Chapter III: Poetry

Introduction

[Summary and contrast between poetry and the other
particular arts. Its relation to the other two romantic
arts. Absence of all external sensuous presence.
Poetry appeals to imaginative vision. Not so direct as
sense-perception. Advantage over painting through its
ability to display facts in their historical succession or
natural process. Far profounder and more extended embrace
of world of idea than in music; due to its greater power
of definition in speech and its use of tone merely as a
subordinate instrument. The content of poetry is the ideal
envisagement of imaginative content itself. Everything made
intelligible by language may form part of content, subject
to the condition that it is poetical. Analysis of what
this condition implies. The imagination of artist must be
Contributive; distinction from mere prose consciousness and
thinking. In its entire independence of the material of
sense it may be defined as the universal art. The material
is the imagination, and as such conjoint with all the arts.
It is, however, not the only art open to philosophical
review on this ground. It marks, however, the commencement
of the disintegration of Art, its bridge of passage to the
notion of religion and philosophical thought]

Subdivision of subject-matter

I. Poetical composition as distinguished from that of Prose

1. The poetical and prosaic composition

(_a_) The world of natural or prosaic fact relatively
excluded. Primarily what it deals with is the infinite
domain of Spirit and the energies of its life

(_b_) Distinction between poetical and prosaic conception 21

[(_α_) Poetical anterior to the prosaic form of artistic
speech. It is the original imaginative grasp of truth. Dates
from first effort of man at self-expression. Endeavours to
make that expression of a higher virtue than mere prose

(_β_) The kind of prose life from which poetry is separate
postulates a different kind of conception and speech. The
finite categories of the understanding applicable to the
former. The ideal rationale of fact is aimed at by poetry.
Its affinity with and distinction from pure thought

(_γ_) Difference between the relation of poetic conception
to prosaic in early times and more modern, where the prosaic
form of life has become stereotyped in a definite system]

(_c_) The nature of the differentiation of poetical activity
in different ages and nations

[(_α_) It has no particular epoch of unique celebration. It
embraces the collective Spirit of man. It is conditioned by
the outlook of various nations and epochs

(_β_) Some of these have closer affinity with its essential
spirit, _e.g.,_ the Oriental in comparison with the Western
nations, if we exclude Greece

(_γ_) Modern interest in Hellenic and certain portions of
Oriental poetry]

2. The Art-product of poetry and prose

(_a_) The artistic composition of poetry generally

[(_α_) It must possess intrinsic unity. The action must be
conceived as that of particular men or women. There must be
vital coalescence of characters, events, and actions. Unity
in the nature of a process and a differentiation of parts
which coalesce therein

(_β_) Nature of this organic differentiation and synthesis.
Tendency of Art to particularization. Delight in detail.
Nature of its treatment of such detail. Result, a secure
self-subsistency

(_γ_) Substantive unity preserved. Display of particular
features, despite all opposition, must combine in a union
of mysterious accord. The unity is essential and organic. It
is the soul of the entirety. Parallel in musical trichord.
Varied type of artistic form in the Epic, the Drama, and the
Lyric]

(_b_) History and oratory compared with the poetical product

[(_α_) The arts of history and oratory come into closest
affinity with poetical composition. History implies great
ends, cannot rest content with mere chronicles. Herodotus,
Thucydides, Xenophon, and Tacitus. Products of the art of
language, but not entirely free art. The nature of the
historical content prohibits this. The prosaic element in
the historical age and the historical treatment defined

(_β_) Oratory appears to be closer to the freedom of Art.
The orator appeals to the whole man. It is directed to
the enunciation of principles. It is none the less almost
wholly relative to the rule of practical utility. Religious
oratory. It is in the service of a collateral purpose]

(_c_) The free poetical work of Art

[(_α_) The attitude of the poet in his work, to contingent
and insignificant fact and local conditions, actions,
events, etc.

