260 



POETRY 



nevertheless, as an English word, the lexico- 

 graphers have probably been too much rather 

 than too little affected by the necessity of in- 

 cluding a spiritual meaning. Hardly any one has 

 attempted to say what poetry is without ming- 

 ling the figurative with the exact sens, or at 

 least without making the definition apply to none 

 but good and original poetry. In speaking of 

 sculpture and painting we do not necessarily 

 exclude all experiments in those arts which are 

 not successful ; but poetry, in English, has come 

 to mean something whicfi excludes unsuccessful 

 effort in rhythmical expression. Hence a certain 

 confusion between the external and the internal, 

 between a craft and an ecstasy. It would be 

 well, perhaps, to bring the term back to its more 

 exact meaning, but it is too late to hope in do 

 this. Poetry must continue to mean not merely 

 language arranged in rhythmical sequence, but 

 verse which is also inspired by imagination, and 

 which attains a, measure of perfection in that 

 degree at which it aims. The degree may l>e a 

 low one, but if the aim is fulfilled, and the rhyth- 

 mical laws are followed, the work produced must 

 not be refused the title of poetry. The word, 

 indeed, is capable of much expansion. Any man 

 who has written what the world accepts as a 

 mjnjojf, a finished composition in verse, is allowed 

 the name of ']>oet,'aiid his other rhythmical ex- 

 periments, even though many of them are unsuc- 

 ce ful, are broadly defined as ' poetry.' The pres- 

 ence of high imagination, and of a brilliant pro- 

 priety of language, are presupposed in all that is 

 called poetry, but the word must be extended to 

 much that is not very lofty nor very skilful if we 

 are not to slip into pedantry in its use. Words- 

 worth at one time was of opinion that the only 

 strict antithesis to Prose was Metre ; but it is 

 simpler, as well as more exact, to understand by 

 poetry metrical composition, not troubling^ our- 

 selves more than is absolutely necessary in ite 

 definition about the quality of* high imagination. 

 This latter is essential indeed to the best poetry, 

 but not to all poetry in the colloquial use of that 

 term. 



In some languages, and particularly in French, 

 rime (constantly misspelt rhymr, whim is a mean- 

 ingless arrangement of letters formed in imitation 

 of rhythm ) is an essential part of the form of poetry. 

 In other languages, as in ancient Greek and Latin, 

 rime does not exist. In English poetry final rime, 

 though not essential, is extremely common, and is 

 the necessary ornament of the main classes of lyrical 

 composition. Hime is a correspondence of sound 

 between syllables whieh occur at regular intervals, 

 and in final rime that recurrence always takes place 

 at the end of a verse. It may I single, double, or 

 even triple. Propriety and vigour in riming are so 

 important a portion of the art of poetry that rime 

 cannot be overlooked in the briefest survey. Where 

 rime is not rejected altogether, as in blank verse 

 (and in some xtrophic measures of doubtful value), 

 it forms a main ornament of English verse rum 

 position, and some of the must lioatitifiil effect* 

 which poetry produces are due to the skilful 

 arrangement of these recurrent sounds. It is only 

 a poet of great resource and infinite accompli-h 

 ment who can safely dis|>cnse with this fortunate 

 regulation of rime. ' To one who knows his Im-i 

 now it offers no real restraint, but rather a sup- 

 port and an encouragement. As Dryilen has 

 excellently said, ' That which most regulates the 

 fancy anil gives the judgment its busiest employ- 

 ment is like to bring forth the richest and clearest 

 thought*. ' 



It is a popular error that the necessity of find- 

 ing a rime checks the inspiration of a |H>t, and 

 that he would l>e more fortunate if he could con- 



trive to do without it. The universal testimony of 

 the poets themselves does not support this notion. 

 The best writers of verse have been unanimous in 

 declaring that the more distinct and spontaneous 

 are the visions which present themselves to the 



brain for verse-expression the re rapidly and 



inevitably do the rimes occur in logical sequence, 

 the proper word fitting into its proper place with 

 as little conscious brain-effort as the proper tone 

 or the proper form does in the work of the painter 

 or the sculptor. If this be so. and it seems im- 

 I>ossible to doubt it, the difficulty which the un- 

 skilful versifier finds in riming is but another safe- 

 guard to protect us from inconi|>etenee. For those 

 readers who declare that rime gives them no en- 

 joyment, and is only an interruption of the sense, 

 we can but pray that ears may be added to them. 



The recognised si>ecies of j>oetical composition 

 are numerous, and are exceedingly difficult to dis 

 tingiiish from one another, because two or more 

 of them may frequently !>< found existing side by 

 side in the same specimen. Three principal divi- 

 sions are, however, supposed to include all the 

 minor classes of poetry under general headings. 

 These are lyrical, epical, and dramatic poetry In 

 the original sense all poetry was Lyrical that is 

 to say, was composed to be sung to a musical 

 accompaniment, and could not be conceived except 

 in relation to music. But at a very early period 

 this work of .song was divided into two parts, that 

 which was regulated by the air, and that which 

 was expressed in recitative. In the former manner 

 were sung all the poems which were inspired by the 

 passions, which reflected moods individual to the 



Jioet, or which were devoted to religious aspiration, 

 n the second manner were chanted matter* of 

 narration, statements of fact, didactic, hortatory, 

 and philosophical disquisition. The poems on an 

 air remained lyrical poetry proper, and continued 

 to be more or less fitted to be sung to a musical 

 accompaniment. The poems in recitative became 

 what is vaguely known as Epic poetry, with its at- 

 tendant classes, the Satire, the Epistle, the Tale, and 

 the Fable. From all these the musical accompani- 

 ment soon fell away. In some eastern count lies, 

 however, narrative |>oetry is still, when publicly 

 recited, accompanied by a monotonous music on a 

 stringed instrument. 



Dramatic poetry has retained, in its principal 

 branches of Tragedy and Comedy, still less of the 

 singing quality than epical poetry. In many cases 

 drama has thrown off the restraints of versification 

 altogether, and is now included in the general 

 category of poetry partly because of its traditional 

 form, and partly because its imaginative character 

 still links it to lyrical and epical work. The m i.u'in 

 of drama, however, was wholly lyrical. Itwasout 

 of the dithyrambic son;: in honour of Dionysus 

 that tragedy sprang. The litany was chanted by 

 a chorus that danced as it sang, and in the process 

 of time 1 a single ]>ersonage began to break away 

 from the chorus ut intervals, and either to express 

 aspirations of his own, or to narrate stories of the 

 god, or to incite the chorus to fresh exertions. 

 Comedy had -a similar beginning, and by degrees 

 not one but two and then many actors confronted 

 the chorus and drew it into conversation. The 

 development of this new form of poetry was very 

 rapid ; it gained variety and a recognised code of 

 forms within a very short time, and we now possess 

 in the tragedies of .Eschylus a body of ancient 



dramatic' ] try still capable, as recent experiment 



has shown, of satisfying the demands of a modern 

 playgoer. Here the purely lyric element, in spite 

 of ihe prominence of the chorus, is already mini- 

 mised in favour of the development, of personal 

 action and character, so that the subsequent tran- 

 sition to the form of the most modern prose tragedy 



