512 KANSAS CITi REVIEW OE SCIENCE. 
AN ELEMENT OF FRENCH LITERATURE. 
E. RANDALL KNOWLES. 
France has a literature so widely divergent in its aspects that we can hardly 
criticise it as a symmetrical unit. In the spheres of philosophical and purely 
scientific literature it has not a peer among modern nations. But the very quality 
which raises it to such a height in these departments debases it in others. The 
logical frame of the French mind, while absolutely essential in scientific investi- 
gation and speculative philosophy is the bane of French poetry. Because the 
French use the finest logical precision in all scientific research, they are naturally 
inclined to transplant it to the realm of poetry, where imagination, bodying forth 
things unknown, should not be governed by the laws of formula or syllogism. 
The classical poetry of France will live preserved in the most sacred archives 
of the national institutions ; but it can never become cosmopolitan simply because 
it has not those affinities with human nature which can break it away from local 
associations. Racine struggled to liberate himself from the bondage of his own 
logical inclinations. We cannot but believe that it was the ambition of his life to 
bequeath to literature, in the portraiture of some of his characters, a legacy of 
true universal life. But in his constructions he is tethered by a chain which 
holds him near his starting point. His original conceptions are vivid. They are 
ofttimes the outgrowth of the profoundest genius, but when we view the lights 
and^shades of the finished painting, we are convinced that it falls far short of 
the poet's ideal. We are not carried on with the sweep of events until we find 
■ourselves undergoing the same mental transformations, sympathizing with all the 
moral struggles of the actor, but we are constantly admiring the beauty of the 
imagery, the musical rythm of the verse. In short we are admiring, not the pro- 
duction but the Racine himself. 
Perhaps the most effective manner of representing the difference between the 
French and English schools of poetry is by a comparison of the prime sources. 
The rich contrast between the ancient Sagas and Eddas of the North, and the 
Troubadour poetry of the South exists to-day, though softened by time, between 
the poetry of the two nations. We do not say that these old poems are absolutely 
typical. They embody only the strongest features. The former was the product 
of barren, frozen Scandinavia; the latter sprang from the vine-clad hills and 
blooming vales of France, The one abounds with brutal passion, ignoble in- 
stincts, sublime moral struggles. The other deals with lighter themes. The 
burden of its song is but the inspiration of surrounding scenery. The delicate 
tracery of nature, the gentle breezes of the dales, the sweet songs of birds, have 
been transferred into the music of verse. Naturally, therefore, the prevailing 
characteristic of the poetry is harmony ot structure, logical order, outward sym- 
metry, everything that ministers to the aesthetic taste and delights the senses. 
