登陆注册
4705400000076

第76章

Perhaps no person can be a poet, or can even enjoy poetry, without a certain unsoundness of mind, if anything which gives so much pleasure ought to be called unsoundness. By poetry we mean not all writing in verse, nor even all good writing in verse. Our definition excludes many metrical compositions which, on other grounds, deserve the highest praise. By poetry we mean the art of employing words in such a manner as to produce an illusion on the imagination, the art of doing by means of words what the painter does by means of colours. Thus the greatest of poets has described it, in lines universally admired for the vigour and felicity of their diction, and still more valuable on account of the just notion which they convey of the art in which he excelled:

"As the imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing A local habitation and a name."

These are the fruits of the "fine frenzy" which he ascribes to the poet--a fine frenzy doubtless, but still a frenzy. Truth, indeed, is essential to poetry; but it is the truth of madness.

The reasonings are just; but the premises are false. After the first suppositions have been made, everything ought to be consistent; but those first suppositions require a degree of credulity which almost amounts to a partial and temporary derangement of the intellect. Hence of all people children are the most imaginative. They abandon themselves without reserve to every illusion. Every image which is strongly presented to their mental eye produces on them the effect of reality. No man, whatever his sensibility may be, is ever affected by Hamlet or Lear, as a little girl is affected by the story of poor Red Riding-hood. She knows that it is all false, that wolves cannot speak, that there are no wolves in England. Yet in spite of her knowledge she believes; she weeps; she trembles; she dares not go into a dark room lest she should feel the teeth of the monster at her throat. Such is the despotism of the imagination over uncultivated minds.

In a rude state of society men are children with a greater variety of ideas. It is therefore in such a state of society that we may expect to find the poetical temperament in its highest perfection. In an enlightened age there will be much intelligence, much science, much philosophy, abundance of just classification and subtle analysis, abundance of wit and eloquence, abundance of verses, and even of good ones; but little poetry. Men will judge and compare; but they will not create.

They will talk about the old poets, and comment on them, and to a certain degree enjoy them. But they will scarcely be able to conceive the effect which poetry produced on their ruder ancestors, the agony, the ecstasy, the plenitude of belief. The Greek Rhapsodists, according to Plato, could scarce recite Homer without falling into convulsions. The Mohawk hardly feels the scalping knife while he shouts his death-song. The power which the ancient bards of Wales and Germany exercised over their auditors seems to modern readers almost miraculous. Such feelings are very rare in a civilised community, and most rare among those who participate most in its improvements. They linger longest amongst the peasantry.

Poetry produces an illusion on the eye of the mind, as a magic lantern produces an illusion on the eye of the body. And, as the magic lantern acts best in a dark room, poetry effects its purpose most completely in a dark age. As the light of knowledge breaks in upon its exhibitions, as the outlines of certainty become more and more definite, and the shades of probability more and more distinct, the hues and lineaments of the phantoms which the poet calls up grow fainter and fainter. We cannot unite the incompatible advantages of reality and deception, the clear discernment of truth and the exquisite enjoyment of fiction.

He who, in an enlightened and literary society, aspires to he a great poet must first become a little child, he must take to pieces the whole web of his mind. He must unlearn much of that knowledge which has perhaps constituted hitherto his chief title to superiority. His very talents will be a hindrance to him. His difficulties will be proportioned to his proficiency in the pursuits which are fashionable among his contemporaries; and that proficiency will in general be proportioned to the vigour and activity of his mind. And it is well if, after all his sacrifices and exertions, his works do not resemble a lisping man or a modern ruin. We have seen in our own time great talents, intense labour, and long meditation, employed in this struggle against the spirit of the age, and employed, we will not say absolutely in vain, but with dubious success and feeble applause.

If these reasonings be just, no poet has ever triumphed over greater difficulties than Milton. He received a learned education: he was a profound and elegant classical scholar: he had studied all the mysteries of Rabbinical literature: he was intimately acquainted with every language of modern Europe, from which either pleasure or information was then to he derived. He was perhaps the only great poet of later times who has been distinguished by the excellence of his Latin verse. The genius of Petrarch was scarcely of the first order; and his poems in the ancient language, though much praised by those who have never read them, are wretched compositions. Cowley, with all his admirable wit and ingenuity, had little imagination: nor indeed do we think his classical diction comparable to that of Milton.

The authority of Johnson is against us on this point. But Johnson had studied the bad writers of the middle ages till he had become utterly insensible to the Augustan elegance, and was as ill qualified to judge between two Latin styles as a habitual drunkard to set up for a wine-taster.

