2023-03-26 16:28:59 by ambuda-bot
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xi
being to place the pieces in the proper position
ding to directions supplied.
Such in brief is the judgment which a modern
er may form of the epic. But in judging a poet,
nust judge him by his own standards and not by
We must take into consideration a large number
actors. We must not ignore the conditions of the
n which he lived. The poetry of Shelley and Keats
objectionable to Matthew Arnold, and a modern
ent of English literature seldom enjoys the poetry
ryden and Pope. Still Dryden and Pope had their
, as Shelley is dominating the taste of modern critics.
t I want to emphasise is that Dryden and Pope
a genius for poetry which was as free to find ex-
sion in the epic style as the genius of Shelley was to
ess itself in lyrics. Free ideas and revolutionary
ons of one age crystallise into orthodox beliefs and
as of a later age. The epic style and the classical
were no more an obsession and an impediment to
poetic genius in the eighteenth century than the
al style and the restlessness of the romantic school
to the nineteenth century.
We must have some clear notions of shackles and
lom. Water forms itself into a vast unmoving sheet
3s there are the two banks between which it can flow
y. When the rain sets in fresh volumes of water
freely along the dry bed of the river after every
ner, no matter that the bed was formed previously.
tation in itself is no obstruction to genius. There is
ar difference between bondage and limitation. There
being to place the pieces in the proper position
ding to directions supplied.
Such in brief is the judgment which a modern
er may form of the epic. But in judging a poet,
nust judge him by his own standards and not by
We must take into consideration a large number
actors. We must not ignore the conditions of the
n which he lived. The poetry of Shelley and Keats
objectionable to Matthew Arnold, and a modern
ent of English literature seldom enjoys the poetry
ryden and Pope. Still Dryden and Pope had their
, as Shelley is dominating the taste of modern critics.
t I want to emphasise is that Dryden and Pope
a genius for poetry which was as free to find ex-
sion in the epic style as the genius of Shelley was to
ess itself in lyrics. Free ideas and revolutionary
ons of one age crystallise into orthodox beliefs and
as of a later age. The epic style and the classical
were no more an obsession and an impediment to
poetic genius in the eighteenth century than the
al style and the restlessness of the romantic school
to the nineteenth century.
We must have some clear notions of shackles and
lom. Water forms itself into a vast unmoving sheet
3s there are the two banks between which it can flow
y. When the rain sets in fresh volumes of water
freely along the dry bed of the river after every
ner, no matter that the bed was formed previously.
tation in itself is no obstruction to genius. There is
ar difference between bondage and limitation. There