ADMINISTRATIVE KKIMKT XCI 



with a distinrt coofiiition that j)ersonification is jiootic. All 

 kinds of pt-rsoniiication thus becoiiu- 1n>iics, and mind itself 

 is clcarh' understood to Ixdouff onl\' tn animate beino's. 

 Qualitication, similitude, and allegory still remain with ;i more 

 or less clear coy-nition that (jualities are but qualities, simili 

 tildes are but similitudes, and alleg'ories are but alleo-ories, and 

 that they are legitimate onh- as metaphors and constitute only 

 a poetical method of expression thi'oug'h which the wisdom 

 of science may be expressed in such manner as to impress 

 it deeply ujton the heart. Trope, therefore, is tlie last aud 

 greatest ac(|uisition to poetical art. Romance is poetry with- 

 out rhythm. Poetry is romance with rhythm, but there is 

 added to it a much higher element of metaphor — the special 

 method 111' poetic expression. 



There has grown up in the history of |)oetry a recognition 

 of four classes of poetrv, namely, the lyric, the epic, the 

 dramatic, and the idyllic. These names pretty well express 

 the characteristics of the four kinds of poetry- herein enumer- 

 ated. If poetrv is to be classitied under these terms, they 

 require both some restriction and enlargement in their limits. 

 Lyric poetr}' is pretty well detined when we call it song poetrv. 

 Epic poetry is pretty well defined when we call it similitude 

 poetry; but ukuu' poems which have sometimes been called 

 epics are excluded. Dramatic ])oetr}' is not well defined as 

 allegoric poetry if it is held to mean that ])oetrv which is con- 

 structed as dialogue; but it is well defined if we untlerstand it 

 as that poetry whose principal element is dramatic, for then it 

 will l)e seen that every dramatic poem is an allegtn'y of good 

 and evil. Idyllic i)oetry is well characterized as poetry whose 

 chief element of expre.ssion inheres in troj)e. Ueail again the 

 Idylls of the King for the purpose of seeing how their dra- 

 matic characteristics are subordinated to tropical expression, 

 and I think you will conceive that Tennyson was right in 

 characterizing them as the Idylls of the King rather than as 

 the Allegoi-ies of the King. 



There is a fact in history that hen; nuist be considered, in 

 ordei- that we may not ol)tain an erroneous ojiinion about the 

 arjiument st't forth in tlusessa\. The Honian and Hellenic 



