86 LITEEAET VALUES 



or refracted by its passage through these elements. 

 But colored and refracted it will he, and it is this 

 coloring and refraction or stamp of the personal equa- 

 tion that gives value and charm to the man's work as 

 literature. Beduce criticism to a science, or elimi- 

 nate the element of impressionism, and the result is 

 no longer literature. The reason may be convinced, 

 but the emotions are untouched. 



The one thing that distinguishes all modern lit- 

 eratures from the works of the ancient or classic 

 period is their more permanent subjectivity, and the 

 piercing lyrical note in them. 



Self-expression has been the aim of the modern 

 artist in a much fuller sense than it was with the 

 artists of the pagan world. Our religion is a per- 

 sonal and subjective religion, — the kingdom of 

 heaven is within. Christianity turned the thoughts 

 of men upon themselves. Self-examination, self-crit- 

 icism began. Man became conscious of himself, of 

 his sins, and of his shortcomings, and learned to be 

 more interested in the elements of his own character. 



There is probably no greater delusion than that 

 under which the critic labors when he thinks he is 

 trying the new work by the standard of the best that 

 has been thought and achieved in the world. He is 

 trying it by his own conception of that standard ; 

 so much of it as is vital in his own mind he can 

 apply, and no more. His own individual taste and 

 judgment are, after all, his tests. The standard of 

 the best is not some rule of thumb or of yardstick 

 that every one can apply ; only the best can apply 

 the best. 



