158 BIRDS AND POETS 



commanding. His gods are not philosophers, but 

 delight in deeds, justice, rulership. 



Among the differences between the modern and 

 the classical aesthetic mind is the greater precision 

 and definiteness of the latter. The modern genius 

 is Gothic, and demands in art a certain vagueness 

 and spirituality like that of music, refusing to be 

 grasped and formulated. Hence for us (and this is 

 undoubtedly an improvement) there must always be 

 something about a poem, or any work of art, besides 

 the evident intellect or plot of it, or what is on its 

 surface, or what it tells. This something is the 

 Invisible, the Undefined, almost Unexpressed, and 

 is perhaps the best part of any work of art, as it is 

 of a noble personality. To amuse, to exhibit cul- 

 ture, to formulate the aesthetic, or even to excite the 

 emotions, is by no means all, — is not even the deep- 

 est part. Beside these, and inclosing aU, is the gen- 

 eral impalpable effect, like a good air, or the subtle 

 presence of good spirits, wordless but more potent far 

 than words. As, in the superbest person, it is not 

 merely what he or she says or knows or shows, or 

 even how they behave, but in the silent qualities, 

 like gravitation, that insensibly but resistlessly hold 

 us; so in a good poem, or any other expression 

 of art. 



