicated to the Greeks, and how they read them in their Poetry, 107 — Illustrations of Ideas represented by Verse arranged to give Effects of Rising, Falling, and Circumflex Movements, 109 — Movements of Verse in Narration and Pathos, 114.

X. Poetic Pitch — Melody and Rhyme . . 1 15-125

Variety and Monotony in Elocution and Poetry represent less or more Control over Self and the Subject, 115 — True Significance of Alliteration, Assonance, etc., 116 — Rhyme introduces Element of Sameness, 118 — Increases effects of Versification, of Unity, of Poetic Form, of Emphasis of all Kinds, of Regularity of Movement, of Rapidity of Thought, 118 — Results of Changing the Order of the Occurrence of Rhymes in Tennyson's " In Memoriam," 122 — Blank Verse admitting of Great Variety Preferable for Long Productions, 124.

XL Elocutionary and Poetic Quality . . 126-135

Quality represents the Emotive Nature of the Soul as influencing and influenced by both Instinctive and Reflective Tendencies,

CONTENTS. IX

RAGE

126 — Kinds of Quality, and what each represents in Elocution, 127 — Letter-Sounds used in Verse to Produce Effects of the Aspirate Quality, 128 — Guttural, 130 — Pectoral, 130 — Pure, 132 — Orotund, 132 — Illustrations of Poetic Effects of all these Kinds when combined, 133.

XII. Effects of Poetic Quality Continued . 136-149

Imitative Effects of Letter-Sounds corresponding to Aspirate Quality, representing Serpents, Sighing, Rapidity, Winds, Slumber, Conspiracy, Fear, Frightening, Checking, 136 — Guttural Quality, representing Grating, Forcing, Flowing Water, Rattling, Effort, 13c; — Pectoral Quality, representing Groaning, Depth, Hollowness, 142 — Pure Quality, representing Thinness, Clearness, Sharpness, Cutting, 143 — Orotund Quality, representing Fulness, Roundness, Murmuring, Humming, Denying, etc., 143 — These Effects as combined in Various Illustrations of Carving ; Dashing, Rippling, and Lapping Water ; Roaring, Clashing, Cursing, Shrieking, Fluttering, Crawling, Confusion, Horror, Spite, Scorn, etc., 145.

XIII. The Sacrifice of Sense to Sound . . 150-160

Verse in which Attention to Sound prevents Representation of Thought, 150 — Violating Laws of Natural Expression or Grammatical Construction, 151 — Excellences exaggerated, the Sources of these Faults, 152 — Insertion of Words, Pleonasm, Superfluity, 152 — Transposition of Words, Inversion, Hyperbaton, tending to Obscurity, 154 — Style of the Age of Dryden, 156 — Alteration of Words in Accent ; or by Aphaeresis, Front-Cut ; Syncope, Mid- Cut ; or Apocope, End-Cut, 157 — All these often show Slovenly Workmanship, 158.

XIV. Sacrifice of Sense to Sound Continued . 161-172

Omission of Words, or Ellipsis, indicating Crudeness, 161 — Leading to Obscurity because Meanings are conveyed by Phrases as well as by Words, 164 — Misuse of Words, Enallage, 165 — Poetic Sounds are Artistic in the Degree in which they really represent Thought and Feeling, 171.

X CONTENTS.

XV. Page

Meanings of Words as Developed by Association and Comparison .... 173-179

Instinctive Ejaculatory Sounds, and Reflective Imitative Sounds, becoming words by Agreement, in Fulfilment of the Principle of Association or Comparison, can represent but a few Ideas, 173 — Other needed Words may be due to Agreement in using Arbitrary Symbols ; it is Philosophical to suppose them largely developed by Tendencies underlying the Formation of Primitive Words, 174 — How these Tendencies lead to the Use of the same Word in Different Senses, 175 — In the case of Words whose Meanings depend on Association, 175 — How what refers to the Material comes to refer to the Immaterial, 176 — Words whose Meanings depend on Comparison, 176 — What refers to the Material \> by Comparison used for the Immaterial, 177 — Great Varieties of Meanings are developed from the same Word by Continued Processes of Association and Comparison, 178 — A Knowledge of this fact, and its Results are Necessary to an Intelligent Use of Language, 179.

