登陆注册
4619900000031

第31章

THE HERO AS POET. DANTE: SHAKSPEARE.

The Hero as Divinity, the Hero as Prophet, are productions of old ages; not to be repeated in the new. They presuppose a certain rudeness of conception, which the progress of mere scientific knowledge puts an end to.

There needs to be, as it were, a world vacant, or almost vacant of scientific forms, if men in their loving wonder are to fancy their fellow-man either a god or one speaking with the voice of a god. Divinity and Prophet are past. We are now to see our Hero in the less ambitious, but also less questionable, character of Poet; a character which does not pass. The Poet is a heroic figure belonging to all ages; whom all ages possess, when once he is produced, whom the newest age as the oldest may produce;--and will produce, always when Nature pleases. Let Nature send a Hero-soul; in no age is it other than possible that he may be shaped into a Poet.

Hero, Prophet, Poet,--many different names, in different times, and places, do we give to Great Men; according to varieties we note in them, according to the sphere in which they have displayed themselves! We might give many more names, on this same principle. I will remark again, however, as a fact not unimportant to be understood, that the different _sphere_constitutes the grand origin of such distinction; that the Hero can be Poet, Prophet, King, Priest or what you will, according to the kind of world he finds himself born into. I confess, I have no notion of a truly great man that could not be _all_ sorts of men. The Poet who could merely sit on a chair, and compose stanzas, would never make a stanza worth much.

He could not sing the Heroic warrior, unless he himself were at least a Heroic warrior too. I fancy there is in him the Politician, the Thinker, Legislator, Philosopher;--in one or the other degree, he could have been, he is all these. So too I cannot understand how a Mirabeau, with that great glowing heart, with the fire that was in it, with the bursting tears that were in it, could not have written verses, tragedies, poems, and touched all hearts in that way, had his course of life and education led him thitherward. The grand fundamental character is that of Great Man;that the man be great. Napoleon has words in him which are like Austerlitz Battles. Louis Fourteenth's Marshals are a kind of poetical men withal;the things Turenne says are full of sagacity and geniality, like sayings of Samuel Johnson. The great heart, the clear deep-seeing eye: there it lies; no man whatever, in what province soever, can prosper at all without these. Petrarch and Boccaccio did diplomatic messages, it seems, quite well: one can easily believe it; they had done things a little harder than these! Burns, a gifted song-writer, might have made a still better Mirabeau. Shakspeare,--one knows not what _he_ could not have made, in the supreme degree.

True, there are aptitudes of Nature too. Nature does not make all great men, more than all other men, in the self-same mould. Varieties of aptitude doubtless; but infinitely more of circumstance; and far oftenest it is the _latter_ only that are looked to. But it is as with common men in the learning of trades. You take any man, as yet a vague capability of a man, who could be any kind of craftsman; and make him into a smith, a carpenter, a mason: he is then and thenceforth that and nothing else. And if, as Addison complains, you sometimes see a street-porter, staggering under his load on spindle-shanks, and near at hand a tailor with the frame of a Samson handling a bit of cloth and small Whitechapel needle,--it cannot be considered that aptitude of Nature alone has been consulted here either!--The Great Man also, to what shall he be bound apprentice? Given your Hero, is he to become Conqueror, King, Philosopher, Poet? It is an inexplicably complex controversial-calculation between the world and him!

He will read the world and its laws; the world with its laws will be there to be read. What the world, on _this_ matter, shall permit and bid is, as we said, the most important fact about the world.--Poet and Prophet differ greatly in our loose modern notions of them. In some old languages, again, the titles are synonymous; _Vates_ means both Prophet and Poet: and indeed at all times, Prophet and Poet, well understood, have much kindred of meaning. Fundamentally indeed they are still the same; in this most important respect especially, That they have penetrated both of them into the sacred mystery of the Universe; what Goethe calls "the open secret." "Which is the great secret?" asks one.--"The _open_ secret,"--open to all, seen by almost none! That divine mystery, which lies everywhere in all Beings, "the Divine Idea of the World, that which lies at the bottom of Appearance," as Fichte styles it;of which all Appearance, from the starry sky to the grass of the field, but especially the Appearance of Man and his work, is but the _vesture_, the embodiment that renders it visible. This divine mystery _is_ in all times and in all places; veritably is. In most times and places it is greatly overlooked; and the Universe, definable always in one or the other dialect, as the realized Thought of God, is considered a trivial, inert, commonplace matter,--as if, says the Satirist, it were a dead thing, which some upholsterer had put together! It could do no good, at present, to _speak_much about this; but it is a pity for every one of us if we do not know it, live ever in the knowledge of it. Really a most mournful pity;--a failure to live at all, if we live otherwise!

