,,the ,,philosophy ,,of ,,fine ,,art ,,by ,g4 ,w4 ,f4 ,,hegel ,,translated1 ,,with ,,notes1 ,,by ,f4 ,p4 ,b4 ,,osmaston1 ,b4,a4 ,,author ,,of ,,the ,,art ,,and ,,genius ,,of ,,tintoret1 ,,an ,,essay ,,on ,,the ,,future ,,of ,,poetry1 ,,and ,,other ,,works ,,vol4 ,,iv ,,london ,g4 ,,bell ,,and ,,sons1 ,,ltd4 #aibj ,,contents ,,of ,,vol4 ,,iv ,,subsection ,,iii ,,the ,,romantic ,,arts--continued ,,chapter ,,iii ,,poetry ,introduction ,summary and contrast between poetry and the other particular arts4 ,its relation to the other two romantic arts4 ,absence of all external sensuous presence4 ,poetry appeals to imaginative vision4 ,not so direct as sense-perception4 ,advantage over painting through its ability to display facts in their historical succession or natural process4 ,far profounder and more extended embrace of world of idea than in music2 due to its greater power of definition in speech and its use of tone merely as a subordinate instrument4 ,the content of poetry is the ideal envisagement of imaginative content itself4 ,everything made intelligible by language may form part of content1 subject to the condition that it is poetical4 ,analysis of what this condition implies4 ,the imagination of artist must be ,contributive2 distinction from mere prose consciousness and thinking4 ,in its entire independence of the material of sense it may be defined as the universal art4 ,the material is the imagination1 and as such conjoint with all the arts4 ,it is1 however1 not the only art open to philosophical review on this ground4 ,it marks1 however1 the commencement of the disintegration of ,art1 its bridge of passage to the notion of religion and philosophical thought ,subdivision of subject-matter ,i4 ,poetical composition as distinguished from that of ,prose #a4 ,the poetical and prosaic composition 7a7 ,the world of natural or prosaic fact relatively excluded4 ,primarily what it deals with is the infinite domain of ,spirit and the energies of its life 7b7 ,distinction between poetical and prosaic conception #ba 77 ,poetical anterior to the prosaic form of artistic speech4 ,it is the original imaginative grasp of truth4 ,dates from first effort of man at self-expression4 ,endeavours to make that expression of a higher virtue than mere prose 77 ,the kind of prose life from which poetry is separate postulates a different kind of conception and speech4 ,the finite categories of the understanding applicable to the former4 ,the ideal rationale of fact is aimed at by poetry4 ,its affinity with and distinction from pure thought 77 ,difference between the relation of poetic conception to prosaic in early times and more modern1 where the prosaic form of life has become stereotyped in a definite system 7c7 ,the nature of the differentiation of poetical activity in different ages and nations 77 ,it has no particular epoch of unique celebration4 ,it embraces the collective ,spirit of man4 ,it is conditioned by the outlook of various nations and epochs 77 ,some of these have closer affinity with its essential spirit1 e4g41 the ,oriental in comparison with the ,western nations1 if we exclude ,greece 77 ,modern interest in ,hellenic and certain portions of ,oriental poetry #b4 ,the ,art-product of poetry and prose 7a7 ,the artistic composition of poetry generally 77 ,it must possess intrinsic unity4 ,the action must be conceived as that of particular men or women4 ,there must be vital coalescence of characters1 events1 and actions4 ,unity in the nature of a process and a differentiation of parts which coalesce therein 77 ,nature of this organic differentiation and synthesis4 ,tendency of ,art to particularization4 ,delight in detail4 ,nature of its treatment of such detail4 ,result1 a secure self-subsistency 77 ,substantive unity preserved4 ,display of particular features1 despite all opposition1 must combine in a union of mysterious accord4 ,the unity is essential and organic4 ,it is the soul of the entirety4 ,parallel in musical trichord4 ,varied type of artistic form in the ,epic1 the ,drama1 and the ,lyric 7b7 ,history and oratory compared with the poetical product 77 ,the arts of history and oratory come into closest affinity with poetical composition4 ,history implies great ends1 cannot rest content with mere chronicles4 ,herodotus1 ,thucydides1 ,xenophon1 and ,tacitus4 ,products of the art of language1 but not entirely free art4 ,the nature of the historical content prohibits this4 ,the prosaic element in the historical age and the historical treatment defined 77 ,oratory appears to be closer to the freedom of ,art4 ,the orator appeals to the whole man4 ,it is directed to the enunciation of principles4 ,it is none the less almost wholly relative to the rule of practical utility4 ,religious oratory4 ,it is in the service of a collateral purpose 7c7 ,the free poetical work of ,art 77 ,the attitude of the poet in his work1 to contingent and insignificant fact and local conditions1 actions1 events1 etc4 77 ,the end of ,art not practical as in oratory4 ,nor is it to edification4 ,poems d'occasion 77 ,it is an essentially infinite 7self-rounded7 organism4 ,permeated with a principle of unity4 ,independent of any one particular condition of ,life or ,nature #c4 ,the creative impulse of the ,poet 7a7 ,less under restriction in respect to his medium4 ,the problem proposed in one respect more easy1 and in another more difficult than that of the other arts4 ,technical control of the medium which is easier makes the demand for imaginative penetration the greater 7b7 ,being operative in the realm of imaginative idea itself poetry has to guard against encroaching upon the spheres of religion1 philosophy1 and the ordinary consciousness as such #ec 7c7 ,to a greater extent than in the other arts the poet has transfused the external mode of envisagement1 which he creates1 with the vitality of soul-life4 ,mohammedan poetry4 ,the creative energy must be absolutely free from all restrictions imposed by the material handled ,,ii4 ,the ,expression of ,poetry #a4 ,the poetical ,conception 7a7 ,poetical conception in its origins ,in its origin not consciously distinct from the prosaic or scientific consciousness4 ,in general terms the poetic imagination is plastic4 ,illustration of difference between the concrete poetical image and the abstract concept 7b7 ,distinction between poetic mode of conception and that of prose4 ,language of poetical metaphor and imagery less accurate than the definition of prosaic fact 7c7 ,exceptional difficulties which confront the poet of a world where the distinction between ordinary prose life and imagination is emphasised4 ,artificial appearance of his creations4 ,difficulty of retaining spontaneous simplicity and freshness #b4 ,verbal ,expression 7a7 ,poetical speech generally ,another mode of speech necessitated by the fact that the world of poetry and art in general should not be identical with that of ordinary life1 or that of science and religion #fe 7b7 ,the means by which this is realized 77 ,particular words and expressions only proper to poetry4 ,entitled to borrow from language forms obsolete in ordinary speech4 ,the invention exercised in creating novel modes of utterance 77 ,the relative order of words admits of change2 how the licence in this respect may be abused and degenerate into rhetoric and declamation 77 ,the periods of poetical construction composed in accordance with the ideality of the soul-experience embodied 7c7 ,distinctions in the use of these means 77 ,poetry in the age where poetry is the one revealer of spiritual truth4 ,force of creative power and simplicity of diction most obvious features4 ,creation of a poetic diction by ,dante 77 ,distinction from above in an age where prose diction already elaborated4 ,expression of poetry becomes more elaborate and eventually more self-conscious and rhetorical4 ,the poetry of ,rome4 ,the satire4 ,spanish poetry 77 ,the nature of genuine poetical expression4 ,spontaneity above all essential #c4 ,versification4 ,only a superficial view would banish it4 ,it is implied in the demand that the medium should be elaborated by ,art and that the realm entered should be other than every-day life 7a7 ,rhythmical ,versification 7that is1 without rhyme7 77 ,made by time-duration and the movement4 ,starting point in the natural length and shortness of syllables4 ,the distinctions of the sound of words in consonants and vowels contribute the basis of this4 ,description and illustration4 ,poetry regulates the accidental interchange of various syllables and words4 ,time-duration4 ,nature of dactyl1 anapaest1 etc4 ,it further regulates the particular time-relations in a series of verse-lines4 ,the iambic metre1 etc4 ,problem of time-beats in the metre of the ancients4 ,no necessity as in music for abstract time-beat 77 ,the accent and caesura4 ,every time-relation has its particular accent4 ,particular feet ought not with abstract precision to be identical with beginning and conclusion of single words4 ,the caesura checks the monotony of measure4 ,further independent verbal accent4 ,fundamental influence on the measure of the poetical idea4 ,also a definite type of content corresponds with the entire character of a particular verse-measure4 ,the use of hexameter1 elegiacs1 and iambics in this respect 77 ,rhythmical versification embraces the actual musical sound of syllables and words4 ,the stem-syllable in the ,greek and ,latin languages4 ,aspects of the ,german language in this respect4 ,in modern languages the element of rhythm less room for display4 ,this in itself necessitates the alternative of rhyme as a resistant against the too exclusive assertion of ideal content 7b7 ,rhyme 77 ,rhyme a necessary feature of romantic poetry4 ,closer approximation to music4 ,reaction against the stringent character of ,roman poetry4 ,source of rhyme in ,germanic languages 77 ,difference between two systems4 ,rhythmical versification supreme in ,hellenic poetry4 ,most important change effected that of the validity of the national quantity in the older system4 ,this replaced by the intrinsic meaning of syllables and words4 ,french and ,italian poetry an extreme example of the collapse of the former system4 ,the necessity of rhyme and its character analysed 77 ,the types of modern romantic poetry4 ,its alliteration1 assonance1 and ordinary rhyme4 ,scandinavian poetry4 ,not necessary for assonant words to come only at conclusion of line4 ,rhyme is the fulfilment of alliteration and assonance4 ,pre-eminently the form of lyric poetry4 ,examples 7c7 ,the union of rhythm and rhyme 77 ,attempt made in modern times to return to the natural quantity of syllables4 ,not generally successful4 ,overwhelming importance in modern verse of intelligible significance and the accent thus asserted 77 ,not possible to retain the plastic consistency of the metrical medium as secured by classical poetry4 ,modern languages do not possess the stable quantitative basis 77 ,the combination equivalent to the absorption by modern versification of the older system4 ,the significance of the identical repetition of the same time-measure4 ,modern imitation of sapphics and alcaics based on a contradiction ,,iii4 ,the ,several ,generic ,types of ,poetry ,introduction and ,division of ,subject ,a4 ,epic ,poetry #a4 ,general character of ,epic poetry 7a7 ,epigrams and ,gnomes 7b7 ,philosophical didactic poems1 ,cosmogonies and ,theogonies 7c7 ,the genuine ,epopaea 77 ,the saga1 the bible of a folk4 ,not every national bible can rank as ,epos4 ,greeks possess no ancient religious books resembling ,hindoo literature 77 ,not necessarily composed in the heroic time itself4 ,homer4 ,views expressed which belong to earlier times 77 ,position of the epic poet4 ,his work a free creation4 ,he must feel at home in the world he depicts4 ,objective independence of composition4 ,the work of one artist #b4 ,particular ,characteristics of true ,epos 7a7 ,the general ,world-condition of the ,epos 77 ,a positive social state conjoined to primitive simplicity4 ,intuitive sense of right the support of moral order4 ,vital human association with nature and particular objects possessed4 ,heroic condition1 e4g41 that of free individuality4 ,examples4 ,expresses entire horizon of national condition 77 ,the mirror must be of one particular people4 ,the ,hellenic spirit in ,homer4 ,a foreign locale not necessarily prejudicial to artistic effect4 ,the remoteness to present ideas of the ,niebelungen ,lied 77 ,main event of poem must be a deliberately conceived purpose4 ,it must imply collisions4 ,the belligerent condition most pertinent4 ,the ,odyssey not only an exception4 ,courage the fundamental interest4 ,justification of such attitude 7b7 ,the individual ,epic action 77 ,must be one of individual vitality4 ,must appropriate form of an event1 and the happening of such4 ,analysis4 ,problem of an absolute ,epos4 ,mere biography not most complete subject-matter4 ,the ,divine ,comedy only partially an exception 77 ,question of human personality implied4 ,epic character must be a totality4 ,achilles1 the ,cid1 and other heroes1 discussed4 ,circumstances as active as persons4 ,illustrations 77 ,the form under which the intrinsic significance of the occurrence proclaims itself1 whether as ideal ,necessity or disclosed spiritual forces4 ,destiny4 ,what it defines4 ,general tone of sadness in the ,epic4 ,different modes of appearance4 ,poems of ,ossian1 and others4 ,loss of original freshness in ,latin poetry4 ,virgil 7c7 ,the ,epos as unified totality 77 ,the unity of the assumed general background and the individuals therein4 ,humanity displayed in its entire collective relation of all interests and occupations4 ,the individual event4 ,the commencement of the ,iliad and ,odyssey 77 ,the difference between the epic mode of disclosure and that of the ,lyric or drama4 ,greater extension of range4 ,in the epic work character may give way to external condition4 ,objective nature of its exposition4 ,motivisation of drama and the ,epic entirely different4 ,examples from ,homer and modern poetry 77 ,nature of unity of ,epos4 ,though not of most importance essential to artistic result4 ,insistence upon fundamental unity of the ,homeric poems4 ,epic unity within a national whole4 ,distinction from dramatic action4 ,the ,idyll4 ,the novel as the ,epopaea of modern society #c4 ,the historical development of epic ,poetry 7a7 ,the ,oriental ,epos 77 ,epos of ,hindoos and ,persians4 ,the sense of the unity of the ,one ,substance 77 ,contrast between ,hindoo and ,persian ,epos4 ,the ,ramajana and ,maha-,bharata 77 ,hebrew ,epic poetry 7b7 ,epic poetry of ,greece and ,rome 77 ,essential unity of ,iliad and ,odyssey4 ,the ne plus ultra of attainment4 ,the cyclic poets 77 ,roman ,epos cannot compare in quality with the ,greek prototype 7c7 ,the ,romantic ,epos4 ,the poems of ,ossian4 ,the ,edda4 ,national character of epic poems of ,middle ,ages4 ,the ,cid4 ,the peculiar nature of ,dante's ,divine ,comedy4 ,the poems relating to ,charlemagne1 ,king ,arthur1 etc4 ,the revolt against ,chivalry in ,ariosto and ,cervantes4 ,the ,lysiad of ,camoens4 ,milton's ,paradise ,lost and ,klopstock's ,messias ,b4 ,lyric ,poetry #a4 ,general character of lyric poetry 7a7 ,the content of lyric poetry 77 ,not merely translation of content from immediacy of experience4 ,creation of object purified from the incidental mood4 ,deliverance thus effected4 ,self-expression not the development of objective action4 ,we have the universal as such4 ,the entire sphere of human belief1 religion1 art1 and to some extent scientific thought comprised as they fall into a personal view of the world 77 ,aspect of particularity4 ,the ,eumenides chorus in the ,cranes of ,ibicus4 ,the ,elegy and ,epistle 77 ,emphasis throughout on personal feeling4 ,parallel with genre painting4 ,contingency of content4 ,growth of whole in temperament 7b7 ,the form of the same 77 ,unity different from that of ,epos4 ,mysterious intimacy of personal mood4 ,approximates to ,epos in heroic songs1 ballads1 and romances4 ,the ,greek ,anthology 77 ,poems d'occasion4 ,personal aspect4 ,pindaric ,odes4 ,goethe4 ,individual soul supplied focus of unity rather than positive reality 77 ,point of departure an external occurrence either in personal experience or that of others4 ,element of narrative as in songs of ,anacreon 7c7 ,the external culture condition of the ,lyric4 77 ,different from that of ,epic4 ,not limited to one particular epoch1 but exceptionally displayed in modern times4 ,folk-songs and the lyric poem 77 ,possesses a power of free expansion into all kinds of subject-matter1 a free recognition of imaginative conception no less than artistic activity 77 ,the philosophical lyric poem4 ,a false and a genuine style compared4 ,schiller's poetry #b4 ,particular aspects of the ,lyric 7a7 ,the lyric poet 77 ,the poet himself supplies the principle of combination4 ,he is the focus of unity #bad 77 ,spontaneity of result4 ,sings because he cannot help it4 ,his object himself4 ,self-respect4 ,pindar and ,klopstock 77 ,creative in dealing with personal experience4 ,goethe a fine example 7b7 ,the lyric work of art 77 ,the unity of the ,lyric4 ,springs from memory or vivid association of poet4 ,the formal unity of self-conscious life4 ,mood must be defined in its concreteness1 not tend too much to generalization 77 ,nature of the progressive disclosure of content4 ,the principle of the ,lyric is assimilation4 ,poems limited to local description4 ,mainly a definition of emotional forces made vital in objects as seen by the inward eye4 ,episodes permissible4 ,passionate intensity in its freedom 77 ,external form of the ,lyric4 ,variety of metres4 ,varied use of caesura4 ,strophes which admit of much alternation1 both as to length of line1 and their rhythmic structure4 ,musical sound of words and syllables4 ,free use of assonance1 alliteration and rhyme1 especially the diversified use of last-mentioned4 ,association with musical accompaniment 7c7 ,types of the genuine ,lyric 77 ,hymns1 dithyrambs1 paeans and psalms4 ,personal religious emotion4 ,greek treatment of chorus4 ,psalms of ,old ,testament 77 ,personal life of poet the subject-matter4 ,not so much the subject as the enthusiasm or personal note4 ,pindaric ,odes4 ,horace4 ,klopstock 77 ,the song as such4 ,a field of blossom ever starting anew4 ,the ,oriental and ,western type4 ,anacreon4 ,protestant hymns4 ,sonnet1 elegy1 epistle1 etc4 ,dithyrambic emotion of ,schiller #bcj #c4 ,historical evolution of the ,lyric 7a7 ,oriental lyrical poetry ,vital absorption in the object4 ,objective character as compared with pure romantic4 ,hymns of exaltation4 ,metaphor1 image1 and simile particularly favoured4 ,present in ,chinese1 ,hindoo1 ,hebrew1 ,arab and ,persian poetry 7b7 ,the ,lyric of the ,greeks and ,romans ,general character that of classic individuality4 ,image and metaphor not so largely used4 ,emphasizes mainly on the sensuous verbal quantity in the rhythm of its movement4 ,the dance not unfrequently attached4 ,point of departure hymns4 ,elegiac measure4 ,the lyric of the chorus4 ,pindar4 ,roman lyric less original 7c7 ,romantic ,lyric4 ,in certain nations epic material treated as lyrical narrative4 ,lyric composition of modern nations still pagan4 ,in the ,christian ,middle ,ages4 ,that based on the principle of ,protestantism4 ,klopstock and his influence ,c4 ,dramatic ,poetry #a4 ,the ,drama as a poetic work of art 7a7 ,the principle of dramatic poetry 77 ,depends on conditions of collision1 human passion1 and characters4 ,leads to action and resolution 77 ,mediation between epic and lyric poetry4 ,has to bring before vision action or event1 but it is self-conscious personality which is the vital force4 ,dramatic action must submit to a process of development4 ,has to exhibit not so much lyrical emotion as situation4 ,action the executed will recognized as such in its ultimate purpose4 ,the external world only borrowed in so far as it is bound to this purpose4 ,more concentrated than the ,epic4 ,action so treated that it inevitably meets with opposition4 ,nature of the divine forces operative4 ,the ,drama propounds the vital energy of a principle of ,necessity 77 ,the nature of the demand on the dramatic poet in respect to the divine energy4 ,the drama is the resolution of the one-sided aspect of these powers1 the self-stability whereof is disclosed in dramatic character 7b7 ,dramatic ,composition 77 ,the unity as contrasted with the ,epos and the ,lyric4 ,unity of place1 time1 and action4 ,first no support to from ,aristotle4 ,nature of demand upon the imagination relative to fact of direct vision4 ,unity of action alone invariable4 ,romantic drama less consistent than classical4 ,examples from ,shakespeare 77 ,mode of dnouement4 ,embrace of material in ,epos more extensive4 ,mean between that and lyrical poetry4 ,true dramatic progression1 a continuous movement onwards to catastrophe4 ,possesses a beginning1 middle and end4 ,aristotle4 ,significance of acts and their number4 ,in ,english1 ,french1 and ,german drama generally five 77 ,nature of means1 e4g41 dramatic diction1 etc4 ,realistic mode of expression as contrasted with one conventional to the theatre4 ,must neither be too formal nor too unpolished or colloquial4 ,choral interlude1 monologue1 and dialogue4 ,verse-measure mainly iambic 7c7 ,the relation of the dramatic composition to the ,public 77 ,distinct ,public to cater for and under obligation to it4 ,fashion of ,german writers to scorn the ,public4 ,mistaken view4 ,how far possible to reproduce foreign or ancient drama 77 ,dramatis personae must be vital not merely personified interests4 ,real emphasis on the collision involved4 ,goethe's ,iphigeneia 77 ,attitude of poet himself4 ,the impression of the whole as the product of one original creative force most important4 ,necessity that the dramatic poet master the eternal and essential foundation of human character and action4 ,worst case where he seeks to flatter a popular prejudice4 ,reference to contemporary event4 ,aristophanes4 ,didactic matter only admissible in so far as it is no bar to the freedom of the entire artistic product #b4 ,the external ,technique of a dramatic ,composition 7a7 ,the reading or recitation of a dramatic work 77 ,true sensuous medium of drama the human voice4 ,modern plays often impracticable in the theatre4 ,contrast of ,greek drama in this respect 77 ,plays written for perusal only4 ,theatrical reproduction a real test of dramatic vitality4 ,question whether dramatic works should be printed 77 ,perusal no sufficient test of the acting possibilities of a drama4 ,recitation subject to the serious restriction that it is the expression of one voice only 7b7 ,the art of the ,actor 77 ,among the ,greeks acting affiliated to sculpture4 ,ancients added music to declamation4 ,means of interpretation in motion of the body4 ,the dance4 ,plastic character of ,greek performance 77 ,speech used solely as spiritual expression in modern acting4 ,coalescence of actor's personality with his rle4 ,facial expression4 ,increase particularisation in modern character4 ,illustrations4 ,increase of difficulties4 ,modern actor an artist 7c7 ,the theatrical art which is more independent of ,poetry 77 ,plays written for the display of the particular talent of actors4 ,the ,italian commedia dell' arte4 ,french attitude to audience 77 ,modern opera4 ,luxurious display of scenic accessories4 ,schiller's ,maid of ,orleans4 ,mozart's ,magic ,flute 77 ,the ,ballet4 ,the proper subordination of the dance #c4 ,types of dramatic poetry and the chief phases of their historical development 7a7 ,the principle of ,tragedy1 ,comedy1 and the ,play 77 ,the principle as associated with tragedy in its essential and primitive form4 ,the content of tragic action supplied by spiritual forces which carry with them their own justification1 e4g41 love of husband1 wife1 parents1 or children1 patriotism1 social life1 etc4 ,the substance in which the greatness and stability of the tragic hero consists4 ,theme of primitive tragedy generally the godlike in its mundane character4 ,forces realized as the determinate aim of human pathos4 ,a collision in which both aspects are justified from one point of view4 ,tragic resolution of division4 ,meaning of ,aristotle's dictum that tragedy excites and purifies fear and pity4 ,sense of reconciliation #bie 77 ,in ,tragedy what is eternally substantive is vindicated under a mode of reconciliation4 ,in ,comedy the purely personal experience retains the mastery throughout4 ,nature of social basis of comedy4 ,the comic4 ,the conception of it in ,molire and ,aristophanes4 ,requires a resolution even more strongly than tragedy 77 ,the ,satyric drama4 ,plautus4 ,the modern dramatic play4 ,illustrations from classical drama4 ,boundary lines fluctuate more than in the case of genuine tragedy and comedy4 ,tendency to pass from poetic form altogether4 ,theatrical pieces exhibited for mere display of histrionic talent or psychological analysis1 or as a mere social relaxation 7b7 ,the difference between ancient and modern ,drama 77 ,no genuine ,oriental dramatic art4 ,principle of individual freedom4 ,origins among ,hindoos and ,chinese 77 ,true beginning among the ,hellenes4 ,the universal and substantive content of the end1 which individuals seek to achieve4 ,exceptional plot and intrigue and varied display of individual character not emphasized 77 ,in modern drama it is rather the destiny of some particular character under exceptional circumstances which forms the subject-matter4 ,interest directed not so much to ethical vindication and destiny as to the isolation of the individual and his conditions4 ,crime as a motive not excluded4 ,formal greatness of character demanded4 ,variety of characterization1 and maze of plot and intrigue4 ,in tragedy further the paramount presence of a more exalted order of the world1--whether conceived as ,providence or ,fatality1--accepted 7c7 ,the concrete development of dramatic poetry and its types 77 ,greek drama4 ,roman drama an attenuated reflection4 ,survey limited to schylus1 ,sophocles1 and ,aristophanes4 ,background of ancient tragedy the heroic condition4 ,analysis of modes under which ethical content of human action asserted4 ,the unsevered consciousness of the godlike and the combating human action1 presented under the form of chorus and heroic figures4 ,significance of chorus4 ,opposition between social obligation and private sense of duty4 ,antigone4 ,modern conception of guilt and innocence no place in ,greek tragedy in strict sense4 ,final end reconciliation of forces of human action4 ,such a dnouement not merely an ethical issue4 ,contrast between such and the ,justice of the ,greek ,epos4 ,illustrations4 ,antigone4 dipus4 ,orestes4 ,conception of old classical ,comedy4 ,the laughter of the ,olympian gods made present in man4 ,aristophanes 77 ,modern dramatic art 7i7 ,the ends which ought to come into the process of the action as the content of the characters4 ,borrowed from the concrete world of religious and social life4 ,not however1 the particular ethical forces as of individuals which assert them1 e4g41 ,christ1 the saints1 kings1 vassals1 and members of ruling families4 ,features of the private life accepted not within scope of ancient drama4 ,personal love1 honour1 etc4 make an exclusive appeal4 ,faust4 ,wallenstein4 ,generally it is the inner experience of soul-life which demands satisfaction4 ,comparison of problem of ,hamlet with that of the ,choephorae4 7ii7 ,nature of characters and collisions4 ,conflict abides essentially in the character itself4 ,abstract characterization of ,french and ,italian poetry1 also ,spanish4 ,in contrast to this that of the ,english1 and above all ,shakespeare4 ,goethe and ,schiller4 ,vacillation of character4 ,king ,lear4 7iii7 ,nature of tragic issue4 ,justice of more abstract nature than in ancient tragedy4 ,the issue as the effect of misfortune4 ,romeo and ,juliet1 a kind of unhappy blessedness in misfortune4 ,social plays the link between tragedy and comedy4 ,as a rule the triumph of ordinary morality celebrated4 ,modern comedy4 ,question whether folly is ridiculous only to others1 or to the comic character also4 ,the second type mainly that of ,aristophanes1 the first that of ,molire4 ,invention of the intrigue or intricate plot4 ,comparison of ,shakespeare's comedy with that of ,aristophanes ,final ,summary and ,conclusion ,,third ,,part ,,the ,,system ,,of ,,the ,,particular ,,arts ,,subsection ,,iii ,,the ,,romantic ,,arts 7,,continued7 ,,the ,,philosophy ,,of ,,fine ,,art ,,chapter ,,iii ,,poetry ,,introduction ,i ,the temple of classical architecture demands a god1 who resides therein4 ,sculpture exhibits the same in plastic beauty1 and confers forms on the material it employs for this purpose1 which do not in their nature remain external to what is spiritual1 but are the form itself immanent in the defined content4 ,the corporeality1 however1 and sensuousness1 no less than the ideal universality of the sculptured figure1 are opposed on the one hand to subjective ideality1 and in part to the particularity of the individual1 in whose element the content of the religious1 no less than also the worldly life1 must secure reality by virtue of a novel form of art4 ,this mode of expression1 which is of subjective import1 and at the same time particularized in its characterization1 the art of painting itself contributes under the principle of the plastic arts4 ,in other words it subordinates the realistic expression of form to the more ideal presentment of colour1 and makes the expression of the ideality of soul the central point#a of the presentment4 ,the universal sphere1 however1 in which these arts are motived1 the one in the ideal of symbolism1 the other in the plastic ideal1 the third in the romantic type1 is the sensuous or external form of spirit and natural objects4 ,the spiritual content possesses1 however1 as essentially appertinent to the ideality of consciousness1 a determinate existence which is for this ideality at the same time foreign to the medium itself of the external appearance and envisagement presented to it by material form4 ,from this foreign element it is further necessary that it removes its conceptions in order to place them in a realm which1 in respect to material no less than the mode of expression1 is independently of an ideal or subjective character4 ,this was the forward step which we saw music make1 in so far as it embodied pure ideality and subjective emotion in the configurations of essentially resonant sound rather than in visible forms4 ,it1 however1 passed by this very means into a further extreme1 that is1 an ideal mode of concentration not fully explicit1 whose content in musical tones itself only found symbolic expression4 ,for tone taken by itself is without content1 and has its definition in the numerical relations1 so that what is qualitative in the spiritual content no doubt generally corresponds to these quantitative relations which are expressed in essential differences1 oppositions1 and mediation1 but in its qualitative determinacy is not entirely able to receive its impression in musical tone4 ,if this aspect is not wholly to fail the art of music must1 by reason of its onesidedness1 summon to its assistance the more definite articulation of language1 and requires for its more secure attachment to particularity and the characteristic expression of the content a text1 without which it is unable to complete fully the ideality which is poured forth by means of musical tones4 ,by virtue of this expression of ideas and emotions1 the abstract ideality of music receives a clearer and more secure exposition4 ,at the same time what we have here unfolded by its means is1 to a certain extent1 not the point of view of idea and the artistic mode adapted to its expression1 but merely the emotional life as it accompanies the same2 also in part we find that here1 too1 music entirely divests itself of fusion with the verbal text in order to develop its own movement without restraint in the world of tone simply4 ,for this reason the realm of idea1 which is unable to remain under ,i such a more purely abstract mode of ideal intensity1 and seeks a configuration in a world which embraces its one homogeneous and concrete reality1 breaks away on its part likewise from the bond of music1 and in the exclusive art of poetry discovers the adequate realization it demands4 ,poetry1 in other words the art of human speech1 is the third or final step1 the totality1 which unites and embraces in a yet higher sphere1 in the sphere of the very life of ,spirit itself#b1 the two extremes of the plastic arts and music4 ,for on the one hand poetry contains just as music does the principle which apprehends an ideal content in its ideality1 the principle which in architecture1 sculpture1 and painting is lost1 or at most incompletely asserted4 ,and on the other hand it expatiates itself1 under the modes of ideal conception1 intuition1 and feeling simply1 in an objective world1 which does not entirely destroy the defined forms of sculpture and painting1 and is capable of unfolding all the conditions of an event1 a succession or interchange of emotional states1 passions1 conceptions1 and the exclusive course of human action with more completeness than any other art4 #b4 ,but in a still more intimate way the art of poetry constitutes a third or final term in its relation to painting and music regarded as the romantic arts4 7a7 ,one reason of this is that its principle is that generally of an intelligence which has nothing further to do with gross matter as such1 seeking1 as is the case with architecture1 to transform it through symbolism to an environment related analogically to spiritual life1 or as in the case of sculpture in order to implant upon material substance the natural form congenial to such life under the spatial condition of its expression4 ,what the end is now is to express immediately for mind the manifestations of ,spirit with all its ideas of imagination and art1 without setting forth their external and visible bodily presence4 ,and a further reason consists in this1 that poetry is able to grasp in the form of ideality itself and with a far greater wealth than is possible for music or painting1 not merely the innermost actuality of conscious life1 but also what is particular and individual in external existence1 and equally able to contrast such facts in the complete diversity of their specific traits and accidental peculiarities4 7b7 ,the art of poetry is1 however1 as totality1 also again1 from another point of view1 essentially to be distinguished from the above-mentioned arts whose fundamental qualities it thus in a measure combines4 77 ,in this respect1 if we compare it with painting1 the latter art is throughout at an advantage1 where it is of importance to bring before our senses a content under the condition of its external appearance4 ,it is true no doubt that poetry is able by various means to envisualize objects precisely in the way that for the imagination generally the principle of objectification is made real to our intuitive sense4 ,but in so far as conceptive power1 in the element of which poetry pre-eminently moves1 is of a spiritual nature and implies the presence of the universality of thought1 it is incapable of attaining the definition of sensuous perception4 ,on the other hand1 the varied traits which poetry brings together1 in order to make the concrete form of a content visible1 do not fall as with painting into one and the same totality1 which is set before us wholly as a simultaneous appearance of all its details1 but they break apart1 inasmuch as the imagination can only give us the complexity it contains under the form of succession4 ,this is1 however1 only a defect from the sensuous point of view1 a defect which reason is able in its own way to rectify4 ,that is to say1 inasmuch as human speech1 even in the case where it endeavours to summon before our sight a concrete object1 is not concerned with the sensuous apprehension of an immediate external object1 but always with the ideal relation1 the mental intuition1 for this reason the particular characteristics1 albeit they are set before us in a series1 are nevertheless fused together in the element of one essentially homogeneous spirit1 which is able to qualify the effect of succession1 to bring the varied array into one picture1 and to secure and enjoy this picture in imaginative contemplation4 ,moreover1 this deficiency of sensuous realization and objective definition1 when we contrast poetry with painting1 brings as a contrary result the possibility of an incalculable superfluity of material4 ,for inasmuch as the poetic art in painting restricts itself to a determinate space1 and even more to a distinct moment in a situation or action1 for this reason it is prevented from portraying an object in its entire ideal profundity no less than in the extension of its temporal development4 ,but what is true is throughout concrete in the sense that it comprises within its embrace a unity of essential determinations4 ,in its phenomenal appearance1 however1 these are not merely unfolded as a co-existent spatial phenomenon but in a temporal series as a history1 whose course painting is only able to present in a relatively inadequate manner4 ,even in the case of every stalk1 every tree1 each has in this sense its history1 a change1 sequence1 and exclusive whole of varied conditions4 ,and this is even more true of the sphere of spirit1 which can only be exhaustively portrayed as veritable spirit in phenomenal guise when it is set before our imagination as such a process4 77 ,we have already seen that poetry possesses for its external medium that of tone in common with music4 ,the wholly external1 or1 as we might say in the false sense of the expression1 the objective material in the progressive series of the particular arts finally vanishes in the subjective medium of sound1 which is divested of all visibility1 and which suffers an ideal content only to be apprehended by a conscious state independent of sight4#c ,for music1 however1 the configuration of musical tone as such is the essential end4 ,for although the soul in the course and movement of melody and its harmonic relations presents what is ideal in objects1 or its own ideal content1 to the emotional life2 yet the ideality thus presented is not pure ideality1 but the human soul interwoven in the closest way with the musical tone as its expression1 and the configuration of such musical expression which confers on music its true character4 ,so much is this the case that music receives its independent position as an art just in proportion as the animation given by it to the emotional life is more emphasized in the world of pure music than in that of man's ordinary spiritual activity4#d ,but for this very reason it is only to a relative degree capable of reproducing the variety of spiritual ideas and intuitions1 the entire extension of the ideal wealth of conscious life3 it remains restricted to the more abstract universality of all that it grasps as content1 and the more indefinite manifestations of our emotion4 ,in the like degree1 then1 that mind 7,geist7 elaborates the more abstract universality in a concrete whole of idea1 ends1 actions1 and events1 and no less contributes to its conformation the particularizing perception1 it not only forsakes the subjective life of mere emotion and builds up that life into an unfolded realm of objective reality in this case1 too1 within the ideal world of the imagination itself1 it is compelled1 by virtue of the nature of such transformation1 to forsake the attempt to express the new realm thus secured solely and exclusively by means of tone relations4 ,precisely as the medium of sculpture is too poor to express the more ample content that it is the function of the art of painting to call into life1 so too the conditions of musical tone and melodic expression are unable to realize fully the imaginative pictures of the poet4 ,for these in part possess the ideas more accurately defined to consciousness and1 in part1 the form of external appearance impressed on the inner sense of perceptive reason4 ,spirit consequently withdraws its content from musical tone as such1 and declares itself through words1 which it is true do not entirely forsake the element of sound1 but sink to the purely external sign of the communication4 ,in other words1 by means of this repletion with spiritual ideas1 musical tone becomes the voice of articulate words2 language1 in its turn1 is diverted from an end in itself to a means of ideal expression which has lost its independent self-subsistancy4 ,this constitutes in fact what we have already established as the essential difference between music and poetry4 ,the content of the art of speech is the collective art of the world of ideas elaborated by the imagination1 the spiritual which remains at home in its vision1 which remains in this ideal realm1 and1 even in its movement toward an objective world1 is only conscious of the same as a symbol that differs from its own conscious content4 ,in music art reproduces the penetration of ,spirit in a sensuously apparent and present form4 ,in poetry it even forsakes the element of musical tone and articulation opposed to it1 at least to the extent that this musical tone is no longer reclothed in fully adequate externality and the exclusive expression of that content4 ,the ideal no doubt is expressed1 but it fails to discover its real existence in the sensuous medium of tone1 despite the fact that it is of a more ideal character2 this it discovers exclusively in its own essential content1 by virtue of which it expresses the content of mind as it is realized in the ideality of the imagination simply as such4 7c7 ,in the third place1 and finally1 if we consider the specific character of poetry relatively to this distinction between music and painting1 and we may include with it the other plastic arts1 we shall find the same simply to consist in the subordination of the mode under which all poetical content is envisaged and configured by the medium of sense4 ,in other words1 when tone1 as it does in the art of music1 or for that matter1 colour as in that of painting1 no longer essentially recovers and expresses the entire content1 in that case the musical treatment of the composition under its aspects of time1 no less than those of harmony and melody1 drops away2 we have left us merely the generalized configuration of the time-measure of syllables and words1 to which we may add rhythm1 euphony1 and the like4 ,and further1 it is to be noted that we have this1 not in the sense of a genuine medium for the content1 but rather as a mode of externality which is accidental1 and which only receives an artistic form1 because art cannot permit any mode of its external manifestation whatever to be entirely a question of accidental caprice4 77 ,in connection with this withdrawal of the spiritual content from the sensuous medium we are at once met with the question what it is then which1 under such a view1 constitutes the actual externality or objectivity in poetry1 that of tone being thus excluded4 ,the answer to this is simple4 ,it is the ideal envisagement and imaginative content itself4 ,we have here spiritual forms substituted for sensuous1 and supply a configurative material1 such as we met with before in marble1 bronze1 colour1 or musical tones4 ,in other words1 we must guard ourselves from such an inadequate statement of the facts as that ideas and imagery are nothing more or less than the content of poetry4 ,this is unquestionably true in a sense1 as we shall demonstrate more closely later on4 ,despite this1 however1 we are equally justified in asserting that idea1 imagery1 emotion1 and the like are specific modes1 under which every content in poetry is subsumed and manifested2 and consequently1 that is1 owing to the fact that the sensuous aspect of the communication remains throughout a purely accidental one#e--;it is these forms which supply the real material which the poet has to elaborate artistically4 ,no doubt the fact1 the content1 must in poetry1 as in other arts1 receive its due objectification for spirit2 objectivity in this sense1 however1 is the exchange of what was previously an external reality for one that is ideal2 one which receives an existence exclusively in conscious life itself1 as something conceived or imagined exclusively by mind4 ,mind is here on its own ground objective to itself1 and it suffers the medium of speech merely as a means1 that is to say1 partly as one of communication1 and partly as one of immediate externality1 from which1 as from the pure symbol merely1 it is withdrawn throughout from itself into itself4 ,for this reason1 in the case of genuine poetry1 it is of no consequence whether a poetical work be read in private or listened to2 and for the same reason it can also1 without essential depreciation of its value1 be translated into other tongues1 be transferred from versification into prose1 and thereby transmitted in tonal relations of an entirely different character4#f 77 ,in the second place the question presents itself as to the nature of the object for which the ideal concept is employed in poetry4 ,we answer that it is thus used relatively to essential truth in everything of interest to ,spirit2 not merely1 that is1 relatively to what is substantive in the same in the universality of its symbolic significance or classical differentiation1 but equally to all that is at the same time specific and particular1 in short1 to practically everything in and with which mind is in any way interested and concerned4 ,the art of language1 consequently1 both in respect to its content and the mode under which that content is made explicit1 possesses a field of immeasurable compass1 wholly incomparable with that of the other arts4 ,every content1 every sort of spiritual or natural fact1 event1 history1 deed1 action1 all conditions1 whether ideal or external1 fall within the domain and configurative powers of poetry4 77 ,material of this most varied character is not1 however1 made poetical merely by reason of the fact that it is in a general way the content of idea4 ,ordinary consciousness is able to elaborate precisely the same content in the field of ideas1 and to particularize concepts without creating any poetical result4 ,we recognized this fact when we called the concept of mind merely the material or medium1 which only receives a form adapted for poetry1 in so far as it partakes of a novel configuration by virtue of art4 ,in precisely the same way mere colour and tone in their immediacy are not as such the colour or tone of a painter or a musician4 ,we may in a general way describe the distinction by stating that it is not the idea as such1 but the imagination of the artist which creates a poetical content1 under conditions1 that is1 in which the imagination grasps the same content in such a way that it is itself therewith associated in language1 words and their more beautiful conjunction as human speech1 just as in the other arts we find it present in the architectonic form2 the plastic of sculpture1 that adapted to painting1 or musical tones and harmony4 ,a further necessary limitation of the art's appearance is this that the content must1 on the one hand1 not be embraced in relations applicable to mere thinking1 whether that of science or speculative philosophy1 nor further in the form of inarticulate emotion1 or with a clarity and self-sufficiency which appeals exclusively to the organs of sense2#f neither1 in another direction1 must it suffer the idea to pass entirely into what we may in general terms describe as the contingency1 divisions1 and relativity of finite reality4 ,the imagination of the poet in this respect must maintain a middle course between the abstract universality of pure thinking and the concrete corporeality of material objects1 in so far as we are acquainted with the latter in the productions of the plastic arts4 ,furthermore such an art must generally conform to the requirements we have1 in an early section of this work1 insisted as essential to every art-product4 ,in other words1 the art itself must find in its content the adequate object of its appearance1 must elaborate everything1 which it embraces1 so far as the interest appeals to the intelligence simply1#g as an essentially independent and self-exclusive world4 ,only in so far as it does this is the demand of art satisfied1 and the content thereof becomes1 by virtue of the specific mode of its manifestation1 an organic whole1 which in its parts presents the appearance of a limited association and ideal synthesis1 while at the same time1 as contrasted with the world of accidental subordinations1 its consistency is one of essential freedom1 a whole made explicit through itself4 #c4 ,the last point to which we must in conclusion draw attention in respect to this distinction between poetry and the other arts is connected with the different mode under which the imagination of the poet substantiates its ideas in the objective medium of its exposition4 ,the arts hitherto considered were entirely serious in their attachment to the material of sense1 a medium in which they themselves were operative1 in so far as they merely bestowed on their content a form1 which could be throughout accepted and elaborated by means of conglomerations of material substance1 whether bronze1 marble1 or wood1 or the media of colour and tones4#h ,in a certain sense1 no doubt1 poetry also has to meet a condition somewhat similar4 ,that is to say1 in poetical composition we must not overlook the fact that its results have to be intelligible to mind by means of the communication of human speech4 ,but we shall find none the less that the situation in the two cases is essentially altered4 7a7 ,otherwise expressed1 by reason of the importance pertaining to the material aspect in the plastic arts and music1 we find that1 as a result of the defined restrictions of this material1 only a limited number of conceptions can be fully reproduced in a particularized form of reality such as stone1 colour1 and tone3 the content therefore and the possibilities of artistic composition are narrowed within very definable limits4 ,it was on account of this fact that we were able to associate closely and exclusively every one of these specific arts with one particular form of artistic creation pre-eminently adapted to it4 ,in this way the form of symbolism was appropriate to architecture1 the classical to sculpture1 and the romantic to painting and music4 ,it is no doubt true that the particular arts in both directions from and toward their proper domain tended to pass over into the other forms4 ,we took account of this fact when we found it possible to refer to a classic and romantic style of architecture1 a symbolical and ,christian type of sculpture1 and even used the term classic in connection with painting and music4 ,departures such as these from the prevailing type were1 however1 merely experimental essays which prepared the way in subordination to a new type rather than its culminating effort2 or they showed us how one art tended to pass beyond its true limits in seeking to grasp a content or a relation to its material of a type that only a further art development could adequately elaborate4 ,generally speaking1 we have seen that architecture has least resource in the expression of its content2 in sculpture there is already an increase of possibility1 which is further extended to its widest range#i by painting and music4 ,and the reason of this is that in proportion as the ideality and particularization under all its aspects by the external medium is made more explicit the variety of the content and of the forms it receives also increases4 ,poetry1 on the other hand1 casts itself free of all subordination to the material of sense1 at least to this extent1 that in the definition of external or objective expression no reason whatever remains why it should restrict itself to specific content or any limitation to its power of composition and reproduction4 ,it is therefore exclusively united to no specific art type2 rather we may define it as the universal art1 which is capable of reclothing and expressing under every conceivable mode every content that can possibly enter into or proceed from the imagination of man4 ,and it can do this because its material is nothing more or less than the imagination itself1 which is the universal root and ground of all the particular arts and their specific types4 ,we have already1 in another connection1 when concluding our discussion of the particular artistic types1 come across what was practically the same thing4 ,what we sought for1 then1 in our conclusion was that art in one of its types should make itself independent of that mode of representation properly called specific1 remaining thereby predominant above the entire sphere in which such a totality of particularization is reproduced4 ,an elaboration so comprehensive is among all the particular arts by the very nature of the case only possible to poetry4 ,its realization is effected through the development of poetical creation in part by means of the actual reconstitution of every particular type1 and partly by the liberation of the mode of conception and its content from the boundaries fixed for it in the essentially exclusive types of conception1 whose character we have severally defined as symbolical1 classical1 and romantic4 7b7 ,the above considerations will further serve to justify the position1 which1 in the course of our inquiry1 regarded as the development of a philosophy1 we previously assigned to the art of poetry4 ,in other words by reason of the fact that poetry is1 to a degree quite impossible to any other mode of artistic production1 concerned with the universal simply as such in ,art1 we might appear to have some reason for insisting that it marks the commencement of an investigation in the full sense of the word philosophical1 and only from such a starting point can we enter into the sphere of particularization1 in which we find the series of the other arts as limited and determined by their specific sensuous medium4 ,looking back1 however1 at the result arrived at in our investigation of the particular art types we shall find that the course of philosophical evolution consisted1 first1 in an increased penetration of the ideal content1 and1 from another point of view1 in the demonstration that originally ,art sets forth in the search1 then in the discovery of and finally with an advance beyond that content compatible with its powers4 ,this notion of the beautiful and ,art must enforce itself in the arts themselves4 ,the starting-point of our inquiry1 therefore1 was architecture1 in which we found merely an impulse toward the complete representation of what pertains to ,spirit in a material medium4 ,this is so much the case that it is only through sculpture that art first