XVI

Meanings of Phrases as Determined by Association or Comparison .... 180-185

Language, a Process in which Words and Ideas represented by them are used consecutively, 180 — How Words in Progression can represent Mental Processes, 180 — How Acts in Progression do this in Pantomime and how this is done when Words, as Symbols, are substituted for the Acts in Pantomime, 181 — How Subject, Predicate, and Object are put together, 182, — Subject, Predicate, and Object of a Complete Sentence, are the Beginning, Middle, and End of a Complete Process, of which all the Parts of Speech are Logical Parts, 183 — Examination of Certain Sentences, 183 — How the Meanings of thern, considered as Wholes, depend on the Principle of Association or of Comparison, 184

XVII. Poetic and Unpoetic Words .... 186-194

Words depending for their Meanings on Association not necessarily Prosaic ; nor those depending on Comparison necessarily Poetic, 186 — The Latter necessitate Imagination to originate, and,

CONTENTS. XI

PAGE

at first, to interpret them, but after being used become Conventional, 187— This the Natural Tendency of all Words, iSS— Poets can always cause Words to seem Poetic ; First, by selecting those representing Poetic Associations, 188 — This applies to Conventional Words, 189 — Second, by arranging Words imaginatively so as to suggest New Comparisons or Pictures, 190 — Why English of Anglo-Saxon Origin is preferred by our Poets, 190 — Have Familiar Associations, 191 — Sounds fit Sense, 191 — Are used by us in Different Senses, 192 — Figures represented in Compound Words Apparent, 192 — In general more Significant, 193 — Why the English Language is fitted to remain Poetic, 194.

XVIII. Plain and Figurative Language . . 195-207

Two Kinds of Language used in Poetry, that depending for its Meaning on Association and that depending on Comparison, 195 — Distinction between the Term Figurative Language, as applied to Poetry and as used in ordinary Rhetoric, 195 — Figures of Rhetoric containing no Representative Pictures : Interjection, Interrogation, Apostrophe, Vision, Apophasis, Irony, Antithesis, Climax, 196 — Figures of Rhetoric necessitating Representative Language : Onomatopoeia, Metonomy, Synecdoche, Trope, Simile, Metaphor, Hyperbole, Allegory, 197 — Laws to be observed, and Faults to be avoided, in using Similes and Metaphors, 200 — When Plain Language should be used, 203 — And when Figurative, 206.

XIX

Prose and Poetry ; Presentation and Representation in its Various Forms . 208-212

Tendencies of Plain Language toward Prose, and of Figurative toward Poetry, 208 — Plain Language tends to present Thought, 209 — Figurative to represent it, 209 — All Art Representative, 210 — But Plain Language may represent, and Figurative may present, 210 — Poetic Representation depends upon the Character of the Thought, 211 — If a Poet thinks of Pictures, Plain Language describing them will represent according to the Method of Direct Representation, 211 — If not of Pictures, he may illustrate his Theme by thinking hi Pictures, and use Figurative Language

Xll CONTENTS.

PAGE

according to the Methods of Indirect or Composite Illustrative Representation, 21 r — Pure Representation is solely Representative, 212 — Alloyed Representation contains some Presentation, 212.

XX

In what Sense, and how far, Thought and Feeling can be Communicated Representatively, 213 — Pure Representation, as used by Tennyson, 214 — Hunt, etc., 215 — Pure Direct Representation, as used by Homer, Milton, Shakespear, Morris, Heine, Tennyson, Arnold, Burns, Gilbert, etc., 216 — Extensive Use of this Method in all Forms of Poetry, 220.

XXI. Pure Indirect or Illustrative Representation, 225-239

Illustrative in Connection with Direct Representation enables a writer to express almost any Phase of Thought representatively or poetically, 225 ; Examples, 226 — Representation, if Direct, must communicate mainly what can he seen or heard, 228 — Inward Mental Processes can be pictured outwardly and materially only by Indirect Representation, 228 — Examples from Longfellow, Arnold, Whittier, Smith, 229 — Direct Representation developed from Instinctive Modes of Expression, exemplified in Ejaculatory Sounds and Words formed from Association ; Indirect, developed from Reflective Modes, exemplified in Imitative Sounds and Words formed from Comparison, 230 — As in Primitive Language, with Meanings determined by Sounds, the Intonations representing Emotive Tendency result from combining Instinctive and Reflective Tendencies, so in Developed Language, with Meanings determined by Sense, the Emotive Tendency leads to a form of Illustration resulting from combining Instinctive and Reflective Tendencies ; this might be termed Composite Representation, 231 — But, as in Rhetoric and Practice Indirect and Composite Representation follow the same Laws, both will be treated here as Illustrative Representation, 231 — Similes, ancient and modern, from Homer, Morris, Milton, Shakespear, Moore, Kingsley, 232 — Metaphors, ancient and modern, 235 — Used in Cases of Excitation; Examples, 237.