(_β_) The end of Art not practical as in oratory. Nor is it
to edification. _Poems d'occasion_

(_γ_) It is an essentially infinite (self-rounded) organism.
Permeated with a principle of unity. Independent of any one
particular condition of Life or Nature]

3. The creative impulse of the Poet

[(_a_) Less under restriction in respect to his medium. The
problem proposed in one respect more easy, and in another
more difficult than that of the other arts. Technical
control of the medium which is easier makes the demand for
imaginative penetration the greater

(_b_) Being operative in the realm of imaginative idea
itself poetry has to guard against encroaching upon
the spheres of religion, philosophy, and the ordinary
consciousness as such 53

(_c_) To a greater extent than in the other arts the poet
has transfused the external mode of envisagement, which
he creates, with the vitality of soul-life. Mohammedan
poetry. The creative energy must be absolutely free from all
restrictions imposed by the material handled]

II. The Expression of Poetry

1. The poetical Conception

(_a_) Poetical conception in its origins
[In its origin not consciously distinct from the prosaic
or scientific consciousness. In general terms the poetic
imagination is plastic. Illustration of difference between
the concrete poetical image and the abstract concept]

(_b_) Distinction between poetic mode of conception and that
of prose. Language of poetical metaphor and imagery less
accurate than the definition of prosaic fact

(_c_) Exceptional difficulties which confront the poet of
a world where the distinction between ordinary prose life
and imagination is emphasised. Artificial appearance of his
creations. Difficulty of retaining spontaneous simplicity
and freshness

2. Verbal Expression

(_a_) Poetical speech generally

[Another mode of speech necessitated by the fact that the
world of poetry and art in general should not be identical
with that of ordinary life, or that of science and religion]
65

(_b_) The means by which this is realized

[(_α_) Particular words and expressions only proper to
poetry. Entitled to borrow from language forms obsolete in
ordinary speech. The invention exercised in creating novel
modes of utterance

(_β_) The relative order of words admits of change; how the
licence in this respect may be abused and degenerate into
rhetoric and declamation

(_γ_) The periods of poetical construction composed in
accordance with the ideality of the soul-experience
embodied]

(_c_) Distinctions in the use of these means

[(_α_) Poetry in the age where poetry is the one revealer of
spiritual truth. Force of creative power and simplicity of
diction most obvious features. Creation of a poetic diction
by Dante

(_β_) Distinction from above in an age where prose diction
already elaborated. Expression of poetry becomes more
elaborate and eventually more self-conscious and rhetorical.
The poetry of Rome. The satire. Spanish poetry

(_γ_) The nature of genuine poetical expression. Spontaneity
above all essential]

3. Versification.

[Only a superficial view would banish it. It is implied in
the demand that the medium should be elaborated by Art and
that the realm entered should be other than every-day life]

(_a_) Rhythmical Versification (that is, without rhyme)

[(_α_) Made by time-duration and the movement. Starting
point in the natural length and shortness of syllables.
The distinctions of the sound of words in consonants and
vowels contribute the basis of this. Description and
illustration. Poetry regulates the accidental interchange
of various syllables and words. Time-duration. Nature of
dactyl, anapaest, etc. It further regulates the particular
time-relations in a series of verse-lines. The iambic metre,
etc. Problem of time-beats in the metre of the ancients. No
necessity as in music for abstract time-beat

(_β_) The accent and caesura. Every time-relation has its
particular accent. Particular feet ought not with abstract
precision to be identical with beginning and conclusion of
single words. The caesura checks the monotony of measure.
Further independent verbal accent. Fundamental influence
on the measure of the poetical idea. Also a definite type
of content corresponds with the entire character of a
particular verse-measure. The use of hexameter, elegiacs,
and iambics in this respect

(_γ_) Rhythmical versification embraces the actual musical
sound of syllables and words. The stem-syllable in the Greek
and Latin languages. Aspects of the German language in this
respect. In modern languages the element of rhythm less room
for display. This in itself necessitates the alternative of
rhyme as a resistant against the too exclusive assertion of
ideal content]

(_b_) Rhyme

[(_α_) Rhyme a necessary feature of romantic poetry. Closer
approximation to music. Reaction against the stringent
character of Roman poetry. Source of rhyme in Germanic
languages

(_β_) Difference between two systems. Rhythmical
versification supreme in Hellenic poetry. Most important
change effected that of the validity of the national
quantity in the older system. This replaced by the intrinsic
meaning of syllables and words. French and Italian poetry an
extreme example of the collapse of the former system. The
necessity of rhyme and its character analysed