attains to a genuine interfusion of ideality with the medium2 and further that only in the arts of painting and music do we reach the stage where1 by virtue of the ideal and subjective character of their content1 we find the perfected fusion effected no less under the aspect of conception than that of practical execution in the medium accepted4 ,this process culminates most decisively in poetry1 by virtue of the fact that the very nature of its objective realization can only be apprehended as an effort to draw apart from and cancel the material of sense rather than one of reproduction which does not as yet venture to clothe itself and move in the objective medium of sense-perception4 ,in order1 however1 to make this liberation intelligible in philosophical terms it is of importance that we have already disposed of the question what it is from which art undertakes to liberate itself4 ,this question stands in close relation to the fact that poetry is essentially capable of embracing the entirety of intelligible content and artistic modes of expression4 ,we may add further that we have viewed this as the acceptance of a totality1 which can only be interpreted philosophically as the abrogation of limitation in particularity4 ,our previous consideration of what we mean by things that are one-sided would be involved in such an exposition1 the self-exclusive character of such one-sidedness being cancelled by such a totality4 ,it is only through the course of such an exposition that we can effectively demonstrate that poetry is the specific art in which a point is reached which marks the beginning of the disintegration of art itself1 a point at which the philosophical consciousness discovers its bridge of passage to the notion of religion as such1 as also to the prose of scientific thought4 ,the boundary lines of the realm of beauty are1 as we have already seen1 on the one hand the prose of finite condition and our ordinary conscious life1 starting from which ,art makes its effort in the direction of truth1 and1 on the other1 of the loftier spheres of religion and science1 from which it passes over into a comprehension of the ,absolute till more emancipate from all material association4 7c7 ,despite therefore the completeness with which the art of poetry reproduces1 under a mode of objectification that is most ideal1 the entire totality of ,beauty1 nevertheless intelligence is able to discover even here too in this final domain of art a residue of defect4 ,we may for this purpose within our art-system directly contrast the poetic art with that of architecture4 ,in other words architecture was still unable to subordinate the external material to the ideal content sufficiently to clothe the same in a form adequate to mind2 poetry on the other hand carries the process of negating its sensuous medium so far that instead of transforming that which stands in opposition to gross spatial matter1 namely tone1 as architecture does with its material into a significant symbol1 it rather reduces it to a mere sign of no significance4 ,but by doing so it destroys the fusion of spiritual ideality with external existence1 so thoroughly that to this extent it ceases to be compatible with the original notion of ,art4 ,in other words it comes dangerously near to bidding goodbye to the region of sense altogether1 remaining wholly absorbed in that of ideality4 ,the fair mean between these extremes of architecture and poetry is secured by sculpture1 painting1 and music4 ,every one of these arts not merely still reproduces the spiritual content completely in a medium borrowed from the objective world1 but also leaves us with that which lies open to our senses1 no less than our intelligence4 ,for although painting and music1 regarded as romantic arts1 attach themselves to a medium already more ideal1 they do none the less supply the immediacy of objective existence1 which1 however1 in this increase of ideality1 shows indications of disappearance1 while again from the opposite point of view they prove themselves1 through their media of colour and tone1 more profuse in fulness of particularization and manifold configuration than is required from the material of sculpture4 ,no doubt the art of poetry in its turn also endeavours1 as a set-off to this defect1 to place the objective world before us with a breadth and variety which even painting1 at least in a single composition1 fails to secure3 none the less this comprehensiveness remains throughout merely a realization confined to consciousness itself2 and1 if it so happens that poetry1 in response to a demand for more material artistic realization1 attempts to increase the impression on our senses1 it is only able to do this by either borrowing these effects from music and painting1 in order to secure artistic means otherwise foreign to it2 or it is forced1 if it seeks retain its genuine character1 to employ these sister arts only under a subordinate relation of service1 while the main stress is laid on the ideas of conscious life1 the imagination which appeals to the imagination1 with which it is above all concerned4 ,this will suffice for discussion of the general relation under which poetry is placed to the other arts4 ,we shall now proceed to a closer examination of the art of poetry itself1 and with a view to this propose to co-ordinate the same as follows4 ,we have already seen that in poetry it is the ideal concept itself from which we derive content no less than medium4 ,by reason1 however1 of the fact that we already find outside ,art's domain the world of idea to be the most obvious mode of conscious life1 it is above everything else important to distinguish the conception of poetry from that of prose4 ,the art of poetry1 however1 is not complete in this ideal world of the imagination alone4 ,it is necessary that it should clothe the same in expressive language4 ,it has therefore a twofold task confronting it4 ,on the one hand it is called upon so to arrange this world of constructed idea that it may admit of complete translation into speech3 on the other it must take care not to leave this medium of language in the form appropriated by ordinary conscious life4 ,in other words such must be treated poetically in order that the expression of art may be distinguishable in the selection of words no less than their position1 and even their sound from that of ordinary prose4 ,furthermore1 on account of the fact that1 though poetry avails itself of language as a means of expression1 it secures by far the most unqualified freedom from those conditions and restrictions imposed on the other arts by virtue of the particularization of their material1 it is possible for a poetical composition in a pre-eminent degree to elaborate every one of the various modes of expression1 otherwise adopted unaffected by the onesidedness incidental to their application to a particular art4 ,the subdivision of such modes of expression in all their variety is consequently by far the most complete in the works of poetry4 ,the further course of our investigation may now be epitomized as follows3 ,first1 we have to elucidate what is in general terms poetical1 and the poetical composition in particular4 ,secondly1 poetry will be examined as a means of expression4 ,thirdly1 we shall deal with the subdivision of the art into ,epic1 ,lyric1 and ,dramatic poetry4 ,footnote #a3 ,mittelpunkt4 ,we should rather say the unifying significance of the creation4 ,footnote #b3 ,it would be perhaps better to translate geistigen ,innerlichkeit with the words the self-conscious life of the human reason4 ,this is developed and explained1 however1 in the next paragraph4 ,footnote #c3 ,hegel expresses this as making the inner or ideal content perceptible to the ideal faculty1 that is1 prima facie1 consciousness1 or at least that sense which is nearest related to it1 viz41 hearing4 ,footnote #d3 ,by statt des ,geistigen ,hegel clearly contrasts pure music with music related as accompaniment to human speech in song4 ,footnote #e3 ,lit41 one that merely plays by the way4 ,footnote #f3 ,such a statement is obviously one which would be strongly resisted4 ,the stress laid here on the purely ideal content as contrasted with the beauty of rhythm and modal arrangement would certainly suggest that ,hegel was deficient in a sense for the musical possibilities of language ,i presume he does use gebunden in the sense of verse4 ,footnote #g3 ,hegel's expression is in rein theoretischen ,interesse4 ,footnote #h3 ,the medium of music is not of course strictly on all fours with the others4 ,footnote #i3 ,that is under the limits of these four arts4 ,i ,,poetical ,,composition ,,as ,,distinguished ,,from ,,that ,,of ,,prose ,we find it difficult to recall a single writer among all who have written on the subject of poetry who has not evaded the attempt to describe what is poetical as such1 let alone a clear definition4 ,and in fact if any one begins a discussion upon poetry1 regarded as an art1 without previously having investigated the nature of the content and mode of conception appropriate to ,art in its most general terms1 he will find it an extremely difficult matter to determine where we must look for that in which the essential character of poetry consists4 ,to an exceptional degree is this failure to tackle this problem visible in those cases where a writer takes as his point of departure the actual execution in particular works of art1 and seeks to establish1 by means of this connoisseurship1 some general principle which he may apply as relevant to every sort and kind of composition4 ,in this way works of the most heterogeneous character come to rank as genuine poetry4 ,if we once start from such assumptions1 and then proceed to the inquiry by virtue of what productions of this nature can be reasonably classed together as poems we are at once confronted with the difficulty ,i have above adverted to4 ,happily our own position here is not that of these inquirers4 ,in the first place we have by no manner of means arrived at the general notion of our subject-matter through an examination of any particular examples of its display2 we have on the contrary sought to evolve the actual constitution of the same by a reference to the fundamental notion4#a ,agreeably with this it is not part of our demand that everything in ordinary parlance regarded as poetry should in our present inquiry fall into the general notion we have accepted4 ,at least this is certainly not so in so far as the decision whether any particular work is or is not poetical is only deducible from the notion itself4 ,furthermore it is unnecessary now to expound more fully what we understand by the notion of poetry4 ,to do this we should simply have to repeat again the course of our inquiry into the nature of ,beauty and the ,ideal as developed in general terms in the first part of this work4 ,the intrinsic character of what is poetical stands in general agreement with the generic notion of artistic beauty and the art-product4 ,that is to say1 the imagination of the poet is not1 as is the case with the plastic arts and music by reason of the nature of the materia1 through which they are reproductive1 constrained in its creative activity in many directions1 and forced to accept many others of a onesided or very partial completeness2 it is on the contrary merely subservient to the essential requirements and general principle of an ideal and artistic presentation4 ,from the many different points of view applicable to our present purpose1 ,i will attempt to emphasize merely those of most importance1 as for example1 firsts that which relates to the distinction between the mode of composition employed respectively by poetry and prose2 secondly1 that which contrasts a poetical work as completed with one of prose2 and1 finally1 ,i propose to add a few observations relative to the subjective faculty which creates1 or1 shall we say1 the poet himself4 ,i4 ,,the ,,composition ,,of ,,poetry ,,and ,,prose 7a7 ,in so far as the content appropriate to poetical composition is concerned we may1 relatively speaking at any rate1 exclude the external world of natural fact4 ,it is spiritual interests rather than the sun1 mountains1 landscape1 or the bodily human form1 and the like1 which are its proper subject-matter4 ,for1 although it naturally embraces the element of sensuous impression and perception1 it remains none the less1 even in this respect1 an activity of mind4 ,its main object is an intuition of ideality1 to which it stands as spiritual activity in closer relation and affinity than is possible for external objects1 as presented in their concrete substance to the senses4 ,the world of ,nature therefore only enters into the content of poetry in so far as mind discovers therein a stimulus or a material upon which to exercise its own energy2 as1 for example1 where it is regarded as the environment of man1 merely possessing essential worth in its relation to the ideality of conscious life1 which moreover can put forward no claim to be itself the independent object of poetry4 ,the object1 in short1 which fully corresponds to its appeal is the infinite realm of ,spirit4 ,for the medium of language1 the most plastic medium possessed immediately by conscious life1 and the one most competent to grasp its interests and movements in their ideal vitality1 precisely as is the case with the material of the other arts1 such as stone1 colour1 and tone1 must necessarily and above all be employed to express that which it is most qualified to express4 ,it is consequently the pre-eminent task of poetry to bring before our vision the energies of the life of ,spirit1 all that surges to and fro in human passion and emotion1 or passes in tranquillity across the mind1 that is the all-embracing realm of human idea1 action1 exploit1 fatality1 the affairs of this world and the divine ,providence4 ,it has been the most universal and cosmopolitan instructor of the human race and is so still4 ,instruction and learning are together the knowledge and experience of what is4 ,stars1 animals and plants are ignorant of their law--it does not come into their experience2 but man only then exists conformably to the principle of his being when he knows what he is and by what he is surrounded4 ,he must recognize the powers by which he is driven or influenced2 and it is just such a knowledge which poetry1 in its original and vital#b form1 supplies4 7b7 ,it is1 however1 also a content of the same character which belongs to man's ordinary conscious life4 ,this too instructs him in general laws1 as such at least are interpreted by the motley crowd of human life1 in their distinction1 coordination1 and significance4 ,the question therefore arises1 as previously observed1 as to the nature of the distinction between the mode of conception severally adopted by prose and poetry1 a similarity in the content of each being assumed as possible4 77 ,poetry is of greater antiquity than speech modelled in the artistic form of elaborate prose4 ,it is the original imaginative grasp of truths a form of knowledge1 which fails as yet to separate the universal from its living existence in the particular object1 which does not as yet contrast law land phenomena1 object and means1 or relate the one to the other in subordination to the process of human reason1 but comprehends the one exclusively in the other and by virtue of the other4 ,for this reason it does not merely1 under the mode of imagery1 express a content already essentially apprehended in its universality2 on the contrary it lingers1 conformably to its unmediated notion1 in the unity of concrete life itself1 which has not as yet effected such a separation or such an association of mere relationship4 77 ,under the above forms of envisualization1 poetry posits all that it comprehends as an exclusive and consequently independent totality1 which1 despite its capacity for a rich content and an extensive range of condition1 individuals1 actions1 events1 emotions and ideas of every kind1 nevertheless is forced to exhibit the same in all their wide complexity as an essentially self-determined whole1 as displayed and motived by the unity1 whose individual expression this or that fact in its singularity actually is4 ,and consequently the universal or rational principle is not expressed in poetry in its abstract universality1 or in the complexus which lies open to philosophical exposition or under the relation of its varied aspects apprehended by science1 but on the contrary as a vital union1 in its phenomenal presence1 possessed with soul and self-determined throughout2 and it is further expressed in such a way that the all-embracing unity1 the real soul of its vitality1 is only suffered to be operative in mysterious guise from within outwards4 77 ,the character of this mode of apprehending1 reclothing and expressing fact is throughout one of construction4 ,it is not the fact itself and its contemplative#c existence1 but reconstruction and speech which are the object of poetry4 ,its entrance on the scene dates from the first efforts of man at self-expression4 ,what is expressed is simply made use of to satisfy this desire4 ,the instant man1 in the midst of his practical activities and imperative duties1 seeks to summarize this effect for mind and to communicate himself to others1 then we have some kind of artistic expression1 some accord with what is poetical4 ,to mention one from a host of examples1 there is that distich which we read in ,herodotus referring to the slain heroes of ,thermopylae4 ,as for its content it is simply the fact1 the bare announcement that four thousand ,peloponesians on a certain spot fought the battle with three hundred myriads4 ,the main interest is1 however1 the composition of an inscription which communicates to contemporary life and posterity the historical fact1 and is there exclusively to do so4 ,in other words1 the expression of this fact is poetical2 it testifies to itself as a deed 7 7 which leaves the content in its simplicity1 but expresses the same with a definite purpose4 ,the language1 in which the idea is embodied1 is to that extent of such increased value that an attempt is made to distinguish it from ordinary speech2 we have a distich in lieu of a sentence4 77 ,for this reason1 even from the point of view of language1 poetry makes an effort to keep its domain singular and distinct from ordinary parlance1 and to accomplish this elevates its expression to a higher virtue than that of merely articulate expression4 ,we must1 however1 not only in this particular respect1 but for the purposes of our present inquiry generally1 make an essential distinction between a primitive poetry1 which arises previous to the creation of ordinary artificial prose1 and that mode of poetical composition and speech the development of which is effected where already the conditions of our everyday life and prosaic expression exist4 ,the first is poetical without intention1 in idea no less than speech2 the latter1 on the contrary1 is fully conscious of the sphere1 from which its task is to detach itself1 in order that it may establish itself on the free basis of art4 ,it is consequently quite aware of the distinction and contrast implied in its self-creation to the world of prose4 77 ,secondly1 the kind of prose life1 from which poetry has to separate itself1 postulates an entirely different nature of conception and speech4 77 ,in other words1 looked at from one point of view1 such a consciousness regards the wide expanse of reality according to that association of cause and effect1 object and means1 and all other categories of the mode of reflection which deals with finite conditions and the objective world generally1 that is1 the limited categories of science or the understanding4 ,it is a feature of such thought that every particular trait should at one moment appear with a false subsistency1 at another should be placed in the position of bare relation to something else1 that as such it should be so apprehended in its relativity and dependence that no unity of a free nature whatever is possible1 no unity1 that is1 which remains essentially throughout1 and in all its branches and separate filaments1 a complete and free totality1 no unity1 in short1 where we find that the individual aspects are simply the appropriate explication and phenomenal presence of one content which constitutes the point of focus1 the soul that unites all together1 and which also finds its vital principle in this all-pervading centre of animation4 ,rather the type of conception we above refer to as that of science goes no further than the discovery of particular laws in phenomena1 and persists for this reason in the separation1 or bare relation1 of the particular existence with its general law1 the laws themselves under this view tending to harden from each other in their isolate singularity2 that their relation is1 in fact1 conceived exclusively under external and finite conditions4 77 ,and1 furthermore1 man's ordinary consciousness has nothing to do with what we call the ideal principle of association1 the essential core of facts1 their bases1 causes1 ends1 and so forth4 ,it rests satisfied with the acceptance of the mere fact that something exists or happens as distinct from something else2 or1 in other words1 with its insignificant contingency4 ,it is no doubt true that the unity of life is not1 in such a case1 deliberately cancelled by any express separation2 that unity1 ,i mean1 in which the intuition of the poet arrests the ideal rationale of the fact1 its expression and determinate existence4 ,what1 however1 is absent here1 is just that flash of insight into this core of reason and significance1 which becomes consequently for our intelligence a thing essentially vacant1 possessing no further claim on our minds to a rational interest4 ,the comprehension of a rational cosmos2 and its relations is exchanged then and there for a mere flux and contiguity of indifference1 which it is true may possess a large expanse of external animation1 but which none the less suffers the profounder impulse of reason#d to remain unsatisfied4 ,true vision1 no less than soul-life in its full vigour1 can only obtain satisfaction1 where such are made aware in phenomena1 through feeling no less than contemplation1 of the reality in its essence and truth which is compatible with such a world4 ,the life which is a mere external show is defunct to our deeper sense1 if all that is ideal and intrinsically rich in significance fails to shine through as the very soul thereof4 77 ,these defects1 thirdly1 in the conceptions of science and our ordinary conscious life speculative thought effaces4 ,it stands1 therefore1 in one respect in affinity with the imagination of the poet4 ,the cognizance of reason#e is not solely1 or even mainly1 concerned with contingent singularity1 nor does it overlook in the phenomenal world the essence of the same4 ,it does not rest satisfied with the differentiations and external relations proper to the conceptions and deductions of the understanding2 it unites them in a free totality1 which in the apprehension of our finite faculty in part fails to preserve its self-consistency1 and in part is posited in a relation that possesses no synthetic unity4 ,pure thought1 however1 can have but one result1 namely thoughts4 ,it evaporates the mode of reality in that of the pure notion4 ,and although it grasps and comprehends actual things in their essential separation and their actual existence1 it does also nevertheless translate this particularity into the ideal element of the universal1 in which alone thought is at home with itself4 ,consequently there arises1 in contrast to the world of phenomena1 a world that is new in this sense1 that though the truth of the ,real is present1 it is not displayed in reality itself as the power itself which gives it form and the veritable soul thereof4 ,thinking is simply a reconciliation of truth with reality in ,thought4 ,the creations and reconstruction1 however1 of the poet is a reconciliation under the mode of phenomenal reality itself1 albeit such a real appearance is merely ideally conceived4 77 ,we have1 therefore1 two distinct spheres of consciousness1 that of poetry and prose4 ,in former times1 in which there is neither present a deliberate outlook on the world elaborated1 in respect to its religious belief and its general knowledge1 under the co-ordinated form of scientific ideas and cognition1 nor an actual world of human condition regulated conformably to such a standard1 poetry is confronted with a lighter task4 ,prose is not in such a case opposed to it as an essentially independent field of ideal and external existence1 which it has first to overcome4 ,its problem is for the most part simply limited to deepening all that is significant or transparent in the forms of ordinary consciousness4 ,if1 on the contrary1 the prose of life has already appropriated within its mode of vision the entire content of conscious life1 setting its seal on all and every part of it1 the art of poetry is forced to undertake the task of melting all down again and re-coining the same anew4 ,in every direction it finds itself involved in difficulties by the unresponsive nature of prosaic existence4 ,it has1 in short1 not only to wrest itself from the adherence of ordinary consciousness to all that is indifferent and contingent1 and to raise the scientific apprehension of the cosmos of fact to the level of reason's profounder penetration1 or to translate speculative thought into terms of the imagination1 giving a body to the same in the sphere of intelligence itself2 it has further to convert in many ways the mode of expression common to the ordinary consciousness into that appropriate to poetry2 and1 despite of all deliberate intention enforced by such a contrast and such a process1 to make it appear as though all such purpose was absent1 preserving the original freedom essential to all art4 7c7 ,we have now summarized in its most general terms that in which the content of poetry consists4 ,we have further distinguished the form of poetry from that of prose4 ,in conclusion1 it is of importance to draw attention to the particularization which the art of poetry1 to a degree unattained by the other arts1 whose development is not nearly so rich in results1 admits of4 ,we find1 no doubt1 architecture illustrated in the arts of very varied peoples1 and continuous through many centuries4 ,but of sculpture1 at least1 it is true that it reaches its culminating point in the ancient world of ,greece and ,rome1 just as painting and music have done more recently in ,christendom4 ,the art of poetry celebrates its epochs of brilliancy and bloom among all nations and in all ages almost that present any real artistic activity at all4 ,it embraces the collective ,spirit of mankind1 and it is differentiated through every kind of variation4 77 ,furthermore1 inasmuch as poetry does not accept the universal in scientific abstraction from its object1 but seeks to represent what is rational under the mode of individuality1#f the specific traits of national character are essential to its growth2 the content and the particular mode of its presentation are in fact conditioned by the nature of these and the general outlook in each case4 ,we find it consequently adapting itself to every variety of form and peculiarity4 ,it matters not what the poetry may be1 whether ,oriental1 ,italian1 ,spanish1 ,english1 ,roman1 ,hellenic1 or ,german1 each and all differ totally in their spirit1 emotional impulse1 general outlook and expression4 ,a similar distinctive variety asserts itself in particular epochs as they are favourable to the art of poetry or the reverse4 ,the results secured1 for example1 by our ,german poetry were impossible in the ,middle ,ages1 or the times of the thirty years' war4 ,the particular motives1 which in our own day excite the greatest interest1 are inseparable from the entire evolution of contemporary life4 ,and in the same way every age has its own wider or more restricted1 more exalted and liberal1 or more depressed phase of emotional life1 in short its specific outlook on the world1 which it is the express aim of poetry to bring home to the artistic consciousness in the most intelligible and complete manner1 inasmuch as language is the one medium capable of expressing the human spirit wherever and in whatever form it may be manifested4 77 ,among these national characteristics1 or views and opinions peculiar to particular epochs1 some have closer affinity with the poetic impulse than others4 ,the ,oriental consciousness is1 for example1 in general more poetic than the ,western mind1 if we exclude ,greece4 ,in the ,east the principle predominant is always that of coherence1 solidity1 unity1 substance4 ,an outlook of this nature is intrinsically most penetrative1 even though it may fail to reach the freedom of the ,ideal4 ,our ,western point of view1 especially that of modern life1 is based on the endless breaking up and division of its boundless material into fragments1 in virtue of which process1 the extreme emphasis laid here on particular facts1 what is merely finite becomes substantive for the imagination1 and despite of this must be once more subsumed under the converse action of relativity4 ,for the ,oriental nothing persists as really substantive1 but everything appears as contingent1 discovering its supreme focus1 stability and final justification in the ,one1 the ,absolute1 to which it is referred4 77 ,by means of this diversity of national traits and the evolutionary process of the centuries we find that what is shared by all mankind alike1 no less than all that claims to be artistic1 is drawn as a common element within the reach of other nations and epochs1 intelligible and enjoyable to the same4 ,it is in this twofold connection that of late years to an exceptional degree ,hellenic poetry has roused the admiration and imitation of most diverse nationalities4 ,and this is so because in the content of it no less than in the artistic form it receives the simply human is disclosed with most beauty4 ,the literature of ,india itself1 however1 despite all the difficulties attendant on an outlook and artistic expression so alien to our own1 is not wholly outside our sympathy2 and the boast is no empty one that in our modern era pre-eminently a keen sense for all that art and the human spirit embraces in every direction has begun to unfold itself4 ,were we in our present investigation of this impulse toward individualization1 pursued so persistently by poetry1 under the aspects we have already described1 to restrict the same to a general treatment of the art of poetry1 such a generalization1 however established1 could not fail to be abstract and devoid of content4 ,it is therefore of first importance1 if our object be to consider poetry of a really genuine type1 that we include in our survey the forms of the creative spirit as presented in their national form1 the unique product of one age2 and further we must not overlook the individuality which creates1 the soul of the poet4 ,such1 then1 are the main points of view to which ,i would draw attention by way of a general introduction to poetical creation and conception4 #b4 ,,the ,,art-,,product ,,of ,,poetry ,,and ,,prose ,poetry is not1 however1 exhausted by the imaginative idea alone3 it must necessarily proceed to make itself articulate and complete in the poetical work of art4 ,such an object of study opens a large field of investigation4 ,we may conveniently arrange and classify the course of our discussion as follows3 ,first1 we shall endeavour to point out what is of most importance relatively to the poetical composition generally4 ,secondly1 we shall distinguish it from the principal types of prose composition1 in so far as the same are compatible with artistic treatment4 ,we shall then1 finally be in a position to deduce with some completeness the notion of the free art-product4 7a7 ,in respect to the poetical work of art under its generic aspect all that is necessary is once more to enforce our previous contention that it must1 no less than any other production of an unfettered imagination1 receive the form and independence of an organic whole4 ,this demand can only receive satisfaction as follows3 77 ,in the first place that which constitutes a homogeneous content1 whether it be a definite object of action and event1 or a specific emotion and passion1 must before everything else possess intrinsic unity4 77 ,all else must be posited under relation to this bond of unity1 and thereby combine to form a freehand concrete coherence of all parts4 ,this is only possible under the condition1 that the content selected is not conceived as abstract universal1 but as the action and emotion of men1 as the object and passion which are actually present in the mind1 soul1 and volition of definite individuals1 arising as such from the distinctive basis of an individual nature in each case4 77 ,the universal1 which is to receive representation1 and the individuals1 in whose character events and actions the manifestation of poetry is asserted must not consequently fall into fragments1 or be so related that the individuals are merely of service as an abstract universal2 both aspects must combine in vital coalescence4 ,in the ,iliad1 for example1 the contest of ,greeks and ,trojans1 and the victory of the former is inseparably bound up with the wrath of ,achilles1 which for this reason becomes the common focus welding all together4 ,no doubt we also find poetical works in which the fundamental content is partly more abstract in its generalization1 and also partly is executed in a way that expresses a universal of more significance4 ,dante's great epic poem is an illustration1 which not only embraces the world divine throughout1 but displays individuals of the most varied character in their relation to the punishments of hell1 purgatory and the blessedness of ,paradise4 ,but even here we find no entirely abstract separation1 of the two points of view1 no mere relation of service between the particular objects4 ,for in the ,christian world the focus of conscious life is not conceived as nothing more than an accident of ,godhead1 but as essential and infinite cause or end itself1 so that here the universal purpose1 that is the divine justice in condemnation and salvation can verily appear as immanent fact1 the eternal interest and being of the individual himself4 ,in this divine world the individual is throughout of pre-eminent importance4 ,in that of the ,state he can of course be sacrificed in order to save the universal1 that is the ,state4 ,in his relation to ,god1 however1 and in the kingdom of ,god he is essentially and exclusively the end4 77 ,we must1 however1 thirdly1 conceive the universal1 which supplies the content of human emotion and action as self-subsistent1 intrinsically complete where it is1 and constituting as such in itself a definitive and exclusive world4 ,when1 for instance1 in our contemporary life mention is made of any officer1 official1 general1 professor1 and so forth1 and we try to imagine what kind of action such a man or personality is likely to attempt or carry out under his own particular conditions of environment1 we place before ourselves simply a content of interest and activity1 which in part is not itself a rounded and self-substantive whole1 but one which stands in infinitely manifold external connections1 relations and conditions1 in part also1 if we regard it as abstract totality1 one which can receive the form of a universal concept in its separation from the individuality of the1 in other respects1 entire personality1 as for instance that of personal obligation4 ,conversely we may have no doubt a content of sterling character1 making1 that is to say1 an essentially independent whole1 which1 despite of this1 and without further development and advance1 is complete in one sentence4 ,it is really impossible to say whether a content of this nature belongs more properly to poetry or prose4 ,the grand affirmation of the old ,testament1 ,god said ,let their be ,light and there was ,light1 is at once in its penetration1 no less than the precision of its embrace1#g as much essentially sublime poetry as it is ordinary prose4 ,of a similar nature is the command1 ,i am the ,lord thy ,god1 thou shalt have no other gods but me2 or that1 ,honour thy father and thy mother4 ,the golden epigrams of a ,pythagoras and the wise sayings of ,solomon are of the same type4 ,phrases1 so rich in content as the above1 have their origin in a world where the distinction between poetry and prose is as yet absent4 ,we can1 however1 hardly affirm of such that they are a poetical work of art1 even though many such phrases may be combined together4 ,the independence and rounding off of a genuine poetical work must be assumed at the same time to be of the nature of a process1 and a differentiation of parts3 we assume it therefore to be a unity1 the true character of which is only made explicit by emphatic insistence upon its diversity4 ,this process1 absolutely essential in the plastic arts1 regarded at least according to the requirements of their form1 is also more generally of the greatest moment in a poetical composition4 77 ,this introduces us1 then1 to a second feature of the work of art1 namely1 the organic differentiation of its several parts1 essential to it not merely that it may be presented as an organic unity1 but that the elaboration of all it implies may be rendered complete4 77 ,the most obvious reason of this necessity is referable to the fact that ,art in general tends instinctively to particularization4 ,the effect of the scientific faculty is that what is particular and singular fails to receive its complete vindication4 ,and this is so not merely because the understanding apprehends the manifold1 as such theoretic faculty1 starting from its principles of generalization1 causing the particular fact thereby to evaporate in its abstract deductions and categories2 but also because it makes this manifold subserve ends of purely practical import4 ,severe adherence to that purely relative value1 which strictly belongs to the nature of the process1 appears to the understanding as useless and tedious4 ,to the conception and composition of poetry on the contrary every part1 every phase in the result must remain of essential interest and vital4 ,it dallies therefore with delight in detail1 depicts the same with enthusiasm1 and treats every part as an independent whole4 ,however great1 therefore1 in addition the content may be of a poetical work in its central interest1 the organic completeness is equally asserted in subordinate detail1 precisely as in the human organism every member1 every finger is rounded with exquisite delicacy in its unified completeness1 and as a rule1 we find in ,nature that every particular existence is enclosed within a perfect world of its own4 ,the advance of poetry is therefore more slow than that compatible with the judgments and conclusions of the understanding1 where we find that1 whether regarded theoretically as science or with reference to practical conduct and action1 the main stress is on the final result1 this rather than on the path by which it is reached4 ,as for the degree in which poetry approaches realization in its tenderness for such detail we have already pointed out that it is not its vocation to describe with excessive diffuseness what is exterior in the form of its sensuous appearance4 ,if it therefore undertakes extensive descriptions without making them reflect at the same time the claims and interests of soul-life it becomes heavy and tedious4 ,above all it must take care not to enter into deliberate rivalry with the actual detail1 in its exact completeness1 presented by natural fact itself4 ,even painting in this respect should aim at circumspection and restriction4 ,we have therefore here and in the case of poetry a twofold point of view to consider4 ,on the one hand we must remember that the impression is on our mental vision2 and on the other the art can only place before the mind the object1 which in ,nature we can survey and comprehend in a single glance in a series of separate traits4 ,for this reason it is important that poetry does not carry its elaboration of detail so far1 that the vision of the whole in its entirety becomes inevitably disturbed1 confused1 or lost4 ,it is obvious therefore that difficulties of an exceptional nature have to be overcome when the attempt is made to place an action or event of varied nature before our vision1 and where in actual life such happen in a single moment of time1 and in close connection with such immediacy1 for all it can do is to present the same in a continuous series4 ,as respects this difficulty1 no less than the general way in which poetry1 as already described1 approaches the detail of ,nature1 we find the demand of the several generic types of the art differs very considerably4 ,epic poetry1 for instance1 attaches itself to the particularity of the external world with an emphasis totally different from that of dramatic poetry1 with its rapidity of forward movement1 or from that of lyrical poetry with its exclusive insistence on the ideally significant4 77 ,it is through an elaboration of this kind that the several parts of a composition secure subsistency4 ,no doubt this appears to stand in direct contradiction to the unity which we established as a primary condition3 as a matter of fact the opposition is merely apparent4 ,this independence should not1 that is to say1 assert itself in such a way that the several parts are placed in absolute separation from each other3 it must on the contrary only be carried so far that the several aspects and members of the whole are clearly seen on their own account to be asserted in the vital form peculiar to each1 and to stand on their own free basis of independence4 ,if1 on the contrary1 this individualized life is absent from the several parts1 the composition becomes1 precisely as ,art generally can only invest the universal with determinate existence under the form of actual particularity1 cold and defunct4 77 ,despite of this self-subsistency1 however1 these several parts must remain likewise in conjunction to the extent that the one fundamental motive or purpose1 made explicit and manifest in and through them1 must declare itself as the unity which pervades the whole1 and in which the parts coalesce and to which they return4 ,this is the condition of art1 and pre-eminently so of poetry1 where it falls short of its noblest reach1 upon which it most readily is wrecked1 and the work of art declines from the realm of a free imagination into that of mere prose4 ,to put it in another way1 the connexion into which the parts fall must not merely be one of final cause and effect4 ,for in the relation of teleology the end is the universal as essentially presupposed and willed1 which it is true succeeds in making the several aspects tally with the process1 yet employs them none the less as means and to this extent robs them of all really free stability and thereby of every sort of vitality4 ,in such a case the parts merely fall under a relation of purpose to one end1 which is asserted imperiously to the disadvantage of all else1 and which accepts the same in abstraction as subservient and subordinate to itself4 ,the freedom and beauty of art contradict flatly this servile relation of the abstract faculty of science4 77 ,on these grounds the unity1 asserted in the several parts of the composition1 must be of another character4 ,the definition of this may be stated under two aspects of conception1 as follows4 77 ,in the first place1 the vital presence we have already referred to as peculiar to every part separately must be maintained4 ,if we direct our attention1 however1 to that which in fact justifies the introduction of any detail whatever into the composition1 we find the point of departure to be one fundamental idea which the same as a whole is undertaken to manifest or interpret4 ,consequently everything defined and particular must announce that as the source of its own specific appearance4 ,in other words1 the content of a poetical work must not be itself intrinsically abstract1 but concrete1 one that by reason of its own wealth conducts us to a rich unravelment of its varied aspects4 ,and when this variety1 even assuming that in its realization it falls to every appearance into plain contradictions1 yet is as a matter of fact rooted in the essentially unified content we have adverted to1 in that case we may affirm that by necessity the content itself1 in a form agreeable to its notion and being1 comprises what is fundamentally an exclusive and harmonious totality of particular characteristics1 which it possesses as its own1 and in the continuous expatiation of which what it is in its real significance is in truth rendered explicit4 ,it is only these several parts1 which originally belong to the content1 and which consequently should be carried into the composition under the mode of actual and essentially sound and vital existence4 ,in this respect1 therefore1 despite all appearance the display of particular characteristics present of opposition to others1 they are throughout combined in a union of mysterious accord1 rooted in its own nature4 77 ,secondly1 since the composition is presented under the form of natural phenomena1 the unity must1 in order to preserve the vital appearance of such reality1 only be the ideal bond1 which to all appearance without intention holds together the parts and includes them in an organic whole4 ,it is just this animating union of organic life which alone is able to bring into being true poetry as contrasted with the expressed intention of plain prose4 ,that is to say whenever particularity exclusively appears as means to a definite end1 it does not possess and cannot conceivably possess an independent and unique vitality of its own2 what it does testify to1 on the contrary1 is that it exists for the sake of something else1 that is the end proposed4 ,purpose of this type declares its sovereignty over the objective facts through which it is fulfilled4 ,an artistic composition should1 however1 confer upon all that is particular within it1 all in the expatiation of which it displays continuously the central and fundamental content selected1 the appearance of an unfettered stability4 ,this is absolutely necessary1 because what we here comprise under the term particularity is just that content itself under the mode of the reality which corresponds with it4 ,we may therefore recall to our minds the analogous task of speculative thought1 which in the same way has on the one side to develop the particular to the point of self-subsistency or freedom from that which is at first an indefinite universality2 and likewise1 too1 it is called on to demonstrate how within this totality of what is particular1 in which that and that only is divulged which essentially reposes in the universal1 the unity is on this very account once more asserted1 and indeed then and only then is truly concrete unity1 established through its own differences and their mediation4 ,speculative philosophy is thus1 in the same way1 through the method of dialectic above adverted to1 responsible for works which resemble in this respect those of poetry1 containing1 that is1 by virtue of the content1 an essential identity of self-seclusiveness and a revelation of differentiated material in accord with it4 ,we must1 however1 despite this similarity between these two activities1 and apart from the obvious difference between the evolution of pure thinking and creative art1 draw attention to a further essential distinction4 ,the deduction of philosophy no doubt vindicates the necessity and actuality of particularity1 but none the less1 in virtue of the dialectic process in which this aspect of reality is asserted1 it is expressly demonstrated of this particularity and all of it1 that it for the first time discovers its truth and its stability in the concrete unity4#h ,poetry1 on the contrary1 does not proceed to any such express demonstration4 ,the concordant unity must no doubt be completely vindicated in every one of its creations1 and be operative there in all their manifold detail as the soul and vital core of the whole2 but this presence remains for ,art an ideal bond which is implied rather than expressly posited1 precisely as the soul is immediately made vital in all the bodily members1 without robbing the same of the appearance of an independent existence4 ,we have the same truth illustrated by colour and tone4 ,yellow1 blue1 green and red are different colours which admit of the most absolute contrast2 but none the less1 on account of the fact that as colour they all essentially belong to one totality1 they maintain a harmony throughout2 and it is not1 moreover1 necessary that this union as such should be expressly declared in them4 ,in a similar way the dominant1 the third and the fifth remain independent as tones1 and yet for all that give us the harmony of the trichord2 or1 rather1 we should put it that they only produce this harmony so long as each tone is permitted to assert its own essentially free and characteristic sound4 77 ,in connection with this organic unity and articulate synthesis of a poetical composition we have further to consider essential features of distinction which are due to the particular artistic form appropriate to the composition under review1 no less than the particular type of poetry in which we discover the specific character of its working out4 ,poetry1 for example1 of symbolic art is unable1 owing to the more abstract and indefinite traits which constitute its essential and significant content1 to attain to a fully organic fusion in the degree of transparency possible to the works of the classical art-form4 ,in symbolism generally1 as we have already established in the first part of this enquiry1 the conjunction of general significance and the actual phenomenon1 in association with which ,art embodies its content1 is of a less coherent character3 as a result of this we find that what is particular in one direction preserves a greater consistency2 in another1 as in the case of the ,sublime1 only so far asserts this quality in order1 through the negation thus implied1 to render more intelligible the one supreme power and substance1 or merely to advance the process to a condition of mysterious association of particular1 but at the same time heterogeneous no less than related traits and aspects of natural and spiritual facts4 ,conversely1 in the romantic type1 wherein the ideality of truth reveals itself in essential privacy to soul-life only1 we find a wider field for the display of the detail of rational reality in its self-subsistency2 in this latter case the conjunction of all parts and their union must necessarily be present1 but the nature of their elaboration can neither be so clear or secure as in the products of classical art4 ,in a similar way the ,epic gives us a more extensive picture of the external world2 it even lingers by the way in episodical events and deeds1 whereby the unity of the whole1 owing to this increased isolation of the parts1 appears to suffer diminution4 ,the drama1 in contrast to this1 requires a more strenuous conjunction1 albeit1 even in the drama1 we find that romantic poetry permits the introduction of a type of variety in the nature of episode and an elaborate analysis of characteristic traits in its presentation of soul-life no less than that of external fact4 ,lyric poetry1 as it changes conformably to the fluctuation of its types1 adapts itself to a mode of presentment of the greatest variety3 at one time it is bare narration2 at another the exclusive expression of emotion or contemplation2 at another it restricts its vision1 in more tranquil advance1 to the central unity which combines2 at another it shifts hither and thither in unrestrained passion through a range of ideas and emotions apparently destitute of any unity at all4 ,this1 then1 must suffice us on the general question of a poetical composition4 7b7 ,in order now1--this is our second main head in the present discussion1--to examine more closely the distinction which obtains between the organic poem as above considered and the prose composition1 we propose to direct attention to those specific types of prose which1 despite their obvious limitations1 do none the less come into closest affinity with art4 ,such are1 without question1 the arts of history and oratory4 77 ,as regards history1 there can be no doubt that we find ample opportunity here for one aspect of genuine artistic activity4 77 ,the evolution of human life in religion and civil society1 the events and destinies of the most famous individuals and peoples1 who have given emphasis to life in either field by their activity1 all this presupposes great ends in the compilation of such a work1 or the complete failure of what it implies4 ,the historical relation of subjects and a content such as these admits of real distinction1 thoroughness and interest3 and however much our historian must endeavour to reproduce actual historical fact1 it is none the less incumbent upon him to bring before our imaginative vision this motley content of events and characters1 to create anew and make vivid the same to our intelligence with his own genius4#i ,in the creation of such a memorial he must1 moreover1 not rest satisfied with the bare letter of particular fact2 he must bring this material into a co-ordinated and constructive whole2 he must collectively conceive and embrace single traits1 occurrences and actions under the unifying concept2 with the result that on the one hand we have flashed before us a clear picture of nationality1 epoch of time1 external condition and the spiritual greatness or weakness of the individuals concerned in the very life and characterization which belonged to them2 and on the other that the bond of association1 in which the various parts of our picture stand to the ideal historical significance of a people or an event1 is asserted from such without exception4 ,it is in this sense that we1 even in our own day1 speak of the art of ,herodotus1 ,thucydides1 ,xenophon1 ,tacitus1 and a few others1 and cannot cease to admire their narratives as classical products of the art of human language4 77 ,it is nevertheless true that even these fine examples of historical composition do not belong to free ,art4 ,we may add that we should have no poetry even though we were to assume with such works the external form of poetry1 the measure or rhyme of verse and so forth4 ,it is not exclusively the manner in which history is written1 but the nature of its content1 which makes it prose4 ,let us look at this rather more closely4 ,genuine history1 both in respect to aim and performance1 only begins at the point where the heroic age1 which in its origination it is the part of poetry and art to vindicate1 ceases1 for the