CONTENTS. Xlll

XXII. Page

Pure Representation in the Poetry of Homer, 240-261

How the Phenomena of Nature should be used in Representation — Homer as a Model, 240 — His Descriptions are Mental, Fragmentary, Specific, Typical, 241 — The Descriptions of Lytton, Goethe, Morris, Southey, etc,, 244. — Homer's Descriptions are also Progressive ; Examples, 251 — Dramatic Poems should show the same Traits, 259 — Homer's Illustrative Representation, 260.

XXIII. Alloyed Representation : Its Genesis . . 262-277

Alloy introduces Unpoetic Elements into Verse, 262 — All Classic Representation Pure, 263 — Tendencies in Poetic Composition leading to Alloyed Representation, 264 — In Direct Representation, 264 — In Illustrative Representation, 265 — Lawful to enlarge by Illustrations an Idea Great and Complex, 265 — Or Small and Simple, 266 — Descriptions of a Meal, 269 — Sunset, 270 — Peasant, 271 — Sailor, 272 — How these Tendencies may introduce Alloy that does not represent, 273 — Exaggerations in Love-Scenes, 274 — In Descriptions of Natural Scenery, etc., 276 — In Allegorical Poems and Sensational Plays, 276.

XXIV. Explanatory Alloy in Direct Representation, 278-292

Alloy, if carrying to Extreme the Tendency in Plain Language, becomes Didactic ; if the Tendency in Figurative Language, it becomes Ornate, 278 — Didactic Alloy explains and appeals to the Elaborative Faculty, not the Imagination, 279 — Rhetoric instead of Poetry, 279 — Examples of Didactic Alloy where Representation purports to be Direct in Cases where the Thought is Philosophical, 280 — How Thought of the Same Kind can be expressed Poetically, 281 — In Cases where the Thought is Picturesque, as in Descriptions of Natural Scenery, 284 — How Similar Scenes can be described Poetically, 285 — Didactic Descriptions of Persons, 288 — Similar Representative Descriptions, 289 — Plow Illustrative Representation helps the Appeal to the Imagination, 289 — In Descriptions of Natural Scenery and of Persons, 290 — The Sensuous and the Sensual, 292.

XIV CONTENTS.

XXV. 1'age

Explanatory Alloy in Illustrative Representation . 293-307

Illustrations that are not always necessarily Representative, 293 — Their Development gradually traced in Descriptions of Natural Scenery, 295 — Practical Bearing of this on the Composition of Orations, 299 — Why Common People hear Some gladly and Others not at all, 299 — Obscure Styles not Brilliant, 302 — Examples of Obscure Historical and Mythological References in Poetry, 303 — ' — Alloyed Representation Short-Lived, 304 — How without any such a Mixture of Main and Illustrating Thought as to destroy Representation, References to possibly UnknownThings are made in Poetry that lives, 305.

XXVI. Ornamental Alloy in Representation . 308-318

Poetic Development of the Far-Fetched Simile in the Illustrating of Illustrations, 308 — Examples of this from Several Modern Writers, 309 — Whose Representation or Illustration fails to represent or illustrate, 312 — Poetic Development of the Mixed Metaphor, 312 — Examples from Modern Poets, 313 — In what will this result? 314 — More Examples, 315 ; How the Tendency leads the Poet from his Main Thought to pursue Suggestions made even by Sounds, Representing thus a Lack of Sanity or of Discipline, neither of which is what Art should represent, 317.