(_γ_) The types of modern romantic poetry. Its alliteration,
assonance, and ordinary rhyme. Scandinavian poetry. Not
necessary for assonant words to come only at conclusion of
line. Rhyme is the fulfilment of alliteration and assonance.
Pre-eminently the form of lyric poetry. Examples]

(_c_) The union of rhythm and rhyme

[(_α_) Attempt made in modern times to return to the
natural quantity of syllables. Not generally successful.
Overwhelming importance in modern verse of intelligible
significance and the accent thus asserted

(_β_) Not possible to retain the plastic consistency of
the metrical medium as secured by classical poetry. Modern
languages do not possess the stable quantitative basis

(_γ_) The combination equivalent to the absorption by modern
versification of the older system. The significance of
the identical repetition of the same time-measure. Modern
imitation of sapphics and alcaics based on a contradiction]

III. The Several Generic Types of Poetry

Introduction and Division of Subject

A. Epic Poetry

1. General character of Epic poetry

(_a_) Epigrams and Gnomes

(_b_) Philosophical didactic poems, Cosmogonies and
Theogonies

(_c_) The genuine Epopaea

[(_α_) The saga, the bible of a folk. Not every national
bible can rank as Epos. Greeks possess no ancient religious
books resembling Hindoo literature

(_β_) Not necessarily composed in the heroic time itself.
Homer. Views expressed which belong to earlier times

(_γ_) Position of the epic poet. His work a free creation.
He must feel at home in the world he depicts. Objective
independence of composition. The work of one artist]

2. Particular Characteristics of true Epos

(_a_) The general World-condition of the Epos

[(_α_) A positive social state conjoined to primitive
simplicity. Intuitive sense of right the support of moral
order. Vital human association with nature and particular
objects possessed. Heroic condition, _e.g.,_ that of free
individuality. Examples. Expresses entire horizon of
national condition

(_β_) The mirror must be of one particular people. The
Hellenic spirit in Homer. A foreign locale not necessarily
prejudicial to artistic effect. The remoteness to present
ideas of the "Niebelungen Lied"

(_γ_) Main event of poem must be a deliberately conceived
purpose. It must imply collisions. The belligerent condition
most pertinent. The Odyssey not only an exception. Courage
the fundamental interest. Justification of such attitude]

(_b_) The individual Epic action

[(_α_) Must be one of individual vitality. Must appropriate
form of an event, and the happening of such. Analysis.
Problem of an absolute Epos. Mere biography not most
complete subject-matter. "The Divine Comedy" only partially
an exception

(_β_) Question of human personality implied. Epic character
must be a totality. Achilles, the Cid, and other heroes,
discussed. Circumstances as active as persons. Illustrations

(_γ_) The form under which the intrinsic significance of
the occurrence proclaims itself, whether as ideal Necessity
or disclosed spiritual forces. Destiny. What it defines.
General tone of sadness in the Epic. Different modes of
appearance. Poems of Ossian, and others. Loss of original
freshness in Latin poetry. Virgil]

(_c_) The Epos as unified totality

[(_α_) The unity of the assumed general background and
the individuals therein. Humanity displayed in its entire
collective relation of all interests and occupations. The
individual event. The commencement of the Iliad and Odyssey

(_β_) The difference between the epic mode of disclosure and
that of the Lyric or drama. Greater extension of range. In
the epic work character may give way to external condition.
Objective nature of its exposition. Motivisation of drama
and the Epic entirely different. Examples from Homer and
modern poetry

(_γ_) Nature of unity of Epos. Though not of most importance
essential to artistic result. Insistence upon fundamental
unity of the Homeric poems. Epic unity within a national
whole. Distinction from dramatic action. The Idyll. The
novel as the Epopaea of modern society]

3. The historical development of epic Poetry

(_a_) The Oriental Epos

[(_α_) Epos of Hindoos and Persians. The sense of the unity
of the One Substance

(_β_) Contrast between Hindoo and Persian Epos. The Ramajana
and Maha-Bharata

(_γ_) Hebrew Epic poetry]

(_b_) Epic poetry of Greece and Rome

[(_α_) Essential unity of Iliad and Odyssey. The _ne plus
ultra_ of attainment. The cyclic poets

(_β_) Roman Epos cannot compare in quality with the Greek
prototype]

(_c_) The Romantic Epos.

