Ube IToucb of Unspiration 



and how affected in comparison appears 

 the familiar description of the wave that 



Caught a star in its embrace, 

 And held it trembhng there ! 



The true descriptive maximum seems 

 to be an overflow — the effect of excessive 

 momentum. The imagination overreaches 

 the expected and touches some chord of 

 truth supernally beautiful or surprisingly- 

 suggestive, by a sort of accident due 

 to a spurt of energy spontaneous and 

 irresistible. 



The dramatic surprise is quite different 

 from the lyrical. Its play is in the field 

 of human action, where motive flashes 

 through the substance of thought like 

 electricity in steel. The great play- 

 wrights know the pulse of the world, and 

 how to make it leap or stop with the power 

 of but five words. The born actor is he 

 who knows by intuition where to find these 

 lucky reaches of expression. The deca- 

 dence of the novel since 1870 is largely 

 due to the neglect of dramatic and descrip- 

 tive surprise. Compare one of Dumas's 

 147 