XXVII. Representation in Poems Considered as Wholes, 319-341

Form in Words and Sentences, 319 — How Visible Appearances give an Impression of Form, 320 — How Movable Appearances do the Same, 320 — Consistency and Continuity in a Sentence Necessary to give it an Effect of Form, 321 — A Poem a Series of Representations and of Sentences, 321 — Must have Manifest Consistency and Continuity giving it Manifest Unity and Progress, as also Definiteness and Completeness, 322 — Examples of Poems with a Manifest Form modelled on Direct Representation, 323 — How Figures can be carried out with Manifest Consistency and Continuity, 327 — Complete and Broken Figures, 328 — Examples of

CONTENTS. XV

PAGE

Poems with Forms modelled on the Methods of Illustrative Representation, 328 — How Excellence of Form in all Poems of whatever Length should be determined, 336 — Certain Poems not representing Unity and Progress, 337 — Great Poets see Pictures when conceiving their Poems ; Inferior- Poets think of Arguments, 338 — Same Principles applied to Smaller Poems, 338 — The Moral in Poetry should be represented not presented, 339 — Poetic Excellence determined not by the Thought but by .the Form of the Thought, which must be a Form of Representation, 339.

XXVIII. The Useful Ends of Poetic Representation 342-346

These are all developed from Possibilities and Methods of Expression underlying equally the Formation of Poetic and of all Language, 342 — Poetry forced to recognize that Nature symbolizes Processes of Thought, 343 — Influence of this Recognition upon Conceptions of Truth, Human and Divine, Scientific and Theologic, 344 — And its Effects upon Feeling and Action ; Conclusion, 345.

POETRY AS A REPRESENTATIVE ART.

Chapter I. Poetry And Primitive Language

Introduction — All Art Representative — Poetry an Artistic Development of Language — Language Representative of Mental Processes through Material Sounds or Symbols — Primitive Words are developed according to Principles of Association and Comparison, partly Instinctive, through Ejaculations ; partly Reflective, through Imitative Sounds — This Theory need not be carried too far — How Language is a Gift from God — Agreement with Reference to Ejaculatory and Imitative Sounds would form a Primitive Language — This Book to show how Language, and hence, how Poetic Language, can represent Thought, by pointing out, first, how Sounds represent Thought in Primitive and then in Poetic Words and Intonations; and, second, how Sounds accepted as Words are used in Different Senses, and how these Represent Thought in Conventional and then in Poetic Words and Phrases — Sounds represent Thought both in Single Words and in Consecutive Intonations — Elocution, the Interpreter of Sounds used Consecutively — Representing that Blending and Pialancing of Instinctive and Reflective Tendencies, which express the Emotive Nature.

w

ORDSWORTH, in one of his finest passages, says of the results of his studies in poetry:

I have learned To look on nature, not as in the hour Of thoughtless youth ; but hearing oftentimes The still, sad music of humanity.

. . . And I have felt

A presence that disturbs me with the joy

Of elevated thoughts ; a sense sublime Of something far more deeply interfused, Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, And the round ocean, and the living air, And the blue shy, and in the mind of man : A motion and a spirit, that impels All thinking things, all objects of all thought, And rolls through all things.

— Lines Composed a few Miles above Tintem Abbey.

How many are there who have learned for themselves this lesson — undoubtedly a valuable one — of which Wordsworth speaks ? How many are there who can apprehend clearly his meaning in what he says of it ? How many are there who can discover in themselves any important addition to their mental or moral development that has been due to poetry, or who can appreciate any of its best thought, if at all subtle in its nature, even though presented in the best possible form ? That in our day there are very few of these, is only too apparent to any competent judge of the subject who questions the leaders in our literary circles, who reads the verses in our magazines, who examines the criticisms in our reviews, or who listens to the accounts of what students of poetry are taught in our schools. Yet in his " Defence of Poesy" Sir Philip Sidney tells us that this art " is of all other learnings the most ancient, — that from whence all other learnings have taken their beginnings, — and so universal that no learned nation doth despise it ; nor no barbarous nation is without it." Bailey says that :

Poetry is itself a thing of God.

He made his prophets poets, and the more

We feel of poesy do we become

Like God in love and power.

— Eestus.

And Holmes assures us that —

There breathes no being, but has some pretence To that fine instinct called poetic sense.

— A Metrical Essay.