[The poems of Ossian. The Edda. National character of epic
poems of Middle Ages. "The Cid." The peculiar nature of
Dante's "Divine Comedy." The poems relating to Charlemagne,
King Arthur, etc. The revolt against Chivalry in Ariosto and
Cervantes. The "Lysiad" of Camoens. Milton's "Paradise Lost"
and Klopstock's "Messias"]

B. Lyric Poetry

1. General character of lyric poetry

(_a_) The content of lyric poetry

[(_α_) Not merely translation of content from immediacy of
experience. Creation of object purified from the incidental
mood. Deliverance thus effected. Self-expression not the
development of objective action. We have the universal as
such. The entire sphere of human belief, religion, art, and
to some extent scientific thought comprised as they fall
into a personal view of the world

(_β_) Aspect of particularity. The Eumenides chorus in the
"Cranes" of Ibicus. The Elegy and Epistle

(_γ_) Emphasis throughout on personal feeling. Parallel with
genre painting. Contingency of content. Growth of whole in
temperament]

(_b_) The form of the same

[(_α_) Unity different from that of Epos. Mysterious
intimacy of personal mood. Approximates to Epos in heroic
songs, ballads, and romances. The Greek Anthology

(_β_) _Poems d'occasion._ Personal aspect. Pindaric Odes.
Goethe. Individual soul supplied focus of unity rather than
positive reality

(_γ_) Point of departure an external occurrence either in
personal experience or that of others. Element of narrative
as in songs of Anacreon]

(_c_) The external culture condition of the Lyric.

[(_α_) Different from that of Epic. Not limited to one
particular epoch, but exceptionally displayed in modern
times. Folk-songs and the lyric poem

(_β_) Possesses a power of free expansion into all kinds of
subject-matter, a free recognition of imaginative conception
no less than artistic activity

(_γ_) The philosophical lyric poem. A false and a genuine
style compared. Schiller's poetry]

2. Particular aspects of the Lyric

(a) The lyric poet

[(_α_) The poet himself supplies the principle of
combination. He is the focus of unity 214

(_β_) Spontaneity of result. Sings because he cannot help
it. His object himself. Self-respect. Pindar and Klopstock

(_γ_) Creative in dealing with personal experience. Goethe a
fine example]

(_b_) The lyric work of art

[(_α_) The unity of the Lyric. Springs from memory or vivid
association of poet. The formal unity of self-conscious
life. Mood must be defined in its concreteness, not tend too
much to generalization

(_β_) Nature of the progressive disclosure of content. The
principle of the Lyric is assimilation. Poems limited to
local description. Mainly a definition of emotional forces
made vital in objects as seen by the "inward eye." Episodes
permissible. Passionate intensity in its freedom

(_γ_) External form of the Lyric. Variety of metres. Varied
use of caesura. Strophes which admit of much alternation,
both as to length of line, and their rhythmic structure.
Musical sound of words and syllables. Free use of assonance,
alliteration and rhyme, especially the diversified use of
last-mentioned. Association with musical accompaniment]

(_c_) Types of the genuine Lyric

[(_α_) Hymns, dithyrambs, paeans and psalms. Personal
religious emotion. Greek treatment of chorus. Psalms of Old
Testament

(_β_) Personal life of poet the subject-matter. Not so much
the subject as the enthusiasm or personal note. Pindaric
Odes. Horace. Klopstock

(_γ_) The song as such. A field of blossom ever starting
anew. The Oriental and Western type. Anacreon. Protestant
hymns. Sonnet, elegy, epistle, etc. Dithyrambic emotion of
Schiller] 230

3. Historical evolution of the Lyric

(_a_) Oriental lyrical poetry

[Vital absorption in the object. Objective character as
compared with pure romantic. Hymns of exaltation. Metaphor,
image, and simile particularly favoured. Present in Chinese,
Hindoo, Hebrew, Arab and Persian poetry]

(_b_) The Lyric of the Greeks and Romans

[General character that of classic individuality.
Image and metaphor not so largely used. Emphasizes mainly on
the sensuous verbal quantity in the rhythm of its movement.
The dance not unfrequently attached. Point of departure
hymns. Elegiac measure. The lyric of the chorus. Pindar.
Roman lyric less original]

(_c_) Romantic Lyric.

