THOU SHALT NOT PKEACH 141 



mood, says the author of " The Subconscious Self," 

 " is, in its essence, receptive, contemplative, distinctly 

 personal, and therefore free from purpose and con- 

 scious selection." " Whenever a work of art is the 

 vehicle for an idea or purpose outside of its essential 

 form, it falls short of being a pure art creation, and 

 fails in its appeal to the aesthetic mood, whilst, be 

 it conceded, it may serve some other but secondary 

 purpose, which belongs to the province of the archae- 

 ologist, the art historian, and the collector," and, 

 we may add, the moralist and preacher. Words- 

 worth's poet was content if he "might enjoy the 

 things that others understood," and this is always 

 characteristic of the poetic mood. Absorption, con- 

 templation, enjoyment, and not criticism and reflec- 

 tion, are as the air it breathes. Byron was a great 

 poet, but, said Goethe, " the moment he reflects, he 

 is a child." It is better that the poet should not 

 be a child when he reflects, but it is much more 

 important that he be a child when he feels. His 

 power as a poet does not lie in the reflective facul- 

 ties, but in the direct, joyous, solvent power of his 

 spirit. 



We do not find our individual selves in great 

 art, but the humanity of which we are partakers. 

 Something is brought home to us ; but not to our 

 partialities, rather to our higher selves. We are 

 never so little selfish and hampered by our individ- 

 ualism as when admiring a great work of the imagi- 

 nation. No doubt our modern world calls for doc- 

 tors of the soul in a sense that the more healthful 