同类推荐
  • 佛说幻士仁贤经

    佛说幻士仁贤经

    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。
  • 玉耶经

    玉耶经

    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。
  • 白华楼藏稿

    白华楼藏稿

    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。
  • 南窗纪谈

    南窗纪谈

    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。
  • 舍利弗问经

    舍利弗问经

    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
  • 出世(节选)

    出世(节选)

    灵童庙会,一群男女铺单子乱七八糟睡一起,说给女娲过会呢。还要唱戏,各地和尚凑热闹,在台阶放个神牌,说有庙呢。有神仙,游客变成施主,就得给烧香给钱。几天下来,和尚挣了不少。爸爸技术全面,培训过西医又学中医,杂成中西结合,也叫现代医学。他在外面江湖,中医说病,廉价便验西药,研成粉末治病,又开中药要钱,再开几味中药,说是,病人经验知道中药要,才能吸收。效果几味简便中药和西药粉,病人见效,立马相信遇好大夫,遇到了神神,病人对好大夫崇拜,像信徒对待耶稣,人民对待伟大领袖,天使对待上帝,和尚对待西天佛祖。里外透彻信服。
  • 横渡(中篇小说)

    横渡(中篇小说)

    老杨他们走时,怪我说了一句大话,这下倒好,我孤零零站在文化广场上,对面马路是有不少车,可我压根不知哪个车是去木马邑的。我刚拨通陶小绿的手机,有辆警车窜来,我惯性地往后一“溅”,手机像个水点飞甩了出去,陶小绿的声音在地上若隐若现:“我真的不能去,不好意思去……”车上下来一个警察,迅疾而有力地把我往车上扯,我也有力而强硬地与其对抗,我差一点就够到手机了。拿住手机,我声调悲哀地说,好,小绿,咱不去,咱在家平安无事……说完马上关掉手机。同时,心里现出另一个焦虑,这事怎么也该告诉老杨他们一声,可还有什么机会告诉。
  • 商人活用孙子兵法

    商人活用孙子兵法

    本书将古代智慧与现代商业经营紧密结合,以全新的解读方式,通过精辟的活用解析与经典的经营案例,多层次、多角度阐述了现代商战的策略与技巧,堪称商界有识之士赢得商战竞争的智慧之源。
  • 至尊搬运工

    至尊搬运工

    地球历五千年前,混沌世界将遭遇奴役之灾之时,是人祖协同各族始祖以生命为代价,将危机遏制在萌芽。而五千年后,面对更大的危机,混沌世界的生灵将何去何从,是谁能够挺身而出?又有谁能够披荆斩棘?是你?是我?还是他?
  • 心魔Ⅰ

    心魔Ⅰ

    世纪八十年代,青年周正豹(周宇)几次高考都落榜,加上幼年时母亲的不幸遭遇,他内心一直有块阴影。为了除去心魔,他去一家砖窑厂打工。在这里,他被善良的魏大娘夫妇当作“老憨子”(老儿子),收留于东湖劳改农场的砖瓦场。他在那里遇到了善良的玲子姑娘、老奸巨猾的“黄管带”,政治犯杨文章、“老海子”……这个少年,带着心底的阴影,搜寻着凶手的蛛丝马迹。
  • 我们纯真的青春(全集)

    我们纯真的青春(全集)

    故事背景以男主角刘铭,跟患有先天性心脏病的女主角王佳慈,还有家境贫困的女同桌林巧曼为开始,讲述三个人之间那些关乎青春的朦胧、暗恋、心动以及成长。书中三个人有着不一样的人生轨迹,却因为这些走到一起,相互鼓励,互相陪伴。但又因为彼此无法抑制住的情感变化,而彷徨、迷惑、亲情、友情,小心翼翼的感情,都随着故事的情节推动中,慢慢的发生着改变。
  • 最动听的事

    最动听的事

    对她来说,爱情是天造地设的难得。对他来说,爱情是,自问我可以赢你,偏喜欢输给你。关于爱情这个主题,他们拿对方当标本,一起学习,齐齐进步。只是,某一天。二十七岁的他对二十四的她说:“要不要和我穿上校服,去校园补一段初恋。”然后,她慢慢地发现,他是一个恋爱新手,同时也是一个极具天赋的恋爱高手。
  • 英雄联盟之电竞神话

    英雄联盟之电竞神话

    一个是韩服最强路人王,一个是国服23级菜鸟玩家。天差地别的两种身份,却同时汇聚在一个人身上....书友群【211356148】了解最新更新资讯和其他诸多福利。
  • 恋爱风投

    恋爱风投

    女主遭受背叛远走H市,入职男主投资公司的,然后和男主相爱的故事
  • 大厨不传的调味秘诀

    大厨不传的调味秘诀

    抓住菜品好吃的“灵魂”。掌握调味技巧,正确使用调味品,灵活搭配香辛料,调制出纯天然无添加的调味酱料,轻松制作色香味俱全的香醇美食,让众口不再难调。