[In certain nations epic material treated as lyrical
narrative. Lyric composition of modern nations still pagan.
In the Christian Middle Ages. That based on the principle of
Protestantism. Klopstock and his influence]

C. Dramatic Poetry

1. The Drama as a poetic work of art

(_a_) The principle of dramatic poetry

[(_α_) Depends on conditions of collision, human passion,
and characters. Leads to action and resolution

(_β_) Mediation between epic and lyric poetry. Has to bring
before vision action or event, but it is self-conscious
personality which is the vital force. Dramatic action must
submit to a process of development. Has to exhibit not so
much lyrical emotion as situation. Action the executed
will recognized as such in its ultimate purpose. The
external world only borrowed in so far as it is bound to
this purpose. More concentrated than the Epic. Action so
treated that it inevitably meets with opposition. Nature of
the divine forces operative. The Drama propounds the vital
energy of a principle of Necessity

(_γ_) The nature of the demand on the dramatic poet in
respect to the divine energy. The drama is the resolution
of the one-sided aspect of these powers, the self-stability
whereof is disclosed in dramatic character]

(_b_) Dramatic Composition

[(_α_) The unity as contrasted with the Epos and the Lyric.
Unity of place, time, and action. First no support to from
Aristotle. Nature of demand upon the imagination relative
to fact of direct vision. Unity of action alone invariable.
Romantic drama less consistent than classical. Examples from
Shakespeare

(_β_) Mode of _dénouement._ Embrace of material in Epos
more extensive. Mean between that and lyrical poetry.
True dramatic progression, a continuous movement onwards
to catastrophe. Possesses a beginning, middle and end.
Aristotle. Significance of acts and their number. In
English, French, and German drama generally five

(_γ_) Nature of means, _e.g.,_ dramatic diction, etc.
Realistic mode of expression as contrasted with one
conventional to the theatre. Must neither be too formal nor
too unpolished or colloquial. Choral interlude, monologue,
and dialogue. Verse-measure mainly iambic]

(_c_) The relation of the dramatic composition to the Public

[(_α_) Distinct Public to cater for and under obligation to
it. Fashion of German writers to scorn the Public. Mistaken
view. How far possible to reproduce foreign or ancient drama

(_β_) Dramatis personae must be vital not merely personified
interests. Real emphasis on the collision involved. Goethe's
"Iphigeneia"

(_γ_) Attitude of poet himself. The impression of the
whole as the product of one original creative force most
important. Necessity that the dramatic poet master the
eternal and essential foundation of human character and
action. Worst case where he seeks to flatter a popular
prejudice. Reference to contemporary event. Aristophanes.
Didactic matter only admissible in so far as it is no bar to
the freedom of the entire artistic product]

2. The external Technique of a dramatic Composition

(_a_) The reading or recitation of a dramatic work

[(_α_) True sensuous medium of drama the human voice. Modern
plays often impracticable in the theatre. Contrast of Greek
drama in this respect

(_β_) Plays written for perusal only. Theatrical
reproduction a real test of dramatic vitality. Question
whether dramatic works should be printed

(_γ_) Perusal no sufficient test of the acting possibilities
of a drama. Recitation subject to the serious restriction
that it is the expression of one voice only]

(_b_) The art of the Actor

[(_α_) Among the Greeks acting affiliated to sculpture.
Ancients added music to declamation. Means of interpretation
in motion of the body. The dance. Plastic character of Greek
performance

(_β_) Speech used solely as spiritual expression in modern
acting. Coalescence of actor's personality with his rôle.
Facial expression. Increase particularisation in modern
character. Illustrations. Increase of difficulties. Modern
actor an artist]

(_c_) The theatrical art which is more independent of Poetry

[(_α_) Plays written for the display of the particular
talent of actors. The Italian _commedia dell' arte._ French
attitude to audience

(_β_) Modern opera. Luxurious display of scenic accessories.
Schiller's "Maid of Orleans." Mozart's "Magic Flute"

(_γ_) The Ballet. The proper subordination of the dance]