reason that we have here the moment when the distinct outlines and prose of life1 in its actual conditions1 no less than the way they are conceived and represented1 come into being4 ,herodotus does not for instance describe the ,greek expedition to ,troy1 but the ,persian wars1 and takes pains1 in a variety of ways1 with tedious research and careful reflection1 to base the narrative proposed on genuine knowledge4 ,the ,hindoos1 indeed we may say the ,orientals generally1 with almost the single exception of the ,chinese1 do not possess this instinct of prose sufficiently to produce a genuine history4 ,they invariably digress either into an interpretation and reconstruction of facts of a purely religious character1 or such as are fantastic inventions4 ,the element of prose then native to the historical age of any folk may be briefly described as follows4 ,in the first place1 in order that we may have history we must presuppose a common life1 whether we consider the same on its religious side1 or that of a polity1 with its law1 institutions1 and the like1 established on their own account1 and possessing originally or in their subsequent modification a validity as laws or conditions of general application4 ,it is out of such a common life1 secondly1 that we mark the birth of definite activities for the preservation or change of the same1 which may be of universal import1 and in fact constitute the end or motive of their continuance1 and to complete and carry into effect which we have to presuppose individuals fitted for such a task4 ,these individuals are great and eminent in so far as they show themselves1 through their effective personality1 in co-operation with the common end1 which underlies the ideal notion of the conditions which confront them3 they are little when they fail to rise in stature to the demand thus made on their energy3 they are depraved when1 instead of facing as combatants of the practical needs of the times1#aj they are content merely to give free rein to an individual force which is1 with its implied caprice1 foreign to all such common ends4 ,where1 however1 any of such conditions obtain we do not have either a genuine content or a condition of the world such as we established in the first part of our inquiry as essential to the art of poetry4 ,even in the case of personal greatness the substantive aim of its devotion is to a large or less extent something given1 presupposed1 and enforced upon it1 and to that extent the unity of individuality is excluded1 wherein the universal1 that is the entire personality should be selfidentical1 an end exclusively for itself1 an independent whole in short4 ,for however much these individuals discover their aims in their own resources1 it is for all that not the freedom or lack of it in their souls and intelligence1 in other words the vital manifestation of their personality1 but the accomplished end1 and its result as operative upon the actual world already there1 and essentially independent of such individuality1 which constitutes the object of history4 ,and1 moreover1 from a further point of view we find manifested in the historical condition the play of contingency1 that breach between what is implicitly substantive and the relativity of particular events and occurrences1 no less than of the specific subjectivity of characters displayed in their personal passions1 opinions and fortunes1 which in this prosaic mode of life present far more eccentricity and variation than do the wonders of poetry1 which through all diversity must remain constant to what is valid in all times and places4 ,and finally1 in respect to the actual execution of affairs within the cognisance of history we find here again the introduction of a prosaic element1 if we contrast it with the impulse of genuine poetry1 partly in the division asserted by personal idiosyncracy from a consciousness of laws1 principles1 maxims and so forth1 which is thereby necessarily absorbed in the universal condition or fact2 and in part also the realization of the ends proposed involve much preparation and arrangement1 the means to effect which extend far1 and embrace many necessary or subservient relations1 which have to be readjusted and adapted1 in order to carry out the course proposed1 with intelligence1 prudence and prosaic circumspection4 ,the work in short cannot be undertaken offhand1 but only to a large extent after extensive introduction4 ,the result of this is that the particular acts of execution1 which1 it is here assumed1 come into effect for the one main purpose1 are often either wholly contingent in respect to their content1 and remain without ideal union1 or are asserted under the form of a practical utility regulated by a mind dominated by the aims proposed2 in other words1 they do not proceed unmediated from the core of free and independent life itself4#aa 77 ,the historian then has no right to expunge these prosaic characteristics of his content1 or to convert them into others more poetical2 his narrative must embrace what lies actually before him and in the shape he finds it without amplification1#ab or at least poetical transformation4 ,however much1 therefore1 it may become a part of his labours to make the ideal significance and spirit of an epoch1 a people1 or the particular event depicted1 the ideal focus and bond which holds all together in one coherent whole1 he is not entitled to make either the conditions presented him1 the characters or events1 wholly subordinate to such a purpose1 though he may doubtless remove from his survey what is wholly contingent and without serious significance2 he must1 in short1 permit them to appear in all their objective contingency1 dependence and mysterious caprice4 ,no doubt in biography the full animation of personality and an independent unity is conceivably possible1 because in such a work the individual1 no less than all which proceeds from him and is operative in moulding such a figure1 is throughout the focus of the composition4 ,a historical character is1 however1 exclusively one of two opposed extremes4 ,for although we deduce a unity of subject from the same1 none the less from another point of view various events and transactions obtrude1 which in part are without any essential ideal connection1 and in part come into contact with such individuality without any free co-operation on the part of the same1 and to this extent involve the same within the contingency of such an external condition4 ,so1 for example1 ,alexander is without question a personality1 pre-eminent above all others of his epoch1 and one which1 in virtue of its unique forces1 falling as they do in accord with contemporary world conditions1 becomes engaged in the ,persian invasion4 ,the continent of ,asia none the less1 which ,alexander vanquishes1 is in the capricious variety of its nationalities a whole united by no necessary bond4#ac ,historical events pass before him as the bare panorama of purely objective phenomena4 ,and1 finally1 if the historian adds to his survey his private reflections as a philosopher1 attempting thereby to grasp the absolute grounds for such events1 rising to the sphere of that divine being1 before which all that is contingent vanishes and a loftier mode of necessity is unveiled1 he is none the less debarred1 in reference to the actual conformation of events1 from that exclusive right of poetry1 namely1 to accept this substantive resolution as the fact of most importance4 ,to poetry alone is the liberty permitted to dispose without restriction of the material submitted in such a way that it becomes1 even regarded on the side of external condition1 conformable with ideal truth4 77 ,secondly1 oratory appears to have a closer affinity with the freedom of art4 77 ,for although the orator avails himself of the opportunity for and content of his effort out of actual life and definite circumstances and opinions1 all that he utters remains none the less1 in the first place1 subject to his free choice4 ,his personal aims and views are immanent therein1 in virtue of which he can make the same a complete and living expression of his personality4 ,and1 secondly1 the development of the subject of his oration and the mode of delivery depends entirely on himself1 so that the impression he makes is as though we received in his speech a wholly independent expression of mind4 ,and1 finally1 it is his vocation not merely to address himself to the trained or ordinary intelligence of his hearers1 but to work upon their entire humanity1 their emotions1 no less than their judgment4 ,the substance of what he has to say and in which he strives to awake interest1 is not merely the abstract aspect of it1 nor is it this aspect of his main purpose1 in the fulfilment of which he invites co-operation1 but rather for the most part also a definite and very real thing4 ,for this reason the substance of the orator's address1 while embracing what is essentially substantive in its character1 ought equally to grasp his general principle under the form of its specific manifestation1 and render the same intelligible to conscious life in the full concrete sense of the term4 ,the orator then must not merely satisfy our understanding with the cogency of his deductions and conclusions1 but has it in his power to address the soul itself1 to rouse human passion and carry it captive1 to absorb the whole attention1 and by such means1 through all the avenues of spirit1 to ravish and convince his audience4 77 ,despite1 however1 such considerations1 looked at rightly we find that it is just in the arts of oratory that this apparent freedom is almost wholly subordinate to the rule of practical utility4 ,in other words what confers upon public speaking its unique motive force is not implied in the particular purpose1 to promote which the speech is made2 we must refer it to the general principle1 the laws1 rules1 axioms which the particular case suggests1 and which are already essentially present in this form of universality1 partly1 as actual laws of the ,state1 partly too as ethical1 juristic or religious maxims1 emotions1 dogmas1 and so forth4 ,the particular circumstance and end1 which we find here as the point of departure1 and this universal are in every respect separate from each other1 and this separation is the relation maintained throughout4 ,no doubt the orator intends to make these two aspects unite3 what1 however1 in poetry1 in so far as poetry is really present1 attests as already from the first accomplished1 is present in oratory merely as the personal aim of the orator1 the fulfilment of which lies outside the speech itself altogether4 ,the only alternative we have left us is a process of subsumation1 whereby the phenomenon1 the actual and defined thing1 here the concrete case or end1 is not unravelled in immediate unity with the universal as such1 and freely from its own substance1 but only receives validity by virtue of its dependence upon general principles and in its relation to legislative acts1 morality1 customs1 and the like1 which on their own account possess independent stability4 ,it is not the spontaneous life of the fact in its concrete manifestation1 but the prosaic division between notion and reality1 a mere relation of both to each other and a mere demand for their union1 which constitutes the fundamental type under consideration4 ,such a process of thought is frequently adopted by the religious teacher4 ,for him religious doctrines1 in their widest connotation1 and the principles of morality or of philosophy1 political or otherwise1 which follow in their train1 are in fact precisely the object whereto he can refer cases of every conceivable variety2 and they are this for the reason that these doctrines have to be accepted1 believed and recognized by the religious consciousness as essentially and in their own worth the substance of all particular appearance4 ,no doubt the preacher may at the same time appeal to our heart1 may suffer the divine laws to unveil from the depth of soul-life as their source1 and face to face with his audience may refer them to such a source4 ,but it is not in their absolutely individual guise that he must necessarily present and assert them2 on the contrary1 he must bring effective universality to consciousness under precisely this form of commands1 promises and maxims of faith4 ,the oratory of courts of law is even a better illustration4 ,here we find in addition the twofold point of view1 that while on the one hand all turns most obviously on the particular case1 yet conversely the subsumation of this case to general considerations and laws is equally a necessity4 ,as regards the first aspect1 we may remark that the element of prose is already implied in the enforced investigation of the actual facts and the collocation and able reconstruction of all singular circumstances and accidents2 a process such as this at once opens our eyes to the poverty involved in this investigation of the truth of such a legal case1 no less than the tedious ingenuity engaged in its display1 if we contrast it at least with the free creations of poetry4 ,we have in fact to carry our analysis of the concrete facts to a yet further point4 ,such must not merely be traced in a series that does justice to all features1 but every one of such features1 no less than the whole case1 have to be referred back to the statute accepted from the first as of independent validity4 ,at the same time1 even in this prosaic affair1 we still have considerable scope for an impression on the heart and emotions4 ,for it is possible so to present the rightness or wrongness of the case under discussion to the imagination that we are no longer bound to acquiesce in the bare knowledge of the facts and a general conviction2 on the contrary1 the case in its entirety is capable of becoming1 by virtue of the style adopted in its exposition1 so marked with the characteristics of personality to everyone who hears it1 that no one can fail to discover there a personal interest as of something which concerns himself4 ,secondly1 in the oratorical art1 artistic delivery and elaboration is not that which constitutes the ultimate and highest interest of the speaker2 he possesses in addition and beyond his art an ulterior aim1 that the entire form and working out of his discourse should rather be used exclusively as the most effective means to promote an interest which is outside4 ,from this point of view the audience too have to be influenced not on their own independent account1 but the effort is rather to excite emotion and conviction exclusively as a means toward the attainment of the purpose1 the fulfilment whereof the orator has proposed from the first4 ,the mode of presentation1 therefore1 ceases to be an end for itself even to the listener2 its claim becomes exclusively that of a means to some particular conviction1 or an incentive to definite conclusions or activities4 ,for these reasons from this point of view also the art loses its freedom of form2 it becomes a means to a purpose1 to a further demand#ad1 which1 this is a third point1 in relation to the consequence1 is not satisfied in the actual speech itself and its artistic handling4 ,the composition of poetry on the contrary has no other object than the manifestation and enjoyment of beauty4 ,end and accomplishment reposes here immediately and essentially in the independent work1 which for that reason is complete2 artistic activity is no means to an essentially ulterior result1 but an end which at once is rounded in itself by virtue of its own execution4 ,in oratory art receives merely a position of service to something collateral2 the genuine end is therefore not as such consonant with art1 but of a practical character1 that is to say1 instruction1 edification1 judgment of legal matters or political affairs1 and therewith a reference to some matter which has first to happen1 or to a decision not yet carried out1 but which1 however1 are in neither case terminated or completed through the resultant effect of the art in question1 but can only be so in various ways after a contact with quite other activities4 ,a speech in fact may often conclude with a dissonance1 which the hearer has first to resolve as judge1 and only then is able to act agreeably with such a verdict4 ,just as1 for example1 the oratory of the pulpit starts from the point of the unconverted soul1 and in the result makes the hearer pass judgment over his own self and his soul's condition4 ,in such a case religious conversion is the object of the preacher2 but whether such a conversion follows as a result of all the edification and excellence of his eloquent exhortations1 and thus the end proposed is carried out1 is a point of view which the sermon itself cannot deal with2 it must be perforce relegated to subsequent conditions4 77 ,in all these directions the notion of eloquence will fall rather under the main principle of utility than maintain itself within the free and organized whole of the poetical art-product4 ,in short the orator must necessarily and above all make it his mark to subordinate the whole1 no less than the parts1 to that purpose in his mind1 from which his effort proceeds1 a process in which the self-consistent independence of his exposition disappears1 and in lieu of which we must assume a relation of service to a definite end that ceases to be of artistic significance4 ,and above all1 inasmuch as the object in view is one of practical influence upon human life1 he must keep throughout before his mind the nature of the place in which he speaks1 the degree of education1 the receptive powers1 and1 in short1 the general atmosphere of his audience1 that he may not fall short of the practical success desired through an inability to meet the local conditions of the moment1 and the idiosyncrasies of his audience4 ,by reason of this very attachment to external conditions it is impossible that either the entirety of his address or its parts can any longer originate in a free artistic activity#ae2 it will constantly tend in its detailed elaboration to appropriate utilitarian points of association1 and be dominated by conceptions of cause and effect1 and other categories more proper to science4 7c7 ,and1 thirdly1 we may1 as flowing from the above distinction between what is really poetical and the creations of the historian and the orator1 establish the following points pertinent to the poetical composition itself4 77 ,we found that in history the element of prose consisted above all in this that however much the content thereof could be ideally substantive and possessed of a downright penetrative power1 the actual form of the same was1 however1 invariably accompanied with many conditions of relative validity1 massed together with much that was contingent1 and finally often referable to caprice simply as its ground1 aspects of immediate objective fact which the historian was not entitled to translate into the terms of a reality of profounder grasp4 77 ,the effort of such a transfiguration is in fact a fundamental desideratum of the poetical art when it1 so far as its material is concerned1 steps into the arena of history4 ,it is its business in short in such a case to discover the mere ideal core and significance of an event1 action1 or a national type1 a famous historical personality1 and as decisively to brush aside aspects of contingency1 everything in fact purely incidental or indifferent1 which plays round such types or individuals1 and stands to them in a purely relative connection4 ,it has then to establish1 in the place of the circumstances and traits it rejects1 others which reveal the ideal essence of the facts in their clarity1 to the intent that in this transfigured presence such shall so discover concrete truth in its fulness that the reason1 which has hitherto lain concealed1 though implied in them1 shall now for the first time assert itself as evolved and declared in complete realization4 ,by this means alone poetry is able in the proposed work to make its content coalesce in the secure unity of a centre1 able as such to round and unfold itself in a whole4 ,and this is possible because it not only is operative as a more effective bond between the parts1 but also because1 without compromising the unity of the whole1 all its varied particularity is suffered to assert its claim to an independent impression4 77 ,poetry may in this respect make a yet further advance1 when1 it accepts as its main content1 in lieu of the material and significance of the historical fact1 some fundamental idea1 some human collision in general associated with it in a close or more remote affinity1 and employs the historical factum and personages1 everything local in short1 merely in the guise or garment of individualization4 ,the difficulty to be encountered here is twofold3 either the historically ascertained data1 when appropriated by the composition1 may fall out of line with the fundamental idea2 or1 conversely1 it may be that the poet in some measure retains these data1 but also too in essential features moulds them conformably to his purposes1 and by doing this work fails to harmonize the element of stability with that of original design which were both essential to our conception of the poetical product4 ,to dispel such an opposition and to reassert the accordant note able to do this is a difficult matter2 it is none the less necessary1 for objective reality has itself too an unquestionable title to what is essential in the character of its appearance4 77 ,we may extend the reach of poetry yet further and we shall still find that the demand to be met is the same4 ,in other words1 all that the art of poetry represents in external local condition1 characterization1 actions1 passions1 situations1 conflicts1 events1 and human destiny1 all this material is borrowed1 far more so in fact than is generally credited1 from the facts of life itself4 ,this being so1 poetry here too is on the historical arena2 and1 consequently1 its deviations or variations of such data must1 in this field also1 find their point of departure in the rational core of the facts in question and the demand of the art to discover for this ideal essence a form that exhibits it with greatest adequacy and life4 ,and this must not be sought for in the poverty of a superficial knowledge1 an inability to penetrate what is really vital in fact1 or in the moods of caprice and with the craving after the quaint or perverse ingenuities of a spurious originality4 77 ,and further1 as already stated1 oratory is allied to prose on account of the practical end which is thereby proposed1 and1 to carry out which1 it is forced to admit to the full the claims of utility4 77 ,in this respect poetry must take care to detach itself from any end of this kind outside ,art's domain1 and the claim of artistic enjoyment simply2 that it may not fall into the sphere of prose4 ,for if any purpose of this sort is made to appear of essential importance1 as part of the entire conception and presentation1 the composition at once descends from that loftier region1 in whose free atmosphere it floats on its own account and on no other1 and is drawn into that of relation merely4 ,as a result of this we have either a breach made between the fundamental aim of art and the ends of ulterior intendments2 or art is used as a means simply1 contradicts its substantive notion1 and becomes the menial of utility4 ,the edifying effusions of many church hymns are of this character4 ,particular ideas are simply admitted on religious grounds1 and receive a style of composition which is alien to the beauty of poetry4 ,and1 speaking generally1 poetry1 simply as poetry1 has no right to edify in a religious sense1 or at least exclusively in this sense4 ,if it does so we are carried into a region1 which no doubt possesses relationship with both poetry and art1 but is for all that distinct from it4 ,we may say the same of teaching generally1 ethical instruction1 political treatises1 or writings of all kinds written for our momentary recreation and enjoyment4 ,all these are objects1 to whose attainment the art of poetry is1 or can be more than any other1 contributory4 ,but such contributions must not enter into the purpose1 if the spirit of the work is to assert itself freely in its own character4 ,in the poetical effort it is only what is really poetic1 eliminated from all that is foreign to this quality1 which must remain paramount as the end proposed and accomplished4 ,and in fact such ulterior aims as the above can be carried out far more appropriately by quite other means4 77 ,the art of poetry1 however1 from the converse point of view1 should strive to assert no absolute and isolated position2 it ought1 as a part of life itself1 to enter freely into life4 ,already in the first part of this inquiry we found how many points of contact there were between art and ordinary existence1 whose content and phenomenal appearance are repeated in its content and form4 ,in poetry this vital relation to actual existence and its specific circumstances1 private or public events1 appears with most obvious variety in the so-called poems d'occasion4 ,with a broader interpretation of the expression we may define as such most poetic compositions2 in the more narrow and correct meaning of the term1 however1 we should restrict it to those productions whose origin is traceable to a single event of present time1 which it is the express aim of the poet to emphasize1 adorn1 and celebrate4 ,in this weaving together of the actual threads of life1 however1 poetry tends once more to decline to a position of dependence2 it is therefore by no means unusual for writers on aesthetic to attach a purely subordinate value to poetry of this class in general1 although as to a part of it1 notably in the case of the lyric1 we find here the most famous compositions4 77 ,the question consequently arises by virtue of what poetry may be enabled to still maintain its independence even in the conflict above described4 ,the answer is simple4 ,it must regard and assert the occasional facts it borrows from life not as its essential aim1 while it is itself merely accepted as a means4 ,rather the reverse process is the right one1 which absorbs the material of such reality within its own substance1 and informs and elaborates the same conformably to the claims of an unfettered imagination4 ,in other words poetry has nothing to do with the accidental or incidental fact as such4 ,this material supplies the external opportunity1 that is the stimulus which prompts the poet to draw upon his own profounder penetration and more transparent mode of presentment3 by this means he creates from his own resources1 as something newborn1 that which1 without such mediation1 would have1 in the plain and blunt particular case1 wholly failed to impress us with the free spirit he communicates4 77 ,in conclusion then we may affirm that every genuine work of poetry is an essentially infinite organism4#af ,in content rich1 it unfolds this content under a mode of appearance which is adapted to it4 ,it is permeated with a principle of unity1 but not one referable to the form of utility1 which subordinates the particular to itself in an abstract relation1 but rather one that absorbs the same in the singularity relevant to one identical and entirely vital self-consistency1 in which the whole1 without any visible intention1 is sphered within one rounded and essentially self-enclosed completeness4 ,it is indeed replete with the materia of the visible world1 but is not on that account placed1 either in relation to its content or determinate existence1 under a condition of dependence to any one circle of life4 ,rather it freely creates out of its own plenitude1 striving to clothe the ideal notion of its material in its genuine manifestation as truth1 and to bring the world of external fact into reconciled accord with its own most ideal substance4 #c4 ,,the ,,creative ,,impulse ,,of ,,the ,,poet#ag ,i have already discussed at considerable length1 in the first part of this work1 the talent and genius1 the enthusiasm and originality of the artist4 ,i will consequently merely touch upon one or two points in the present reference to the art of poetry which appear of importance1 if we contrast this activity as effective here with that operative in the plastic arts and music4 7a7 ,the architect1 sculptor1 painter and musician have to deal with an entirely concrete and sensuous material1 in and through which each has to elaborate his creations4 ,the limitations of this material condition the specific form that the type of the conception no less than the mode of artistic execution assume4 ,the more fixed and predetermined the general lines of his definition are upon which the artist has to concentrate himself1 the more specialized becomes the talent required for the assertion of the same in any one and no other mode of presentment2 and we may add in the powers of technical execution which accompany it4 ,the talents adapted to the poetic art1 regarding the same from the point of view of an ideal envisagement in a specific materia1 is subordinated in a less degree to such conditions2 it is consequently more open to universal practice1 and in this respect more independent4 ,the need here at least is merely that of a gift for imaginative creation4 ,its limitation is confined merely to this1 namely1 that for the reason that this art is expressed in language1 it has to guard itself on the one hand from deliberate rivalry with external objects in their sensuous completeness1 in the form1 that is1 where we find the plastic artist apprehends his subject-matter in its external configuration3 and1 from a further point of view1 it is unable to rest in the unspoken ideality1 the emotional tones of which constitute the realm of music4 ,in these respects the problem proposed to the poet1 if we contrast him with artists in other arts1 is at once more facile and more difficult ,it is more easy1 because1 although the poet1 in the poetical elaboration of speech1 must possess a trained talent1 he is spared the relatively more manifold task of triumph over technical difficulties necessary in the other arts4 ,it is more difficult because1 just in proportion as poetry is less able to complete the objective envisagement1 it is compelled to seek some compensation for this loss on the side of sense in the genuine core of ,art's own ideality1 in the depth of imagination and a really artistic mode of conception4 7b7 ,for this reason the poet is1 in the second place1 constrained to penetrate into all the wealth of the spiritual content1 and to lay bare to the vision of mind what is concealed in its depths4 ,for however much in the other arts1 too1 the ideal must shine forth through its corporeal manifestation1 and does so in life itself shine forth1 yet the medium of speech remains that most open to intelligence1 and the means most adequate to its revelation4 ,it is the one medium able to grasp and declare everything whatever that flows through or is present in consciousness1 whether regarded in its ascent or profundity4 ,in consequence of this the poet finds himself confronted with difficulties which the other arts are not called upon to overcome or satisfy to the like degree4 ,in other words1 for the very reason that poetry is actually operative in the world of idea or imagination itself1 and is not concerned with fashioning for its images an objective existence independent of such ideality1 it is placed in an element or sphere in which the religious1 scientific and everyday consciousness are active2 it must therefore take care to make no excursion into the domain or mode of conception proper to any of these1 or to get mixed up with them4 ,no doubt in the case of every art we find points of contact with other arts4 ,artistic creation of every kind proceeds from one mind or spirit1 which comprehends in itself all spheres of self-conscious life4 ,but with the other arts the distinction of conception in each case is in its mode complete1 for the reason that this1 in its ideal creation1 persists throughout in permanent relation to the execution of its images in a definite sensuous material1 and consequently is absolutely distinct1 no less from the forms of the religious consciousness1 than it is from the thinking of science and the intelligence of ordinary life4 ,poetry1 on the contrary1 avails itself1 in its manner of objective communication1 of the very means adopted in these spheres of mental activity1 that is to say1 human speech2 it finds itself1 consequently1 otherwise placed than are the plastic arts and music1 which occupy a different field of conception and expression4 7c7 ,thirdly1 we have the final demand made upon the poet for the most profound and manifold transfusion of the subject-matter of his creations with the animating soul of life1 because it is his art which is capable of absorbing most profoundly the entire fulness of the spiritual content4 ,the plastic artist1 in a similar way1 must apply himself to a transfusion of ideal expression in the external form of architectonic1 plastic and the forms peculiar to painting4 ,the musician must likewise rivet his attention on the inner soul concentrated in emotion and passion and their outpouring in melodic expression4 ,in both cases the artist must be steeped in the most ideal intention and substance of his content4 ,but the sphere of the poet's creative activity extends yet further1 for the reason that he has not merely to elaborate an ideal world of soul-life and the self-conscious mind4 ,he has1 in addition1 to discover for this ideal realm an external mode of envisagement fitted thereto1 a mode by virtue of which that ideal totality shines through in more irresistible perfection than is possible in the case of other arts4 ,it is incumbent upon him to know human existence1 both as soul-life and objective life1 to receive into his inmost being the full breadth of the world and its shows1 and to have felt through it there1 penetrated1 enlarged1 deepened and revealed to himself all it implies4 ,only after that1 and in order that he may find it in his power to create1 as from his own spiritual experience outwards1 a free whole1--ay1 even in the case where he restricts his effort to a comparatively narrow and particular range1--he must have liberated himself from all embarrassment with his subject-matter1 whether of a technical#ah character or otherwise1 able in short to survey the ideal and external aspects thereof with the same free glance4 ,from the point of view of instinctive creative vigour#ai we may in this respect pre-eminently praise the ,mahomedan poets of the ,east4 ,the starting-point in such compositions is a freedom which1 even in the moment of passion1 remains aloof from such passion1 and in all the variety of its interests retains exclusively throughout the one substance as its veritable core1 in contrast to which everything else appears small and transitory1 and nothing of finality is left either to passion or lust4 ,this is a philosophical outlook1 a relation of spirit to the facts of the world1 which comes more readily to age than youth4 ,for in old age no doubt the interests of life are still present2 but they are not there with the urgency of youthful passion1 but rather in the guise of shadows1 and to this extent are more readily conformable to ideal relations such as ,art demands4 ,in opposition to the ordinary view that youth with its warmth and vigour is the fairest season for poetic creation1 we may rather1 at least from this point of view1 maintain just the opposite1 that the ripest season belongs to the autumn of old age1 provided that it is able to preserve its energies of outlook and emotion4 ,it is only to a blind old man1 ,homer1 that we ascribe those miraculous poems which have come down to us under that name4 ,and we may also affirm of our ,goethe that only in old age1 after he had fully succeeded in liberating his genius from all restricting limitations of sense1 that he gave us his most exalted creations4#bj ,footnote #a3 ,that is1 the essential notion 7,begriff7 of ,art generally4 ,footnote #b3 ,substantiellen1 i4e41 the form that most corresponds to its essence4 ,footnote #c3 ,theoretisch4 ,hegel doubtless has the ,greek word in his mind4 ,it is a ,bildung for the mind rather than with a view to action4 ,it assumes contemplation rather than volition4 ,footnote #d3 ,it is not quite clear whether ,hegel means by ,bedrfniss the need of spiritual life1 or the profounder demand of reality4 ,it might stand for either4 ,footnote #e3 ,that is1 the ,vernnft4 ,footnote #f3 ,das individualisirte ,vernnftige1 i4e41 reason as realized in concrete personality4 ,footnote #g3 ,in seiner ,gediegenheit und schlagenden ,fassung4 ,gediegenheit here thorough grasp4 ,schlagenden may possibly mean arresting character of the conception rather than definite1 precise4 ,footnote #h3 ,that is1 the notion4 ,footnote #i3 ,by aus dem ,geiste it is quite possible that there is no reference to individual genius4 ,in that case the translation would be in terms of human intelligence1 i4e41 from the resources of human reason4 ,footnote #aj3 ,this seems to be the meaning of die ,sache der ,zeit4 ,footnote #aa3 ,lit41 ,they do not come forth from self-substantive and immediately free vitality 7,lebendigkeit74 ,lebendigkeit is here the ideal and creative force or bond of soul-life as above described4 ,footnote #ab3 ,the ,german word would imply here an interpretation of symbolic or at least ideal significance4 ,footnote #ac3 ,this ,i presume is the general meaning of the sentence3 ,asien aber1 das er besiegt1 ist in der vielfachen ,willkhr seiner ,einzelnen ,vlkerschaften nur ein zuflliges ,ganzes4 ,footnote #ad3 ,ein ,sollen4 ,footnote #ae3 ,it is possible that too much stress is laid on this line of difference4 ,the fundamental difference between oratory and poetry is that of form4 ,at least it can hardly be denied that the power of the orator to meet the demands of local conditions is a vital feature of his art1 that in this respect a ,demosthenes is greater than ,burke4 ,it is surely a mistake to assume that such limitations in themselves or necessarily are an obstacle to creative genius4 ,it is rather the sign of supreme oratorical power that it can mould them and command them in conjunction with its more majestic spirit4 ,in this lies an essential part of the art itself1 just as a sculptor or a painter1 such as ,tintoret in the ,s4 ,rocco ,scuola1 dominates the defects of local condition4 ,footnote #af3 ,infinite1 that is1 not in the temporal sense1 but as a complete and self-realized whole4 ,footnote #ag3 ,hegel calls it the poetising subjectivity2 that is1 the personal activity essential to poetic composition4 ,footnote #ah3 ,practischen4 ,footnote #ai3 ,this appears to be the meaning of des ,naturells4 ,footnote #bj3 ,this is perhaps less true of ,goethe than it is of either ,milton or ,shakespeare4 ,it is possible that ,hegel thought more highly of the second part of ,faust as art than do the majority of modern critics4 ,but the truth is there1 if subject to a good deal of qualification in respect to certain aspects of poetry4 ,as ,meredith says3 ,verily now is our season of seed1 ,now in our ,autumn4 ,and ,meredith was not one to do less than justice to the superb ,dream of imaginative youth4 ,,ii ,,the ,,expression ,,of ,,poetry ,the field of vision which first will occupy our attention1 but the boundless expanse of which we can only traverse with a few general observations1 is that which concerns the poetic generally1 the content no less than the mode of conception and organic association adapted to the poetic work of art4 ,this background will help to emphasize the second aspect of our subject1 which is poetic expression more strictly1 the idea in the ideal objectivity of the word appropriated by it as symbol of the image1 and the melodious vehicle of its speech4 ,we may infer the nature of the relation between poetic expression generally and the mode of presentment proper to the other arts from our previous examination of the characteristics of the poetic art4 ,language and the sounds of words are neither a symbol of spiritual conceptions1 nor an adequate mode of projecting ideality under the condition of spatial objectivity in the sense applicable to the corporeal forms of sculpture and painting1 nor yet an intonation in musical sound of the entire soul4 ,they are an abstract sign simply4 ,as the vehicle of the poetic image or conception1 however1 it is necessary that this side also1 in theory no less than deliberate elaboration1 appear as distinct from the kind of expression appropriate to prose4 ,we may for this purpose emphasize with more detail three main points of distinction4 ,our first point is this1 that although poetic expression is throughout exclusively embodied in articulate words1 and apparently as such is simply related to human speech1 yet in so far as the words themselves are merely abstract signs representative of ideas1 the true source of poetic speech is not to be discovered in the selection of particular words1 and in the manner they are associated in sentences and elaborated phrases1 nor in harmonious rhythm1 rhyme and so forth1 but in the type of conception employed4 ,we have1 in short1 to look for our point of departure for the constructive use of expression in the choice of the idea or image1 find our first and foremost question will be what kind of conception will give us an expression suitable to poetry4 ,secondly1 however1 it remains the fact that the imaginative idea essentially pertinent to poetry is exclusively made objective in language4 ,we have consequently to investigate the expression of speech according to its purely verbal aspect1 in the light of which poetic words are distinguishable from those of prose1 poetic phrases from those of our ordinary life and prosaic thought1 abstracting in the first instance the mere sound of them to our sense of hearing4 ,finally1 we have to recognize the fact that poetry is a mode of articulate speech1 the sounding word1 which in its temporal duration no less than its actual sound1 must receive a definite configuration1 one that implies the presence of time-measure1 rhythm1 melodious sound and rhyme4 ,i4 ,,the ,,poetic ,,concept ,,or ,,idea ,what in the plastic arts the sensuous visible form expressed by means of stone and colour is1 or what in the realm of music animating strains of harmony and melody are1 this--we must repeatedly insist on the fact--can only be1 in respect to poetic expression--the idea or image itself4 ,the force of the poet's creation centres consequently1 in the fact that the art moulds a content in an ideal medium1 and without bringing before us the actual forms of external ,nature and the progressions of musical sound2 by doing so1 therefore1 it translates the objective presence accepted by the other arts into an ideal form1 which ,spirit or intelligence expresses for the imagination under the mode which is and must remain that of our conscious life4 ,a distinction of this very character was already insisted on when we had occasion previously to establish a distinction between the earliest type1 of poetry and its later modes of reconstruction from the data of prose4 7a7 ,imaginative poetry in its origin is not as yet a consciously distinct form from those extremes of ordinary conscious life1 one of which brings everything to vision under the mode of immediate and therewith contingent singularity1 without grasping the ideal essence implied therein1 and the manifestation of the same2 while the other1 in one direction1 differentiates concrete existence into its various characteristics1 making use of abstract generalization1 and in another avails itself of the scientific faculty as the correlating and connecting focus of such abstractions4 ,the idea is only poetical in so far as it holds these extremes in unviolable mediation1 and thereby is able to maintain a position of genuine stability midway between the vision of ordinary consciousness and that of abstract thought4 ,in general terms we may define the poetic imagination as plastic#a in so far as it brings before our vision concrete reality rather than the abstract generalization1 and in the place of contingent existence an appearance of such a kind that we recognize what is substantive immediately in it by virtue of its embodiment itself and its individuality1 and as inseparable from it1 and by virtue of this are able to grasp the concrete conception-of the fact in question no less than its determinate existence as one and the same vital whole reposing in the ideal medium of the imagination4 ,in this respect we find a fundamental distinction between that whereof the plastic or constructive idea is the source and all that is otherwise made vivid to us through other means of expression4 ,the same truth will appear to us1 if we analyse what we mean1 by mere reading4 ,we understand what the letters mean1 which are indicative points for articulate utterance1 by the mere act of sight1 and without being further obliged to listen to their sound4 ,only the illiterate reader will find it necessary to speak aloud the separate words that he may understand their sense4 ,but in the case of poetry just what seems to be here the mark of stupidity is an indication of beauty and excellence4 ,poetry is not satisfied with an abstract effort of apprehension1 nor does it bring objects before us as we find them in the form of reflection and in the unimaginative generalization of our memory4 ,it helps us to approach the essential notion in its positive existence1 the generic as clothed in its specific individuality4 ,in the view of ordinary common sense ,i understand by language1 both in its impression on my hearing or sight1 the meaning in its immediacy1 in other words1 without receiving its image before the mind4 ,the phrases1 for instance1 the sun1 or in the morning1 possess each of them no doubt a distinct sense2 but neither the ,dawn or the ,sun are themselves made present to our vision4 ,when1 however1 the poet says3 ,when now the dawning ,eos soared heavenwards with rosy fingers1 here without question we have the concrete fact brought home to us4 ,the poetical expression adds1 however1 yet more1 for it associates with the object recognized a vision of the same1 or we should rather say the purely abstract relation of knowledge vanishes1 and the real definition takes its place4 ,in the same way take the phrase1 ,alexander conquered the ,persian empire4 ,here1 no doubt1 so far as content is concerned1 we have a concrete conception2 the many-sided definition of it1 however1 expressed here in the word victory1 is concentrated in a featureless and pure abstraction1 which fails to image before us anything of the appearance and reality of the exploit accomplished by ,alexander4 ,this truth applies to every kind of similar expression4 ,we recognize the bare fact2 but it remains pale and dun1 and from the point of view of individual existence undetermined and abstract4 ,the poetic conception consequently embraces the fulness of the objective phenomenon as it essentially exists1 and is able to elaborate the same united with the essential ideality of the fact in a creative totality4 ,what follows as a primary result of this is that it is of interest to the imagination to linger near the external characteristics of the fact1 to the extent at least that it seeks to express the same in its positive reality1 deems this as essentially worthy of contemplation and insists on this very attitude4 ,poetry is consequently in its manner of expression descriptive ,description is1 however1 not the right word for it4 ,we are1 in fact1 accustomed to accept as descriptive1 and in contrast to the abstract definition1 in which a content is otherwise brought home to our intelligence1 much that the poet passes by1 so that from the point of view of ordinary speech poetic composition can only appear as a roundabout way and a useless superfluity4 ,the poet must1 however1 manage to bring his imagination to bear upon the explication of the actual phenomenon he is attempting to depict with a vital interest4#b ,in this way1 for instance1 ,homer adds a descriptive epithet to every hero4 ,so ,achilles is the swift-footed1 the ,achaeans bright-greaved1 ,hector as of the glancing helm1 ,agamemnon the lord of peoples1 and so forth4 ,the name is no doubt descriptive of a personality1 but the name alone brings nothing further to our vision4 ,to have some distinct idea of this we require further attributes4 ,we have in fact similar epithets attached by ,homer to other objects1 which are essential to our vision of the epic1 such as sea1 ships1 sword and others1 epithets which seize and place before us an essential quality of the particular object1 depicting it more precisely1 and which enable us to apprehend the fact in its concrete appearance4 ,secondly1 we must distinguish such reconstruction of actual facts from definition wholly imagined4 ,this offers a further point of view for discussion4 ,the real image merely places before us the fact in the reality it possesses4 ,the expression of the poet's imagination1 on the contrary1 does not restrict itself to the object in its immediate appearance2 it proceeds to depict something over and above this1 by means of which the significance of the former picture is made clear to our mind4 ,metaphors1 illustrations1 similes become in this way an essential feature of poetic creation4 ,we have thereby a kind of veil attached to the content1 which concerns us1 and which1 by its difference from it1 serves in part as an embellishment1 and in part as a further unfolding of it1 though it necessarily fails to be complete1 for the reason that it only applies to a specific aspect of this content4 ,the passage in which ,homer compares ,ajax1 on his refusing to fly1 to an obstinate ass is an illustration4 ,to a pre-eminent degree oriental poetry possesses this splendour and wealth in pictorial comparisons4 ,there are two main reasons of this4 ,first1 its symbolic point of view makes such a search for aspects of affinity inevitable1 and in the universality of its centres of significance it offers a large field of concrete phenomena capable of comparison2 secondly1 on account of the sublimity of its predominant outlook there is a tendency to apply the entire variety of all that is most brilliant and glorious in its motley show to the embellishment of the ,one ,supreme1 which is held before the mind as the sole ,one to be exalted4 ,this object of the imagination1 moreover1 is not to be apprehended as merely the work of fanciful caprice or comparison1 possessing as such nothing in it essentially actual and present4 ,on the contrary the transmutation of all particular existence into further existence in this central idea grasped and clothed by the imagination is rather to be understood as equivalent to the assertion that there is nothing else essentially present1 nothing that otherwise can put forward a claim to substantive reality4 ,the belief in the world as we apprehend it with the vision of ordinary common sense is converted into a belief in the imagination1 for which the only world that verily exists is that which the poetic consciousness has created4 ,conversely we have the romantic imagination1 which is ready enough to express itself in metaphor1 because in its vision what is external is for the essentially secluded life of the soul only accepted as something incidental1 something that is unable adequately to express its own reality4 ,to reclothe this consequently unreal externality with profound emotion1 with all the fulness of detail envisioned1 or with the play of humour upon the conjunction of such opposites is an impulse1 which constrains and charms romantic poetry to ever novel discoveries4 ,the object of importance here is not so much to make the fact clear and distinct to the vision2 on the contrary the metaphorical employment of these outlying phenomena is itself the aim proposed4 ,the emotion of the poet concentrates itself as the centre1 which the environment enriches with its wealth2 it absorbs this as part of itself1 adapts it with genius and wit to its adornment1 steeps it in its own life1 and finds in this movement to and fro1 this elaboration and self-reflection of its creation its own source of delight4 7b7 ,secondly1 we have the contrast present between the poetic mode of conception and that of prose4 ,the thing of importance in the latter case is not that which is imaged1 but the significance as such which constitutes the content4 ,it is on account of the latter that the idea or image becomes a mere means to bring the content before the mind4 ,the composition of prose is therefore neither compelled to place the more detailed reality of its objects before our vision1 nor to summon before us1 as is the case with the metaphorical mode of expression previously described1 another idea which carries us beyond the immediate object to be expressed4 ,no doubt it is also necessary in prose to indicate in firm and distinct outlines the positive appearance of objects2 but this is so not on account of their figurative character1#c but to meet a specific and practical purpose4 ,generally speaking we may therefore affirm accuracy to be from one point of view the ruling principle of prose composition1 and from another a clear definition and intelligibility of statement4 ,in contrast to this the language of metaphor and imagery is in general and relatively less clear and more inaccurate4 ,for in that mode of direct expression1 such as we have presented by our first form of the poetic conception1 the fact in its simplicity is carried away from our immediate apprehension of it as a mere object into the actual world of concrete fact1 and we have to recognize it as a part of this1 while in that second and more oblique form some phenomenon of affinity merely and one even aloof from the essential significance of our subject is made present to us4 ,we do not1 therefore1 wonder that prosaic commentators of our poets have no easy task when they seek to separate1 by means of their scientific analyses1 the image from the significance1 to extract their abstract content from the vital form1 and thereby expound poetic modes of composition to the prosaic mind4 ,in poetry this accuracy1 this rigour in unfolding the content as we find it in its simplicity1 is not alone the essential principle4 ,on the contrary1 though prose is forced to confine its ideas on parallel lines of almost mathematical precision with the nature of its content1 poetry introduces us to a different sphere altogether1 that is1 the visible appearance of the content itself1 or other natural phenomena related to it4 ,for it is just this objective reality which in poetry ought to appear1 and while unquestionably from one point of view revealing that content1 yet at the same time from another it has to liberate itself from the purely abstract content1 it being essentially an object of the art to direct attention to its