同类推荐
  • 日本国承和五年入唐求法目录

    日本国承和五年入唐求法目录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • A Tale Of Two Cities

    A Tale Of Two Cities

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 新城录

    新城录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 范文正奏议

    范文正奏议

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛果击节录

    佛果击节录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 太上灵宝玉匮明真大斋忏方仪

    太上灵宝玉匮明真大斋忏方仪

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 球魂附体

    球魂附体

    “球进了!球进了这一刻他不是一个人在战斗,他不是一个人!球王贝利、马拉多纳灵魂附体!”我能够成为绿茵巨星,因为我热爱足球,这源自于兴趣成长于灵魂,至于怎么成长的,这就要从我莫名其妙的会了神打术,又莫名其妙的请来了一位踢足球的祖师爷上身说起了...
  • 恋上我的拽拽小姐

    恋上我的拽拽小姐

    就因为一场邂逅,自己的气质,而踏入了爱情之路,而且还靠自己大脑,感恩自己所爱的人。这条爱情之路会一直顺顺利利么?不,其中会发生怎样的改变?她们会冲过重重考验得到真正的爱情么?一把琴好比一个爱情局,上面的弦就好比是她们的爱,他们之间的弦会不会断掉呢?如果断掉会不会重新接上呢?
  • 特工狂妃:宠冠三宫六院

    特工狂妃:宠冠三宫六院

    【本故事,纯属虚构】人人都道她是世间最无情的人,唯有一人,笑颜隽永,执手偕老。当世界上最黑暗与最光明碰撞,谁会为了谁堕入万劫不复?当最干净的无情遇见最冷漠的有情,天地沉浮,三千宫闱,吾主天下!祸国终章,愿以幸福掩卷,或不能忘。
  • 玄兵破魔

    玄兵破魔

    少年古错,自幼出生于武林世家,悟性超群,生性顽劣,在一次无意中摔下斜坡,使脑部神经错乱,便成疯癫之状,尝尽世间酸甜苦辣,不幸因追一颗失落的彩石,失足落下了绝潭,巧幸苍天有眼,使他因祸得福,不但吞服千年双头神蛟的“天蛟丹”,还巧遇数十年前被正道高手逼落潭中的一代绝世神兵高人“哭神农”,顿时恢复灵性,又习成一代奇人之学和得到了他的“百年真元”,同时,又继承了哭神农的遗志,脱困而出,身入江湖。为引出当年围攻哭神农的六大绝世高手,便在江湖中除恶诛奸,做出了一番轰轰烈烈的大事,而同时因手执上古神兵,战绩辉煌,而被人称为“笑天钺”,但却因经验不足,误中奸计,身中巨毒,不幸在脱身之时……
  • 好父母成就好孩子

    好父母成就好孩子

    本书告诉我们在日常生活中应该怎样对孩子进行蒙氏教育。爱的智慧,是一门深奥的学问,并非传授给孩子知识那么简单:意志的训练,让孩子自觉建立起抑制与冲动的良好关系;能力的培养,让孩子拥有征服感,获得自我纠错、自我学习的才智;智力的开发,将激活每一个孩子内在的惊人潜能;人格的塑造,能让孩子成功地融入社会;良好习惯的养成,将让每个孩子成为优雅的社会达人!本书以全新的视角,不仅系统地介绍了蒙台梭利的教育理念,而且完整地提出了一整套幼儿日常生活练习的方法。不仅将蒙氏教育理念与当代中国教育形势完美结合,而且对中国传统的“功利教育”观念和“强制灌输”形式进行了剖析。"
  • 冒牌公主正牌妃

    冒牌公主正牌妃

    穿越了穿越了,杨一一终于也穿越了,只是想不明白的是,天上那么多的神仙,为什么自己就只能遇到个实习的呢?竟然被这个该死的神仙弄错了……算了,自己不计较了,可是,竟然被人威胁了啊,还要冒名顶替嫁人哦。嫁就嫁吧,好在对方是个王爷,应该有钱吧?说不定还能顺便捞点呢。只是,听说那个王爷已经病入膏肓了啊,不会刚嫁过去就要做寡妇吧……
  • 人质卡农

    人质卡农

    宫部美幸:又译宫部美雪,日本作家。原姓矢部,1960年12月23日出生于东京,与同样身为推理作家的绫迁行人出生于同一天。东京都立墨田川高校毕业,23岁进入法律事务所工作;白天在法律事务所当速记员,晚上就到“讲谈社”主办的小说写作研习班学习写作。研习班的负责人是日本推理作家协会理事长山村正夫,讲师都是当时著名的作家。宫部写作范围广泛,获奖无数,作品大致被归类为推理小说、时代小说与奇幻小说三大系统。
  • 北宋大表哥

    北宋大表哥

    天禧五年初,有神鸟现世,其色银白,两翼吞吐烟火横空而行,坠于京城之西。——《北宋天书野录》“神鸟?这玩意怎么感觉更像是我乘坐的失事飞机?”本书主角李璋有些疑惑的道,“另外我是谁的大表哥?”
  • 大学生就业指导教程

    大学生就业指导教程

    《大学生就业指导教程》以教育部《大学生职业发展与就业指导课程教学要求的通知》(教育部高教厅(2007)7号)中就业指导教学要求为依据,旨在帮助大学生了解就业形势、政策及规定,了解社会对人才的需求,了解当前高校毕业生就业的主要形式与途径,了解求职择业的基本方法与技巧,做好就业准备,把个人的追求与社会需求结合起来,实现顺利就业、成功就业。