ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT LXXXVII 



POETRY 



The fifth in onler of tlie fine arts is ]K)etiy. All of the 

 e'stlietic arts are activities designed to produce pleasure. This 

 is their funda;nental jmr])ose. Poetry is an art of pleasure. 

 Its fundamental ])urpose nuist be pleasure, althoug-li it some- 

 tinifs nia\- l)c a good method of presenting tlie ti-uth; in fact 

 it often serves this jiurposc in an admirable manner, Ijut its 

 wisdom must be veiled whether it be intellectual or moral. 



That which makes poetry is the method of expression that 

 is adopted hv poetr^-. In music the method of ex])ression is 

 rh\ thmic soiuid and the combinations of rhythmic .sound which 

 appear also in melody, harmony, and symphony. Cxraphic art 

 is expression of form which at first gives us form as molded in 

 sculpture, then form as relief, then the condjination of form 

 in perspective, and finally the delicate expression of forms in 

 values or chiaroscuro. In drama we have an art \\hich 

 emplovs gesture speech as its mode of expression. Its root is 

 the dance, and the first stage of the drama is terpsichorean; its 

 second stag-e is sacrifical, its third stag'e is ceremonial, its fourth 

 stag"e is histrionic liomance is expression ])y fictitious liistorv. 

 It appears first as beast fal)le, then as ])()wer myth, then as 

 necromantic tale, and finally in the novel. 



In poetry the method of expression is metajjlior. We are 

 yet to see the stages through which metaplior is developed. 

 Again 1 must remind mv reader that all of these stages have 

 roots in the primitive stage, that they develo]) by minute incre- 

 ments, and that a characteristic of poetry is never developed 

 in full panoply of action. 



Vcrsonification — Personification is the gei-m of ])oetic expres- 

 sion. Personification is the fundamental error in flic philos- 

 ophy of savagery. Tylor called this belief animism; already 

 we ha\e set forth its nature. It arises from mental necessity 

 of making judgments and comparing- them with the inferences 

 which the mind draws from sense ii^ipressions. The savage 

 interprets the world of ])odies in the environment from the 

 concepts of human bodies. From the standpoint of psychol- 

 ogy this is anthropomorphism, while from the standpoint of 