actual existence in the visible world1 and to arouse the interest of mind in the forms of life itself4 7c7 ,if these three essential requirements of poetry are conditioned by an age1 in which the accuracy of the prosaic mind is become the ordinary type of conscious life1 the art1 so far as its figurative characteristics are concerned1 is placed in a more difficult position4 ,that is to say1 in such an epoch the type of penetration exercised by conscious life is generally a separation of emotion and the ordinary outlook from scientific thought1 which either converts the ideal and external material of feeling and perception into a stimulus of knowledge and volition simply1 or into a plastic medium subservient to observation and action4 ,in such a sphere poetry calls for energies of more definite purpose in order that it may free itself from the abstraction of the prevailing mental attitude and enter into the world of concrete life4 ,where1 however1 such a goal is realized1 not only do we find that this breach between thinking1 which makes for generalization1 and perception and feeling1 which grasp the particular1 vanishes1 but these last-mentioned modes of conscious life are1 together with their subject-matter and content1 at the same time freed from their exclusive relation of service2 and the process culminates in a victorious reconciliation of such modes with what is essential universality4 ,inasmuch1 however1 as both the modes of poetic and prosaic thought and general outlook are united in one and the same conscious life1 we find in it indications of trouble and derangement1 even possibly an actual conflict between the two1 one which1 as the poetry of our times testifies1 only genius of the highest order is able successfully to deal with4 ,added to this there are other collateral hindrances1 which ,i only propose to define now1 and that briefly1 in their relation to the figurative aspect already discussed4 ,in other words1 if the prosaic intelligence takes the place of that creative imagination which previously obtained1 then and in that case the rejuvenescence of the poetic faculty1 both in all that is associated with the positive expression of facts and what is metaphorical1 readily offers the semblance of artificiality1 which even where it falls short of actual purpose1 is only with great difficulty reconciled with that directness of immediate truth which is demanded4 ,much in fact which was still fresh in former times1 through repeated usage1 and the habits thus originated1 has itself become gradually a custom and a part of prosaic life4 ,moreover1 where poetry strives after novelties in its composition1 we often find that1 despite of itself1 in its figurative expressions and descriptions1 even where it escapes the charge of exaggeration and an excess of such material1 it none the less leaves an impression of artificiality1 over nicety1 a straining after what is piquant and select1 work incompatible with a simple and healthy outlook and state of feeling4 ,such work tends to regard objects in an artificial light and reckons on mere effect4 ,consequently it will not permit their natural lighting and colour4 ,defects of this nature are still more obvious in cases where1 as a rule1 the metaphorical type of imaginative composition is exchanged#d for the more direct1 and our poet is driven to outbid the forces of prose2 and1 in order to assert an originality1 plunges into the subtleties of or the fishing for effects which have still some appearance of freshness4 #b4 ,,verbal ,,expression ,inasmuch as the poetic imagination is distinct in its operation from that of all other artists in virtue of the fact that it necessarily clothes its images in words1 and communicates the same through human speech1 it becomes imperative that throughout this process it should endeavour to co-ordinate all its ideas1 in the form which with most completeness will disclose them1 through the means articulate speech thus places at its disposal4 ,and1 in short1 we may affirm that the poetic content only assumes the form of poetry in its restricted sense after it has been actually embodied and rounded off in the vehicle of words4 ,this literary aspect of the art of poetry would readily supply us with a boundless field of discursive observation and logical argument1 which ,i must1 however1 pass over in order that ,i may reserve space for more weighty problems which lie before us4 ,i merely propose1 therefore1 to touch very briefly on a few fundamental points4 7a7 ,human art should in all its associations place us on a ground quite other than that we confront in ordinary life1 or indeed in our religious consciousness1 active life1 or the speculations of philosophy4 ,this is possible on the side of literary or verbal expression only in so far as another mode of speech is adopted than that obtaining in those other spheres4 ,art has therefore not only1 from one point of view1 to avoid that in its instrument of expression which will fail to rise above the trivialities of ordinary speech and ordinary prose1 but it must1 furthermore1 avoid falling into the tone and manner of religious edification and philosophical research4 ,above all it must keep aloof from the precise analyses and methods of the scientific faculty1 the categories of pure thinking as we find these illustrated in the logical forms of judgment and deduction4 ,these at once remove art from the imaginative realm to another region altogether4 ,but in all these respects it still remains a difficult matter to determine the lines of boundary on which we may actually affirm that poetry ends and prose begins4 ,and in fact we may admit absolute precision and confidence of statement to be impossible from the nature of the case4 7b7 ,if we pass now to a discussion of the particular means which poetic-speech can appropriate as instrumental to its task the following points appear to me pregnant and suggestive4 77 ,first1 we find particular words and exclamations#e that are obviously peculiar to poetry1 whether they be used to ennoble it1 or to introduce the vulgarity and excess of comedy4 ,we find a similar novelty in the specific collocation of various words or turns of expression4 ,in such a field poetry is no doubt entitled on the one hand to borrow from an obsolete nomenclature1 obsolete at least in everyday speech1 and on the other to declare itself as pre-eminently an innovator1 moulding novel modes of speech4 ,such a field1 provided only the vital genius of the language is preserved1 supplies material for astonishing boldness of invention4 77 ,secondly1 we have the problem of verbal order4 ,it is here that we meet with those so-called figures of speech1 in so far as1 we should add1 the same have reference to verbal embodiment as such4 ,the use of these1 however1 easily degenerates into rhetoric and declamation in the bad sense of these terms2 the vitality of individual character is destroyed where we find that such forms substitute a fixed and artificial mode of expression for the genuine impulse of feeling or passion1 and thereby offer the very opposite to the personal1 laconic and broken utterance required1 the utterance whose emotional depth is incapable of saying much1 and for this reason1 in romantic poetry especially1 is of great effect as a presentment of suppressed#f states of soul4 ,but generally speaking we may admit that the relative order of words is an instrument of the external form of poetry of quite extraordinary resource4 77 ,thirdly1 we have still to draw attention to the construction of periods1#g which essentially embrace all the other aspects of composition and which1 by means of either their simple or more involved course1 their restless dislocations and distortions1 or their quick onward motion1 their acceleration and their flood contribute so materially to the reflection of such soul experience4 ,and1 in short1 it is essential that the external presentment in speech should mirror and assume a character similar to the ideality of such experience in all its variety4 7c7 ,in the application of the means of speech above considered it will be useful to distinguish once more the several stages of poetic thought to which they correspond and to which we drew attention when we considered the nature of poetic conception or composition4 77 ,poetic diction can1 in the first instance1 appear with real vitality among a people and at an epoch when the general speech is not as yet perfected1 but in fact only by virtue of its poetry receives its real development4 ,at such a time the utterance of the poet1 as generally expressive of soul-life1 is from the first a real novelty1 which stirs admiration on its own account by revealing in its speech what remained previously unveiled4 ,this new creation appears as the marvel of a gift and personal power4 ,the weight of custom has not as yet fallen upon it4 ,it enables that which is buried in the depths of the human heart for the first time to freely unfold itself before the amazement of men4 ,under such conditions it is the native force of the expression1 the creation of the fact of speech1 not so much the varied and craftful elaboration of the same1 which is the main point4 ,diction here remains exceedingly simple4 ,in such early times it is indeed impossible that we should have either much fluency of idea or any varied versatility of expression4 ,the subject-matter of such poetry is depicted with an artless directness1 which has not yet attained the delicate nuances1 transitions1 mediatory matter and other advantages of a later artistic culture4 ,in such an age the poet is in fact the first person to give an utterance to the national voice1 to express ideas in speech1 and thereby to encourage the imagination itself4 ,speech is1 if we may so express it1 not yet inseparable from ordinary life1 and poetry can still freely1 with an effect of freshness1 avail itself of all that in later times1 as the speech of common life1 gradually is severed from art4 ,in this respect1 for example1 ,homer's type of expression is to the modern man barely distinguishable from ordinary speech4 ,for every idea we have the direct word#h2 metaphorical expressions are comparatively rare2 and although the poem is composed with a close attention to detail1 the speech itself remains very simple indeed4 ,in a similar way ,dante was able to create for his own nation a vital form of poetic expression1 and asserted in this1 as in other respects1 the dauntless energy of his creative genius4 77 ,when1 however--this is a further point--the circle of ideas enlarges with the appearance of methodical modes of thought the ways in which idea is associated with idea increase1 and in this very process the ability to use it increases also1 and the expression of speech is elaborated in all the fluency of which it is capable4 ,when this is so the position of poetry on the side of verbal expression is wholly changed4 ,in other words1 we have now a nation possessing the fully developed prose speech of everyday life1 and poetic expression must now1 in order to retain its interest1 swerve aside from ordinary parlance1 and receive a resurrection under the re-moulding energy of genius4#i ,in our daily life the contingency of the moment is the motive of speech4 ,in the creation of a work of art1 however1 we must have deliberate circumspection#aj in the place of instantaneous feeling2 even the spirit of enthusiasm must be judiciously restrained4 ,the creation of genius should be permitted to unfold itself from the artistic repose1#aa and become informed under the prevailing temper of an intelligence#ab that surveys the whole with clarity4 ,in former times this spirit of concentration and tranquillity is to be inferred from the fact and utterance of poetry itself4 ,in a more recent age1 on the contrary1 the nature of the composition and execution has itself to enforce the distinction which obtains between the expression of poetry and prose4 ,in this respect poems which belong to epochs in which we find already an elaborated prose diction differ essentially from those of times and peoples in which the art originates4 ,the executive talent of a poet can be carried so far in this direction that the elaboration of formal expression becomes the main thing1 and the aim is less directed to ideal truth than to formal construction1 a polished elegance and mere effect of the composition under its literary aspect4 ,we have then a situation1 in which1 as already observed1 rhetoric and declamation are elaborated in a manner destructive to the ideal vitality of the poetic spirit4 ,the formative intelligence asserts itself under the principle of purposiveness1 and a selfconsciously regulated art disturbs that more genuine effect1 which ought to present the appearance of ingenuous openness and simplicity4 ,entire nations have1 with the rarest exceptions1 failed to produce any type of poetic creation other than this rhetorical one4 ,the ,latin language1 even in ,cicero1 still preserves a genuine ring of navet and naturalness4 ,with the ,latin poets1 however1 such as ,virgil1 ,horace and the rest1 we already feel that ,art is to a real extent nothing but artifice1 elaboration of effect on its own account4 ,we recognize a prosaic content1 which is merely set off with an external embellishment4 ,we find a poet who1 in the absence of original genius1 endeavours to discover1 in the sphere of literary versatility and rhetoric effects1 some compensation for that which in genuine power and effect of creation and composition he fails to possess4 ,france too1 in the so-called classical period of its literature1 has produced poetry very similar1 a poetical style to which didactic poems and satires are singularly appropriate4 ,rhetorical figures of speech in all their variety are here in their rightful place4 ,the exposition remains for all that1 as a whole1 prosaic2 and the literary expression is at its best rich in image and embellishment1 much in the style of ,herder's or ,schiller's diction4 ,these last-mentioned writers1 however1 availed themselves of this style of literary expression mainly in the interests of prose composition2 and by the weightiness of their reflections and the happy use of such a style knew how to win both a critical assent and a hearty approval4 ,the ,spanish poets also are not wholly free from the ostentation inseparable from the too self-conscious diction of art4 ,and1 as a general rule1 ,southern nations1 such as the ,spaniards and the ,italians1 and previously to them the ,mohammedan ,arabs and ,persians1 are conspicuous for a wealth and tedious prolixity of image and simile4 ,with the ancients1 more especially in the case of ,homer1 the flow of expression is characterized by smoothness and tranquillity4 ,with the nations above mentioned1 on the contrary1 we have a vision of life gushing forth#ac in a flood which1 even where the emotions are in other respects at rest1 is ever intent upon expatiation1 and owing to this expressly volitional effort of the will is dominated by an intelligence which at one time is visible in abrupt parentheses1 at another in subtle generalization1 at another in the playful conjunction of its sallies of wit and humour4 77 ,genuine poetic expression in short is as far removed from all rhetorical declamation as above described as it is from all ostentation and witty conceits of diction1 in so far at least as such defects do injury to the ideal truth of ,nature1 and the claims of the content are forgotten in the verbal form and expression of the composition4 ,it is1 however1 possible1 despite of this1 that the author's free enjoyment in his work declare itself with real beauty4 ,in a word that aspect of the composition we define as formal diction ought not to be treated on its own and independent account alone1 or as an aspect of first and even exclusive importance4 ,and1 generally speaking1 in this analysis of the composition of poetry under its formative aspect1 we repeat that what is the product of careful thought must not lose the appearance of genuine spontaneity3 everything should impress us as though it had of itself blossomed from the ideal germ or heart of the subject-matter4 #c4 ,,versification ,our third and final aspect of poetic expression is necessitated by the fact that the imagination of the poet does not merely invest ideas in words1 but does so in the form of the uttered speech2 and by doing so he consequently enters the domain wherein our senses are made aware of the actual sounds and music of speech4 ,we are thus introduced to versification4 ,versified prose may give us verses1 but that is not necessarily poetry4 ,we have a parallel case in the merely poetic expression of a composition in other respects prosaic with its result of poetic prose simply4 ,yet for all that metre or rhyme is an essential demand of poetry1 bringing1 as it were1 a perfume of its own to the senses2 nay1 it is even more essential than a richly imaginative and so-called beautiful diction4 ,and in truth the artistic elaboration of this sensuous medium#ad unfolds to us--it is the very demand of the art itself--another realm1 another field1 which we only really enter after having left behind us the prose of ordinary life1 whether viewed as action or as literary composition4 ,the poet is thereby compelled to move in a literary atmosphere outside the boundary of everyday speech1 and to shape his compositions with an exclusive regard to the rules and requirements of ,art4 ,it is therefore only a superficial theory which would banish all versification on the ground that it contradicts natural expression4 ,it is true that ,lessing1 in his hostility to the false pathos of the ,french ,alexandrine metre1 attempted1 more particularly in tragedy1 to introduce a form of prose speech as most appropriate4 ,both ,schiller and ,goethe have1 in the more stormy works of their youth1 and under the natural impulse of compositions carrying a greater surfeit of content1 adopted the same principle4 ,but ,lessing himself1 in his ,nathan1 finally returns once more to the iambic4 ,and in the same way with his ,don ,carlos ,schiller deserted the old path4 ,goethe too was so little satisfied with the earlier prosaic treatment of his ,iphigeneia and ,tasso1 that he transferred them to art's more proper domain1 remoulding them both from the point of view of expression and prosody in that purer form1 wherein these compositions continue and will continue to excite our admiration4 ,no doubt the artificiality of the verse measure or the recurrent echoes of rhyme has the appearance of an unyielding#ae bond between spiritual ideas and the sensuous medium1 more rigorous indeed than colour in painting4 ,external objects and the human form are coloured in ,nature1 and the colourless is an arbitrary abstraction4 ,the idea1 on the contrary1 in association with the sounds of human speech1 which are employed in the wholly capricious symbols of their utterance1 possess only a distant or no ideal thread of connection at all4 ,this being so1 the exacting demand of the prosodical rules will very readily appear as a fetter to the imagination1 in virtue of which it is no longer possible for the poet to communicate his ideas in the precise form in which they float upon his phantasy4 ,the inference is natural that although the stream of rhythm and the music of rhyme exercises upon us as an unquestionable fascination1 it is nevertheless not unfrequently and too much so the demand of this very charm to our senses that the finest poetic feeling and idea should be sacrificed4 ,but the objection for all that will not hold water4 ,in other words it is not true that versification is simply an obstruction to spontaneous movement4 ,a genuine artistic talent throughout moves in its sensuous material as in its native element1 which so far from being oppressive or a hindrance acts as a stimulus and a support4 ,and in fact we find that all really great poets move with freedom and confidence in the measure1 rhythm or rhyme they have created2 and it is only when they are translated that our artistic sense is frequently pained or shocked at the attempt to retrace their rhythm and melody4 ,moreover it is part of the liberality of the art that the very circumstances of the restraint1 involving much change1 concentration or expansion of the ideas expressed1 should suggest to our poet new thoughts1 incidents and creations1 which1 apart from such difficulties1 had never crossed his mind4 ,but in truth quite apart from this relative advantage this sensuous and determinate form of being--in the case of poetry the melodious chain of words--is once for all essential to art4 ,it is absolutely necessary that the result should not remain in the formless and undefined stream that we have in the immediate contingency of ordinary conversation4 ,it must appear in the vital design and elaboration of art4 ,and although this form no doubt in the music of poetry may sound too as a purely external instrument1 it has nevertheless to be treated as an end on its own account1 and as such as an essentially harmonious self-defined whole4 ,this attention1 which is due to the medium of sense1 contributes1 as in ,art universally1 and in the interest of seriousness1#af yet another point of view where we find this very austerity vanishes2 both poet and listener feel it no more4 ,they are lifted into a region of exhilarating charm and grace4 ,in painting and sculpture the artist is given the form in its material and spatial limitations for the portrayal and colouring of human limbs1 rocks1 trees1 clouds and flowers4 ,in architecture also the requirements and objects of the buildings proposed dictate more or less the defined shape given to walls1 towers and roofs4 ,in the same-way music already possesses stable definition in the fundamental laws of harmony4 ,in the art of poetry1 however1 the sound of language to our aural sense is1 in the first instance1 unbridled2#ag the poet has consequently to regulate such absence of rule within objective limits1 and to outline a more stable conture1 a more definite framework of sound for his conceptions1 their structure and their objective beauty4 ,just as in musical declamation the rhythm and melody should accept and adapt itself to the nature of the content1 versification is also a kind of music1 which1 at its own distance1 is capable of essentially re-echoing the mysterious1 but none the less definite1 course and character of the ideas4 ,agreeably with this the verse-measure ought to reflect the general tone and1 as it were1 the spiritual perfume of an entire poem1 and it is by no means a question of no consequence whether the external form is one of iambics1 trochaics1 stanzas1 alcaics or any other metre4 ,in the heads of discussion we propose to follow of most importance are two systems1 whose distinction from each other we shall endeavour to explain4 ,the first is rhythmical versification1 which depends upon the actual length or shortness of the verbal syllables1 whether we regard such in the association of varied figures of speech1 or under the relation of their time-movement4 ,the second is that which is responsible for tonal quality as such1 not merely in the case of isolated letters1 consonants or vowels1 but also in that of entire syllables and words1 the configuration of which is in part regulated by the laws of the uniform repetition of identical or similar sounds1 and in part by those of symmetrical change4 ,it is to this system that we refer the alliteration1 assonance and rhyme4 ,both systems stand in intimate connection with the prosody of speech4 ,this is so whether such systems are rather based throughout on the actual length or shortness of syllables1 or on the accent which the mind requires1#ah as attached to the obvious importance of such syllables4 ,and1 finally1 we have also to unite together this general rhythmical movement with the music of the independent formal structure as rhyme4#ai ,and in this effort1 inasmuch as the repeated echo of the rhyme strikes the ear with a marked emphasis1 which asserts itself predominantly over the purely temporal condition of duration and advance1 the rhythmical aspect will1 in such a conjunction1 tend to fall back1 and arrest our attention with less force4 7a7 ,rhythmical ,versification4 ,in discussing the rhythmical system which is without rhyme the following points are of the most importance3 ,first1 we have the firm and fast time-measure of syllables in their plain distinction of long and shorty as well as their manifold association with definite conditions and metres of poetry4 ,secondly1 we have the animation of rhythm in accent1 caesura and opposition between the verse accent and that of separate words4 ,thirdly1 there is the aspect of euphonious sounds which1 within this movement1 is forthcoming from the sound of the words1 without any further concentration in rhyme4 7a7 ,for that rhythmical movement which the time duration and the movement itself makes of first importance rather than the melodic sound as such and singled in its isolated effect1 77 we find our starting point in the natural length and shortness of syllables to the obvious distinctions of which the sound of the actual words1 the expression of their letters1 in consonants and vowels1 contribute the essential basis4 ,pre-eminently long by nature are the diphthongs ai1 oi1 ae1 and the rest1 for the reason that essentially--whatever our modern schoolmaster may say to the contrary--they are themselves a twofold1 concrete tone1 which combines1 much as green does among the colours4 ,the long-sounding vowels are equally so4 ,as a third principle1 which obtains already in ,sanscrit1 no less than the ,greek and ,latin languages1 we have associated with them peculiar conditions of position4 ,in other words1 if two or more consonants are placed between two vowels the relation constitutes what is unquestionably a difficult transition in speech4 ,the organ of articulate utterance requires a longer period to pass over the consonants2 this necessitates a pause which1 despite of the presence of the short vowel1 makes the syllable sound in its rhythm long1 though it is not actually lengthened4 ,if ,i speak the words for example--mentem nec secus--the movement from the one vowel to the other in mentem and nec is neither as simple or easy as in secus4 ,more modern languages do not retain this last distinction with such stringency1 but rather give effect1 in the matter of long and short accent1 to other criteria4 ,but for all that syllables which are treated as short1 despite of the position referred to1 at least will not unfrequently create a harsh impression1 because they obstruct the quicker movement our ear demands4 ,in contradistinction to the long quantity we have in diphthongs1 long vowels and length created by position1 we have the vowels which are by nature short1 that is1 those which are short1 or which are not placed in words1 where one of them and another immediately following are separated by two or more consonants4 77 ,for the reason1 then1 that words1 partly on their own account1 as of several syllables1 include a number of long and short beats1 and in part1 although of one syllable1 are nevertheless associated with other words1 we have thereby to start with a definite1 but accidental interchange of various syllables and words without any stable measure4 ,to regulate this accidental relation is just the function of poetry1 precisely as it was that of music to define with accuracy the unregulated duration of particular tones by means of the unity of time-measure4 ,poetry therefore establishes specific combinations of long and short syllables as the law1 by virtue of which1 under the aspect of time-duration1 it has to arrange the series of syllables4 ,what we therefore get in the first instance are the different successions of time4 ,the simplest is the mutual relation of pure equality1 as1 for example1 we find it in the dactyl and anapaest1 in which the two short syllables may coalesce according to definite rule in two long syllables 7the spondee74 ,secondly1 a long syllable may be placed next one short2 in that case we have a profounder distinction of derivation1 though under its simplest form4 ,such are the iambus and the trochee4 ,we find a more complicated combination1 when a short syllable is interposed between two long ones1 or one short precedes two long1 as in the cretic and bacchius4 77 ,such isolated time-relations would1 however1 open the door to unregulated contingency if they were permitted to follow one another anyhow in their motley differences4 ,in fact the entire aim of such regulation would vanish under such conditions1 in other words the regulated series of long and short syllables4 ,from another point of view we should wholly fail to secure a definite beginning1 conclusion1 and central position1 so that the caprice which here once again asserted itself would entirely contradict that which we previously established1 when considering musical time-measure and beat1 as to the relation in which the percipient ego stood to the duration of tones4 ,in other words1 the ego requires a combination on its own account1#bj a return out of the continuous forward movement in time2 and only seizes on the same in virtue of definite unities of time and their1 as such1 emphasized commencement1#ba regulated in their entire series and terminations4 ,this is the reason why1 in the third place1 poetry also sets out the particular time-relations in a series of verse-lines1#bb which in respect to the type and number of their feet1 no less than in that of their commencement1 progress1 and conclusion1 are subject to rule4 ,the iambic trimeter1 for instance1 consists of six iambic feet1 of which any two constitute an iambic dipody4 ,the hexameter consists of six dactyls1 which again1 in certain positions1 may coalesce in spondees4 ,moreover1 as it is no objection to such lines of verse-writing that they are repeated over and over again in the same or practically under the same mode1 we find in respect to the entire series1 on the one hand1 a lack of definition so far as the one final conclusion is concerned1 and on the other a monotony1 which creates perceptibly a sense of deficiency in the ideal aspect of their manifold composition4 ,in order to mitigate such defects poetry makes a final advance in its creation of the strophe and its varied organization1 more particularly with a view to lyric expression4 ,as an illustration we have the elegiac measure of the ,greeks2 there is also the alcaic and sapphic strophe1 not to mention the modes of lyric art elaborated by ,pindar and the famous ,greek dramatists in their choric effusions or interludes4 ,however much1 in their relation to time-measure1 music and poetry partake of similar conditions1 we ought not1 therefore1 to fail to draw attention to their dissimilarity4 ,the most important feature of this is that of the beat4 ,the question whether there is any real repetition measurable in time-beats of identical length in the metre of the ancients has been the subject of strenuous controversy4 ,generally speaking ,i think it may be affirmed that poetry1 which uses language in its words as a mere means of communication1 is unable1 in respect to the time-length of its utterances1 to subordinate the same to an absolutely fixed measure of its movement in the abstract form that is present in the time-beat of music4 ,in music tone is simply sound1 without pause as such1 and it essentially requires a stability such as we find in the time-beat4 ,human speech does not require such security1 for one reason because it already possesses something fixed and substantive in the idea1 and for another because it is not thus wholly committed to the objective medium of sound or resonance2 rather this very ideality of conscious life is the medium in which it consists as art4 ,for this reason poetry in fact discovers the more substantive means of defining its arrest1 continuance1 pause or delay immediately in the ideas and emotions which it clearly enunciates in language4 ,music1 too1 in its recitatives1 marks the beginning of a similar process of separation from the immutable equality of the time-beat4 ,it follows from this that1 if poetical metre were wholly subjugate to the regularity of the time-beat1 the distinction between music and poetry1 in this sphere at least1 would vanish altogether1 and the element of time would receive a more predominant significance than is compatible with the essential characteristics of poetry4 ,supported by such a conclusion we may therefore insist that1 though a time-measure is of imperative value in poetry1 there is no such necessity for the abstract time-beat2 meaning and signification#bc of the actual words must here remain the relatively speaking more controlling force4 ,if we examine in this respect more closely the particular verse-measures of the ancients the hexameter will no doubt appear most nearly attached to a forward movement compatible with the stringency of the time-beat4 ,the elder ,voss in fact assumed this1 though1 as a matter of fact1 such an assumption is already excluded by the catalexis of the last foot4 ,when in addition to this ,voss proceeded to place the time-measure of the alcaic and sapphic strophes on a similar basis of abstract equality1 we can only regard such a theory as a wilful caprice which does violence to the poetry4 ,the contention throughout is apparently due to the habit of treating our ,german iambic in identical lengths of syllable measure and time-measure4 ,as a matter of fact the beauty of the iambic trimeter of the ancients consisted above all in this1 that it was not composed of six iambic feet of identical lengths of time2 but quite the contrary in order that1 in the first position of every dipody1 spondees1 or1 in their resolution1 also dactyls and anapaests were permissible2 and1 by reason of this1 the monotonous repetition of the same time-measure1 and thereby all that is consistent with the time-beat1 vanishes4 ,we may add that the possibility of change is yet more obvious in lyric strophes1 so that if we wish to establish such a thesis at all it must be on the priori principle1 that the time-beat is essentially necessary4 ,as a deduction from the plain facts we see nothing of the kind4 77 ,with the introduction of the accent and the caesura we have for the first time the animation of the time-measure2 we may parallel with this that rhythm in music1 which we have discussed as the time-beat4 77 ,in short in poetry also every definite time relation has1 in the first instance1 its particular accent2 in other words1 regularly defined intervals are asserted1 which attract others and only in this way are rounded off in a whole4 ,owing to this fact much play is given to the manifold possibilities of the value of syllables4 ,on the one hand generally long syllables appear emphasized in their contrast to short1 so that now1 if the ictus falls upon them1 their significance is doubled as against the shorter1 and in fact stand out themselves as distinct from long syllables not thus accented4 ,on the other hand1 however1 it may also happen that shorter syllables receive the ictus or accent1 so that a similar emphasis is created to the one described in the converse case4 ,above all1 as already observed1 the beginning and termination of the particular feet ought not with abstract precision to be identical with the beginning and conclusion of single words4 ,for1 in the first place1 the reach forward#bd of the essentially exclusive word over the termination of the foot of the line affects the connection of the otherwise disparate rhythms4 ,secondly1 when the verse accent falls on the final sound of a word carried forward as above described1 we get on account of this in addition a distinct interval of time1 the conclusion of a word having already come to a pause in something else1 so that it is in fact this pause1 which1 in virtue of the accent united with it1 is expressly made perceptible as a segment of time in the otherwise unbroken current4 ,caesuras of this sort are inevitable with every kind of verse4 ,for although the distinct accent already confers on particular feet a more intimate and essential distinction1 and thereby a certain variety1 this sort of animation1 especially in the case of verses1 in which the same feet repeat each other without a break1 as1 for example1 in our iambic1 remain for all that in a measure entirely abstract and monotonous1 and furthermore allow the particular feet to fall apart without a common bond4 ,it is this gray monotony which the caesura checks1 introducing a connection and more genuine animation within what was otherwise1 with its undifferentiated regularity1 the halting flow of verse1 a life which1 by virtue of the various positions in which the caesura may assert itself1 is itself as manifold as is possible agreeably with the condition that its regulated definition is held free from any approach to lawless caprice4 ,a third accent is furthermore attached to the verse accent and caesura1 which the words in other respects and independently possess1 apart from their metrical employment4 ,by this means the mode and degree in which the particular syllables are emphasized or the reverse increases in its variety4 ,this verbal accent may1 on the one hand1 no doubt appear in conjunction with the accent of the verse and the caesura2 and1 if this is the case1 the strength of the accents respectively is increased4 ,but from another point of view it may stand independently of them on syllables which do not receive any further emphasis1 and which we may say1 in so far as they moreover require an accentuation to bring out their particular significance as verbal syllables1 assert an effect counter to the verse rhythm1 an effect which confers on the whole a novel and unique vitality4 ,to appreciate the beauty of rhythm in all the above aspects is for our modern ears a very difficult matter1 because in modern languages the elements which combine to produce4 this kind of metrical effect are no longer in some measure present in the sharp and secure insistence they possessed for the ancient world2 rather we have other means substituted for them1 in order to satisfy other demands of artistic taste4 77 ,but over and above all this1 paramount over all valid claims of syllables and words within their metrical position1 there is1 secondly1 the worth of that significance we gather from the line or verse as poetical idea4 ,it is in relation to this1 which the language implies1 that its other metrical effects are either emphasized or1 comparatively speaking1 are restrained as void of significance2 and it is by this means alone that the finest perfume of spiritual vitality is instilled through the poetry4 ,but notwithstanding this fact1 such poetical effect is not to be carried so far that it directly contradicts in this respect the rules of metrical rhythm4 77 ,moreover1 a definite type of content corresponds with the entire character of a particular verse measure1 particularly from the point of view of rhythmical movement1 and above all that particular kind implied in the movement of our feelings4 ,thus1 for example1 the hexameter1 in the tranquil wave of its forward stream1 is particularly adapted to the even flow of epic narration4 ,where1 however1 it is more in the nature of the strophe in its association with the pentameter and its symmetrically consistent caesura1 it is1 in its none the less generally simple regularity1 fitted to express elegiac emotion4 ,the iambic again moves forward with rapidity1 and as such is peculiarly suitable to dramatic dialogue4 ,the anapaest indicates the clear-slipping march of joyful exultation4 ,other characteristics may readily be associated with other modes of verse-measure4 77 ,thirdly1 this province of rhythmical versification is not confined to the mere configuration and vivication of time-intervals2 it embraces the actual musical sound of syllables and words4 ,in respect to such sound1 however1 the classic languages1 in which rhythm is retained1 as above described1 as an essential feature1 offer a real contrast to other more recent ones more conspicuously adapted to rhyme4 77 ,in the ,greek and ,latin languages1 for example1 the stem syllable is modified1 by virtue of its modes of inflexion1 through an abundance of variously toned syllables1 which of course possess an independent meaning1 but only as a modification of such syllable2 this consequently1 it is true1 asserts its force as the substantive significance of that variously expanded sound1 but it does not1 so far as its sound is concerned1 stand forth as such in pre-eminent and unique ascendancy4 ,when we hear1 for example1 the word amaverunt1 three syllables are attached to the word1 and the accent is already substantially differentiated throughout the number and extension of these syllables in direct relation to the stem syllable1 even assuming no naturally long ones had been included1 by which means the fundamental significance and the emphasis of accent are separated from each other4 ,in such a case consequently1 and in so far as the accentuation is not identical with the main syllable1 but falls on another1 which merely expresses an incidental significance1 the ear can from this basis at once listen to the sound of the different syllables and follow their movement1 retaining1 as it does1 perfect liberty to attend to that prosody peculiar to the word or phrase1 and finding itself then invited to incorporate within its rhythm these naturally long and short syllables4 77 ,the case of our modern ,german language is wholly different4 ,that which in the ,greek and ,latin languages is expressed1 as above described1 by means of the prefix and suffix1 and other modifications1 is in more modern languages for the most part resolved in verbs of the stem syllable2 the result of this is that the inflexion syllables that have been in the former case unfolded in one and the same word1 with collateral meanings of a varied character1 are now split up and isolated in separate words4 ,as illustrations of this we have the constant employment of many subsidiary words denoting time1 the independent indication of the optative by means of distinct verbs1 the separation of pronouns1 and other examples4 ,by such means1 on the one hand1 the word --which in the previous case adduced was expanded in all the variety of tone which attached to its many syllables1 under which every accent of the root1 that is the root idea1 was cancelled--persists as a simple totality concentrated in itself1 without appearing as a series of tones1 which being1 as they are1 mere modifications1 do not1 by virtue of their specific sense1 assert an influence with such a strength that the ear is unable to attend to their independent tonal quality and its temporal movement4 ,and1 on the other hand1 on account of this concentration the main significance is moreover of such a force that it attracts the fall of the accent upon itself exclusively2 and just because the emphasis is thus fastened upon the fundamental sense this very coalescence does not suffer the quantity of the other syllables1 whether long or short ones1 to appear2 they are simply overwhelmed4 ,the roots of the majority of words are unquestionably as a general rule short1 compact1#be of one or two syllables4 ,if thus1 as is for instance pre-eminently the case with our mother tongue1 these root-stems appropriate almost invariably the accent to themselves1 such an accent is to an overwhelming degree one of the sense1 significance'1 not a definition1 however1 in which the medium--that is1 the utterance as sound--would be free1 or could assert the relation of the length1 shortness1 or accentuation of syllables independently of the intelligible content of the words4 ,consequently a rhythmical configuration of time-movement and emphasis liberated from the stem syllable and its meaning can here no longer be maintained4 ,we have merely left us1 in contradistinction to the former hearing of the ample sound and duration of such long and short beats in their varied juxtaposition1 a general impression of sound1#bf which is apprehended4 entirely aloof from the accented fundamental syllable with its weight of significance4 ,and1 indeed1 apart from this1 as we have seen1 the ramification of the stem into syllables as modified into particular words is also an independent process4 ,such words receive thereby an independent worth1 and1 while preserving their own significance1 they make us at the same time hear the identical coalescence of meaning and accent1 which we have observed in the case of the stem or root word around which they are ranged4 ,we are therefore forced to restrict our attention to the sense of every word2 and1 instead of being occupied with the natural length and shortness of syllables and their sensuous#bg accentuation1 are only able to hear the accent asserted by the main and substantive meaning4 77 ,in such modern languages the element of rhythm has little room for its display1 or at least the soul has little freedom left to expatiate within it1 because1 as observed1 time and the equable stream of syllabic sound as emitted from its movement is superseded#bh by a more ideal relation--that is to say1 by the sense and meaning of the words1 and thereby the force of the more independent configuration of rhythm is suppressed4 ,we may in this connection compare the principle of rhythmical versification with the plastic arts4 ,we find in both that the ideal significance is not as yet asserted in its independence1 nor does the former expressly define the length and accent of syllables1 but rather the meaning of the words is wholly blended with the sensuous medium of the inherent time duration and sound1 with a result that does complete justice to the claim of such externality1 wholly absorbed in the ideal form and movement of the same4 ,if1 however1 such a principle is renounced1 and yet despite of this1 but in accordance with the necessary demand of art1 the sensuous medium is permitted to retain a certain force of resistance as against the exclusive assertion of ideal content1#bi in order to this end to divert the ear's attention1--in the case that is1 where what we may call the plastic moment of that more ancient mode of syllabic quantity1 as it is on its own account1 and the tonal quality inseparable from the general rhythm rather than independently asserted --when this1 as ,i say1 has been destroyed1 then we have no other means#cj at hand save the express and artistically configurated sound of articulate speech simply1 and retained as such in its isolation4 ,and this leads us to our second main type of versification--in other words1 rhyme4 7b7 ,rhyme ,from an objective standpoint it is possible to seek to explain the need of a novel treatment of language from the deterioration into which the classical languages fell through their contact with foreign relations4 ,such a development1 however1 lies in the nature of the facts themselves4 ,the earliest example of conformity with the ideality of its content attempted by poetry is to be traced in the length and shortness of syllables in independence from their significance1 for the mutual relations of which1 caesurae and so forth1 art elaborates its rules1 rules which it is true generally coincide with the character of the content in its broad outlines1 but which none the less1 in matters of individual detail1 do not suffer either the length or shortness of a syllable1 nor its accent1 to depend exclusively on the intelligible significance making such a formal aspect subordinate1 to the point of entire detachment1 to the same4#ca ,the more ideal1 however1 and spiritual the represented idea becomes1 the more it tends to detach itself from this objective aspect1 which increasingly fails to present such ideality in plastic guise1 and finally reaches a point of self-concentration in which the1 so to speak1 corporeal element of speech is in a measure wholly wiped away1 and for the rest merely asserts that wherein the intelligible significance is reposed as necessary to its communication2 all else is only admitted1 by way of by-play1 as insignificant4 ,now romantic art1 in respect to the entire type of its conception and presentation1 effects a similar passage over to this concentrated synthesis of ideality1 when it sets out in search for the material which corresponds to this subjective content in audible sound4#cb ,following these lines romantic poetry also1 inasmuch as it generally lays most stress on the ideal tones#cc of feeling1 becomes absorbed in its preoccupation#cd with the distinct and independent ring and tones of letters1 syllables1 and words2 perfecting such a process to its final satisfaction1 as it learns1 either in their association with ideality1 or in their connection with the architectonically intelligible penetration#ce of such music1 to separate such syllabic and other verbal sounds or to relate or interlace them one with another4 ,from this point of view we may affirm that it is not simply by way of accident that rhyme is elaborated in romantic poetry4 ,it is a necessary feature of it4 ,the requirement of soul-life1 to discover itself again1 is thereby more fully asserted1 and finds a real source of satisfaction in the identity of the rhyme1 which declares an indifference#cf to the unyielding laws of the time-measure1 and1 by virtue of its recurrence of similar sounds1 gives exclusive effect to an effort which conducts the conscious self back to itself4 ,it is by this means that versification is made to approach more closely the musical art as such1 that is1 the vivid tones of soul-life itself1 and is1 from this point of view1 liberated from the1 relatively speaking1 gross material of human speech1 in other words from what we have referred to as the natural measure of quantity4 ,with regard to points of special interest in this subject1 ,i will confine myself to the following general observations3 ,first1 upon the origin of rhyme4 ,secondly1 upon a few more definite features by which we may distinguish the sphere of rhyme from that of rhythm in verse4 ,thirdly1 upon the types under which we may classify rhyme generally4 77 ,we have already seen that rhyme belongs in its form to the art of romantic poetry1 which requires such a more pronounced emphasis of its configurated syllabic sound posited thus on its own account4 ,and it is thus effected to the extent that the ideal activity of volition#cg discovers its own presence by this means in the objective medium of tone4 ,where such a need is asserted we have a mode of speech in part meeting absolutely the conditions of form ,i outlined above when discussing the necessity of rhyme2 and in addition it makes use of the old forms of language at hand1 the ,latin for example1 which1 though of other constitution and mainly applicable to rhythmical versification1 it employs agreeably to the character of the new principle1 or reconstructs the same so far into a new language that the element of rhythm disappears1 and rhyme becomes1 as in the ,italian and ,french languages1 the matter of all importance4 77 ,in this respect we find throughout ,christendom that rhyme is introduced into ,latin versification at a very early date with much insistence1 although1 as observed1 it rested on other principles4 ,these principles1 however1 are rather adapted from the ,greek language2 and1 so far from testifying to the fact that they originated from the ,latin speech itself1 rather prove1 under the modified character they possess1 a tendency which itself approaches the romantic type4 ,in other words1 the poetry of ,rome1 on the one hand and in its earliest days1 discovered its source not in the natural length and shortness of syllables1 but rather measured the value of syllables relatively to their accent2 and in consequence of this it was only through a more accurate knowledge and imitation of ,greek poetry that the prosodical principle of this was received and followed4 ,and1 moreover1 the ,romans rendered more obdurate the flexible1 joyous sensuousness of ,greek metres1 more particularly by their use of more insistent pauses at the caesura1 as we find such not only in the hexameter1 but also in the alcaic and sapphic metres1 hardening the effect thus to a structure of more stringent outline and more severe regularity4 ,and indeed1 apart from this1 even in the full bloom of ,latin literature1 and from their poets of finest culture1 we have already plenty of rhymes4 ,thus from ,horace1 in his ,ars poetica 7verses #ii-ajj71 we get the following3 ,non satis est1 pulchra esse poemata3 dulcia sunto1 ,et quocunque volent1 animum auditoris agunto4 ,though the poet was probably quite unconscious of the fact1 it is none the less a strange coincidence that1 in the very passage in which ,horace enforces the obligation that poems should be dulcia1 we discover a rhyme4 ,similar rhymes occur in ,ovid with still more frequency4 ,even assuming such to be accidental1 the fact remains that they appear to have been not offensive to ,roman ears1 and might consequently be permitted1 although as isolated exceptions1 to slip into the composition4 ,yet the profounder significance of romantic rhyme is absent from such playful exceptions4 ,the former does not assert the recurrent sound merely as sound1 but the ideal content or meaning implied in it4 ,and it is precisely this which constitutes the fundamental difference between modern rhyme and the very ancient rhyme of the ,hindoos4 ,as for the classical languages1 it was after the invasion of barbarism1 and on account of the destruction of accentuation and the assertion of that uniquely personal note of emotion referable to ,christianity1 that the rhythmical system of verse passed into that of rhyme4 ,thus1 in his hymn to the ,holy ,spirit1 ,ambrosius entirely regulates the versification according to the accent of the meaning expressed1 and breaks into rhyme4 ,the first work of ,st4 ,augustine against the ,donatists is in the same way a rhymed song2 and also the so-called ,leonine versicles1 as expressly rhymed hexameters and pentameters1 are easily distinguishable from the accidental exceptions of rhyme previously noticed4 ,these and other examples like them mark the point of departure of rhyme from the more ancient rhythmical system4 77 ,certain writers have no doubt attempted to trace the origin of the new principle of versification in ,arabian literature4 ,the artistic education1 however1 of the famous poets of the ,east is of later date than the appearance of rhyme in western ,christendom2 and any ,mohammedan art of a more early time exercised no real influence on the ,west4 ,we should1 however1 add that we find from the first in ,arabian poetry essential affinities with the romantic principle1 in which the knights of ,europe1 at the time of the crusades1 very readily made themselves at home2 and consequently it is not difficult to understand how1 in the affinity of spiritual tendencies#ch which they shared1 and in which the poetry of ,eastern ,mohammedanism