If statements like these, which could be multiplied indefinitely, be true, then it is both important and possible for men of all classes and conditions to have the character and methods of this art — the only one accessible to the members of every household — so explained to them that they shall be able to appreciate it, and to judge intelligently of its products, and hence to enjoy it, and to profit by it. It is with this belief that the present work has been undertaken, in which it will be maintained throughout that there are absolute standards of poetic excellence; that these can be ascertained ; and that upon them can be founded a system of criticism as simple as it is scientific.

At the threshold of our undertaking, the first thing for us, of course, is to become thoroughly acquainted with the facts of the case, and the fact of primary importance for us here will be ascertained when, in some form, we have answered the question, What is poetry ?

Poetry is acknowledged to be an art, ranking, like music, with the fine arts, — painting, sculpture, and architecture. It is acknowledged, also, that the peculiar characteristic of all these arts is that they have what is termed form (from the Latin forma, an external appearance). This form, moreover, is aesthetic (from the Greek aiadr/ro?, perceived by the senses) ; and it is presented in such a way as to address the senses through the agency of an artist, who, in order to attain his end, re-presents the sounds or sights of nature. All these arts, therefore, in a broad sense of the term, are representative. What they represent is partly the phenomena of nature and partly the thoughts of man ; partly that which is imitated from things perceived in the world without, and partly that which is conceived in the mind of him who, in order to express his conception, produces the imitation. Both of these factors are present in all artistic forms, and cause them to be what they are. That painting and sculpture represent, is recognized by all ; that music and architecture do the same, needs to be proved to most men. As for poetry, with which we are now to deal, all perceive that it contains certain representative elements ; but few are aware to what an extent these determine every thing in it that is distinctive and excellent.

The medium used in poetry is language, of which it is simply an artistic development. To understand the one, we should begin by trying to understand the other. Let us consider, then, for a little, what language is. Only a moment's thought will show, that, like the arts of which I have spoken, it, too, is representative. Through outward and perceptible sounds or symbols it makes known our inward thoughts, which, without the representation, others could not know. If, in any way, we can ascertain how it does this, we may gain a clew by which to find how poetry can do the same.

How, then, does language represent thought through the agency of sound ? The best way to find an answer to this is to trace, as far as possible, the course of a few thoughts from their inception, in the mind outward to the full expression of them in words. For this purpose we might imagine ourselves to be living in some early, or, at least, uncultivated age ; we might ask what would be done by the members of a race with a limited number of words and desirous of expressing ideas for which they had no terms in their vocabulary. But, without taxing our imagination thus, we can accomplish our purpose by watching the children of our own time. We can note the different stages in the development of their efforts to tell us what they think ; and then we can argue from analogy that there would be a similar order of development in language during the childhood of the race. Let us pursue this course. As we do. so, we shall find ourselves, instinctively, making two divisions of our subject : the first dealing with the methods of originating sounds so as to represent thought ; the second, with the use of them after they have been originated so as to represent different thoughts. It is best to begin by considering the former of these, and then, immediately in connection with it, its bearings on poetic forms ; not because, in its relations either to language or to poetry, it occupies the more important position, but because it comes the earlier in the order of time.

The first sounds made by the babe are instinctive, tmd seem to be accepted as words in fulfilment mainly of the principle of association. By instinctive, as used in this book, is meant an expression allied in its nature to instinct ; due, even in a rational being, to the operation less of conscious rationality than of natural forces vitalizing all sentient existence. The child cries and crows while the mother hums and chuckles, and both understand each other. They communicate through what may be termed ejaculations or interjections. This kind of language is little above the level of that of the brutes ; in fact, it is of the same nature as theirs. The sounds seem to have a purely muscular or nervous origin ; and for this reason may be supposed to have no necessary connection with particular thoughts or psychic states intended to be expressed by them. Nevertheless, we all understand the meanings of them when produced by the lower animals, as well as when made by man. Everywhere, certain ejaculations are recognized to be expressive of the general tenor of certain feelings, like those of pleasure and pain, desire and aversion, surprise and fright. This fact shows that there is a true sense in which they are representative ; and to recognize it, is all that is necessary for our present purpose. To show why they are so, to explain how the various qualities and movements of sounds can be made to picture in one sphere the qualities and movements of thoughts which can exist only in another sphere, would require a thorough unfolding of the principles of elocution and music ; and to introduce this just here would take us away from the line of thought immediately before us.