...
"In the contemplation of Beauty we alone find it possible to attain
that pleasurable elevation, or excitement of the soul, which
we recognize as the Poetic Sentiment, and which is so easily
distinguished from Truth, which is the satisfaction of the Reason,
or from Passion, which is excitement of the Heart. I make Beauty,
therefore--using the word as inclusive of the sublime--I make Beauty
the province of the poem....
"It by no means follows, however, that the incitements of Passion,
or the precepts of Duty, or even the lessons of Truth, may not be
introduced into a poem, and with advantage; for they may subserve
incidentally, in various ways, the general purposes of the work:--but
the true artist will always contrive to tone them down in proper
subjection to that Beauty which is the atmosphere and the real essence
of the poem."
Lest one should conclude that this is the verdict of an exclusively
artistic spirit, bent upon the development of "art for art's sake"
alone, disregardful of the spiritual essence involved, let him
read the following passage by Dr. William Hayes Ward, scholar,
archaeologist, critic, editor of a great religious journal. Treating of
"The Elements of True Poetry," he lays down this:
"What, then, is poetry? It is the verbal expression of thought under
the paramount control of the principle of beauty.
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