no less than ,western ,christianity finds its source1 though removed in the world from each other1 we meet for the first time and on its own independent footing a novel type of verse writing4 77 ,a third source1 to which again1 independently of either the influence of the classic languages or the ,arabic1 we may trace the origins of rhyme and all that it implies1 are the ,germanic languages1 as we find them in their earliest ,scandinavian development4 ,as illustration of this we have the songs of the ancient ,edda1 which1 though only in more recent times1 collected and edited1 unquestionably date from a former age4 ,in these1 as we shall see later on1 it is not1 it is true1 the genuine rhyme-sound which is elaborated in its perfection1 but rather an effective emphasis upon particular sounds of language1 and a regularity defined by rule1 with a definite repetition of both aspects4 77 ,yet more important than the question of origin is the characteristic difference between the new system and the old4 ,i have already adverted to the fundamental feature of importance here2 it only remains to establish it more narrowly4 ,rhythmical versification attained its most beautiful and richest development in the field of ,hellenic poetry1 in which we may discover the most eminent features of the type wherever it obtains4 ,briefly they are as follows3 ,first1 the sound1 as such1 of letters1 syllables1 or words does not here constitute its material1 but rather the syllabic sound in its temporal duration1 so that attention must neither exclusively be directed to particular syllables or words1 nor to the purely qualitative similarity or identity of their sound4 ,on the contrary1 the sound still remains in inseparable union with the static time-measure of its specific duration2 and in the forward movement of both the ear has to follow the value of every separate syllable no less than the principle which obtains in the rhythmical progression of all equally together4 ,secondly1 the measure of long and short syllables1 no less than that of rhythmical rise and fall1 and varied animation derived from more deliberate caesurae and moments of pause1 depends upon the natural element of the language1 without permitting any introduction of that type of accentuation1 by virtue of which the actual meaning of the word leaves its impress on a syllable or a word4 ,the versification asserts itself in its collocation of feet1 its verse accent1 its caesurae1 and so forth in this respect as fully independent as the language itself1 which also1 outside the domain of poetry1 already accepts accentuation from the natural quantity of syllables and their relations of juxtaposition1 and not from the significance of the root-syllable4 ,on this account1 thirdly1 we have as the vital emphasis of certain syllables1 first1 the verse accent and rhythm1 and1 secondly1 all other accentuation1 both of which aspects1 in their twofold contribution to the varied character of the whole1 pass in and out of one another without any mutual derangement or suppression2 and in like manner respectively they satisfy the claim of the poetical imagination in fully admitting the expressiveness due1 by virtue of the nature of their position and movement1 to words which1 in respect to their intelligible meaning1 are of a greater importance than others4 77 ,the first alteration1 then1 effected by rhymed verse in the previous system is this indisputable validity of natural quantity1#ci ,if1 therefore1 any time-measure at all is permitted to remain1 it is compelled to seek for a basis for such quantitative pause or acceleration1 which it refuses any longer to find in the natural quantity1 of syllables1 in some other province4 ,and this1 as we have seen1 can be no other than the intrinsic meaning of syllables and words4 ,it is this significance which in the final instance determines the quantitative measure of syllables1 so long as such is still regarded as essential at all1 and by doing so transfers the criterium from the purely objective medium#dj and its natural structure to the ideal subject-matter4 77 ,a further result follows from this of yet more importance4 ,as ,i have already pointed out1 this collocation of the emphasis on the significant stem-syllable dissipates that other independent diffusion of it in manifold forms of inflexion1 which our rhythmical system is not yet forced to treat as negligible1 in contrast to the stem1 because it deduces neither the natural quantity of syllables nor the accent which it asserts from the intelligible significance4 ,in the case1 however1 where such an explication1#da with its co-ordination in verse-feet according to the quantity of syllables in their natural stability1 falls away the entire system therewith necessarily collapses1 which reposes on the time-measure and its laws4 ,of this type1 for example1 is ,french and ,italian poetry1 the metre and rhythm of which are absolutely non-existent as understood by the ancients4 ,the entire question is here merely one of a definite number of syllables4 77 ,for such a loss there is only one possible compensation--that of rhyme4 ,in other words1 if--this is one aspect--it is no longer time-duration which receives objective expression1 by means of which the sound of syllables flows on freely in the even movement that intrinsically belongs to them2 if1 furthermore1 the intelligible significance dominates over the stem-syllables1 and coalesces with the same without further organic expatiation into a determinate unity1 we have no sensuous medium1 such as is able to maintain itself independently of the time-measure1 no less than this accentuation of the stem-syllables1 finally left to us other than just this syllabic sound4 ,such a sound1 however1 if it is to secure an independent attention1 must1 in the first place1 be of a far more insistent kind than the interchange of different tones1 such as we met with in the older verse metres2 and its assertion must be of a far more overwhelming character than the stress of syllables can lay claim to in ordinary speech4 ,what we now require has not only to compensate us for the loss of the articulate time-measure1 but it further undertakes to reassert the sensuous medium in its opposition to that unqualified predominance of the accentuated significance4 ,for when once the conceptive content has essentially attained the ideality and penetration of mind1#db for which the sensuous aspect of speech is of no importance1 the verbal sound must enforce itself still more positively and coarsely as distinct from this ideality in order to arrest our attention at all4 ,in contrast1 therefore1 to the gentle movements of rhythmical euphony1 rhyme is a crude expedient1#dc which requires an ear by no means either so trained or sensitive as that presupposed by ,greek verse4 ,secondly1 though it is true that rhyme does not here assert itself so much as distinct from the meaning of the stem-syllables simply as it does from the entire ideal content1 yet it does at the same time so far assist the natural verbal sound as to win for it a relatively secure stability4 ,but this object can only be attained if the sound#dd of particular words affirms itself in exclusive distinction from the resonance of other words1 and thus secures an independent existence1 by virtue of which isolation it satisfies the claims of the formative aspect of the verbal medium in forceful beats of sound4 ,rhyme is therefore1 at least in its contrast to the evenly transfused movement of rhythmic euphony1 a detached exhibition of exclusive tonal expression4 ,thirdly1 we found that it was the ideality of the conscious self which1 by virtue of its effort of ideal synthesis1 came into its own1 and discovered its personal satisfaction in such recurrences of sound4 ,if1 then1 the means used in the older type of versification1 with its copious variety of structure1 disappear1 there only remains1 if we look at poetry1 under the aspect of its medium1 to support this principle of self-recovery1 the more formal repetition of wholly identical or similar sounds1 whereby again we are able to unite under an intelligible scheme#de the assertion and relation of closely associated meanings in the rhyme-sounds of expressive words4 ,the metre of rhythmical verse we may regard as a variously articulate interrelation of manifold syllabic quantities4 ,rhyme1 on the contrary1 is from one point of view more material2#df yet1 on the other hand1 is itself more abstractly placed within this medium4 ,in other words1 it is the mere recollection of mind and the ear of the recurrence of identical or related sounds and significations--a recurrence in which the poet is conscious of his own activity1 recognizes1 and is pleased to recognize1 himself therein as both agent and participant4 77 ,finally1 on the question of the particular types under which we may classify this more modern system of romantic poetry1 ,i only propose to advert briefly to what appears to me of most importance in respect to alliteration1 assonance1 and ordinary rhyme4 77 ,the first1 or at least the most thorough1 example of alliteration is that we find elaborated in the earliest ,scandinavian poetry1 where it supplies the fundamental basis1 whereas assonance and the terminal rhyme1 albeit these two aspects play a by no means unimportant part1 are1 however1 only present in certain particular kinds of such poetry4 ,the principle of alliterative rhyme1 letter rhyme1 is rhyme in its most incomplete form1 because it does not require the recurrence of the entire syllable1 but only that of one identical letter1 and primarily the initial letter only4 ,owing to the weakness of this type of recurrent sound it is1 in the first place1 therefore necessary that only such words should be used in its service1 which already independently possess an express accent on their first syllable2 and1 secondly1 these words must not be remote from one another1 if the identity of their commencement is to make a real impression on the ear4 ,for the rest1 alliterative letters may be a vowel1 no less than a double or single consonant2 but it is primarily consonants which are of most importance in the scheme4 ,based on such conditions1 we find in ,icelandic poetry#dg the fundamental rule that all alliterative rhymes require accentuated#dh syllables1 whose initial letters must not in the same lines occur in other substantives which have the accent on the first syllable2 and1 along with this1 of the three words1 the initial letters of which constitute the rhyme1 two must be found in the first line1 and the third1 which supplies the dominant alliteration1 must be placed at the commencement of the second line4 ,we may add further that1 in virtue of the abstract character of this identical sound of initial letters1 words are generally made alliterative proportionally to the importance of their signification4 ,we find1 therefore1 that here1 too1 the relation of accented sound to the meaning of words is not entirely absent4 ,i cannot1 however1 pursue this subject into more detail4 77 ,secondly1 assonance has nothing to do with initial letters1 but makes a nearer approach to rhyme in so far as it is a recurrence in identical sound of the same letters in the middle or at the termination of different words4 ,it is not necessary1 of course1 that these assonant words should in all cases come at the conclusion of a line2 they may fall into other places4 ,mainly1 however1 it is the concluding syllables of lines which come into this mutual relation of assonance1 as contrasted with alliteration which is effective rather at the line's commencement4 ,in its richest elaboration we may associate this assonance of language with the ,romance nations1 more especially the ,spanish1 whose full-toned language is peculiarly adapted to this recurrence of the same vowels4 ,as a rule1 no doubt assonance is here restricted to vowels4 ,but the language further permits of other variety of assonance1 not only that of vowels1 but also that of identical consonants and consonants in association with one vowel4 77 ,that which1 as above described1 alliteration and assonance are only able to establish with incompleteness is abundantly fulfilled by rhyme4 ,in it1 and expressly to the exclusion of initial letters1 we have asserted the wholly equable sound of entire verb stems1#di which are1 by virtue of this equability1 brought into an express relation with their tonal utterance4 ,we have no mere question now of the number of the syllables4 ,words of one syllable1 no less than others of two or more1 may be rhymed4 ,by this means we not only get the masculine rhyme1 which is restricted to words of one syllable1 but also the feminine rhyme1 which embraces words of two syllables1 as also the so-called gliding rhyme1 which reaches to three or even more syllables4 ,it is in particular the languages of ,northern ,europe which incline to the first type1 ,southern languages to the second1 such as the ,italian and ,spanish4 ,the ,german and ,french languages would appear to lie between these two extremes4 ,rhymes of more than three syllables are rarely to be met with in any language4 ,the position of the rhyme is at the conclusion of the lines1 in which the rhyming word1 although there is certainly no reason that it should ever concentrate in itself the ideal expressiveness of the significance1 nevertheless does attract attention to itself so far as the verbal sound is concerned2 and1 furthermore1 it makes the different verses or stanzas follow one another either in accordance with the principle of a wholly abstract recurrence of the same rhyme1 or by uniting1 separating1 and mutually relating them in a more elaborate mode of regulated change1 and variously symmetrical interweaving of different rhymes with correspondent relations1 sometimes more near1 at others more remote1 of every degree of complexity4 ,in such a process the particular rhymes will at one point stare us in the face at once1 or they will appear to have a game of hide-and seek2 so that in this way our ear1 as it listens1 will at one time receive instant satisfaction1 at another it will only find it after considerable delay1 wherein the expectation will1 as it were1 be coquetted with1 deceived1 and kept on the stretch1 until the assured end from point to point of artistically arranged recurrence is reached1 and with it the hearer's approval4 ,among the various types of the poetic art it is pre-eminently lyric poetry1 which1 by virtue of its ideality and personal quality of expression1 most readily avails itself of rhyme1 and thereby converts language itself into a music of emotion and melodic symmetry1 a symmetry not merely of time-measure and rhythmical movement1 but of the kind of resonance which finds a responsive echo in the inner life itself4 ,to promote this1 therefore1 the art elaborates in its use of rhyme a more simple or complex system of strophes1 every one of which is part of one organic whole4 ,examples of such an interplay of melodic sound1 whether steeped in emotion or rich in ingenuity1 are the sonnet1 canzonet1 triolet1 and madrigal4 ,epic poetry1 on the contrary1 so long as it does not mingle lyrical subject-matter with its more native character1 preserves a more equable advance in its construction1 which does not easily adapt itself to the strophe4 ,we have an obvious illustration of this in the triplet stanzas of ,dante's ,divine ,comedy1 as contrasted with the lyrical canzonets and sonnets of the same poet4 ,however1 ,i must not permit myself to go further into detail4 7c7 ,now that we have in the above investigation separated rhythmical versification from rhyme1 and contrasted the same1 we may now proceed1 thirdly1 to ask ourselves whether a combination of the two is not also intelligible1 and1 indeed1 actually employed4 ,the existence of certain more recent languages will render exceptional and important aid to the solution2 in other words1 we cannot deny to these either a partial reassertion of our former rhythmical system1 or1 in certain respects1 an association of the same with rhyme4 ,we will1 for example1 confine our attention to our mother tongue1 and1 in reference to the first-mentioned aspect1 it will be sufficient to recall ,klopstock1 who would have as little of rhyme as possible2 who not merely in epic1 but also in lyrical poetry1 set himself to imitate the ancients with the greatest enthusiasm and persistency4 ,voss and others have followed in his steps1 ever striving to enforce with increased strictness principles upon which to base this rhythmical treatment of our language4 ,goethe1 on the contrary1 never felt quite himself in his classical syllabic measures4 ,he asks himself1 not without reason3 ,stehn uns diese weiten ,falten ,zu ,gesichte1 wie den ,alten8#ej 77 ,i will in this connection merely reiterate what ,i already have observed upon the distinction which exists between ancient and more modern languages4 ,rhythmical versification is based upon the natural quantity of syllables1 possessing therein an essentially stable criterion1 which the ideal expression can neither limit1 alter1 or weaken4 ,such a natural measure is1 however1 abhorrent to more recent languages2 in these it is only the verbal accent of the ideal significance1 which makes one syllable long in its contrast to others1 which are defective in such significance4 ,such a principle of accentuation1 however1 does not supply any audible compensation for the absence of the natural quantity1 or rather it adds to the actual uncertainty of such a measure4 ,for the more strongly emphasized significance of a word can at the same time make another short1 despite the fact that1 taken by itself1 it possesses a verbal accent1 so that the criterion accepted is wholly one of mutual relation4 ,du liebst1 can1 for instance1 according to the stress of the emphasis which is thrown1 according to the sense intended1 either on both words1 or one or the other1 be a spondee1 iambus or trochee4 ,no doubt the attempt has been made1 even in our own tongue1 to return to the natural quantity of syllables1 and to create rules with this intent2 but in the presence of the overwhelming importance that the intelligible significance and the accent it asserts has secured such a reference to theory is quite impracticable4 ,and in truth this agrees with the state of the facts4 ,if the natural measure is really to constitute the essential basis1 the language ought not as yet to have become such an instrument of soul expression as it is of necessity in our own times4 ,once allow1 however1 that it has already in its course of development thus secured such a mastery of the intelligible purport over the sensuous or native material1 and it follows that the fundamental test for the value of syllables is not to be deduced from the objective quantity itself1 but rather from that whereof words are themselves indicative as means4 ,the emotional impulse of a free intelligence refuses to allow the temporal activity of language1 as such1 to establish itself in the independent form of its native and objective reality4 77 ,such a conclusion1 however1 does not necessarily imply that we are forced to oust altogether from our ,german language the rhymeless rhythmical treatment of the syllabic measure2 it merely in essential respects points to this1 that it is not possible1 conformably with the character of the structure of our modern speech1 to retain the plastic consistency of the metrical medium as it was secured by the ancient world4 ,we must consequently seek for and elaborate some further element in poetical composition by way of compensation1 which on its own independent account is of a more ideal#ea character than the stable natural quantity of syllables4 ,such an element is the accent of the verse1 no less than the caesura1 which as now constituted1 instead of moving independently of the verbal accent1 coalesce with the same1 and thereby receive a more significant1 albeit a more abstract assertion1 in virtue of the fact that the variety of that previous threefold accentuation1 which we discovered in the rhythmical type of classical poetry1 on account of this very coalescence necessarily disappears4 ,it1 however1 equally follows as a result that we only retain the power with conspicuous success to imitate the rhythmic movement of such poetry where its impression on our ear is most emphatic4 ,we no longer possess1 that is to say1 the stable quantitative basis for its more subtle distinctions and manifold connections1 and the more crude mode of accentuation1 which we do possess in its place1 to emphasize our measure1 is intrinsically no sufficient substitute4 77 ,to state1 then1 finally1 what this actual association of the rhythmical mode of verse with rhyme is1 we may go so far as to affirm that it is the absorption1 although to a limited extent1 by the more modern form of versification of the more ancient one4 77 ,the predominant distinction of the natural syllabic quantity by means of the verbal accent is in fact not an entirely satisfactory principle of the mere medium4 ,it does not arrest the ear's attention1 even on the side of sense simply1 so far as to make it appear1 absolutely and everywhere unnecessary1 where the ideal aspect of the poetical content is paramount1 to summon the complementary assistance of the sound and response of syllables and words4 77 ,it is1 however1 at the same time necessary in the interest of metre that an equally strong contrasting force should be set up to that of the rhyme sound4 ,in so far1 however1 as it is not the distinction of syllables in their natural quantity and its variety1 which has to be co-ordinated and made predominant1 we have1 in respect1 to this temporal relation1 no other expedient left but the identical repetition of the same time-measure2 in this the element of accented beat will tend to assert itself in a far more emphatic degree1 than is compatible with the rhythmical system4 ,as an illustration we have our ,german rhymed iambics and trochaics1 in the recitation of which far more beat stress is admitted than is proper to the scansion of the unrhymed iambics of the ancients1 although the caesura pause is capable of bringing into emphatic relief isolated words whose accent is mainly referable to their meaning1 and is capable of further making all that remains dependent upon them a resisting effect to the abstract equality of the verse1 and by so doing introduces a varied animation4 ,and as in such a particular case1 so we may assert generally1 the time-beat cannot be of actual service in poetry with the force that is required of it in most musical compositions4 77 ,although1 however1 we may affirm it as a general rule that rhyme should be associated merely with such verse metres1 which1 by virtue of their simple changes of the syllabic quantity and their continuous recurrence of similar verse feet1 do not on their own independent account give sufficiently effective modality to the element of sensuous medium in modern languages which admit at all of rhythmical treatment1 yet the application of rhyme to the more profuse syllabic metres imitated from classical models1 as1 for instance1 to borrow one example only1 the alcaic and sapphic strophe1 will not merely appear superfluous1 but even an unresolved contradiction4 ,both systems repose on opposed principles1 and the attempt to unite them in the way suggested1 can only involve us in a like opposition1 which can produce nothing but a contradiction we are unable to mediate1 and which is therefore untenable4 ,it follows1 therefore1 that we ought only to make use of rhyme in cases where the principle of the older versification merely makes itself effective in more remote implication1 and through a transitional process essentially deducible from the system of rhyme4 ,the above1 then1 are the points which we have sought to establish as1 in a broad sense1 of most vital concern to poetical expression in its contradistinction from prose4 ,footnote #a3 ,bildlich1 here not so much creative as simply plastic or constructive4 ,footnote #b3 ,vorliebe4 ,his interest must be already centred in it4 ,footnote #c3 ,bildlichkeit1 i4e41 their claims as images of something else4 ,footnote #d3 ,vertauscht4 ,i have translated exchanged1 but ,hegel may mean mistaken for4 ,footnote #e3 ,it is not very clear what ,hegel means by the word ,bezeichnungen4 ,turns of expression1 which first occurred to me1 appears to be covered by ,flexionsformen lower down4 ,footnote #f3 ,gedrungenen4 ,the idea is suppression into a compact mass--a cloud unable to burst save in occasional flashes4 ,footnote #g3 ,i presume ,hegel refers here to the synthetic arrangement of genuine paragraphs rather than phrases1 composition generally4 ,footnote #h3 ,das eigentliche ,wort4 ,the word1 that is1 which expresses the fact in its immediacy4 ,footnote #i3 ,more literally1 being remoulded with the life and wealth of ,spirit4 ,footnote #aj3 ,besonnenheit1 i4e41 real thought-fullness4 ,footnote #aa3 ,der knstlerischen ,ruhe4 ,the personal predilection of ,hegel for classic art here once more asserts itself4 ,footnote #ab3 ,the ,german word is ,sinnen1 but ,i think1 though the emotional sense is partly implied1 the main emphasis is on a presiding mind--or rather a wide-visioned genius4 ,footnote #ac3 ,eine sprudelnde ,anschauung4 ,a view of things that bubbles forth like a fountain4 ,footnote #ad3 ,that is1 the medium of literary form4 ,footnote #ae3 ,ein hartes ,band4 ,the idea is not so much difficult as unyielding1 unmalleable4 ,footnote #af3 ,zum ,ernste des ,inhalts4 ,that is1 the earnestness of a product of mind as such4 ,hegel seems to contrast with this the spontaneity of an art which1 as inspired by genius1 comes to us with the freshness of ,nature herself1 take ,shakespeare's songs for example4 ,footnote #ag3 ,ungebunden4 ,that is1 it is contingent4 ,footnote #ah3 ,hegel calls this the ,verstandesaccent1 and speaks of this importance 7,bedeutsamkeit7 as a product of the syllables4 ,footnote #ai3 ,i presume the words das fr sich gestaltete ,klingen refer to rhyme4 ,footnote #bj3 ,eine ,sammlung in sich1 that is1 an independent collection or aggregate4 ,footnote #ba3 ,anheben may possibly mean appearance in the defined series generally4 ,footnote #bb3 ,by ,versen ,hegel means rather lines than a number of them4 ,footnote #bc3 ,the dative appears to be a misprint4 ,the passage should be read der and die1 instead of dem and der4 ,footnote #bd3 ,i am not quite sure what ,hegel refers to in what he describes as das ,hinbergreifen des ,wortes4 ,i presume he means what are known as weak endings to a line4 ,footnote #be3 ,gedrungen4 ,i suppose this is the meaning4 ,the entire passage is a difficult one to follow4 ,footnote #bf3 ,ein allgemeines ,hren4 ,footnote #bg3 ,that is1 the accent of the syllables as a mere medium of uttered speech4 ,footnote #bh3 ,lit41 has its flank turned1 berflgelt4 ,footnote #bi3 ,die blosse ,vergeistigung4 ,footnote #cj3 ,no other means to divert the ears attention4 ,the sentence is rather involved1 and ,i have not seen my way to simplify it4 ,footnote #ca3 ,abstract unterworfen4 ,hegel apparently means abstract as detached from the natural medium of language--becoming thereby the abstract symbol of idea exclusively4 ,footnote #cb3 ,as in musical art4 ,footnote #cc3 ,seelen-tonen1 i4e41 the wave and flow of the emotional life itself4 ,footnote #cd3 ,in das ,spielen4 ,hegel repeats his use of the expression above1 beiher ,spielen1 lit41 the playing with not as a toy but as something serious4 ,footnote #ce3 ,i suppose this is the meaning here of ,sharfsinn1 but subtlety may be included4 ,footnote #cf3 ,indifferent1 that is1 as asserting the creative freedom of the poet1 he can select his own rhymes as he wills4 ,hegel1 however1 seems rather to miss the essential spontaneity of really good blank verse4 ,footnote #cg3 ,so ,i translate die innere ,subjectivitt1 but it may refer perhaps to the entire creative personality4 ,footnote #ch3 ,that is1 ,i presume1 their relation to romantic art4 ,footnote #ci3 ,that is1 the primary feature changed is that of the validity of natural quantity4 ,footnote #dj3 ,dem usseren ,daseyn4 ,that is1 of language4 ,footnote #da3 ,entfaltung4 ,such an explication of rhythmical euphony as the previous system discloses4 ,footnote #db3 ,geistes4 ,all that pertains to conscious life4 ,footnote #dc3 ,lit41 a blunt or coarse sound1 ein plumpes ,klingen4 ,footnote #dd3 ,tonen implies sound no less than accent4 ,i have rendered it in various ways4 ,footnote #de3 ,von ,seiten des ,geistes4 ,perhaps rather as aspects of the poet's intelligence--that is1 with reference to the self-assertion above explained4 ,footnote #df3 ,more nearly related to the natural medium of language4 ,footnote #dg3 ,die ,verslehre der ,islnder v4 ,rask1 verd4 von ,mohnike1 ,berlin1 #ahcj1 pp4 #ad-ag4 ,footnote #dh3;,betonte1 see above note on ,tonen4 ,footnote #di3 ,stmme1 the stem of verbs1 rather than the root of substantives1 which would be more correctly stammwort4 ,footnote #ej3 ,do we moderns face broad reaches such as these1 as did the ancients8 ,falten1 folds1 expatiation of subject-matter4 ,i presume1 though ,i do not recall the context1 that the allusion is mainly to elegiacs4 ,footnote #ea3 ,i4e41 more related to active intelligence4 ,,iii ,,the ,,several ,,generic ,,types ,,of ,,poetry ,the two fundamental aspects1 according to which we have hitherto examined the poetical art were1 in the first instance1 that of poetical significance or content in the broadest sense1 the nature of the outlook of a poetical composition and the creative activity of the poet2 secondly1 poetical expression1 not merely respectively to the ideas which have to be embodied in words1 but also to the modes under which they are expressed and the character of versification4 ,i4 ,what we1 above all1 in these respects endeavoured to enforce consisted in this1 that poetry has to embrace the ideality of conscious life as its content2 yet1 in its artistic elaboration of the same1 it cannot rest satisfied with the objective form of direct perception as other plastic arts2 nor can it accept as its form the emotional ideality which alone reverberates through our soul-life1 nor yet that of thinking and the relations of reflective thought4 ,it has to maintain a mediate position between the extremes of immediate objectivity and the inner life of feeling and thought4 ,this intermediate sphere of conception overlaps both sides4 ,from thought it borrows the aspect of ideal universality1 which binds together the immediate particularity of the senses in more definitive simplicity2 while1 on the other hand1 its mode of envisagement shares with plastic art the haphazard#a juxtaposition of objects in space4 ,the poetic imagination1 moreover1 is essentially distinct from thinking in that it permits1 under the mode of sensuous apprehension from which it starts1 particular ideas to remain in an unrelated series or contiguity2 pure thinking1 on the other hand1 demands and promotes the reciprocal dependence of determinate concepts on each other1 an interstructure of relations1 consequential or conclusive judgments1 and so forth4 ,when1 therefore1 the poetical imagination in its art-products renders necessary an ideal unity of all particularity1 such integration may easily meet with obstruction by virtue of the above-mentioned diffuseness#b which the nature of its content forbids it wholly to eschew2 and it is just this which puts it in the power of poetry to embody and present a content in organic and vital inter-connection of successive aspects and divisions1 yet impressed at the same time with the apparent independence of these4 ,and by this means it is possible for poetry to extend the selected content at one time rather in the direction of abstract thought1 at another rather under the condition of the phenomenal world1 and consequently to include within its survey the most sublime thoughts of speculative philosophy1 no less than the external objects of ,nature1 always provided that the former are not put forward in the logical forms of ratiocination and scientific deduction1 or the latter as void of all vital or other significance4 ,the function1 in short1 of poetry is to present a complete world1 whose ideal or essential content must be spread before us under the external guise of human actions1 events1 and other manifestations of soul2life1 with all the wealth and directness compatible with such art4 #b4 ,this explication1 however1 does not receive its sensuous embodiment in stone1 wood1 or colour1 but exclusively in language1 whose versification1 accentuation1 and the rest are in fact the trappings#c of speech1 by means of which the ideal content secures an external form4 ,if we ask ourselves now1 to put the thing somewhat crudely1 where we are to look for the material consistency of this mode of expression1 we must reply that language is not essentially on all fours with a work#d of plastic art1 independent1 that is1 of the artistic creator1 but it is the life of our humanity itself the individual speaker alone who is the vehicle of the sensuous presence and actuality of a poetical work4 ,the compositions of poetry must be recited1 sung1 acted1 reproduced1 in short1 by living people1 just as the compositions of music are so reproduced4 ,we are no doubt accustomed to read epic and lyric poetry1 and only to hear drama recited and to see the same accompanied by gesture4 ,poetry1 however1 is essentially and according to its notion1 sonorous expression1 and we may1 in particular1 not dispense with this1 if a complete exposition of the art is our aim1 for the reason that it is the aspect and the only aspect1 under which it comes into genuine contact with objective existence4 ,the printed or written letter is1 no doubt1 also in a sense objectively present1 but it is merely as the indifferent symbol of sounds and words4 ,we no doubt have in a previous passage regarded words as the purely external means which give us the signification of ideas4 ,we must not1 however1 overlook the fact that poetry1 at any rate1 so informs the temporal element and sound of these signs1 as to ennoble them in a medium suffused with the ideal vitality of that1 whereof1 in their abstractness1 they are the symbols4 ,the printing press merely makes visible to our eyes this form of animation under a mode which1 taken by itself1 is essentially indifferent and no longer coalescent with the ideal content2 it consigns it1 in its altered form of visibility1 to the element of time-duration and the sound of ordinary speech1#e instead of giving us in fact the accented word and its determinate time-duration4 ,when we1 therefore1 content ourselves with mere reading we do so partly owing to the ease with which we can thus picture to ourselves what is real as actually uttered in speech1 partly because of the undeniable fact that poetry alone among the arts1 in aspects of fundamental importance1 is already completely at home in the life of spirit1 and neither the impression of it on our sense of sight or hearing give us the root of the matter4 ,yet for all that1 precisely by virtue of this ideality1 poetry1 as art1 ought not wholly to divest itself of this aspect of objective expression1 if at least it is anxious to avoid an incompleteness similar to that in which1 for instance1 the mere outlined drawing attempts to reproduce the picture of famous colourists4 #c4 ,as an artistically organic whole referred no longer to a specific type of exclusive execution on account of the onesided character of its medium1 the art of poetry accepts in a general way for its determinate form various types of art-production1 and it is consequently necessary to borrow the criteria of our classification of such poetical types or species from the general notion of artistic production4#f 7,a7 ,in this respect it is1 first1 and from one point of view1 the form of objective reality1 wherein poetry reproduces the evolved content of conscious life in the ideal image1 and therewithal essentially repeats the principle of plastic art1 which makes the immediate object of fact visible4 ,these plastic figures of the imagination poetry furthermore unveils as determined in the activities of human and divine beings1 so that every thing1 which takes place1 issues in part from ethically self-subsistent human or divine forces1 and in part also1 by virtue of obstructive agencies1 meets with a reaction1 and thus1 in its external form of manifestation1 becomes an event1 in which the facts in question disclose themselves in free independence1 and the poet retires into the background4 ,to grasp such events in a consequential whole is the task of ,epic poetry1 inasmuch as its aim is just to declare poetically1 and in the form of the actual facts1 either an essentially complete action1 or the personalities1 from which the same proceeds in its substantive worth or its eventful complexity amid the medley of external accidence4 ,and by so doing it represents the objective fact itself in its objectivity4 ,and1 moreover1 the minstrel does not recite this positive world before conscious sense and feeling in a way that would seem to announce it as his personal phantasy1 and his own heart's passion2 rather this reciter or rhapsodist recites it by heart1 in a mechanical sort of way1 and in a metre which1 while it repeats something of this monotony with its uniformity of structure1 rolls onward in a tranquil and steady stream4 ,what1 in short1 the minstrel narrates must appear as a part of real life1 which1 in respect to content no less than presentation1 stands in absolute independence aloof from himself1 the narrator2 he is throughout1 in relation that is to the facts of his tale no less than the manner in which he unfolds them1 not permitted wholly to identify his own personality with their substance4 7,b7 ,in direct contrast to epic poetry we have our second type1 that namely of lyrical poetry4 ,its content is that within ourselves1 the ideal world1 the contemplative or emotional life of soul1 which instead of following up actions1 remains at home with itself in its own ideal realm1 and1 consequently1 is able to accept self-expression as its unique and indeed final end4 ,here we have1 therefore1 no substantive totality1 self-evolved as external fact or event1 but the express outlook1 emotion and observation of the individual's self-introspective life shares in what is substantive and actual therein as its own1 as its passion1 mood or reflection2 we have here the birth of its own loins4 ,such a fulfilment and ideal process is not adequately realized in a mechanical delivery such as we saw was conceded as appropriate to epic poetry4 ,on the contrary the singer must give utterance to the ideas and views of lyrical art as though they were the expression of his own soul1 his own emotions4 ,and inasmuch as it is this innermost world1 which the delivery has to animate1 the expression of it will above all lean to the musical features of poetical reproduction2 whether permitted as an embellishment or a necessity we shall here meet with the varied modulation of the voice1 either in recitation or song1 and the accompaniment of musical instruments4 7,c7 ,our third and final mode of poetical composition unites the two previous ones in a new totality4 ,in this we not only discover an objective exposition1 but also can trace its source in the ideal life of particular people2 what is objective here is therefore portrayed as appertinent to the conscious life of individuals4#g ,to put the case conversely1 the conscious life of individuals is on the one hand unfolded as it passes over into actual life experience1 and on the other as involved in the fatality of events1 which brings about passion in causal and necessary connection with the individual's own action4 ,we have here1 therefore1 as in ,epic poetry1 an action expanded to our view in its conflicts and issues2 spiritual forces come to expression and battle2 the element of contingency is everywhere involved1 and human activity is either brought into contact with the energy of an omnipotent destiny1 or a directive and world-ruling ,providence4 ,human action1 however1 does not here only pass before our vision in the objective form of its actual occurrence1 as an event of the ,past resuscitated by the narrative alone2 on the contrary1 it is made to appear as actually realized in the particular volition1 morality or immorality of the specific characters depicted1 which thereby become central in the principle of lyric poetry4 ,add to this1 however1 that such individuals are not merely disclosed in their inner experience as such2 they also declare themselves in the execution of passion directed to ends2 whereby they offer a criterion--in the way that epic poetry asserts what is substantive in its positive reality#h for the evaluation of those passions and the aims which are directed to the objective conditions and rational laws of the concrete world2 and it is1 moreover1 by this very test of the worth and conditions1 under which such individuals continue in their resolve to abide1 that their destiny is discovered by implication4 ,this objective presence1 which proceeds from the personality itself1 no less than this personal experience1#i which is reproduced in its active realization and all that declares its worth in the world1 is ,spirit in its own living totality2 it is this which1 as action1 supplies both form and content to dramatic poetry4 ,moreover1 inasmuch as this concrete whole is itself no less essentially conscious life than it is1 under the aspect of its external realization1 also a self-manifestation1 quite apart from all question of local or other artistic means of realization1 we are bound1 in respect to this representation of actual facts1 to meet the claim of genuine poetry that we should have the entire personality of the individual envisaged2 only as such the living man himself is actually that which is expressed4 ,for though1 on the one hand1 in the drama1 as in lyric poetry1 a character ought to express the content of its own soul-life as a veritable possession1 yet1 from another point of view1 it asserts itself1 when1 in its entire personality it is confronted with other personalities1 as effective in its practical existence1 and comes thereby into active contact with the world around it1 by means of which it attaches itself immediately to an active disposition1#aj which1 quite as truly as articulate speech1 is an expression of the soul-life1 and requires its artistic treatment4 ,already we find in lyrical poetry some close approach to the apportionment of various emotions among different individual speakers1 and the distribution of its subject-matter in acts or scenes4 ,in the drama1 then1 subjective emotion passes on likewise to the expression of action2 and1 by so doing1 renders necessary the manifestation to our senses of the play of gesture which concentrates the universality of language in a closer relation with the expression of personality1#aa and by means of position1 demeanour1 gesticulation and other ways is individualized and completed4 ,if1 however1 this aspect of deportment is carried forward by artistic means to a degree of expression1 that it can dispense with speech1 we have the art of pantomime1 which resolves the rhythmical movement of poetry in a harmonious and picturesque motion of limbs1 and in this1 so to speak1 plastic music of bodily position and movement gives animated life in the dance to the tranquil and cold figures of sculpture1 that it may essentially unite by such means music and the plastic art4 ,footnote #a3 ,gleichgltige1 that is1 the impressions of sense are received from without1 from a manifold indifferent to ourselves4 ,footnote #b3 ,losheit4 ,a word coined by ,hegel to denote this relation of poetry to external objects in their independence4 ,footnote #c3 ,die ,gebehrden1 lit41 gestures1 in which sense it is used in a subsequent passage4 ,footnote #d3 ,we should rather have expected the material of plastic art4 ,the contrast is rather between the nature of the medium in each case than the finished product4 ,so far as the latter is concerned the musical composition is as dependent1 even more dependent for its presentment on human activity as poetical composition4 ,footnote #e3 ,des ,klingens unseres ,gewohnheit4 ,it is not quite clear what the meaning is here4 ,the meaning may be as in the interpretation above4 ,but it is rather difficult to see how1 so far as mere print goes1 we can be conscious of actual sound at all1 unless it is intended here to include at least the act of reading2 an alternative interpretation would be the habitual verbal accent1 but we should in that case have rather expected the substantive ,nachdrucks for ,klingens4 ,footnote #f3 ,hegel means of course that as that notion stands midway between the objectivity of sense-perception and the concept of thought1 so too this classification will be based on the attitude of the art either to the personal life1 or the objects of sense1 as the one aspect is more strongly represented or the other4 ,footnote #g3 ,dem ,subject4 ,that is1 ,i understand1 the individual subject generally1 not merely the conscious life of the poet or the singer4 ,footnote #h3 ,in seiner ,gediegenheit1 i4e41 as concrete4 ,footnote #i3 ,dies ,subjektive4 ,the realization of self in the world is part of that world regarded as a rational and self-conscious process1 ,spirit4 ,footnote #aj3 ,sich die ,gebehrde anschliesst1 i4e4 a practical attitude to the world1 involving gesture and other actions4 ,footnote #aa3 ,hegel's expression is the personality of expression1 i4e41 the personal aspect of expression4 ,a4 ,,epic ,,poetry ,the ,epos1 word1 saga1 states simply what the fact is which is translated into the word4 ,it acquires an essentially self-consistent content in order to express the fact that it is and how it is4 ,what we have here brought before consciousness is the object regarded as object in its relations and circumstances1 in their full compass and development1 the object1 in short1 in its determinate existence4 ,we propose to treat our subject-matter as follows3 ,first1 we shall attempt to describe the general character of what is ,epical3 ,secondly1 we shall proceed to some particular features1 which in respect to the real ,epos are of exceptional importance3 ,thirdly1 we shall enumerate by name certain specific methods of treatment1 which have been actually in use in particular epic compositions within the historical elaboration of the type4 ,i4 ,,the ,,general ,,characteristics ,,of ,,the ,,epic ,,type 7a7 ,the most simple1 but nevertheless in its abstract concentration1 still one-sided and incomplete mode of epic exposition consists in the assertion of that which is essentially fundamental and necessary among the facts of the concrete world and the wealth of mutable phenomena1 and in the expression of such on their own account1 as focussed in epic phraseology4 77 ,we may begin our consideration of the type with the epigram i1 in so far as it really remains an epigram1 that is an inscription on columns1 effects1 monuments1 gifts and so forth1 and at the same time points with an ideal finger to something else1 and by doing so explains through words1 inscribed on an object1 somewhat otherwise plastic1 local1 something present outside the words expressed4 ,in such an example the epigram states simply what a definite fact is4 ,the individual does not as yet express his concrete self2 he attaches a concise interpretation to the object1 the locality1 which he has immediate perception of and which claims his interested attention1 an interpretation which goes to the heart of the fact in question4 77 ,a yet further advance may be discovered in the case where the twofold aspect of the object in its external reality and the fact of inscription disappears1 in so far1 that is1 as poetry1 without any actual representation on the object1 expresses its idea of the fact4 ,to this class belong the gnomes of the ancients1 ethical sayings1 which concentrate in concise language that which is more forceable than material objects1 more permanent and universal than the monument of some definite action1 more perdurable than votive offerings1 columns1 and temples4 ,such are duties in human existence1 the wisdom of life1 the vision of that which constitutes in action and knowledge the firm foundations and stable bonds for human kind4 ,the epic character of such modes of conception consists in this1 that such maxims do not declare themselves as exclusively personal emotion and reflection1 and also1 in the matter of their impression1 are quite as little directed with the object even of affecting our emotions1 but rather with the purpose to emphasize what is of sterling validity1 whether as the object of human obligation or the sense of honour and propriety4 ,the ancient ,greek elegiacs have in some measure this epic tone4 ,we have still extant a few verses of ,solon of this kind1 though the transition here into a hortatory tone and style is easily made4 ,such include exhortations or warnings with reference to the common social life1 its laws and morality4 ,we may also mention the gold sayings1 which tradition ascribes to ,pythagoras4 ,yet all such are of a hybrid nature1 and referable to this1 that though in general we may associate with them the tone of our distinct type1 yet1 owing to the incompleteness of the object1 it is not fully realized1 but rather there is a distinct tendency to involve with it that of another poetical type1 in the present case the lyrical4 77 ,such dicta may1 however1 thirdly1 as already suggested1 by being divested of this fragmentary and self-exclusive isolation1 go to form a larger whole1 be rounded off1 that is1 in a totality1 which is altogether of the ,epic type2 we have here neither a purely lyrical frame of mind nor a dramatic action1 but a specific and veritable sphere of the living world whose essential nature1 as emphasized in its general characteristics1 no less than as situated to particular aspects1 points of view1 occurrences or obligations1 supplies us with an integrating unity and a genuine focal centre4 ,in complete agreement with this type of epical content1 which displays what is of permanent and universal import along with1 as a rule1 a distinct ethical purpose of admonishment1 instruction or exhortation to an1 in all essentials1 ethically stable life1 compositions of this kind receive a didactic flavour4 ,nevertheless1 by reason of the novelty of their wise sayings1 the freshness of their general outlook and the ingenuousness of their observation we must keep them quite distinct from more recent didactic poetry4 ,they wholly justify1 inasmuch as they give the necessary play to matter entirely descriptive1 the conclusion that these two aspects taken together1 instruction and description1 are directly deduced as the substantive summary of facts which have been throughout experienced4 ,as an obvious illustration ,i will merely mention the ,works and ,days of ,hesiod1 the teaching and descriptive power of which1 in its primitive style and as a poetical composition1 exercises a fascination upon us wholly different from the pleasure we experience in the colder elegance1 the scientific or systematic conclusions of ,virgil's poems on agriculture4 7b7 ,the above described modes of epigram1 gnome1 and didactive poem accept their specific provinces of ,nature or human life as their subject-matter1 while endeavouring to fix attention in concise language1 with more or less limitation of survey1 on that which is of permanent worth and essential truth in this or that object1 condition1 or activity2 and even under the still more restricted condition which the art of poetry imposes on such a task the practical result upon human effort is still maintained4 ,there is1 however1 a further or second type of such compositions1 which is1 on the one hand1 profounder in its penetration1 and1 on the other1 lays less stress on instruction and reform4 ,such are the cosmogonies and theogonies1 no less than those most ancient works of philosophy1 which are still unable entirely to liberate themselves from the poetical form4 77 ,in this way the exposition of the ,eleatic philosophy in the poems of ,xenophanes and ,parmenides still remains poetic in form2 and this is exceptionally so in the introduction prefaced by the latter to his work4 ,the content is here the ,one1 which1 in its contrast to the ,becoming or the already ,become1 all particular phenomena in short1 is eternal and imperishable4 ,no particularity is permitted to bring content to the human spirit1 which strives after truth1 and1 in the first instance1 is cognizant of the same in its most abstract unity and concreteness4 ,expatiating in the greatness of this object1 and wrestling with the might of the same1 the impulse of soul inclines instinctively to the lyrical expression1 although the entire explication of the truths into which the writer's thought here penetrates carries on its face a wholly practical and thereby epic character4 77 ,it is1 secondly1 the becoming of objective things1 in particular natural objects1 the press and conflict of activities operative in ,nature1 which supplies the matter of the cosmogonies1 and impels the poetic imagination to disclose in the still more concrete and opulent mode of actions and events real eventuality4 ,and the way this faculty does this is by clothing the forces of ,nature in relatively more or less personified or figurative images placed in distinct stages1 and through the symbolical form of human events and actions4 ,such a type of epic content and exposition pre-eminently belongs to ,oriental ,nature-religions2 and above all among them the poetry of ,india is to an excessive degree prolific in the invention and portrayal of such modes of conception1 frequently of an unbridled and extravagant type1 concerning the origin of the world and the powers that are active therein4 77 ,we find1 thirdly1 similar characteristics in theogonies4 ,such occupy their true position mainly in so far as1 on the one hand1 the many particular gods are not suffered exclusively to possess the life of ,nature as the more essential content of their power and creation1 nor1 conversely1 is it one god that creates the world out of thought and spirit1 and who1 in the jealous mood of monotheism1 will tolerate no other gods beside himself4 ,this fair mean is alone exemplified in the religious outlook of the ,greeks4 ,it discovers an imperishable subject-matter for theogony-building in the forceful emancipation of the family of ,zeus from the lawlessness of primitive natural forces1 no less than in the conflict waged against them4 ,it is a process and a strife which we may indeed affirm gives us the historical origins of the immortal gods of poetry itself4 ,the famous example of such an epic mode of conception we possess in the theogony known to us under the name of ,hesiod4 ,in this composition the entire course of event is throughout wedded to the form of human