3. Types of dramatic poetry and the chief phases of their
historical development

(_a_) The principle of Tragedy, Comedy, and the Play

[(_α_) The principle as associated with tragedy in its
essential and primitive form. The content of tragic action
supplied by spiritual forces which carry with them their
own justification, _e.g._, love of husband, wife, parents,
or children, patriotism, social life, etc. The substance
in which the greatness and stability of the tragic hero
consists. Theme of primitive tragedy generally the godlike
in its mundane character. Forces realized as the determinate
aim of human pathos. A collision in which both aspects are
justified from one point of view. Tragic resolution of
division. Meaning of Aristotle's dictum that tragedy excites
and purifies fear and pity. Sense of reconciliation 295

(_β_) In Tragedy what is eternally substantive is vindicated
under a mode of reconciliation. In Comedy the purely
personal experience retains the mastery throughout. Nature
of social basis of comedy. The comic. The conception of it
in Molière and Aristophanes. Requires a resolution even more
strongly than tragedy

(_γ_) The Satyric drama. Plautus. The modern dramatic play.
Illustrations from classical drama. Boundary lines fluctuate
more than in the case of genuine tragedy and comedy.
Tendency to pass from poetic form altogether. Theatrical
pieces exhibited for mere display of histrionic talent or
psychological analysis, or as a mere social relaxation]

(_b_) The difference between ancient and modern Drama

[(_α_) No genuine Oriental dramatic art. Principle of
individual freedom. Origins among Hindoos and Chinese

(_β_) True beginning among the Hellenes. The universal and
substantive content of the end, which individuals seek to
achieve. Exceptional plot and intrigue and varied display of
individual character not emphasized

(_γ_) In modern drama it is rather the destiny of some
particular character under exceptional circumstances which
forms the subject-matter. Interest directed not so much
to ethical vindication and destiny as to the isolation of
the individual and his conditions. Crime as a motive not
excluded. Formal greatness of character demanded. Variety
of characterization, and maze of plot and intrigue. In
tragedy further the paramount presence of a more exalted
order of the world,--whether conceived as Providence or
Fatality,--accepted]

(_c_) The concrete development of dramatic poetry and its
types

[(_α_) Greek drama. Roman drama an attenuated reflection.
Survey limited to Æschylus, Sophocles, and Aristophanes.
Background of ancient tragedy the heroic condition. Analysis
of modes under which ethical content of human action
asserted. The unsevered consciousness of the godlike and the
combating human action, presented under the form of chorus
and heroic figures. Significance of chorus. Opposition
between social obligation and private sense of duty.
Antigone. Modern conception of guilt and innocence no place
in Greek tragedy in strict sense. Final end reconciliation
of forces of human action. Such a _dénouement_ not merely
an ethical issue. Contrast between such and the Justice of
the Greek Epos. Illustrations. Antigone. Œdipus. Orestes.
Conception of old classical Comedy. The laughter of the
Olympian gods made present in man. Aristophanes]

(_β_) Modern dramatic art

[(i) The ends which ought to come into the process of the
action as the content of the characters. Borrowed from the
concrete world of religious and social life. Not however,
the particular ethical forces as of individuals which assert
them, _e.g._, Christ, the saints, kings, vassals, and
members of ruling families. Features of the private life
accepted not within scope of ancient drama. Personal love,
honour, etc. make an exclusive appeal. Faust. Wallenstein.
Generally it is the inner experience of soul-life which
demands satisfaction. Comparison of problem of Hamlet with
that of the Choephorae.

(ii) Nature of characters and collisions. Conflict
abides essentially in the character itself. Abstract
characterization of French and Italian poetry, also Spanish.
In contrast to this that of the English, and above all
Shakespeare. Goethe and Schiller. Vacillation of character.
"King Lear."

(iii) Nature of tragic issue. Justice of more abstract
nature than in ancient tragedy. The issue as the effect
of misfortune. "Romeo and Juliet," a kind of unhappy
blessedness in misfortune. Social plays the link between
tragedy and comedy. As a rule the triumph of ordinary
morality celebrated. Modern comedy. Question whether folly
is ridiculous only to others, or to the comic character
also. The second type mainly that of Aristophanes, the first
that of Molière. Invention of the intrigue or intricate
plot. Comparison of Shakespeare's comedy with that of
Aristophanes]

Final Summary and Conclusion

THIRD PART

THE SYSTEM OF THE PARTICULAR ARTS

SUBSECTION III

THE ROMANTIC ARTS

(CONTINUED)

THE

PHILOSOPHY OF FINE ART