occurrences2 it becomes less and less symbolical just to the extent that the gods1 who are summoned to a spiritual dominion1 are themselves liberated through an intelligent and ethical individuality adequate to their essential nature1 and consequently are rightfully claimed and depicted as acting like human beings4 ,what is1 however1 still absent from this type of ,epic composition is1 in the first place1 a genuinely complete result#a as poetry4 ,the acts and events1 which are within the scope of the survey of such poems1 are no doubt an essentially necessary succession of occurrence1 but they are not an individual action which issues as from a centre1 wherein it discovers its unity and independence4 ,from a further point of view the content of such poetry does not1 and in virtue of its character cannot1 present to us an essentially complete whole4 ,it does1 and for the above reason must1 exclude the real activities of mankind1 which are indispensable as the truly concrete material for the active display of the ,divine forces4 ,epic poetry1 therefore1 is bound to free itself from such defects1 if it is to receive its most perfect expression4 7c7 ,this actually does take place in that sphere which we may designate the true ,epopa4 ,in the types hitherto discussed1 which as a rule are wholly passed over1 what we call the epic tone is unmistakably present1 but the content is not as yet poetical in the concrete sense4 ,particular ethical maxims and philosophemata still persist as part of the material4 ,what is1 however1 poetical in the full sense is concrete ideality in individual guise2 and the epos1 inasmuch as it makes what actually exists its object1 accepts as such the happening of a definite action1 which1 in the full compass of its circumstances and relations must be brought with clarity to our vision as an event enriched by its further association with the organically complete world of a nation and an age4 ,it follows from this that the collective world-outlook and objective presence of a national spirit1 displayed as an actual event in the form of its self-manifestation1 constitutes1 and nothing short of this does so1 the content and form of the true epic poem4 ,as one aspect of such a totality we have the religious consciousness in every degree of profundity attained by the human spirit2 it furthermore embraces the particular concrete life1 whether political or domestic1 not excluding all the detail of external existence1 and the means by which human necessities are satisfied4 ,all such material the epos makes of vital account as a growth in close contact with individuals2 and for this reason1 that for poetry the universal and substantive is only realized in the living presence of spirit life4 ,such a comprehensive world1 together with the human characterization it embraces1 must then pass before us as real in a tranquil stream1 without any undue haste1 either as positive history or dramatic action1 towards its aim and conclusion4 ,we must thereby be permitted to linger round isolated facts1 to penetrate into the different pictures of its movement and to enjoy them in all their detail4 ,and by this means the entire panorama receives in its objective mode of realization the form of an external series of events1 the basis and limitations of which must be implied in the essential ideality of the particular epic content1 and of which the positive assertion is alone absent4 ,if1 consequently1 the epic poem is1 in its links of connection1 more diffuse1 and1 by virtue of the relatively greater independence of portions of it1 inclined to suffer from lack of coherency1 we must not allow ourselves the impression that it could ever have been actually sung throughout in this manner4 ,rather it is an imperative in its case1 as in that of any other artistic production1 that it should be finished off in an essentially organic whole1 which1 however1 moves forward in apparent tranquillity1 in order that the particular fact and the images of actual life it contains may engage our interest4 77 ,such a primitive whole is the epic composition1 whether known as the saga1 the book1 or the bible of a people4 ,we may add every great and important nation can claim to have such primitive books1 in which we find a mirror of the original spirit of a folk4 ,to this extent these memorials are nothing less than the real foundations of the national consciousness2 and it would be of profound interest to make a collection of such epic bibles4 ,such a series of ,epopees1 however much they fell short of artistic compositions in the modern sense1 would at least present to us a gallery of the genius of nations4 ,at the same time it is doubtless the fact that it is not every national bible which can claim the poetic form of the epopa2 nor do all nations which have embodied their most sacred memorials1 whether in relation to religion or secular life1 in the form of comprehensive compositions of the epic type1 possess religious books4 ,the ,old ,testament1 for example1 contains no doubt much epic narrative and genuine history1 no less than incidental poetic compositions2 but despite of this the whole is not a work of art4 ,in a similar way the ,new ,testament1 as also the ,koran1 are mainly limited to a religious subject-matter1 starting from which the life of the world at large is to some extent and in later times a consequence4 ,conversely1 though the ,hellenes have a poetic bible in the poems of ,homer1 they are without ancient religious books in the sense the ,hindoos and the ,parsees possess such4 ,where1 however1 we meet with the primitive epopoea1 we must essentially distinguish between primitive poetic books and the more recent classic compositions of a nation1 which do not any longer offer us a mirror of the national spirit in all its compass but do no more than reflect it partially and in particular directions4 ,the dramatic poetry of the ,hindoos1 for example1 or the tragedies of ,sophocles present no such exhaustive picture as we find in the ,ramajana and the ,maha-,bharata1 or the ,iliad and the ,odyssey4 77 ,and insomuch as in the genuine ,epos the nave national consciousness is expressed for the first time in poetic guise1 the real epic poem will appear for the most part in that midway stage in which1 though no doubt a people is aroused from its stupidity1 and its life is to that extent essentially strengthened to the point of reproducing its own world and of feeling itself at home therein1 yet1 for all that1 everything which at a later stage becomes fixed religious dogma or civic law and ethical rule1 still remains in the fluency of life as mere opinion1 inseparable from the individual as such4 ,and along with this volition and feeling are not as yet held distinct from one another4 77 ,it is only after the separation of the individual's personal self from the concrete national whole1 with its conditions1 modes of opinion1 exploits and destiny2 it is only1 further1 after the division in man himself between his emotion and volition1 that the lyric and dramatic types of poetry in turn replace the epic type and attain their richest development4 ,this consummation is only reached in the later life-experience of a people1 in which the general lines laid down by men for the due regulation of their affairs are no longer inseparable from the sentiments and opinions of the nation as a whole1 but already have secured an independent structure as a co-ordinated system of jurisprudence and law1 as a prosaic disposition of positive facts1 as a political constitution1 as a body of ethical or other precepts2 and being so1 individuals are now confronted with material obligations rather as a necessary force external to themselves than one which their own inner life asserts1 and which it compels them to substantiate as its fulfilment4 ,as opposed to such an already actual and independent system1 the individual life will seek in part to find expression in an equally independent world and growth of personal vision1 reflection and emotion1 which are not carried further into the sphere of action1 and will further give lyrical utterance to its selfabsorption1 its pre-occupation with the content of such a soul-experience4 ,and1 in part also1 it will make its active passion of main importance1 and will seek to assert itself independently in action1 in so far as it is able to divest external conditions1 the event and its concomitants of any claim to truly epic self-subsistency4 ,it is just this increase to the strength and stability of individual character and aims in their relation to action which opens the way to dramatic poetry4 ,to return1 however1 to the epic1 we repeat that it is the above-mentioned unity of feeling and action which it demands1 that unity between the self-fulfilled object of the personal life and the external accident and event2 a unity which1 as observed1 is only present without blemish as it first appears in the earliest periods of the national life or the national poetry4 77 ,at the same time1 we must not yield ourselves1 therefore1 to the impression that a people in its heroical time simply as such1 and as the home of its epos1 there and then was in possession of art1 or could necessarily depict its life in the mirror of poetry4 ,as a matter of fact1 an essentially poetical nationality in its actual world-presence is one thing2 the art of poetry regarded as the imaginative consciousness of poetical material1 and the artistic presentment of such a world is quite another4 ,the felt want to express oneself as idea in terms of the latter1 the trained knowledge of art1 are later acquisitions than the life and spirit itself1 which discovers itself in all simplicity at home in its unreservedly poetical existence4 ,homer and the poems under his name are centuries later than the ,trojan war1 which is to myself quite as much an historical fact as the personality of ,homer4 ,in the same way we may affirm of ,ossian1 always assuming that the poems ascribed to him are really his1 that he celebrates an heroic past1 the sunset splendour of which inspires him to recall and reclothe the same in poetical form4 77 ,despite1 however1 such a separation1 some intimate bond of association must exist between the poet and his subject-matter4 ,the poet must still stand on even terms with the conditions1 the general point of vision1 the beliefs which he depicts4 ,all he should find it necessary to do is to attach to these the poetic consciousness and the art capable of portraying them2 in other respects they are still essential factors in his own life4 ,if such an affinity as that above described is absent in our poet's epic creation1 his poem must infallibly contain disparate and irreconcilable features4 ,for both these aspects--namely1 the content1 the epic world1 which it is the intention to portray1 and the world of the poet's conscious life and imagination1 which is in other respects independent of the above--are of spiritual derivation2 they each of them possess intrinsically a definite principle1 in which particular traits of characterization are involved4 ,if1 then1 the personal life of the artist is essentially of a different order to that by virtue of which the historical and national life depicted came into actual being1 we must necessarily become conscious of a cleft in the artistic result which will disturb and injure its effect4 ,we shall have1 in short1 scenes placed before us of a previous condition of history1 combined with modes of thought1 opinions1 and views more pertinent to other periods2 and1 in consequence of this1 the configuration of primitive beliefs will1 in its contact with the more developed reflection of a later time1 lose the warmth of conviction1 become1 in short1 a mere superstition1 an empty embellishment of the mere poetical instrumentation1 from which all the vitality of its actual life has vanished4 77 ,and this brings us to the general question what position the poet himself of genuine epic poetry really ought to take up4 77 ,now1 however much the ,epos ought also to be positive in the sense that it is the objective presentment of a world based upon its own foundations1 and realized in virtue of its own necessary laws1 a world1 moreover1 with which the personal outlook of the poet must remain in a connection that enables him to identify himself wholly with it2 yet it is equally true that his artistic product1 which reproduces this world1 is throughout the free creation of himself4 ,in this connection we shall do well to recall that fine expression of ,herodotus3 ,homer and ,hesiod have created the gods of the ,hellenic race4 ,and1 in truth1 this free and audacious spirit of creation1 which ,herodotus attaches to the abovementioned poets1 already is some testimony to the fact that although the ,epopa belongs to the early age of a nation1 it is not its function to depict the most primitive condition of all4 ,in other words1 every nation possesses in its earliest origins more or less an alien culture of some kind1 is confronted with a religious cult of foreign importation to which it submits1 or which it regards as sacrosanct4 ,and1 indeed1 we find that the minstrelsy1 the superstition1 the barbarous elements in human life1 no less than the most exalted have their source just in this1 that instead of being entirely at home with themselves1 they are experienced as something aloof from themselves1 that is not the natural product of their own national and individual consciousness4 ,in this way1 for example1 the ,hindoos must certainly1 long before the date of their great ,epopees1 have experienced many an important revolution of religious beliefs and secular condition4 ,the ,greeks no less1 as previously remarked1 had to transform much material of an ,egyptian1 ,phrygian1 and ,asiatic descent4 ,the ,romans1 in their turn1 were confronted with much of a ,greek origin2 and the barbarians1 in the period of national invasion1 with ,christian or ,roman antecedents1 and so on4 ,not until the poet is able with a free hand to cast from him such a yoke1 is able to take stock of what he really possesses1 is conscious of his own worth1 and we are thereby released from all perturbed state of mental vision1 will the dawn break of a genuine epic creation4 ,in contrast to such an outlook we have the age and the society modified by a cult abstract in its origin1 with its elaborate dogmas1 established political and moral maxims1 all of which take us away from the concrete life at home with itself4 ,the world of the truly epic poet maintains its opposition to such conditions4 ,not merely in respect to universal forces1 passions1 and aims which are operative in the soul-life of individuals1 but also in such a poet's attitude to all external facts1 be his creation never so independent1 he is entirely as one in his own province4 ,in just this way ,homer is at home in all that he sings to us of his world1 and where we are conscious of such intimacy in another we are infected with a like feeling1 for we are here face to face with truth1 with that spirit which lives in its world1 and discovers therein its true being2 and it does us good to feel this1 inasmuch as the poet is himself present therein heart and soul4 ,such a world may1 indeed1 belong to a less advanced stage of evolution and culture than our own2 but at least it does remain faithful to that of a poetry and beauty which is open to all1 so that we essentially recognize and understand here everything which our higher life1 our humanity in its fundamental demands1 whether it be the honour1 the opinions1 the emotions1 the exhortation1 or the exploits of each and every hero2 and we are able to enjoy such characters1 in all the detail of their portraiture1 as themselves united to such a life and the richness of its actual presence4 77 ,but on account of the emphasis upon the objective independence of this whole1 it is a further necessary contrast that the poet fall into the background and become lost in his subject4 ,what is to appear is the creation1 not the poet2 and yet withal1 that which the poem expresses belongs to him4 ,he has imagined all in his mind's eye2 he has implanted there his soul1 his genius4 ,all this1 however1 is not expressly asserted4 ,so we find1 for instance1 that at one time a ,calchas will give the outline of events2 at another1 a ,nestor4 ,yet1 for all that1 such interpretative matter is the gift of the poet himself4 ,nay1 actual changes in the soul-life of his heroes he explains in objective fashion as an entrance of gods upon the scene1 as in the case where ,athene appears before ,achilles in his rage1 counselling self-restraint4 ,and inasmuch as the ,epos does not disclose the soul-life of the creator1 save indirectly1 but the positive facts of external life1 the subjective aspect of his creations must completely fall into the background1 no less than the creator himself vanish behind the world he unfolds to our vision4 ,from this point of view a great epic style makes the work appear to be itself its own minstrel4 ,it seems to pass before us self-begotten1 a work of independent birth4 77 ,moreover1 the epic poem1 if a true work of art1 is the exclusive creation of one artist4 ,however much an epic may express the affairs of the entire nation1 it remains the fact that it is the individual who is the poet1 not the nation as a whole4 ,the spirit of an age1 of a people1 is no doubt the essential operative cause2 but realization is only secured in the work of art as conceived by the constructive genius of a particular poet1 who brings before our vision and reproduces this universal spirit and its content as his own experience and his own product4 ,poetical composition is a real spiritual birth1 and spirit or intelligence only exist as this or that actual and individual conscious and self-conscious life4 ,when we have already an artistic creation in a particular style1#b we have no doubt something to start from2 and others are then able to copy with more or less success something like it1 just as we have to listen nowadays to some scores of poems written in the ,goethesque manner4 ,to continue to sing many compositions in the same kind of key1 however1 will never create the unified creation1 which is throughout the work of one inspiring genius4 ,this is a point of real importance not only in our attitude to the ,homeric poems1 but also the ,niebelungen ,lied4 ,for the last-mentioned work we are unable to determine an author with any historical certainty2 and as for the ,iliad and ,odyssey1 the opinion of some critics is notorious that the ,homer of tradition--that is1 the sole author of these books--never existed at all4 ,they are the production in different parts of various authors1 parts which have finally been patched together in the two larger works we possess4 ,with regard to such a theory the question of most importance is whether either or both of these extant works constitute an independent organic whole in the epic sense1 or1 as is the view fashionable nowadays1 they possess no inevitable beginning or conclusion1 but rather might be continued on present lines for ever4 ,we may1 of course1 admit that the unity of the ,homeric poems is1 as part of their essential form1 less compact than that we associate with the terse concentration of a dramatic work4 ,inasmuch as every separate portion may be and may appear as relatively independent1 they give free play to many interpolations and abrupt transitions2 but1 despite of this1 they do unquestionably constitute throughout a true1 ideally organic1 and epic totality4 ,such a whole can only be the composition of one author4 ,this notion of a conglomerate without essential unity1 of a mere patching together of various rhapsodies composed in a similar strain1 is a wild sort of idea opposed to all artistic canons4 ,of course1 if such a view merely amounts to this1 that the poet1 in his bare individuality1 vanishes in his creation1 it is the highest form of praise4 ,this is merely a statement that we are unable to recognize any positive traces of wholly personal opinions and feeling4 ,so much is certainly true of the ,homeric poems4 ,what we have before us1 and we have only this1 is the positive fact1 the objective outlook of a people4 ,but the song of a people requires a voice1 a voice which can sing forth the contents of heart and soul1 as harvested from the national granary2 and an essentially self-integrated work of art calls for yet more than this from the unique genius of its creator4 #b4 ,,particular ,,characteristics ,,of ,,the ,,genuine ,,epos ,we have previously in our consideration of the general character of epic poetry briefly drawn attention to certain incomplete types1 which1 although of an epical strain1 are not epopees in their completeness4 ,they1 in short1 neither represent a national condition1 nor a concrete event1 within the boundaries of such a sphere4 ,it is these latter features1 which were then excluded1 which offer us for the first time a content wholly equal to the perfected ,epos1 whose fundamental traits and conditions are thus stated4 ,having recalled these points it becomes necessary now to investigate more closely what it is we require by way of completing our notion of the epic work of art4 ,we are1 however1 on the threshold of this enquiry confronted with the difficulty that we have little or nothing to say on features of specific interest1 if we confine our attention to generalities2 ,ave must rivet our attention on historical evidence1 and those varied epic and national compositions1 works which on account of the extraordinary diversity of the times and peoples to which they refer do not make us very hopeful of securing either a definite or a congruous result4 ,we find1 however1 some compensation in the fact1 that from among all the many epic bibles of the past we can place our finger on one at least1 in which we have the clearest evidence of all which it is possible to establish as the true and fundamental character of the genuine epos4 ,such are the ,homeric poems4 ,these1 then1 above all1 will be the source from which ,i shall borrow the characteristics1 which1 in my view1 essentially determine the nature of such poetry1 whether from the point of view of fact or theory4 ,we propose to summarize our enquiry under the following heads3 ,first1 we have to deal with the question1 of what structure the general world condition ought to be1 on the basis of which the epic event is permitted to receive an adequate reproduction4 ,secondly1 we shall investigate the quality of this specific type of historical event itself4 ,lastly1 we shall direct attention to the form in which these two aspects of our subject-matter coalesce and are completed in the unity of a single work of art1 that is1 in the epic poem4 7a7 ,the ,general ,world-condition of the ,epic ,poem ,we have already1 when ,ave started on this subject1 seen that it is not a single isolated action which is accomplished in the true epic event2 the subject of the narrative is not1 in short1 a wholly accidental occurrence1 but an action which is dove-tailed into the entire complexus of a particular age and national circumstances1 which in consequence can only be placed before us with success as a constituent part of an extensive world1 demanding as it does the reflection of such a world in its entirety4 ,in respect to the actual poetical content of this background ,i shall be brief1 inasmuch as ,i have already indicated the fundamental points of interest when1 in the first part of this work1 ,i discussed the general world-condition which the ideal action presupposed4 ,in the present context therefore ,i shall restrict myself to the question what is of most importance to the ,epos simply4 77 ,that which is most adapted1 as the all-embracing condition of human society1 to form the background of the ,epos consists in this1 that it already possesses for particular individuals the form of a positive condition actually present1 and yet continues with them in closest association with the simplicity of primitive life4 ,for if the heroes who are placed as the crowning fact of all1 are first to found a collective condition the determination of what is or ought to come into existence falls into the more personal sphere of character to a greater extent than is compatible with the nature of the ,epos1 and therewith all appearance of the same as objective reality is impossible4 77 ,the relations of ethical life1 the aggregate of the family1 of the people regarded as a complete nation1 not merely with a view to war1 but also in their peaceful security1 must have become a positive fact in their evolution2 yet along with this their organization cannot as yet have assumed the settled form of co-ordinate regulations1 obligations1 and laws independent in their validity of the direct personal and private activities of individuals1 and possessive of the power to maintain themselves against such particular wills4 ,rather it is the intuitive sense of right and fairness1 the moral habit1 the temperament1 the personality1 which supply the support1 as they are the source1 of such a social order2 we have1 in short1 no theoretic intelligence in its precipitated form of prosaic reality able to establish and secure such a resistance to the heart1 the opinions and passions of individuals4 ,we may dismiss the thought that a community with a fully organized constitution and an elaborate system of law1 judicial courts1 government officials and police1 would supply the environment of a really epic action4#c ,the conditions of positive morality must1 no doubt1 be present in the general will and conduct1 but the instruments of its realization can only be the action and personality of individuals1 and a determinate mode of its existence1 of universal application and independent stability1 is necessarily absent4 ,we find1 in short1 in the ,epos no doubt the substantive reciprocity of objective life and action1 but we find no less a freedom in this world of life and action1 which has all the appearance of originating exclusively from the isolated volition of individuals4 77 ,the same considerations apply to the relation of the individual to the natural environment1 from which he borrows the means to satisfy his wants1 no less than discovers the best way to do so4 ,in this respect1 too1 ,i would refer the reader back to what ,i have observed at greater length1 when discussing the external definition of the ,ideal4 ,what mankind requires in its external life1 house and farm1 tent1 settle1 bed1 sword1 lance1 the ship1 in which he crosses the sea1 the chariot1 which bears him into battle1 his soup1 his roast of meat1 and drink--not one of these things need perforce become to him a lifeless instrument2 he ought still to communicate to the same something of his entire life and substance1 his essential self1 and thereby leave the stamp of his own human individuality1 by his active association on that which is otherwise wholly external4 ,our present life with its machinery and factory-made products1 no less than the kind of way we seek to satisfy generally the needs of our external life1 is in this respect quite as much as that of our political organization1 wholly unfit to form the background which the ,epos in its primitive guise demands4 ,for just as the scientific faculty with its generalizations1 its imperious conclusions1 delivered independently of all personal views1 can never have asserted its claim under the world-condition of the poetic type we are considering1 so1 too1 we may assume that man did not yet appear divested of his vital connection with ,nature1 and the fresh and vigorous comradeship1 whether as friends or opponents1 which is therein implied4 77 ,such is the world-condition which1 in a previous passage1 and in contrast to the idyllic1 ,i have called the heroic4 ,we find it depicted in ,homer with the noblest poetry1 and with all the wealth of entirely human characterization4 ,we have no more here1 whether in domestic or public life1 a barbarous state of things1 than we have the wholly conventional prose of a regulated family and political organization2 what we do find is that primitive mean of poetry much as ,i have already described it4 ,a fundamental feature in such a condition is unquestionably the free individuality of all the principal personages4 ,in the ,iliad1 for example1 ,agamemnon is1 no doubt1 a king of kings--all other chieftains are subject to his sceptre--but his superiority is no merely formal mutual relation of command and submission of the lord1 that is1 to his vassals4 ,on the contrary1 much circumspection is required of him2 he must be shrewd enough to know where he ought to give way1 for each particular chieftain is independent even as himself2 they are not merely governors or generals summoned by him4 ,they have assembled around him of their own free will1 or are induced to follow his lead in a variety of ways4 ,he must take counsel with them2 and if they disagree with his judgment they are at liberty1 as ,achilles did1 to remain aloof from the battle4 ,it is this freedom of acceptance1 no less than this free right to assert disapproval1 which secures the absolute independence of such individuality1 and attaches its poetical atmosphere to every situation4 ,we find much the same thing in the poetry of ,ossian1 as also in the relation of the ,cid to the princes1 whom this poetical hero of romantic and national chivalry serves as vassal4 ,in ,ariosto and ,tasso this free relation is still unimpaired2 and indeed in ,ariosto the individual heroes set forth in practically unqualified independence on their own path of adventure4 ,and the mass of the folk stand in much the same relation to their leaders as that of the separate chieftains to ,agamemnon4 ,these too follow voluntarily4 ,there is still no paramount legal obligation by which they are constrained4 ,honour1 reverence1 humility in the presence of men more mighty than themselves1 ever able to enforce that might1 the imposing presence of the heroic character in short and all it implies1 such are the essential grounds of their obedience4 ,the order of domestic life is maintained in a similar way4 ,it is not enforced as an accepted rule of service1 but as dependent on personal inclination or ethical habit4 ,all is made to appear as though it had grown up spontaneously4 ,homer1 for example1 tells us of the ,greeks1 when narrating one of their battles with the ,trojans1 that they had lost many valiant fighters1 but not so many as the ,trojans2 and the reason given is that they were always mindful to ward off from one another the extreme of necessity4 ,in other words1 they assisted each other4 ,and if we1 in our own days1 had occasion to define the difference between a well-disciplined and an uncivilized army we could not express it more directly than by laying stress on this very coherence and spirit of cameraderie1 this unity enforced by all in a felt association1 which distinguished the former4 ,barbarians are simply human mobs1 in which no individual can rely on his neighbour4 ,what1 however1 in our modern example1 being as it is the final result of a stringent and tedious military discipline1 rather appears as the exercise and command of an established regime1 in ,homer's case is still an ethical habit asserted of its own accord1 springing from the vital strength of the individual in his private capacity4 ,we may explain in a similar way ,homer's great variety in his descriptions of ,nature and external condition4 ,in the prose romances of our own day we do not find much stress laid on the natural aspects of things4 ,homer1 on the contrary1 gives us every detail in his portrayal of a staff1 sceptre1 bedstead1 armour1 clothing1 doorpost2 he does not even omit to mention the hinges on which the door turns4 ,such things appear to us wholly outside our attention and insignificant2 or rather we may say that it is the tendency of our education to affect an extremely severe superiority to a whole number of objects1 matters1 and expressions1 and we deliberately classify in their claim to our notice such things as various kinds of dress1 furniture1 implements1 and so on4 ,add to this the fact that in our day all the means supplied or prepared for the satisfaction of our wants are so split up into every kind of machinery product from work-shop and factory1 we come to regard the medley of supply as something beneath us1 neither deserving enumeration or respectful attention4 ,the heroic existence is1 on the contrary1 confronted with a primitive simplicity of objects and inventions2 it readily lingers on their description4 ,all these possessions are1 in short1 regarded as of one standard of value1 as chattels or instruments in which man still discovers evidence of his craftsmanship1 his positive wealth and interest whereof he may be justly proud4 ,his entire life is not abstracted from such material things1 nor exclusively occupied with a purely intellectual sphere4 ,to slaughter oxen and prepare their flesh for the table1 to pour out wine and things of that sort are part of the heroic life1 carried out with purpose and delight2 with us a meal1 if it is not to be a very commonplace affair1 must not merely carry with it something of the culinary art1 but is incomplete without really good conversation4 ,homer's detailed descriptions in these matters must not therefore be looked upon as a purely poetical embellishment of things of little moment2 such a copious attention is nothing more or less than the actual spirit of the men and circumstances depicted4 ,we find just the same prolixity of speech on external things in the case of our own peasants2 and for that matter do not the dandies of our own day dilate without limit upon their stables1 horses1 top-boots1 spurs1 pants1 and the like4 ,in contrast to a life of profounder intellectual interest such things will doubtless appear somewhat jejune4 ,such a world ought not merely to embrace the limited universality of the particular event1 which occurs on the definite background presupposed2 it must coalesce in its expansion with the entire horizon of the national vision4 ,we have a supremely fine example of this in the ,odyssey1 which not only brings us into contact with the domestic life of the ,greek chieftains1 their servants and subordinates1 but also unfolds the richest variety with its tales of the many opinions of foreign peoples1 the hazards of sea-life1 the dwellings of distant lands1 and so forth4 ,but in the ,iliad also1 though the nature of its subject restricts to some extent the horizon of our vision1 and not unnaturally on its battle-fields has comparatively little to tell us of more tranquil scenes1 ,homer1 at least1 has on the shield of ,achilles managed in a wonderful way to give us a view of the entire compass of terrestrial existence1 no less than human life1 in marriages1 judicial affairs1 agriculture1 the might of armies1 the private wars of cities1 and much else4 ,and these descriptions we 'shall do well not to regard as a wholly incidental feature of the poem4 ,in contrast to such a treatment the poems we identify with the name of ,ossian introduce us to a world that is too limited and indefinite4 ,it has for this very reason rather a lyrical character2 and as for ,dante we may say that his angels and devils inhabit no truly positive world open to our detailed approach2 it exists solely as instrumental to the final fruition or due punishment of mankind4 ,and above all in the ,nibelungenlied the absence is complete of any definite realization of a visible world or environment1 so that the narrative tends in this respect to assume the strain or tone of the mere balladsinger4 ,the narrative is1 no doubt1 diffusive enough2 but it is all much as if some journeyman had picked it up first as gossip1 and then retailed it as such afterwards4 ,we are not brought to close quarters with the facts1 but are merely made aware of the impotence and tedious effort of the poet4 ,this wearisome expanse of poetical debility becomes of course even more pronounced in the ,book of ,heroes1 until finally the whole business is handed over to the true poetical journeyman1 in other words1 the ,master singers4 77 ,furthermore1 for the reason that the ,epos has to embody in art a specific world1 in all its separate characteristics carefully defined1 one1 in short1 for this reason itself essentially individual1 the mirror of such a world must be that of a one particular people4 77 ,in this respect all truly primitive ,epopees present to our view a national spirit in the ethical structure of its family life1 its public dispositions in times of peace or war1 its wants1 arts1 usages1 and interests--in a word1 a picture of the relative type and stage of the national consciousness4 ,what the epic poem reveres more than anything else1 observes most narrowly1 that which1 as previously noted1 it expatiates upon1 is the power to let our inward eye see as in a mirror the individual genius of nations4 ,we have presented us1 as the result of such a gallery1 the world-history itself1 and what is more1 we have it in its beautiful1 free1 and emphasized vitality1 manifestation1 and deed4 ,from no source1 either so impregnate with life or simplicity1 can we1 for example1 better understand the ,hellenic spirit and ,greek history1 or at least grasp the principle of that content1 which this people embodied1 and which it brought with it when it first set forth to engage in the conflict of its wholly authentic history1 than from this of the poet ,homer4 77 ,now the national substance in its realization is of a twofold nature4 ,first1 we have an entirely positive world of specialized usage or custom peculiar to the nation in question1 a definite period of history1 a definite environment1 whether geographical in its streams1 hills and forests1 or in its climatic situation4 ,secondly1 we have that ideal substance of its spiritual life1 whether in the religious sphere1 the family or the community generally4 ,if thus an ,epos of the primitive type is1 under the conditions already indicated1 to be and remain a permanently effective bible1 the nation's ,book1 in that case that which is positive in the reality of the ,past can only claim such a continuously vital interest in so far as the characteristic features accepted are placed in an ideal connection with the actually substantive aspects and tendencies of the national life4 ,otherwise what claims to be of positive value will be entirely contingent and a matter of indifference4 ,native geographical conditions1 for instance1 enter into the conception of nationality4 ,but if they do not confer on a folk its specific character1 the addition of other natural environment1 provided that does not contradict national character1 is not in certain cases prejudicial to the effect1 but may even prove attractive to the imagination4 ,no doubt the sensitive experience of youth is interwoven with the immediate presence of its native hills and streams2 but where the deeper bonds of the entire spiritual outlook are absent1 such an association assumes a more or less external character4 ,and1 apart from this1 where we have1 as in the ,iliad1 a warlike expedition1 it is impossible to preserve the locale of the fatherland4 ,in such a case the scenery of a foreign land in itself fascinates and attracts4 ,the enduring vitality of an ,epos is1 however1 more seriously impaired1 where1 in the course of centuries1 the spiritual consciousness and life has so entirely changed that the links between the more recent ,past and the original point of departure already adverted to are completely severed4 ,this is actually the case with the poet ,klopstock in another province of poetry1 where he attempts to establish a national religion1 and1 in order to do so1 gives us his ,hermann and ,thusnelda4 ,we may affirm the same kind of defect of the ,nibelungenlied4 ,the ,burgundians1 the revenge of ,chriemhilda1 the exploits of ,siegfried1 the entire social condition1 the fated downfall of an entire race and many like facts--all this is no longer vitally held together with the domestic1 civil1 and judicial life1 the institutions and constitutions of the present day4 ,the biography of ,jesus ,christ1 with its ,jerusalem1 ,bethlehem1 and ,roman jurisdiction1 even the ,trojan war itself1 come home to ourselves far more nearly than the events of the ,niebelungen2 the latter are for present consciousness a state of things wholly gone for ever1 swept away once and for all with a besom4 ,to attempt to compose of such something of national significance1 to say nothing of a national bible1 betokens the extreme limit of folly and superficiality4 ,in times when it was rashly#d assumed that the flame of youthful enthusiasm had flashed up anew1 such a conceit was taken as a proof of the sere leaf of an age once more become childlike in the approach of death2 and it refreshed itself with a past that was dead1 and deemed it possible to associate others with a similar refreshment and renewed presence4 77 ,if1 however1 a national ,epos is to secure in addition the permanent interest of foreign nations the world which it depicts must not merely be of a particular nationality1 but of a type that is1 in this specific folk1 its heroism and exploits1 equally impressed with the stamp of our common humanity4 ,in the poems of ,homer1 for example1 the superb directness with which he deals with matters of divine or ethical import1 the nobility of the characters and of everything living therein embraced1 the pictorial quality of their presentment to the reader1 all this insures an undying truth for succeeding ages4 ,in this respect we find a remarkable contrast in the creation of different peoples4 ,we cannot deny1 for instance1 that the ,ramajana reflects with the essential directness of life the national spirit of the ,hindoos1 more particularly from the religious point of view2 but the character of the entire ,hindoo race is so overpoweringly of a unique type1 that the essential features of our common humanity are unable to assert themselves through the veil of this national idiosyncracy4 ,a remarkable contrast to this is the way in which the entire ,christian world1 from the earliest times1 has found itself at home in those epic passages of ,old ,testament narrative1 above all in the pictures of the patriarchal state1 and able to repicture for itself to the life the events portrayed over and over again with the greatest enjoyment4 ,the testimony of ,goethe is unequivocal4 ,here was the one focal centre1 he assures us1 on which1 in his young days1 amid much that he learned of a miscellaneous and unconnected character1 his intellect no less than feeling concentrated itself4 ,even in later life he still remarks upon them that after all our wanderings through the ,east we always returned in the end to these writings as the most invigorating spring of waters3 here and there they might be troubled2 not unfrequently they hid themselves in the earth2 but it was only to rise up again pure and fresh as ever4 77 ,finally1 the general condition of a particular people must not in this tranquil universality of its individual character wholly oust what is more directly the object of the ,epos1 in other words1 be described with no reference to that4 ,it ought only to appear as the foundation1 upon which an event throughout its entire process is transacted1 one which is in contact with all aspects of the national life1 and one which illustrates the same as it proceeds4 ,such an eventuality must not be a purely external incident2 it must imply a deliberately conceived purpose executed by equally deliberate effort4 ,if1 however1 these two aspects1 namely1 the general condition and the particular action1 do not coalesce1 then the event in question must seek its justification in the particular circumstances1 the causal conditions which dominate its movement4 ,that is practically to say the world of ,epos which is reproduced must be conceived under a specific situation which is so concrete that the definite objects which it is the function of the epic narrative to realize1 are necessarily made explicit by it4 ,we have already1 when discussing the ideal action1#e pointed out on general lines that this realization presupposes situations and circumstances which bring about collisions1 actions that do injury and consequently necessary reactions4 ,the particular situation1 therefore1 in which the epic world-condition of a nation is made actual to us1 must of itself be essentially one implying such collisions4 ,in this respect1 therefore1 epic poetry enters the field already occupied by dramatic poetry2 and we may find it convenient at once to determine in what respects the collisions of these two types of poetry differ4 77 ,under the broadest review of this question we may say that the conflict of the belligerent condition is that which supplies the ,epos with its most pertinent situation4 ,in war it is obviously the entire nation which is set in activity1 and which1 as a whole placed under similar conditions1 is moved and stimulated in a novel way1 in so far at least as it possesses any claim1 as such a whole1 to participate in it4 ,we may admit that the above conclusion stands in apparent contradiction not merely with ,homer's ,odyssey1 but also the subject-matter of many poems that are epic in an otherwise intelligible sense4 ,it finds1 however1 ample corroboration in the majority of the most famous ,epopees4 ,moreover1 the collision of operations in the events of which the ,odyssey informs us1 derives part of its source from the ,trojan war2 and even under the aspect of domestic life in ,ithaca1 no less than that of the home-returning ,odysseus1 although the narrative is no actual account of conflicts between ,greeks and ,trojans1 yet it deals with facts which are the immediate consequence of that war4 ,nay1 it is itself war under a new aspect1 for many chieftains are forced to reconquer their homes1 which after their ten years' absence they find under wholly altered conditions4 ,we have practically but one example of the religious ,epos1 ,dante's ,divine ,comedy4 ,even here1 too1 the fundamental collision is deducible from that original ,fall of the evil angels from heaven1 which brings in its train and within the sphere of human experience the ever active external and ideal conflict between the ,divine ,father and the conduct of men1 whether hostile or well-pleasing to ,him1 a conflict eternally perpetuated in condemnation1 purification1 and blessedness1 or in other words1 hell1 purgatory1 and paradise4 ,also1 too1 in the ,messias it is the former war against the ,son of ,god which supplies the focal centre4 ,at the same time the most vital and truly pertinent examples are those which actually describe the belligerent state4 ,we have already drawn attention to such in the ,ramajana1 and1 most instructive of all1 in the ,iliad2 further examples are the famous poems of ,ossian1 ,tasso1 ,ariosto1 and ,camoens4 ,in war courage is and remains the fundamental interest2 and warlike courage is a state of the soul and an activity1 which is neither so suitable for lyrical expression nor for dramatic action1 but is pre-eminently adapted to the descriptive power of the ,epos4 ,in dramatic poetry it is rather the ideal strength or weakness of spiritual life1 the ethically justified or reprehensible pathos which is the main thing3 in the ,epos1 on the contrary1 it is rather the native characteristics of a personality4 ,for this reason1 where it is national exploits which are undertaken1 bravery is in its right place2 it is in fact not an ethical state1#f in which the will is determined through its own initiative as an intelligent consciousness and volition4 ,it rather depends on natural temperament1 unites in direct equilibrium1 as by fusion1 with the sphere of self-conscious life1 and1 in order to bring into effect practical ends1 which can be more fitly expressed in epic description than under the conceptions of lyrical emotion and reflection4 ,and these conclusions with regard to bravery in war apply with equal force to the exploits of war and their consequences4 ,the activities of personal volition and the accidents of the external event supply the two scales of the balance4 ,the bare event1 with its wholly material obstructions1 is excluded from the drama1 inasmuch as here what is exclusively external is not permitted to retain an independent right1 but is causally related to the aim and ideal purposes of individuals1 so that as to all contingent matter1 if by any chance it appears to arise and to determine the result1 we are none the less compelled to look for the real operative cause and justification thereof in the spiritual nature of human character and its objects1 no less than in that of its collisions and their necessary resolution4 77 ,a basis of the epic action such as this of active hostilities is obviously the source of a very varied subject-matter4 ,we may have placed before the imagination a host of interesting actions and events1 in which bravery in action supplies the leading rle1 and the claim of external forces1 whether asserted in circumstance or incident1 is maintained unimpaired4 ,at the same time we must not overlook a respect in which the possibilities of epic narration is essentially restricted4 ,it is only wars waged between one foreign nation and another which partake of a truly epic character4 ,in contrast to this conflicts between dynasties1 civil wars and social revolution1 are more suited to dramatic exposition4 ,and in fact ,aristotle long ago#g advises the tragic poet to select subject-matter which is concerned with the conflicts of brother against brother4 ,of this type is the war of the ,seven against ,thebes4 ,it is ,thebes' own son who storms the city2 and its defender is the actual brother of the aggressor4 ,hostility of this type is something more than that of a mere foe2 its significance is bound up with the individuality of the opposed brothers4 ,we have similar examples with every kind of variety in ,shakespeare's historical tragedies4 ,in these1 almost without exception1 agreement between particular individuals is what might be legitimately looked for1 and it is only the private motives of individual passion and a personality absorbed in its own aims and satisfaction which bring about collisions and wars4 ,as an example of an action of this kind treated in the epic manner1 and therefore defectively1 ,i will mention the ,pharsalia of ,lucan4 ,however indisputably important the conflicting aims in this poem may appear to be1 yet for all that the opposing parties are here too closely related on the common ground of one fatherland3 their conflict1 consequently1 instead of being a war between two national entities1 is nothing more than a strife of parties1 either of which1 by the very fact that it splits asunder the substantive national unity1 points in one direction1 namely1 that of tragic guilt and demoralization4 ,held to this the objective facts are not placed before us in their clearness and simplicity1 but are inweaved with one another in a confused manner4 ,the same objections are equally pertinent to ,voltaire's ,henriad4 ,in contrast to this the hostility of foreign nations is something substantive4 ,every nation constitutes a totality essentially distinct from and in opposition to that of another4 ,when these come into conflict we do not feel that any positive ethical connection is shattered1 nothing at least of essential value to either is violated1#h no necessary whole broken into fragments4 ,rather it is a conflict waged in order to maintain such a totality unimpaired and to justify its claim to be so4 ,hostility therefore of this type is suited in every way to the essential character of epic poetry4 77 ,not every war1 however1 waged under ordinary conditions between two hostile nations is necessarily on that account of an epic character4 ,we must have a further condition satisfied1 namely1 the justification on broad historical grounds for the bellicose attitude thus adopted4 ,only when we have this do we obtain a picture of an enterprise at once novel and more exalted1 which does not present the appearance of something apart from universal history1 the purely capricious subjugation of one state by another1 but is absolutely and essentially rooted in a profounder principle of necessity1 however much at the same time the more superficial and obvious motive of the undertaking may assume from one point of view the aspect of deliberate wrong1#i and from the other that of a private revenge4 ,we have something analogous to such a situation in the ,ramajana4 ,but the supreme example is that of the ,iliad1 where the ,greeks invade an ,asiatic people1 and in doing so fight out as it were the preludic conflict of a tremendous opposition1 the wars of which practically constitute the turning point of ,greek history as we see it on the stage of universal history4 ,of the same type is the struggle of the ,cid against the ,moors1 or in ,tasso and ,ariosto the battles of the ,christians against the ,saracens1 or in ,camoens the strife of the ,portuguese against the ,indians4 ,and indeed we may assert that in all the greatest ,epopees we find nations which differ from each other in moral customs1 religion1 and language1 in a word1 in all that concerns their spiritual and external life1 brought into collision2 and we are ready to contemplate such without any revulsion on account of the triumph we find asserted there of a nobler principle of world-evolution over a less exalted1 a victory assured by a bravery that is simply annihilating4 ,if any one should1 in this sense1 and in emulation of past ,epopees1 which have sought to depict the triumph of the ,west over the ,east1 of the ,european principle of moderation1 of the individually articulate and truly organic type of beauty over ,asiatic splendour1 over the magnificence of a patriarchal unity1 which does not attempt to secure such organic completeness1 or is at least merely held together by abstract and superficial conjunctions1 if such1 ,i say1 should aspire to write the ,epopee of the future1 he will be necessarily restricted to the portrayal of the victory of some future and intensely vital rationality of the ,american nation over the prison-house of the spirit which for ever pursues its monotonous task of self-adjustment and particularization4#aj ,in the ,europe of our day every nation finds itself conditioned#aa by its neighbour1 and cannot venture on its own account to wage any war with another ,european nation4 ,if we lift our eyes beyond ,europe1 there can be only one direction1 ,america4 7b7 ,the ,individual ,epic ,action ,it is on such an essentially limited foundation then of conflict between entire nationalities that the epic event is realized1 the leading characteristics of which we have now to determine4 ,we may summarize the form we propose our investigation should take as follows3 ,first1 what actually takes place consists essentially in this that the object of the epic action ought necessarily to be of individual vitality and definition1 however much it may rest on a basis of the most general extension4 ,secondly1 for the reason that it is only of individuals that we can predicate actions we have the problem to solve of the general nature of the epic character or personality4 ,thirdly1 in the epic eventuality the form of objectivity is not exclusively that of external appearance3 it consists quite as much in the significance of all that is itself intrinsically necessary to and substantive in the exposition4 ,we have consequently to determine the form in which this intrinsic significance of the occurrence proclaims itself as effective1 either in part as the ideal necessity which is therein concealed1 or as the disclosed direction#ab of eternal and providential forces4 77 ,we have postulated as a necessary background of this epic world an enterprise of national significance1 in which the entire compass of a national spirit can express itself in the bloom and freshness of its heroic condition4 ,from this fundamental substratum in its simplicity we now further assume the apparition of a particular end1 in the realization of which all other aspects of the national character1 whether in belief or action1 can be represented to our vision4 ,the original postulate is in fact bound up in the closest way with such an all-embracing actuality4 77 ,this purposed object1 which is infused with the vital principle of individuality on the lines of which1 regarded in its particularized content1 the entire process moves forward1 must further1 as already ascertained1 appropriate to itself in the ,epos the form of an event4 ,it will be therefore above all important to recall at once the specific character of the mode1 under which human volition and action generally combine in what we designate as the event4 ,now1 in the first place1 action and adventure are the outcome of conscious life1 the content of which is not only ideally expressed in emotions1 reflections1 and thoughts1 but also quite as much in a practical way4 ,we may regard such realization from two distinct points of view4 ,first1 we have the ideal substance of the end presupposed and purposed1 the general character of which the individual must recognize1 will1 calculate and accept4 ,secondly1 there is the external reality of the spiritual or human and the natural environment1 within which he is only able to act1 and the accidental features of which at one time obstruct and at another assist his path2 so that either in the one case he is carried forward by virtue of this favour to a successful issue1 or1 if in the other he is not prepared wholly to give way to such opposition1 he finds it necessary to overcome them with his individual energy4 ,if now the world covered by this volitional power is conceived as the indivisible unity of these two aspects1 with the result that the right of assertion by both is equally asserted1 in that case what is most pertinent to conscious life likewise enters into the formal structure of the event1 the form1 that is1 which confers on all human action the configuration of events1 in so far as the conscious or subjective will1 with its purposes1 motives of passion1 principles and aims1 can no longer appear the fact of most importance4 ,or1 in other words1 in human action everything is referred back to human personality1 personal obligation1 opinion and intention4 ,in the case of the event1 on the contrary1 the external constitution of things is permitted to assert its inviolable claim4 ,here it is objective reality itself1 which constitutes either the form assumed by the whole1 or from another point of view a fundamental part of the content4 ,in agreement with such a view ,i have already stated that it is the function of epic poetry to demonstrate the happening of an action1 and thereby not only to establish the external disposition of the execution of ends1 but also to meet as readily the claims of external condition1 natural occurrences1 and all else of a contingent character1 which1 in action taken simply as such1 the ideal element of conscious life claims exclusively as its province4 77 ,with regard to the particular end1 the carrying out of which the ,epos unfolds under the mode of the event1 it follows from our previous conclusions that it must be no mere mental abstraction1 but on the contrary of wholly concrete definition4 ,at the same time1 inasmuch as it is realized within the substantive actuality of the national unity1 such a process must exclude the notion of merely capricious activity4 ,the political state as such--the fatherland1 let us say--or the history of a ,state and country1 are essentially something universal1 which1 regarded in the light of such universality1 does not appear under the mode of a subjectively individual existence1 or1 in other words1 in inseparable and exclusive coalition with one definite living individual4 ,for this reason the history of a country1 the development of its political life1 its constitution and destiny may also no doubt be narrated as event2 if1 however1 the facts thus described are not placed before us as the concrete deed1 the conscious aim1 the passion1 the suffering and accomplishment of particular heroes1 whose individuality supplies the form and content of the realization in all its parts1 the event merely assumes the rigid form of its independent forward movement in the prosaic history of a people or an empire4 ,in this respect no doubt the most exalted action of ,spirit would be the history of the world itself4 ,we can conceive it possible that our poet might in this sense undertake to elaborate in what we may call the absolute ,epos this universal achievement on the battlefield of the universal spirit1 whose hero would be the spirit of man1 the humanus1 who is drawn up and exalted from the clouded levels#ac of conscious existence into the clearer region of universal history4 ,but in virtue of the very fact of its universality a subject-matter of this kind would so be quite unfitted for artistic treatment4 ,it would not adapt itself sufficiently to individualization4 ,for on the one hand we fail altogether to find in such a subject a clearly fixed background and world-condition1 not merely in relation to external locale1 but also in that of morality and custom4 ,in other words1 the only basis for all we could possibly presuppose would be the universal ,world-,spirit or intelligence1 whom we are unable to bring visibly before us as a particular condition1 and who is possessed of the entire ,earth as his local environment4 ,and in like manner too the one end fulfilled in such an ,epos could only be the end proposed by the ,world-,spirit himself1#ad who can only be apprehended and explicitly disclosed in his true significance through the processes of thought4 ,if he is1 however1 to be represented in the form of poetry1 or1 at least1 if the whole is to receive its proper meaning and coalescence from such a source1 it is necessary that his presence should be expressed as that which acts independently from its own resources4 ,this could only be possible for poetry1 in so far as the ideal ,taskmaster of history1 the eternal and absolute ,idea1 which is realized in humanity1 either was envisioned as a directive1 active1 perfecting individual person1 or was merely made effective under the concealing veil of an ever-operative ,necessity4 ,in the first case1 however1 the infinity of such a content must shatter the necessarily limited artistic vessel of determinate individuality1 or1 as the only way of avoiding such a defect1 must assume the inadequate form of a dispassionate allegory of general reflections over the destination of the human race and its education1 over the final purpose of mankind1 its moral consummation1 or over whatever result the end of this ,world-history might establish4 ,in the alternative case it is the genius of the various peoples which has in each example to be presented 7in the heroic figure7 in the conflicting existence of whom history expands and moves forward in progressive evolution4 ,if1 however1 the genius of nations is really to appear in poetical form this can be carried out in only one way1 namely1 by placing before us the actual world-historical figures as operative through their deeds4 ,we should1 however1 then merely have a series of particular characters1 which emerged and again disappeared in a wholly external succession1 the objects of which lacked individual unity and connection2 and this would be so for the reason that the controlling ,world-,spirit1 under our conception of it1 as the ideal essence and destiny1 could not1 in the case supposed1 be set forth as itself an active individual and the culminating agent in the process4 ,and if1 further1 anyone was desirous of appropriating the spirits of different nationalities in their universality1 and of displaying them as agents in such a substantive form1 we should still only have a similar series1 the individuals whereof1 apart from the fact that they would merely possess an appearance of positive existence similar to ,hindoo incarnations1 would1 in the fictitious form of the imagination they received pale into nothingness when contrasted with the truth of the ,world-,spirit as realized in actual history4 77 ,we may consequently lay it down as a general principle that the particular epic event is only able to secure a vital form in poetry when it is united in the closest state of fusion with one individual4 ,precisely as it is one poet who thinks out and executes the whole1 so too one individual must crown the edifice1 with whom the event is associated and in connection with whose single identity it is continued and completed4 ,we must point out1 however1 that here too we are limited by essential conditions4 ,for just as in our previous discussion it was the world-history1 so too now1 from the converse point of view1 it is possible that the biographical treatment in a poetic composition of a definite life-history may appear to supply the most complete and adequate subject-matter of the ,epos4 ,this1 however1 is not the case4 ,no doubt in biography the individual is one and the same throughout2 but the events1 through which the life-development proceeds1 may entirely fall apart1 and only retain the subject of the same in a wholly formal and accidental bond of relation4 ,if1 on the other hand1 the ,epos is essentially homogeneous1 the event also1 in the form of which the content of the poem is disclosed1 must itself possess intrinsic unity4 ,both aspects1 in short1 the unity of the individual and that of the objective event1 as it is evolved1 must coalesce and be united4 ,in the life and exploits of the ,cid it is unquestionably true that on the field of the ,fatherland it is only one great personality which without intermission remains true to himself1 and in his development1 chivalry and end constitutes the interest4 ,his deeds pass before him1 much as if he were the sculptured god2 and finally all is gone and vanished for us1 no less than for himself4#ae ,but the poems of the ,cid are also as rhymed chronicles no genuine example of the ,epos2 and1 in their later form of romances1 they are1 as their specific type necessitates1 merely isolated situations split off from this national hero's life1 which do not necessarily coalesce in the unity of a particular event4 ,the finest examples1 however1 of the observance of the above rule are to be met with in the ,iliad and ,odyssey1 where ,achilles and ,odysseus are respectively the prominent figures4 ,the ,ramajana1 too1 resembles these poems in this respect4 ,dante's ,divine ,comedy is an illustration1 but in quite a unique way4 ,in other words1 it is the ,epic poet himself with whose single personality1 in his wanderings through hell1 purgatory1 and paradise1 all and everything is so associated that he is able to recount the picture of his imagination as a personal experience1 and is consequently entitled to interweave with the general substance of his composition his private emotions and reflections to a larger extent than is possible for other epic poets4 77 ,however much then1 speaking generally1 epic poetry informs us of actual fact and its occurrence1 and thereby makes the objective world its content and form1 yet on the other hand1 inasmuch as what happens is an action1 which passes in successive views before us1 it is rather1 and for this reason1 to individuals1 and their deed and suffering that the main emphasis is attached4 ,for it is only individuals1 be they gods or men1 who can veritably act2 and just in proportion as they are interwoven in the vividness of life with such a panorama1 to that extent they are entitled to attract the main interest to the fulness of their exposition4 ,from this point of view epic poetry stands on level terms with lyric no less than dramatic poetry4 ,it is therefore of some importance that we attempt to define more closely what the specific features are which distinguish the portrayal of personality in the epic composition4 77 ,now1 first1 what is essential to the objective aspect of an epic character--,i am speaking mainly of the leading personages--is that they should be themselves essentially a totality of such traits1 in other words complete men1 and thereby display in themselves all aspects of emotional life1 or to put it better1 should represent in a typical way1 national opinion and its active pursuits4 ,in this respect ,i have already in the first part drawn attention to the heroic characters of ,homer2 and1 in particular1 to the variety of genuinely human and truly national qualities which ,achilles unites in himself so vitally1 the hero of the ,odyssey supplying an admirable companion picture4 ,the ,cid is similarly presented us with much variety of characterization and situation1 as son1 hero1 lover1 husband1 father1 householder1 and in his relations to king1 friends1 and foes4 ,other ,epopees of the ,middle ,ages are a great contrast1 far more abstract in their type of personification1 particularly so where their heroes merely champion the cause of chivalry as such1 and are removed from the sphere of the true and actual life of the nation4 ,it is then the fundamental characteristic of the exposition of epic personality that it should unfold itself as such a totality in the most diverse scenes and situations4 ,the characters of tragedy and comedy may no doubt also possess a similar wealth of ideality2 for the reason1 however1 that in their case the sharp contrast between a pathos that is never other than one-sided and a passion opposed to it is within very definable limits and ends the thing of most importance1 such a varied character is in part1 where it is not entirely superfluous1 at least more in the nature of a prodigality which is incidental1 and in part is also1 as a rule1 overpowered by the one passion1 its motives and ethical considerations1 and thus forced by the type of presentation into the background4 ,in the whole of the epic composition1 on the contrary1 all aspects assert an equal right to assert themselves1 and expand with freedom and breadth4 ,that they should do so is indeed fundamental to the principle of epic composition2 and from a further point of view the personality here1 in virtue of the entire world-condition he presupposes1 possesses a right to be1 and to make all that valid wherein his existence is realized1 and for the good reason that he lives in an age to which precisely this objective being1 this immediate individuality is appropriate4 ,it is1 of course1 for instance1 quite possible for us1 with regard to the wrath of ,achilles1 to point out1 as moral reflection may suggest1 the injury and loss which that wrath entailed1 and therefrom to conclude that the superiority and greatness of ,achilles is very appreciably removed from any approach to ideal perfection1 whether as hero or man1 having no power apparently on a single occasion to moderate his anger or exercise self-restraint4 ,but for all that we do wrong in blaming ,achilles4 ,and this is not because we may overlook the wrath in virtue of his other great qualities4 ,achilles is1 in other words1 simply nothing more or less than this portrait4 ,so far as ,epic poetry is concerned1 that is the end of the matter4 ,the same observations apply to his ambition and his love of glory4 ,the main justification of these great characters is the energy of their achievement2 they carry1 in fact1 a universal principle in their particularity4 ,conversely1 ordinary morality tends to depreciate its native personality1 and hold in reserve the resources of its life-force1 and discovers its essential being in this attitude4 ,what an astonishing self-esteem1 for instance1 an ,alexander asserted over his friends and the life of ,i know not how many thousands4 ,self-revenge1 even traits of brutality1 testify to an energy of the same type in heroic times2 and even in this respect ,achilles1 in his rle of epic hero1 has little to learn4 77 ,and it is just on account of this fact that such preeminent figures are complete individuals1 who have in resplendent degree all that concentrated in them which otherwise is diffused and separate in the national character1 and thereby are throughout great1 free1 and humanly beautiful characters that they are rightly set in the chief place2 and we find that the event of most significance is inviolably linked with such individuality4 ,the nation is1 as it were1 focussed as a single living soul in them1 and as such they fight out its main enterprise1 and suffer the hazards of its resulting experience4 ,in this respect ,gottfried von ,bouillon1 in ,tasso's ,jerusalem ,liberated1 is no such overpowering figure as ,achilles1 this typical youthful bloom and perfection of the entire ,grecian host2 nor is he even an ,odysseus1 although he is selected as the wisest1 bravest1 and most just of leaders to command the entire army4 ,the ,achans are unable to win a victory if ,achilles stands aloof from the contest2 it is he alone who1 by means of his triumph over ,hector1 carries victory into ,troy itself2 and in the return home of ,odysseus we find a mirror of the return of all the ,greeks from ,troy1 only with the difference that it is just in that which it is his destiny to endure we have placed exhaustively before our vision the entire compass of the sufferings1 life experience1 and conditions which are implied in the whole subject-matter4 ,the characters of the drama1 on the other hand1 are not so represented as in themselves the absolute crowning point of all the rest1 which becomes objective in and through them4 ,they rather are set forth independently and for themselves in their purpose1 which they accept as the outcome of their character1 or as the result of definite principles which have grown up in conjunction with their more isolate personality4 77 ,there is a third distinguishing feature in epic characterization due to the fact that the ,epos does not portray an action simply as action1 but an event4 ,in drama the matter of importance is that the individual manifests himself as operative for his specific purpose1 and is expressly represented in such activity and its consequences4 ,this undeviating consideration for the realization of a distinct purpose is absent in the ,epic4 ,no doubt in this case1 too1 heroes have desires and aims1 but the main thing here is all that they may happen to experience while fulfilling it1 not the nature of their conduct in the carrying it out4 ,the circumstances are just as active as themselves1 frequently more active4 ,the return to ,ithaca1 for example1 is the actual project of ,odysseus4 ,the ,odyssey1 however1 does not merely display this character in the active execution of his predetermined end1 but expands its account into all the variety of occurrence which he happens to experience in his wanderings1 what he suffers1 what obstructions meet him in the way1 what dangers he has to overcome1 and all1 in fact1 that moves him4 ,and this varied experience is not1 as would be necessary in the drama1 a direct result of his action1 but is in great measure rather incidental to his journey1 in the main even independent of the concurrent action of the hero4 ,after his adventures with the ,lotophagi1 ,polyphemus1 and the ,laestrygones1 the godlike ,circe detains him for a full year4 ,further1 after he has visited the lower world and suffered shipwreck1 he dallies with ,calypso1 until he falls into home-sickness1 wearies of the damsel1 and stares with tearful eyes over the solitary sea4 ,thereupon it is ,calypso herself who finally provides him with the means wherewith he builds his boat1 who provides him with food1 wine and raiment1 and takes her right anxious and kindly farewell of him4 ,finally1 after his sojourn among the ,phacians1 he is carried in sleep--he knows not how--to the shores of his island4 ,to carry out a purposed end in this sort of way would not be possible for dramatic poetry4 ,again1 in the ,iliad1 the wrath of ,achilles1 which1 along with all else that results from this compelling force1 constitutes the specific object of the narrative1 is throughout not an end1 but rather an emotional state4 ,when ,achilles is insulted he rages4 ,in this condition1 so far from doing anything truly dramatic1 he withdraws apart1 does nothing with ,patroclus by the ships on the seashore1 sullenly angry that he is not honoured by the lord of the folk4 ,then follow the consequences of his retirement1 and only at last1 when his friend has been slain by ,hector1 do we find ,achilles once more plunge into the conflict4 ,in another way1 again1 is the end prescribed to neas1 which he has to carry out1 where ,virgil recounts all the events as the result of which its realization is in such varied ways postponed4 77 ,we have just one further important feature to mention in respect to the form of the event in the ,epos4 ,i have already observed that in the drama the conscious will1 and that which the same demands and wills1 is essentially the determining factor1 and constitutes the permanent foundation of the entire presentation4 ,all that is carried out appears throughout as posited already by the personal character and its aims2 and the main interest above all turns upon the justification or its absence of what is done within the situations presupposed and the conflicts they bring about4 ,if consequently it so happens also that in the drama the external conditions are themselves active1 they nevertheless only retain their validity by virtue of that which conscious feeling and volition makes of them1 and the ways and means under which character reacts upon them4 ,in the ,epos1 however1 the circumstances and external accidents are effective on level terms with the personal will itself4 ,all that man accomplishes passes before us precisely as any other event of the world outside him1 so that the human exploit is in this case likewise and equally conditioned1 and must be shown to be carried forward by the development of such an environment4 ,the individual1 in short1 in epic poetry does not merely act freely of himself and independently4 ,he is placed in the midst of an assemblage of facts1 whose end and actuality in its wide correlation with an essentially unified world of conscious life or objective existence supplies the irremovable foundation of the life of each separate individual4 ,this typical system is1 in fact1 predominant in the ,epos through all its content1 whether in that of passion1 determined result1 or general achievement4 ,it is true that at first sight we might expect that1 on account of an equal cogency being accorded to external condition in its independent eventualities1 we should find indisputable opportunity given for every shade of contingency4 ,and yet we have seen that it is the function of the ,epos to present what is truly objective--what is1 in short1 essentially substantive existence4 ,the solution of this contradiction is to be found in this1 that the principle of necessity is involved in the events1 whether taken in detail or generally4 77 ,in this connection we may affirm of the ,epos--not1 however1 as is generally assumed of the drama--that ,destiny is a predominant force4 ,no doubt the dramatic character by the kind of end accepted1 which he endeavours to carry out despite all obstruction under the circumstances given and recognized1 makes of himself his ,destiny2 but in the ,epos1 on the contrary1 it is made for him1 and this force of circumstances1 which stamp their particular form on the deed1 apportions to each individual his lot1 determines the result of his actions--is1 in short1 the genuine control of ,destiny4 ,what happens is appertinent to itself4 ,it is so1 and only thus2 it is the fiat of necessity4 ,in lyric poetry we are conscious of emotion1 reflection1 the personal interest1 and yearning4 ,the drama converts the ideal claim of human action into an objective presence4 ,the presentation of epic poetry1 on the other hand1 moves1 as it were1 within the element itself of essentially necessary existence4 ,therefore1 the individual has no choice but to follow this particular substantive condition2 and1 in its process of being1 to adapt himself to it or not1 and then to suffer as he is able and is forced to suffer4 ,destiny1 in short1 defines what is and inevitably must be1 and in the result success1 misadventure1 life1 and death are plastic precisely in the sense that individuals are plastic4 ,what does actually unfold before us is a condition of universal expanse1 in which the actions and destinies of mankind appear as something isolated and evanescent4 ,this fatality is the great justice1 and is not tragic in the dramatic sense of the term1 in which the individual appears judged as a personality1 but in the epic sense in which judgment is passed on man in all that concerns him4#af ,the tragic ,nemesis consists in this1 that the greatness of his concerns is too great for the individual concerned4 ,consequently a certain tone of sadness#ag prevails over the whole4 ,what is most glorious is seen very early to pass away4 ,in the fulness of his life ,achilles mourns over his death2 and at the conclusion of the ,odyssey we view him and ,agamemnon as spirits that have passed away as shades1 with the consciousness that they are shades4 ,troy1 too1 falls2 old ,priam is slain hard by the altar of the home2 women and maidens become slaves4 neas1 in obedience to the divine command1 departs to found a new kingdom in ,latium1 and the victorious heroes only return after manifold suffering to the happiness or bitterness that awaits them at home4 77 ,this necessity of events may1 however1 be represented in very different ways4 ,the most obvious and least elaborate is the bare exhibition of such events without any further explanation of the poet of a necessary element existing in the particular occurrences and their general consequence by his addition of a controlling world of gods disclosed in the decision1 interference1 and co-operation of eternal powers4 ,in such a case we must1 however1 have the feeling brought home from the entire atmosphere of the exposition1 that in the recounted events and great life-destinies of single individuals and entire families or races1 we are not merely confronted with what is mutable and contingent in human existence1 but with destinies which have an essential foundation1 whose necessity remains1 however1 the obscure operation of a power which is not placed before us poetically as such a power in its divine controlling energy to the point of defined individualization and in its explicit activity4 ,the ,niebelungenlied retains this general tone strongly1 albeit it does not ascribe the direction of the blood-stained final result of all committed deed either to ,christian ,providence or the pagan world of gods4 ,for in regard to ,christendom1 we merely hear of churchgoing and mass4 ,we have1 indeed1 the remark of the bishop of ,spejevs to the beautiful ,ute1 when the heroes withdraw into king ,etzel's country3 ,please ,god1 ,he will keep them there6 ,we have also no doubt dreams of warning1 the prophecy of the ,danube maidens to ,hagen1 and other examples of a similar kind1 but no really conclusive witness to the control and interference of gods4 ,this leaves an impression on this poetry as of a something unriddled1 unyielding1 a mournfulness that is at the same time objective1 and consequently wholly epic in its tone4 ,it is a great contrast to the poems of ,ossian1 in which in the same way no gods appear1 yet in which1 on the other hand1 we find lamentation over the death and downfall of the entire heroic stock presented under the form of the private sorrow of the dismayed minstrel1 and as the yearning of a woe-begone recollection4 ,essentially distinct from the above type of conception is the complete interlacement of all human destiny and natural event with the resolution1 volition and action of a many-sided world of gods such as we find in the great ,hindoo ,epopees1 and in ,homer1 ,virgil1 and others4 ,i have already expressly drawn attention to the varied poetic interpretation which the poet himself supplies of events1 which are apparently accidental1 through his assumption of the co-operation and apparition of gods1 and attempted to enforce the same by particular examples from the ,iliad and the ,odyssey4 ,here we may observe that the condition of most importance to the poetry in question is that in this reciprocal action of gods and men the relative independence of both aspects is maintained1 so that neither the gods fall into lifeless abstractions1 nor the human individuals become purely subservient vassals4 ,how such a danger is to be avoided ,i have already discussed at length in a previous passage4 ,the ,hindoo ,epos is in this respect unable to force its way fully to the truly ideal relation between gods and mankind2 on such a stage of imaginative symbolism the human aspect still remains aloof in its free and beautiful actuality1 and the activity of individuals in part appears as the incarnation of gods1 and in part1 as something of more incidental merit1 vanishes1 or is depicted under the guise of ascetic exaltation to the condition and power of gods4 ,conversely the variously personified powers1 passions1 genii1 angels1 and so forth1 that we meet with in ,christendom possess for the most part too little individual independence1 and consequently tend only to affect us in a cold and abstract sort of way4 ,the case is much the same in ,mohammedanism4 ,through the deification of ,nature and the world of mankind1 through the conception of a prosaic co-ordination of reality1 it is hardly possible to avoid the danger1 more particularly where we enter a region of fairyland1 wherein a miraculous interpretation is given to that which is essentially contingent and indifferent in external circumstances1 which are themselves only present as a simple occasion for human action and as the ordeal of individual character1 without possessing therewith an ideal consistency and foundation4 ,by reason of this no doubt the infinitely extensible connection of cause and effect is broken1 and the many sections in this prosaic concatenation of circumstances1 which cannot be throughout made clearly distinct1 are brought all of a sudden into one union4 ,if1 however1 such a result is secured without the principle of necessity and ideal reasonableness1 such a mode of elucidation1 as1 for example1 frequently in ,the ,thousand and one ,nights1 appears as little more than the sport of an imagination1 which endeavours to unfold as causality possible and actual1 by means of such inventions1 what is otherwise incredible4 ,the fairest mean1 on the other hand1 in this respect is that retained by ,greek poetry1 inasmuch as it is able to bestow both on gods and men a reciprocally indestructible power and freedom of independent individuality4 ,and such is harmonious with its fundamental standpoint4 77 ,there is1 however1 particularly in the epic conception of it1 a point of view relative to the collective world of gods1 which ,i have already referred to above in another connection4 ,this is the contrast which the primitive ,epopee presents to the artificial composition of later times4 ,this difference is very pronounced if we compare ,homer and ,virgil4 ,the level of education1 from which the ,homeric poems originated1 still continues in a fair harmony with the poetic subject-matter4 ,with ,virgil1 on the contrary1 we are reminded by every single hexameter that the general outlook of the poet is totally different from the world1 which it is his endeavour to depict2 and the gods more particularly have lost the freshness of their original vitality4 ,instead of being living persons in their own selves1 actual witnesses to us of their existence1 they have rather the appearance of being mere creations of the poet and external instruments1 which it is neither possible for the poet or his audience to take quite seriously1 although there is an open pretence made that they have been taken thus seriously4 ,throughout the whole of the ,virgilian ,epic we feel ourselves in the atmosphere of ordinary life2 the old tradition1 the saga1 the fairyland of poetry enters with prosaic distinctness into the frame of our common-sense faculties4 ,what we have in the neid is very much what we find in the ,roman history of ,livy1 where ancient kings and consuls make speeches1 precisely as an orator made his speech in the ,agora of ,rome1 or the school of the rhetoricians in the days of ,livy himself4 ,and1 on the other hand1 in what is really retained from tradition1 as an example of primitive speech1 such as the fable of ,menenius ,agrippa#ah about the functions of the belly1 we find a contrast which is almost repulsive4 ,in ,homer1 however1 the gods are wafted in a magical light between poetry and reality3 they are not permitted to approach the imagination so nearly1 that the apparition of them confronts us with all the detail of ordinary life2 nor are they left so undefined1 that they lose all appearance of vital reality as we look at them4 ,all that they do is readily explained by the soul-life and activities of men2 and that which supports our faith in them is the substance and content upon which they essentially repose4 ,from this point of view the poet1 too1 is thoroughly in earnest with his creations1 though he treats with irony their form and external reality4 ,in agreement with this it appears that the ancients themselves believed in this external form merely as works of art1 which receive their confirmation and significance as a gift of the poet4 ,this light-hearted and human freshness of presentment1 in virtue of which the gods appear human and natural1 is one of the pre-eminent qualities of the ,homeric poems4 ,the divine figures of ,virgil float before our vision as so many invented wonders1 as members of an artificial system4 ,virgil has not wholly escaped the charge of mere travesty1 despite his earnestness2 nay1 this earnest mien of his is rather the cause of it1 and ,blumauer's ,mercury with his boots and spurs and riding-whip is not without its justification4 ,there is no necessity for any one else to make the ,homeric gods ridiculous4 ,his own picture of them makes them quite ridiculous enough4 ,nay1 in his own story the gods themselves have their laugh over the lame ,hephestus1 and over the cunning net in which ,mars lies in company with ,venus1 to say nothing of the box on the ear that ,venus gets1 and the howl of ,mars as he collapses4 ,by means of these touches of natural lustiness and gaiety the poet at once liberates us from the external form which he set up1 and enforces all the more emphatically our common human nature1 which he values1 and which suffers1 however1 the necessary and substantive power involved therein1 and the faith in the same1 to remain4 ,but one or two more examples of similar detail4 ,the tragic episode of ,dido is so entirely to the modern colour1 that it was able to inspire a ,tasso with emulation1 nay1 even in part to a literal translation4 ,even nowadays the ,french are moved to something like ecstasy over it4 ,and yet how totally different in their human navet1 simplicity and truth are the ,homeric narratives of ,circe and ,calypso4 ,the contrast is the same in ,homer's account of the descent of ,odysseus into ,hades4 ,this obscure and twilight like retreat of the shades is shown us through a dusky cloud1 in an intermingling of imagination and reality1 which takes hold of us with astonishing force4 ,homer does not suffer his hero to descend into any ,underworld ready to hand4 ,odysseus himself digs a pit1 and pours therein the blood of a ram he has killed2 he summons the shades1 which are then under constraint to circle round him1 and bids some of them drink fresh blood that they may address him1 and give him news1 and drives away others with the sword as they throng round him in their thirst for life4 ,everything that happens here is bound up with the life of the hero1 whose general demeanour is the reverse of the humble attitude of neas and ,dante4 ,in ,virgil's account neas descends in the ordinary way2 and the flight of steps1 ,cerberus1 ,tantalus1 and all the rest leaves us with the impression of a definitely organized family establishment1 quite to the pattern of an orthodox compendium of mythology4 ,with yet more force will this artificial compte of the poet appear as such rather than a work that springs naturally from the subject where we are already cognisant of the substance of the tale that is told us in its fresh and primitive form1 or as actual history4 ,examples of this are ,milton's ,paradise ,lost1 the ,noachid of ,bodmer1 ,klopstock's ,messias1 ,voltaire's ,henriade1 and others4 ,in all these poems we cannot fail to detect a real cleft between the content and the reflection of the poet which modifies his description of the events1 characters and circumstances4 ,in ,milton's case1 for example1 we find emotions and observations obviously the growth of an imagination and ethical ideas inseparable from his own age4 ,in the same way with ,klopstock we have ,god the ,father1 the history of ,jesus ,christ1 patriarchs and angels combined with our ,german education of the eighteenth century1 and the ideas of ,wlffian metaphysic4 ,this twofold aspect asserts itself in every line4 ,no doubt in these cases the content itself offers many difficulties4 ,for ,god the ,father1 the heaven of the angels1 and the angelic host are far less adapted to the individualization of a free imagination than are the ,homeric gods1 which1 in a manner similar to the in part fantastic creations in ,ariosto1 in their external mode of appearance1 and so far as they do not epitomize#ai human action1 but rather independently confront each other as individuals1 do of themselves suggest the gibe over such a presentment4#bj ,moreover ,klopstock1 so far as a religious outlook is concerned1 introduces us to a world devoid of foundation1 which he crowds with the brilliant effects of a rather exhausting imagination1 and compels us to take everything as seriously as he means it himself4 ,this is particularly unfortunate in the case of his angels and devils4 ,such creations only really have substance and can be brought home to us in their individuality in so far as the material of their actions1 as with the ,homeric gods1 is rooted in the spiritual experience of humanity1 or in a reality already known to us1 as in cases where they claim importance as being the guardian spirits or angels of men or cities1 but who1 apart from such a concrete significance1 assert what is just so much the more merely the vacancy of imagination in proportion as a serious actuality is ascribed to them4 ,abbadona1 for instance1 the repentant devil1#ba possesses neither a truly allegorical meaning--for in the abstract notion of devil there can be no inconsistency of guilt which can be converted into virtue--nor is such a figure one that is essentially and truly concrete4 ,if ,abbadona were a man1 a conversion to ,god would no doubt be reasonable2 but where we have evil regarded as something independently substantive1 which is not an individual human evil1 such a conversion is merely a triviality of sentimental emotion4 ,it is in fact a distinguishing characteristic of ,klopstock's invention that it creates such unreal personages1 conditions and events1 which have nothing in common with the actual world and its poetical content4 ,and he fares no better in the machinery of his judicial condemnation of riotous living in high places1 least of all in the contrast he presents to ,dante1 who condemns the famous personalities of his time to hell with a power of detailed realization of another type altogether4 ,equally destitute of real content as poetry is the joy of the resurrection among the assembled spirits of ,adam1 ,noah1 ,shem1 ,japhet1 and the rest1 as depicted by ,klopstock1 who1 in the #aath canto of the ,messias1 at the command of ,gabriel1 once more revisit their graves4 ,reason and rational ground are alike absent here4 ,the souls have lived in the ,divine ,presence2 they now behold the ,earth1 but they enter into no renewed relation with it4 ,we may presume that they could not do better than appear to men2 but of this there is not a single example4 ,no doubt we find here beautiful emotions1 endearing situations2 and above all the moment in which the soul is once more united to a body is depicted in a way that arrests us2 but the content remains none the less an invention that possesses no real claim to credibility4 ,in contrast to such abstract ideas the blood-drinking of the phantoms in ,homer1 their reanimation in memory and speech1 possess for us infinitely more the truth and realization of ideal poetry4 ,and though from the point of view of imaginative resource these pictures of ,klopstock are decorative enough1 what is most essential in them is throughout the lyrical rhetoric of angels1 who appear merely as instruments of service1 or of patriarchs and other ,biblical figures whose speeches and harangues have little in harmony with their historical characters as we have received the same from tradition4 ,mars1 ,apollo1 ,war1 ,knowledge1 and so forth--powers of this kind are neither in respect to their content wholly inventions1 as the angels are1 nor are they simply historical persons borrowed from historical sources1 as are the patriarchs2 they are on the contrary permanent forces1 whose form and mode of appearance is alone the poet's creation4 ,in the ,messias1 however1 admitting its excellence in certain directions--its purity of feeling1 the brilliancy of its phantasy--yet it cannot be denied that by reason of the very type of such a phantasy we have here very1 very much indeed that is hollow1 without definite substance1 and utilized simply as machinery for something else1 all of which1 combined with the absence of continuity in the content and its mode of conception1 has even already covered the entire poem with oblivion4 ,things only live and remain green1 which1 essentially vital in themselves1 unfold to us original life and activity in their pristine mould4 ,for this reason we must hold fast to the primitive ,epopees1 and keep aloof1 not only from modes of conception which are antagonistic to the actual presence which is vindicated in such1 but also and above all from false aesthetic theory and predilection1 at least if we are really anxious to enjoy and study the original world-outlook of nations1 that great and spiritual#bb natural history4 ,we have every reason to congratulate recent times1 and our ,german nation in particular1 that it is now on the road to the attainment of this object2 that it has1 in short1 broken through the former obtuseness1 of ordinary methods of thinking1 and by its liberation of the mind from restricted views made it more receptive to ideas of the world which it is imperative that we as individuals enter into1 and which alone are able to restore to us1 to the full extent of their claim1 the resurrected spirits of nations1 whose ideal significance and deed thus appear struck into life in these their own ,epopees4 7c7 ,the ,epos as ,unified ,totality ,hitherto1 in considering the necessary qualifications of a genuine ,epos1 we have on the one hand discussed the general world-environment and from a further point of view the nature of the particularized event transacted on such a background by individuals either acting under the direction of gods or subject to destiny4 ,these two fundamental aspects have yet further to coalesce in one and the same epic totality4 ,in respect to this ,i will merely confine the reader's attention to the following points of interest3 ,in the first place we propose to consider the collective aggregate of objects1 a satisfactory exposition of which is necessary to disclose the connection between the particular action and the substantive ground referred to4 ,secondly1 we have to examine the nature of the difference which obtains between the epic mode of disclosure and that of lyric or dramatic poetry4 ,thirdly1 we have to deal with the unity in which an epic composition is rounded off despite all its breadth of extension4 77 ,the content of the ,epos1 as already observed1 is the entirety of a world in which an individual action is eventuated4 ,in such a world the greatest variety of objects appear necessarily appertinent to the general views1 deeds1 and conditions of such a world4 77 ,lyrical poetry is1 no doubt1 involved in definite situations1 within which the subject of the lyric is permitted to import a great variety of content into its emotion and reflection4 ,in this type of poetry1 however1 it is throughout the form of conscious life itself which characterizes such content2 and for this reason excludes the outlook on the objective world in all its breadth of extension4 ,conversely the dramatic composition presents us characters and the carrying out of the action itself with all the animated appearance of life1 so that here1 too1 the portrayal of local accessories1 the external form of the active personages and all that happens1 in the nature of the case tends to disappear4 ,as a rule1 what we have to express is the soul-motive and purpose rather than its extensive relations with the surrounding world of objects1 or a description of individuals in their positive appearance as part of them4 ,in the ,epos1 however1 quite apart from the national actuality in the widest sense1 upon which the action is based1 we must find room for the ideal or soul aspect no less than the external or world aspect4 ,we have in this type1 therefore1 under review and in coalescence the entire totality of all that we may reckon as comprised in the poetic presentation of our human existence4 ,in this content we must not merely include on the one side the natural environment in the sense of this or that specific locality in which the action takes place1 but also the more universal objective outlook such as ,i have already pointed out is a feature we find illustrated in the ,odyssey1 enabling us to understand how the ,greeks in the times of ,homer regarded the shape of the ,earth1 the configuration of the seas1 and similar geographical facts4 ,at the same time these natural aspects are not the object of most importance in the poem2 they are merely the foundation2 there is1 in short1 the further and more essential aspect of the composition unfolded in the existence1 activities1 and co-operation of the entire world of divinities2 and between these two extremes we have humanity simply as such in its collective relation to domestic1 public1 peaceful1 and warlike situations1 ethical habit1 customs1 characters and events4 ,and1 moreover1 throughout we have to assume in both directions1 whether that is from the point of view of the individual event1 or the general condition1 the all-embracing national and other actual complexus4 ,finally1 if we consider the nature of this intelligible content it is not merely an external vnement that is presented us1 but in conjunction with such we must have1 too1 placed before us the ideal world of emotion1 the aims and purposes of mind1 all that may contribute to justify or condemn a deliberate line of conduct4 ,in short1 the real subject-matter of lyric and dramatic poetry is not wholly excluded1 although in the epic type these aspects merely are valid as subordinate features2 they do not1 as in the former cases1 constitute the essential form of the exposition1 nor do they deprive the ,epos of its distinctive character4 ,we may consequently affirm that the distinctive note of the ,epic is absent1 when lyric expression determines both tone and colour1 as is the case1 for example1 in ,ossian1 or when passages are emphasized in which the execution of the poet is made as consummate as possible1 as is to some extent the case with ,tasso1 and to a still more marked degree characteristic of ,milton and ,klopstock4 ,emotions and reflections ought rather1 no less than the portrayal of objective fact1 to be transmitted as something done1 already spoken and thought1 and not interrupt the tranquil course of the ,epic narrative4 ,the incoherent exclamation of emotion1 the direct outcry of the soul mainly intent with its utterance upon self-revelation1 is out of place in such poetry4 ,it will for the same reason and as strongly abstain from an imitation of the animation of dramatic dialogue1 in which individuals carry on a conversation as though face to face with each other1 where the aspect of most importance throughout is the contrast presented by different types of character in their interchange of speech as they strive to convince1 command1 impose upon1 or passionately unravel their motives to one another4 77 ,and1 secondly1 the ,epos has not merely to bring before our vision the manifold content above described in its actually independent and subsistent objective form1 but also the form in which it essentially becomes the ,epos is1 as ,i have more than once already described it1 an individual event4 ,if this essentially limited action is to remain united with all other material introduced1 this additional accretion of fact1 must throughout be brought into definite relation with the course of the individual event1 that is to say1 it must not fall outside it as independent4 ,we could not find a more perfect illustration of this interweaving of all threads than that of the ,odyssey4 ,the domestic arrangements of the ,greeks1 for instance1 no less than the ideas we get of foreign and barbarous folk and countries1 or of the realm of the shades1 and much else1 are so closely interwoven with the personal wanderings of the home-returning ,odysseus and the fortunes of ,telemachus on his journey after his father1 that not one of these aspects of the tale is held in a loose and independent position apart from the main event1 or1 as with the chorus of tragedy1 which does not usually enter into the action and merely deals with generalized reflections1 is able to relapse inactive into retrospection1 but co-operates in the actual progress of the event4 ,in a similar manner ,nature also and the world of gods for the first time receives1 not so much on their own account as in their relation to the particular events1 which it is the function of the godlike to direct1 an individual representation and one of rich vitality4 ,only when such a condition is fulfilled1 or1 in other words1 when the narrative throughout informs us of the progressive movement of the event1 which the poet has selected as the unifying material of his composition1 can it never appear as a mere portrayal of independent objects4 ,on the other hand1 the particular event for its part should not be involved in and absorb the substantive national basis and totality upon which it moves forward to such a degree1 that these are themselves divested of all independent existence1 and fall by necessity into a relation simply of service4 ,in this respect the expedition of ,alexander against the ,east would not supply satisfactory subject-matter for the true ,epopee4 ,an heroic exploit of this kind not merely in respect to the original resolve1 but also to its manner of execution1 depends so entirely on this one single individual1 his personality and character is so exclusively that which supports it1 that we lose altogether the independent existence and self-assertion of the national basis1 the host and its leaders1 which we have shown to be a necessary condition4 ,alexander's army is his people1 wholly bound up with him and his command3 it follows him rather in the relation of vassalage than that of free will4 ,in contrast to this the true vitality of the epic consists in this1 that both these fundamental aspects1 the particular action with its individual agents and the general world-condition1 while no doubt continuing under a mediated relation1 yet in this relation of reciprocity no less preserve their necessary independence and thereby enforce themselves as one existing whole1 at the same time securing and possessing an independent entity4 77 ,in a previous passage we laid it down generally that in order to have an individual action the substantive basis of epic poetry must offer the opportunity of collisions1 and furthermore observed1 that the general foundation must not appear as wholly independent but under the form of a specific event2 we may now add that it is in this individual vnement that we must seek the point of departure for the entire epic poem4 ,this is pre-eminently of importance for the situations connected with its commencement4 ,here1 too1 we may take the ,iliad and ,odyssey for models4 ,in the first the ,trojan war is placed before us as the general background of contemporary life1 but only so far as it comprises the particular events connected with the wrath of ,achilles4 ,and for this reason the poem commences without any possible confusion with situations which excite the passion of the principal hero against ,agamemnon4 ,in the ,odyssey there are two classes of subject-matter which determine the content of its opening1 that is to say1 the wanderings of ,odysseus and the domestic complications at ,ithaca4 ,homer brings them together by giving us briefly information concerning ,odysseus on his home-journey to the effect that he is detained by ,calypso1 and then at once passes to the sorrows of ,penelope and the voyage of ,telemachus4 ,we are1 consequently1 able to review at one glance what obstacle stands in way of the return1 and what is consequently rendered necessary for those left behind at home4 77 ,the advance1 then1 of the epic poem from a commencement such as this is totally different from that of lyric or dramatic poetry4 77 ,in the first place we should draw attention to the possibilities of extension within the range of the ,epos4 ,these are quite as much due to the form as they are to the content4 ,we have already seen what a variety of objects may be comprised in the world of the ,epic as fully elaborated1 not merely in its ideal capacities1 motives1 and aim1 but also in respect to its objective situation and environment4 ,inasmuch as all these aspects assume an objective form1 an appearance of reality1 each one of them takes to itself a form of essentially independent ideality and externality1 in which the epic poet1 either in his exposition or description1 is permitted freely to linger1 and to disclose in its positive appearance4 ,the lyric1 on the contrary1 concentrates all that it lays hold of within the ideal realm of the emotions1 or refines it away in the generalized vision of reflection4 ,in the objective world it is the immediate complex in juxtaposition1 or the varied wealth of manifold characteristics1 which is presented us4 ,in this respect we find that in no other type of poetry is the claim to introduce episodical matter1 even to the point of to all appearance absolute independence1 more indisputable than in the ,epos4 ,the delight1 however1 in actual fact for its own sake and in its natural form must1 as already observed1 not be carried so far as to import into the poem circumstances and facts which have no real connection with the important action4 ,such episodes must assert themselves as effective in the advance of such action1 whether as events which are obstructive to its course1 or assistant in their mediation4 ,yet1 despite of this1 the particular portions of the epic poem will be somewhat loosely bound together4 ,this is a necessary result of the mode of its objectivity4 ,for in what is objective mediation persists as the ideal essence2 what in contrast to this confronts the external aspect is the independent existence of particular aspects4 ,this defect in the direction of a stringent unity and the emphasized relation of specific portions of the epic poem1 which1 according to its primitive form1 possesses moreover a primitive period of origination1 has this result1 that it lends itself more readily than lyric or dramatic compositions to subsequent additions and continuations2 and1 further1 it is enabled to appropriate under its more recent and embracing whole even examples of the saga which have already received artistic expression of a definite1 if not so exalted character4 77,secondly1 if we look at the way in which epic poetry may be justified in its motivisation of the progress and course of events1 we shall find that it ought not either exclusively to take the ground of what happens from the individual mood1 nor yet from what is purely personal character4 ,in other words1 it should not encroach upon what is the proper sphere of the lyric and drama2 it must1 in this respect too1 adhere to the form of objectivity which constitutes the fundamental epic type4 ,we have1 in fact1 seen more than once previously that external conditions were of no less importance1 for an exposition that takes the form of narrative1 than states of soul which revealed character4 ,in the ,epos character and the necessary rational condition coalesce completely on terms of equality1 and the epic character may therefore give way to external conditions1 without impairing his poetic individuality1 may be1 in short1 in his action1 the result of relations in such a way that these appear as the predominant factor rather than the exclusively effective character as we find it in the drama4 ,we find in the ,odyssey that the progress of events is almost entirely motived in this way4 ,we find the same thing in the adventures of ,ariosto and other ,epopees1 where the material of the song is borrowed from the the ,middle ,ages4 ,the divine command1 too1 which induces neas to found ,rome1 no less than the varied episodes which extend its embrace over a wide field1 would involve a type of motivisation wholly uncongenial to the drama4 ,a further illustration of this is ,tasso's ,jerusalem ,delivered1 in which1 quite apart from the brave antagonism of the ,saracens1 many a natural event is opposed to the object of the ,christian host4 ,such examples might be indefinitely multiplied from almost all the more famous ,epopees4 ,and1 indeed1 it is precisely material of this kind1 in which an exposition of this type is possible and necessary1 that the epic poet ought to select4 ,the same thing is effected where it is bound to appear as the result of the actual decision of individuals4 ,here1 too1 we have neither to assert nor to express that which the character in the dramatic sense of the term--that is1 according to his aim and the individual passion which uniquely animates him--makes of the circumstances and relations1 in order to maintain his personality against this external resistance no less than against other individuals4 ,rather the epic character excludes this action viewed simply in reference to its personal character1 just as it excludes the tumult of purely subjective states and feelings4 ,instead of this it cleaves fast1 on the one hand1 to the circumstances and their reality2 and on the other that1 whereby its movement is effected1 must necessarily render explicit all that is essentially valid1 universal1 and ethical4 ,in ,homer1 as in no other writer1 we shall find inexhaustible material for pertinent thought on this head4 ,the lament of ,hecuba over ,hector1 for instance1 or of ,achilles over the death of ,patroclus--episodes which1 so far as content is concerned1 would lend themselves admirably to lyric treatment--are in ,homer held throughout within the epic temper4 ,and to quite as little extent do we find this poet handle in dramatic style situations which would primarily adapt themselves to dramatic exposition1 such as the conflict between ,agamemnon and ,achilles in the council of the chiefs1 or the parting of ,hector and ,andromache4 ,only to glance at the last-mentioned scene1 this belongs unquestionably to one of the finest conceivable efforts of epic poetry4 ,even in ,schiller's dialogue between ,amalia and ,carl in ,the ,robbers1 where the same subject ought to be treated in the lyric vein throughout1 we distinctly hear an epic reverberation from the ,iliad4 ,how consummately epic in its effect1 however1 is ,homer's description in the sixth book of the ,iliad of the way in which ,hector vainly seeks for ,andromache at home1 then at last meets her on the way to the ,scan gate1 how she hurries toward him1 and when close to him1 as he looks with a peaceful smile on his little boy lying on the arm of his nurse1 exclaims3 ,amazing man1 thy courage will destroy thee1 and thou compassionest neither thy infant boy nor me1 hapless wight1 who will soon be widowed of thee4 ,ay1 for soon the ,achaeans will slay thee1 storming against thee together4 ,and if ,i lose thee it were better for myself to pass beneath the earth4 ,no other comfort is left for me1 but only sorrow1 if thou art stricken by fate6 ,neither have ,i my father any more1 nor yet my lady mother4 ,after which she narrates at length all the story about her father and the death of her seven brothers1 all of whom ,achilles had slain1 also the captivity1 ransom1 and decease of her mother4 ,then at length she turns with earnest plea to ,hector1 who is henceforward to her father and mother1 brothers1 and spouse in the bloom of life1 and implores him to remain on the walls1 and not to make his son an orphan and his wife a widow4 ,hector replies in much the same spirit3 ,all this is also a care to me1 wife2 but ,i fear too much the ,trojans1 if ,i avoid the battle here1 like a coward2 the eddy1 too1 of the moment worries me not1 who am wont to be ever dauntless1 and to fight in the foremost ranks of the ,trojans1 protecting the high fame of my father and mine own4 ,ay1 well indeed ,i wot1 both in mind and soul1 that the day will come in which sacred ,troy shall fall1 as also ,priam and the folk of the king cunning with the spear4 ,but ,i sorrow not so much for the ,trojans1 nor yet for ,hecuba herself and ,priam1 nor the brothers of my flesh1 who shall fall beneath the foe1 as for thee1 when some bronze-greaved ,achan shall bear thee away1 robbing thee of thy day of freedom1 and thou shalt spin from the flax of another in ,argos1 or wearily draw water1 loth indeed1 but the might of necessity will be upon thee2 and ,i doubt not there will be someone who will say1 as he sees thee weeping3 ',see yonder ,hector's wife1 the bravest of all who fought among the ,trojans when the fight was over ,ilium4' ,thus perchance shall someone speak2 and woe will come upon thee1 that thou hast no longer such a husband1 to fend thee from such serfdom4 ,as for myself1 may the earth cover me1 or ever ,i hear thy bitter cry and thy carrying off4 ,all that ,hector says here is full of feeling1 pathetic enough1 yet not merely expressed in a lyrical or dramatic manner1 but in the epic vein1 inasmuch as the picture which he outlines of suffering1 and which brings pain to himself1 in the first place depicts circumstantially objective conditions as such1 and in the second place because all that affects and moves him does not appear as personal volition1 or individual resolve1 but rather as a necessity which is not at the same time his own aim and will4 ,of much the same epic effect are the pleas with which the vanquished plead1 as they may on various grounds1 for their life with their victors2 for a movement of the soul1 which proceeds merely from circumstances1 and only attempts to affect us through the causative effect of objective relations and situations1 is not dramatic1 although modern tragedians from time to time also make use of such a type of effect4 ,the scene1 for example1 in ,schiller's ,maid of ,orleans1 on the battle-field between the ,english knight ,montgomery and ,joan1#bc is1 as others have already justly observed1 rather epic than dramatic4 ,in the moment of danger all courage forsakes the knight2 yet1 for all that1 when pressed by the fierce ,talbot1 who punishes cowardice with death1 and the ,maid1 who conquers even the bravest1 he is unable to have recourse to flight1 and exclaims3 ,o1 wr ich nimmer ber ,meer hieher geschifft1 ,ich unglcksel'ger6 ,eitler ,wahn bethrte mich1 ,wohlfeilen ,ruhm zu suchen in dem ,frankenkrieg1 ,und jetzo fhrt mich das verderbliche ,geschick ,in diese blut'ge ,mordschlacht4 ,wr ich weit von hier ,daheim noch an der ,savern' bluhendem ,gestad ,im sichern ,vaterhause1 we die ,mutter mir4 ,in ,gram zurckblieb und die zarte ssse ,braut4#bd ,expressions such as these are unmanly1 and make the figure of this knight neither fit for the genuine ,epos nor the tragic drama1 are in fact rather suggestive of comedy4 ,and when ,joan1 after exclaiming1 ,du bist des ,todes6 ,eine britt'sche ,mutter zeugte dich6#be advances towards him1 he throws away sword and shield and pleads at her feet for his life4 ,the reasons he gives at length in order to arouse her sympathy3 his defencelessness2 the wealth of his father1 who would ransom him with gold2 the gentleness of the sex to which ,joan belongs as maid2 the love of his sweet bride1 who waits for his return home in tears2 the grief of the parents whom he has left at home2 the grievous fate of death unwept for in a foreign land--all these motives are themselves1 in one aspect of them1 essentially objective conditions1 effective and of value as such1 and on the other hand1 the tranquil exposition of them is itself in the epic vein4 ,in the same way the poet motives the condition1 that ,joan must hearken to him1 through the external circumstance of the defencelessness of the pleader1 although from the dramatic point of view she ought without delay and at the bare sight to have slain him1 being as she was the relentless foe of all ,englishmen1 and in fact expresses such destructive hatred with every resource of rhetoric1 justifying her action by the statement that she is bound with most fearful vow to the spirit-world4 ,mit dem ,schwert zu tdten alles ,lebende1 das ihr ,der ,schlachten ,gott verhngnissvoll entgegenschickt4#bf ,if the point of importance to the maid were merely that ,montgomery ought not to die defenceless1 he possessed apparently an excellent means in his grasp of retaining his life2 in other words he had merely to refuse to take up his weapons4 ,this view is supported by the fact that ,joan has already listened to him so long4 ,yet when she demands that he should fight for his life with her1 of mortal flesh like himself1 he again takes up his sword and falls by her hand4 ,such a development of the scene had been more in keeping with the drama had it dispensed with all this varied epic exposition4 77 ,in general1 then1 we may characterize the type in which we have the poetic passage of epic events set before us in the following way1 namely1 that the epic presentation does not merely linger over the picture of objective reality and ideal conditions1 but over and above this provides obstacles to a final solution4 ,this not only applies to its relation to the wide field of external condition1 to which the more immediate vision enforces us1 but also in respect to the culminating movement of the action1 more especially in its contrast to dramatic poetry4 ,for this reason above all it diverts us from the execution of the fundamental purpose1 the connected course of whose evolved conflict a dramatic poet ought never to lose sight of1 into much digressive matter2 and1 moreover1 by this means avails itself of the opportunity1 to bring before our vision the complex unity of a world of circumstances1 which otherwise could not have been expressed in speech4 ,we have an illustration of such an obstacle in the beginning of the ,iliad4 ,homer here at once tells us about the fatal sickness1 which ,apollo had spread throughout the ,greek camp1 and connects with it the strife between ,achilles and ,agamemnon4 ,this wrath is the second impediment4 ,even more obviously in the ,odyssey is every adventure that ,odysseus has to pass through1 a delay to his home return4 ,more particularly1 however1 the distinct episode serves to interrupt the unimpaired progression of the story1 and is to a great extent an obstacle to this4 ,such1 for instance1 is the shipwreck of neas1 his love for ,dido1 the appearance of ,armida in ,tasso1 and we may add as a rule the many independent love affairs of particular heroes in the romantic ,epos1 which1 in the poetry of ,ariosto1 accumulate and interlace with such profusion1 that the conflict between ,christian and ,saracen is thereby entirely hidden4 ,in the ,divine ,comedy of ,dante we do not find such definite examples of obstruction to the plot or narrative4 ,in this case we must associate the slow advance of the ,epic denouement partly with the generally pausing manner of the description1 and in part with the many little episodical histories and conversations with particular characters1 whether damned or otherwise1 about whom the poet permits himself more detailed information4 ,in this connection it is above all things necessary that impediments of this description1 which interfere with the flow of narrative to its final end1 should not be presented as though they were merely means directed to objects of an objective character4 ,for inasmuch as already the general condition1 on the basis of which the movement of the epic world is carried forward1 is only truly poetical where it appears as a self-constructed growth1 so too its entire course1 either in virtue of circumstances or the inherent destiny1 must also appear self-originated without our being able to detect thereby the personal views of the poet2 and this is all the more so because1 in the form of its objectivity--not merely under its aspects of phenomenal reality1 but also in respect to the substantive character of its content--it claims for the whole no less than its divisible content that it is a positive growth1 spontaneous in its origin and independent4 ,if1 however1 a directive world of gods is its apex1 controlling the course of events1 it is even more necessary that the poet himself should possess a lively and vivid faith in them1 because in that case it is generally through the instrumentality of these that obstructions such as we have referred to are asserted2 consequently where these divine forces are treated merely as some lifeless mechanism1 it is inevitable that everything for which they are responsible must equally become so in a poetic composition which is artificial even in intention4 77 ,having thus briefly adverted to the totality of objects1 which the ,epos is able to unfold by interweaving a particular event with a universal national world-condition1 and1 further1 having discussed the manner in which the course of events is developed1 we have now1 thirdly1 and in conclusion1 to examine the problem as to the nature of the unity and rounding off of an epic composition4 77 ,this is a point all the more important for the reason that in our own day people are ready to take up the view that we may end an ,epic as we like1 or continue it just as capriciously4 ,although this is the opinion of men of talent and learning--it is in fact the contention of ,f4 ,n4 ,wolff--it remains none the less a crude and illiterate view4 ,it in fact amounts to nothing less than excluding from the finest ethic compositions any genuine character of artistic composition4 ,for it is only in virtue of the fact that an ,epos depicts an essentially exclusive1 and thereby1 for the firs time independent world1 that it is at all a work of fine art in contrast to what is1 in part1 the diffuse1 and1 in part1 the finite1 series of independent sections1 causes1 effects1 and other modes of self-causative reality4 ,one can1 of course1 so far admit that for the genuine and primitive ,epos the wholly aesthetic review of the design and organization of the parts1 of the position and completion of the episodes1 of the kind of similes employed1 and so forth1 this is not the point of most importance1 inasmuch as here1 more than in lyrical poetry of a later date1 and its artificial elaboration of the drama1 the general world-outlook1 the faith in divine beings1 and1 in a word1 what is most essential in such national ,bibles1 must be expressed as the aspect of most weight4 ,nevertheless1 these great national books1 such as are the ,ramajana1 the ,iliad1 and the ,odyssey1 and even the ,song of the ,nibelings1 ought not to lose that quality which alone1 in respect to both their beauty and their art1 can endow them with the worth and freedom of artistic works1 the quality1 that is1 whereby they bring before our vision a complete sphere of action4 ,what we have simply to do1 therefore1 is to discover the appropriate form of this exclusive unity4 77 ,the term ,unity1 if employed in this general sense1 has become a very commonplace one even for tragedy1 one capable of much misuse4 ,for every event1 in its causes and effects1 creates an infinite chain1 which1 in the direction of the past no less than the future1 and in a way that is in both directions incalculable1 leads to a further series of particular circumstances and actions1 it being impossible to determine all that may form part of the circumstances and detail in other respects1 or the mode of their coalescence4 ,if we merely confine our attention to this series1 no doubt an ,epos may be extended backwards and forwards indefinitely2 and1 over and above this such always offers opportunity for digression4 ,but it is just such a series as this which makes the composition prosaic4 ,to adduce an example the ,greek cyclic poets have celebrated the entire cyclus of the ,trojan war1 and in doing so continue at the point where ,homer stops1 with a beginning1 too1 from the egg of ,leda4 ,but it is precisely on account of this that they degenerate into prose1 if we contrast them with ,homer's compositions4 ,just as little--,i have already drawn attention to this--can an individual as such surrender the central focus of his unity1 inasmuch as it is from this that the most varied events issue1 and are able to effect a union in the same1 though they may be entirely without connection regarded simply as events4 ,we have consequently to seek for another type of unity4 ,in this respect we must briefly determine the distinction between a mere event1 and a definite action1 which accepts the form of event in the epic narrative4 ,we may define a mere event as the external aspect and realization of every human action1 without involving with it the execution of a particular end2 or1 in general terms1 we may call it every external modification in the form and appearance of what actually exists4 ,when anyone is struck by lightning1 that is a mere event1 an external occurrence4 ,more is implied in the sack of a hostile city2 we have here the fulfilment of a predeterminate purpose4 ,an essentially distinct object of this kind1 such as the liberation of the ,holy ,land from the yoke of the ,saracens and heathen1 or better still the satisfaction of a specific impulse1 such as the wrath of ,achilles1 must1 under the mode of the epic eventuality1 constitute the synthetic unity of the ,epopaea2 and by this ,i mean that the poetic narrative must restrict itself to that which is uniquely the effect of this conceived purpose or specific impulse1 and in this co-operation be rounded off in an essentially exclusive unity4 ,action and execution of this type is1 however1 only possible to human agency2 so that1 as the culminating point of our composition1 we must have in progressive conjunction with purpose and impulse a human personality4 ,furthermore1 if the action and satisfaction of the entire heroic character1 from which both purpose and impulse proceed1 are merely the result of wholly definite situations and motives1 which are dissipated as we look back in an extensive complexity of relation1 and if1 further1 the execution of the purpose1 as we look forward1 carries with it a variety of result1 then in that case on the one hand no doubt a large number of presuppositions will be involved with such a specific action1 and on the other hand we shall have many effects of reaction1 which1 however1 will not be placed in any more intimate poetic connection with just this determinate character of the end under exposition4 ,in this sense1 for instance1 the wrath of ,achilles has as little connection with the rape of ,helen or the judgment of ,paris1 although the one fact is presupposed in the other1 as it has with the actual sack of ,troy4 ,when1 therefore1 it is contended that the ,iliad neither possesses a necessary beginning1 nor an appropriate conclusion1 such a verdict is due to an inability to see distinctly that it is the wrath of ,achilles which is the main subject of the ,iliad1 and which consequently should supply the focus-point of unity4 ,if1 on the contrary1 we form a stable conception of the heroic figure of ,achilles1 and assume that this1 as asserted in the wrath aroused in him by ,agamemnon1 is the connecting thread of the whole1 we shall be unable to conceive either a beginning or termination of greater beauty4 ,it is1 as ,i have already pointed out1 the direct motive of this anger1 which forms the poem's commencement2 the consequences of the same are comprised in all that follows4 ,against this critics have attempted to enforce the view that in such a case the last cantos are irrelevant1 and might just as well be omitted4 ,such an opinion1 if we look at the poem itself1 is untenable4 ,for just as the dallying of ,achilles himself by the ships and his abstinence from the conflict are purely the result of his indignant wrath1 and are in this inactivity bound up closely with the almost immediate success of the ,trojans over the ,grecian host1 no less than with the fight and death of ,patroclus1 so1 too1 the lament and revenge of the noble ,achilles and his victory over ,hector is closely linked with this fall of his brave friend4 ,if in the previous opinion it is implied that death is the end of everything1 and after that we may as well pack and be off1 such a view merely indicates extreme crudity of imaginative conception4 ,with the idea of death it is merely ,nature that is brought to a standstill2 man is not so1 nor yet are the obligations of his ethical life and habit1#bg with their claim of honourable recognition for the fallen hero4 ,in this sense the sports that form part of the funeral rites of ,patroclus1 the heartrending pleas of ,priam1 the reconciliation of ,achilles1 who returns the father the corpse of his son1 in order that in this case1 too1 honour to the dead may not be absent1 each and all are connected with the previous events1 and contribute to the supreme and satisfying beauty of the narrative's conclusion4 77 ,inasmuch1 however1 as we have attempted above to make a specifically individual action1 which issues in accordance with a deliberate purpose or heroic impulses1 conform to the type of an epic whole in which focal points are ascertainable that bind it together and round off its completeness1 the view is at least possible that we have made the unity of the ,epos too nearly identical with that of the drama4 ,for in the drama also it is one particular line of action issuing from self-conceived purpose and character with its conflict which constitutes the focal centre4 ,in order1 therefore1 not to involve these two types of poetry1 the epos1 that is1 and the drama1 in confusion1 though the confusion merely appear to be such1 ,i will yet again draw the reader's attention emphatically to my previous explanation of the distinction between human action and event4 ,and quite apart from this the epic interest is not simply confined to those characters1 objects1 and situations which have their ground in the particular action as such1 whose progress is the subject of the epic narrative1 but this action possesses the further stimulus to its opposed factors and their resolution1 and in fact is directed throughout its course and exclusively within a national and collective whole1 or substantive content1 which claims on its own account to assert a variety of characters1 conditions1 and events4 ,in this respect the final consummation of the ,epos does not merely consist in the particular content of the predominant action selected1 but quite as much in the entire synthesis of the general world-survey whose objective reality it undertakes to depict2 in fact1 the epic unity is only then fully complete when the particular action1 from one point of view no doubt1 in its independent character1 but also from another1 regarded in its progression as the essentially rounded world within the sphere of which it moves1 is placed before us as one indissoluble totality2 and both of these spheres1 or aspects of one sphere1 repose together in the mediating fulness and unimpaired unity of very life4 ,such1 then1 are the most essential characteristics we find it possible1 within the limits accepted1 to draw attention to in respect to the genuine ,epos4 ,it is1 however1 possible to apply the same form of objectivity to other subject-matter1 whose content does not carry with it the true significance of genuine objectivity4 ,it is very possible that a theorist in ,art will feel embarrassment when1 with such modes of speech before him1 he is asked to make a classification adapted to all poems without distinction2 and we must not forget that under the generic term of poem these hybrid forms have also to be reckoned4 ,in any really just classification1 however1 we ought only to include that which only conforms with a definition of the generic notion4#bh ,all that is1 on the contrary1 incomplete in content or form1 or both1 precisely for the reason that it is not as it ought to be1 is only subsumed defectively under the notion1 or in other words under the definition1 which gives us the thing as it ought to be1 and in truth actually is4 ,i only propose1 therefore1 in conclusion and by way of supplement1 to add a few observations upon such subordinate and collateral branches of the true epic composition4 ,to this class of poetry above all the idyll belongs in the modern sense of that term1 viz41 that in which poetry stands aloof from the profounder interests of spiritual and ethical life1 and depicts mankind in its innocence4 ,innocent life in this sense amounts to little more than an ignorance of everything except eating and drinking4 ,we may add that what we eat and drink here is extremely simple1 it is goat's milk merely1 or sheep's milk1 or at the most cow's milk1 roots1 acorns1 vegetables1 and cheese made from milk4 ,i should say that bread is no longer in the truly idyllic sphere2 we must1 however1 allow to it flesh-eating2 for it is hardly possible that our idyllic shepherds and shepherdesses could have wished to sacrifice their herds exclusively to the gods4 ,their occupation will consist in looking the whole day long after their beloved herds with their faithful hound1 in providing their food and drink1 and along with this giving vent1 with as much sentimental feeling as possible1 to every kind of mood which does not disturb this condition of repose and contentment4 ,in a word1 they are satisfied with their peculiar piety and gentleness1 piping away on their reed or oat-pipes1 warbling to each other1 and above all making love with the greatest tenderness and innocence4 ,the ,greeks1 on the contrary1 possessed in their plastic representations a more jubilant world1 with its attendants of ,bacchus1 ,satyrs and ,fauns1 who1 in their harmless service of a god1 stimulated animal life and human joviality with a vivacity and truth totally different from the above pretentious innocence1 piety1 and emptiness4 ,we may also recognize the same essentially animated outlook on the world as illustrated in lively pictures of national condition1 in the ,greek ,bucolic poets such as ,theocritus2 this is so whether our poet lingers over actual situations of the life of fisher-folk1 or shepherds1 or extends the mode in which he expresses this1 or similar spheres of life1 to a yet wider circle1 either depicting such states in an epic form1 or treating them in lyric form and that of the objective drama4 ,virgil already sings to us with less warmth in his ,eclogues4 ,most tedious of all1 however1 is ,gessner1 so tedious that ,i suppose no one reads him nowadays4 ,we can only wonder that the ,french ever had so much taste for him that they even ranked him highest among ,german poets4 ,their morbid sensibility on the one hand1 which evades the tumult and changes of life1 while yearning also for some kind of movement1 and on the other the absence of all true interest in such poetry1 so that the otherwise disturbing influences of our culture were not represented--both of these factors1 no doubt1 contributed to this preference4 ,we may reckon as a further class of this hybrid type of ,epic those poems which are half description and half lyrics1 a favourite type with the ,english1 and one which for the most part accepts for its subject-matter ,nature1 the ,seasons1 and similar subjects4 ,we may also associate with this type the various didactic poems concerned with physical science1 astronomy1 medicine1 chess1 fishing1 and hunting--in short1 the art which loves to elaborate in a poetic form what is really the content of prose1 an art which has been cultivated with much talent in later ,greek poetry1 and after that by the ,romans1 and1 in our time1 pre-eminently by the ,french4 ,such poetry1 despite its general epic temper1 will very readily pass over into the lyric treatment4 ,the romances and ballads1 which we find both in the ,middle ,ages and modern times1 are no doubt poetry of a kind1 though it is impossible to define accurately their type2 so far as their content is concerned they are in part epic4 ,if we look at the form of their composition1 however1 they are for the most part lyrical1 so that we have perforce to reckon them from different points of view to different types4 ,the romantic novel1 that ,epopaea of modern society1 opens a different field altogether4 ,in this we possess1 on the one hand1 in all its completeness and variety1 an epic prodigality of interests1 conditions1 characters1 and living relations1 the extensive background in fact of an entire world4 ,we have also the epic exposition of events4 ,what fails us here is the primitive world-condition as poetically conceived1 which is the source of the genuine ,epos4 ,the romance or novel in the modern sense pre-supposes a basis of reality already organized in its prosaic form1 upon which it then attempts1 in its own sphere1 so far as this is possible from such a general point of view1 both in its treatment of the vital character of events and the life of individuals and their destiny1 to make good once more the banished claims of poetical vision4 ,for this reason one of the most common collisions in the novel1 and one most suitable to it1 is the conflict between the poetry of the heart and the prose of external conditions antagonistic to it1 including with such the contingency such imply4 ,this is a conflict which may be resolved on the lines of tragedy or comedy1 or finds its settlement in the twofold conclusion1 first1 that the characters which in the first instance contend with the ordinary course of life are taught to recognize in it what is the genuine heart of things1 becoming thereby reconciled to their conditions and ready to cooperate with them2 and1 secondly1 that they learn how to brush away the purely prosaic aspect of all that they do and accomplish1 and thereby replace the prose which they have found there with a reality allied and congenial to beauty and art4 ,in so far as the form of the exposition is concerned1 the genuine romance pre-supposes1 precisely as the ,epos does1 the synthesized purvey of the world and life as one whole1 the manifold contents of which are manifested within the reach of the individual event which supplies the focal centre of the entire complexus4 ,in his attitude to detail1 however1 the poet must here permit himself a freer play both of conception and execution1 and all the more so because he is here less able to avoid the prose of actual life in his descriptions1 though this freedom should not make him any more inclined to dwell exclusively in such an atmosphere of prose and ordinary occurrence4 #c4 ,,the ,,historical ,,development ,,of ,,epic ,,poetry ,in looking back upon the course of our previous consideration of the other arts1 we find that we reviewed the different stages of the art of building throughout in their historical development as successively in symbolic1 classic1 and romantic architecture4 ,in the case of sculpture1 on the contrary1 we accepted the ,greek type1 by virtue of its complete identity with the notion of this classic art1 as the real focal centre1 from which we proceeded to develop the specific characteristics of importance1 so that here we did not find it necessary to extend so far as in the previous case the range of our historical survey4 ,this contrast is further illustrated in our treatment of the romantic art-character of painting1 which1 however1#bi not merely in respect to the fundamental notion of its content1 but also in that of the mode of its presentation1 embraces an equally wide and important range of development in different nations and through different schools1 so that in this case it was necessary to make our reference to history more extensive and varied4 ,the nature of the art of music invited us to historical comparisons of the same kind4 ,inasmuch1 however1 as ,i have neither obtained access to the foreign literature dealing with the history of this art1 nor can claim personally to possess the adequate knowledge1 ,i have been forced to restrict myself to the mere outlines of what is required incidentally4 ,with regard to our immediate subject1 that is1 epic poetry1 the course of our enquiry will be very much that followed in the case of sculpture4 ,in other words1 though the mode of exposition branches off in several direct or collateral divisions1 and embraces many historical periods and peoples1 yet we have already recognized in the ,epos of ,greek literature the genuine type of it in its consummate form and most artistic mode of realization4 ,and the reason of this is that in general the ,epos possesses the closest affinity with the plastic of sculpture and its objective presence2 and1 not merely in respect to its substantive content1 but equally so in the form of its presentation as that of phenomenal reality4 ,it is therefore by no means simply an accident that we find epic poetry1 no less than the art of sculpture1 assert itself pre-eminently among the ,greeks in its original and unsurpassed perfection4 ,stages of development1 no doubt1 are to be met with on either side of this culminating point1 stages which are neither intrinsically subordinate or insignificant1 but are necessary conditions of the art's growth1 inasmuch as all nations are essentially within the sphere of poetic creation1 and it is above all the ,epos which brings before us the heart and core of the national life4 ,and for this reason1 the historical development of the ,epic is of greater importance than was the case with sculpture4 ,we may then classify the entire compass of epic poetry1 or1 to express ourselves more accurately1 of the ,epopaea1 in three fundamental stages2 and these1 speaking generally1 constitute the course of the art's evolution4 ,firsts we have the ,oriental ,epos1 which makes the symbolic type its focal centre4 ,secondly1 there is the classical ,epos of the ,greeks1 with its imitation in ,roman authors4 ,finally1 we have the abundant and many-sided unfolding of epic-romantic poetry among ,christian peoples2 which1 however1 in the first instance appears in ,teutonic paganism2 and again1 from another point of view1 that is quite apart from what we may style the chivalrous poetry of the ,middle ,ages1 we find the old classic world active in another province of life as instrumental to the purification of literary taste or style1 or still more directly utilized as a model1 until finally the modern romance replaces the ,epos altogether4 ,we may now proceed to some review of single epic compositions3 in this it will only be possible to emphasize what is of most importance2 and1 generally speaking1 ,i can only pretend to give a rapid outline of this field in the space at my disposal4 7a7 ,in the case of ,oriental peoples the art of poetry is1 as we have already observed1 generally of a more primitive type1 inasmuch as it remains more closely related to what we may style the essential#cj mode of envisagement1 and the diffusion of the individual consciousness in the sublime ,unity of the ,one4 ,and because of this1 as a further aspect1 and relatively to the specific divisions of poetic composition1 it is unable to work out individual personality in the self-subsistency of determinate characterization1 with its aims and collisions1 an elaboration which is of first importance in the composition of genuine dramatic poetry4 ,the most essential result therefore we meet with here is limited--if we exclude from attention an endearing1 sweet-scented1 and delicate type of lyric1 or one that uplifts itself to the one unutterable ,god--to poems1 which are to be counted of the epic mould4 ,nevertheless it is only among the ,hindoos and the ,persians that we come across the genuine ,epopaea2 but here at least we do meet it in colossal proportions4 77 ,the ,chinese1 on the contrary1 possess no national ,epos4 ,the prosaic basis of their imaginative vision1 which even to the earliest origins of history offers the jejune form of a prosaically organized historical reality1 opposes from the first to this the most noble type of epic composition an insuperable obstruction4 ,the religious conceptions of this people1 little adapted as they are to artistic configuration1 contribute to the same result4 ,we find1 however1 at a later date and as some compensation1 for their elaboration is most profuse1 little narratives1 and romances spun out to great length1 which astound us by the vividness in which situations are realized1 the accuracy with which private and public relations are depicted1 the variety1 fine breeding1 or rather ,i should say frequently the fascinating tenderness they display1 more particularly in their female characters1 and in short by the art in every respect which succeeds in making works so consummate4 77 ,a world of great contrast to the above presents itself in the ,hindoo ,epopaea4 ,we find already in the most primitive compositions1 if we may form an opinion from the little made known to the general public up to the present time from the ,veda1 most fruitful germs for a mythology fitted to epic exposition2 and these1 associated with the heroic exploits of men many centuries before ,christ--for chronological accuracy is still impossible--are elaborated into genuine ,epopaea1 works1 however1 which are still composed in part from the wholly religious point of view1 and in part from that of unfettered poetry and art4 ,pre-eminently do the two most famous of these poems1 namely the ,ramajana and the ,maha-,bharata1 place before us the entire world-outlook of the ,hindoo race in all its splendour and glory1 its confusion1 fantastical absurdity and dissolution1 and withal1 from the reverse point of view1 in the exuberant loveliness and the here and there fine traits of heart and emotion1 which characterize the profuse vegetation of its spiritual growth4 ,mythical exploits of men are expanded into the actions of incarnate gods1 whose deed hovers vaguely between the divine and human nature1 and the determinate outlines of personality and exploit are dissolved in an infinitude of extension4 ,the substantive bases of the whole are of a type such as our ,western world-outlook1 assuming that it does not choose to surrender the higher claims of freedom and morality1 is neither able to find itself truly at home in or to sympathize with4 ,the unity of the particular parts is of an extremely unstable kind2 and layers upon layers of episodical matter1 consisting of tales of the gods1 narratives of ascetic penances1 and the powers they create1 tediously long expositions of philosophical doctrines and systems1 so entirely impair the collective unity that we are forced to regard many of them as later accretions4 ,but1 however this may be1 the spirit from which these stupendous poems have originated bears constant witness to an imagination1 which is not only anterior to all prosaic culture1 but as a rule is wholly incompatible with the faculty of ordinary common sense1 and is capable in fact of endowing the fundamental tendencies of this national consciousness1 in its essentially unique and collective conception of the universe1 with an original artistic form4 ,the later ,epics1 on the contrary1 which are called ,puranas1 in the more restricted sense of the term1 that is1 poems of the ,past1 appear rather to be compiled in the prosaic and dull style similar to that adopted by post-,homeric cyclic poets1 and pursue their downward course at great length from the creation of the gods and the universe to the genealogies of human heroes and princes4 ,finally the epic care of the old myths dissolves into vapour and artificial elegance of a purely external poetic form and diction1 while on the one hand the phantasy1 which exhausted itself in a dreamy wonderland1 becomes the wisdom of fables whose most important function is to instruct us in morality and worldly wisdom4 77 ,we may compare side by side in a third division of epic ,oriental poetry that respectively belonging to ,hebrews1 ,arabs1 and ,persians4 77 ,the sublimity of the ,jewish imagination no doubt in its conception of the ,creation1 in the histories of the ,patriarchs1 the wandering in the wilderness1 the conquest of ,canaan1 and in the further historical course of national event1 full as such a vision is of sterling content and natural truth1 possesses many elements of primitive epic poetry2 the religious interest is here1 however1 so predominant1 that1 instead of being genuine ,epopaea1 they merely approximate either to religious myths in the guise of poetry1 or to religious narratives which are wholly didactic4 77 ,the ,arabs have always possessed a poetic nature1 and from very early days we find genuine poets among them4 ,even their heroic songs of lyric narrative1 styled the moallakat1 which in part originate in the century immediately previous to ,mahomet1 depict either with a few bold and detached strokes and vehement ostentation1 or at other times with more tranquil self-possession1 or a melting softness1 the original conditions of the still pagan ,arabs4 ,here we find the honour of the clan1 the passion of revenge1 the rights of hospitality1 love1 delight in adventure1 benevolence1 sorrow1 and yearning1 in undiminished strength1 and in traits which remind us of the romantic character of ,spanish chivalry4 ,here1 too1 we meet with in the ,east for the first time a real poetry1 without fantastic elements1 or prose1 without mythology1 without gods1 demons1 fairies1 genii1 and everything else of the kind common to the ,east1 but rather with solid and self-sufficient characters and1 however unique and marvellous in the play of its images and similes1 yet for all that humanly real and self-contained4 ,we have the vision of a similar pagan world also set before us by a later age in the collected poems of ,hamasa1 as also in the not yet edited ,divans of the ,hudsilites4 ,after the extensive and successful conquests of the ,mohammedan ,arabs this primitive heroic character gradually disappears2 and1 in the course of the centuries1 the province of ,epic poetry is replaced in part by the instructive fable and the witty proverb1 in part by the fairy-like narratives1 of which the ,thousand and ,one ,nights is an example1 or in those tales of adventures which ,rckert1 through a translation which reproduces for us the equally witty and artistically elaborate ,macamen of the ,hariri in their metre1 rhymes1 and articulate meaning1 has unveiled in a manner deserving thoughtful attention4 77 ,in some contrast to this the efflorescence of ,persian poetry falls in the period of that reconstructed culture effected by the change of language and nationality under the influence of ,mohammedanism4 ,we1 however1 come across1 in the very first opening of this lonely springtime1 an epic poem which1 at least in its material1 takes us back to the remotest ,past of ancient ,persian saga and myth1 and carries forward its narrative through the heroic age right down to the last days of the ,sussanides4 ,this comprehensive work is the ,shahnameh of ,firdusi1 the son of the gardener of ,tus1 a work the origins of which are traceable to the ,bastanameh4#ca ,we are1 however1 unable to call even this poem a genuine ,epopaea1 because it does not make any specific and individual line of action its focal centre4 ,on account of the lapse of centuries we lose our hold of the costume appropriate to an age or a locality1 and in particular the most ancient mythical figures and gloomy intricate traditions hover in a world of the phantasy1 among the indefinite outlines of which we are often at a loss to know whether we are face to face with persons or entire clans2 and then again we are often suddenly confronted with really historical characters4 ,as a ,mohammedan the poet was no doubt able to handle his subject-matter more freely2 but it is just in this type of freedom that we fail to meet with the stability in definite characterization1 as it was present in the design of the primitive heroic songs2 and1 on account of the great gulf which separates him from that long-buried world of saga1 the freshness and breath of its immediate life vanish1 though absolutely necessary to the national ,epos4 ,in its further course the epic art of the ,persians expands into ,love-epopees of excessive softness and sweetness1 as an author of which ,risami is pre-eminently distinguished4 ,it further makes use of its rich stores of life-experience in the interest of the teacher4 ,in this sphere the far-travelled ,saadi was master4 ,finally1 it plunges into that pantheistic ,mysticism1 which ,dschelaleddin ,rumi recommends and teaches in tales and legendary narrative4 ,i must1 ,i fear1 restrict myself to the above sketch4 7b7 ,in the poetry of ,greece and ,rome we find ourselves for the first time in the genuine sphere of epic art4 77 ,among these above all are included of course the ,homeric poems1 which we have already noted as the culminating point of all4 77 ,either of these poems1 despite all that may be advanced to the contrary1 is essentially self-complete1 so definite and sensitive to its construction as a whole1 that in my own opinion the very view which regards the present form of both as merely that in which they were sung and handed down to posterity by rhapsodists1 simply amounts to little more than the just eulogy of such works in virtue of the fact that they are1 with regard to the entire atmosphere of their content1 national and realistic1 and even in their particular parts are so consummately finished1 that all and each of them may be taken as a whole in itself4 ,whereas in the ,east what is substantive#cb and universal in the poet's survey still impairs the individuality of character1 and its aims and exploits by its symbolism or deliberate instruction1 and thereby injures the definite articulation and unity of the whole4 ,here for the first time in these poems#ccwe find a world beautifully suspended as it were between the general life-conditions of morality in family1 state and religious belief1 and the individuality of distinctive character1 and in this fair balance between the claims of spirit and ,nature1 intentional action and objective event1 between a national basis of enterprise and particular aims and deeds1 even though individual heroes appear as the predominant feature in their free and animated movement1 yet this too is so mediated by the distinctiveness of the aims proposed and the severe presence of destiny1 that the entire exposition can only remain even for ourselves the ne plus ultra of all attainment that we can either enjoy or admire in epic composition4 ,for we find no difficulty here in recognizing the real significance of even the gods who withstand or assist these primitive masculine heroes in their bravery1 their straightforward and noble actions3 nor can we fail to return the merry smiles of an art which depicts them as we see them here in all the navet of their very human1 if also godlike impersonations4 77 ,the cyclic poets of an age subsequent to the ,homeric poems depart more and more from this genuine type of epic poetry4 ,on the one hand the tendency here is to break up the completeness of the national world-survey into its petty provinces and aspects2 and from another point of view1 instead of retaining a firm grasp of the poetic unity and distinctive character of an individual action1 to insist more exclusively on the completeness of events as an historical series1 or on the unity of the personality1 and by so doing to assimilate epic poetry with the already emphasized historical impulse of the logographers in their historical compilations4 77 ,finally ,epic poetry of a still later date after the time of ,alexander either turns aside to the more limited province of bucolic poetry1 or introduces more learning and artifice than is compatible with the truly poetic ,epopaea being at last wholly didactic1 a type which increasingly suffers to escape every vestige of the primitive freshness1 simplicity and animation4 77 ,this characteristic1 with which the ,epos of the ,greeks terminates1 is from the first predominant among the ,romans4 ,an epic ,bible1 such as are the ,homeric poems1 we shall therefore seek for here in vain1 however much critics have attempted1 even quite recently1 to resolve the most ancient ,roman history into national ,epopaea4 ,on the other hand1 even from the earliest times1 along with genuine epic art1 of which our finest extant example here is the neid1 the historical ,epos and the didactic poem supplies us with a proof that it is the ,romans who are mainly responsible for the elaboration of that province of poetry which is already half prose2 just as also it was in their hands that the satire received its most perfect form1 being also that most congenial to their character4 7c7 ,for this reason epic poetry could only be infused with a fresh breath and spirit through a change in its outlook on the world and in its religious belief1 and through the actions and destinies of new nationalities4 ,this is what we have in the case of the ,germans1 not only as we see them in their primitive paganism1 but also after their conversion to ,christianity4 ,it may be further illustrated by the ,romance nations and all the more strongly1 in proportion as their subdivision into groups is more complete1 and the principle of the ,christian view of life and reality is unfolded in all its various phases4 ,yet it is precisely this many-sided expansion and subdivision which oppose to a brief survey great difficulties4 ,i will consequently only draw attention to and emphasize fundamental tendencies4 77 ,in our first group we may reckon the residue of genuine poetry1 which later nationalities have still retained from an age previous to ,christianity1 for the most part by means of oral tradition1 and consequently not wholly unimpaired4 ,we may include above all among these the poems which are usually ascribed to ,ossian4 ,although ,english critics of repute1 such as ,johnson and ,shaw1 have been blind enough to publish them as the sole composition of ,macpherson1 it is none the less wholly impossible that a poet of our own time could create from his own resources alone such ancient social conditions and events2 consequently we must presuppose here previous poems as the foundation of such a work1 although too in their entire atmosphere1 and the mode of conception and feeling expressed in them1 many changes more in accord with our modern life may have been introduced in the course of so many centuries4 ,it is true their actual date is not established2 they may1 however1 very well have retained a vital form in the mouth of the folk for one thousand or even fifteen hundred years4 ,taking them as a whole their form appears to be predominantly lyric4 ,ossian is here presented as the old minstrel and hero1 who has lost his sight1 and suffers in a retrospect of lament1 the days of glory to rise before him4 ,yet although his songs originate in woe and mourning they nevertheless are in themselves fundamentally epic2 for even these lamentations refer to what has been1 and depict this world which has now just vanished1 with its heroes1 its love-adventurers1 its exploits1 its expeditions aver sea and land1 its chance of arms1 its destiny and its downfall1 in just the same epic and realistic way--although broken here and there with lyrics--as we find in ,homer the heroes ,achilles1 ,odysseus1 or ,diomede1 talking of their exploits1 expeditions1 and mischances4 ,yet the development of spiritual emotion1 and indeed of the entire national existence1 despite the fact that here heart and sentiment have a more exacting rle to play1 is not carried so far as in ,homer's case4 ,most of all we miss the assured plastic form of his characterization and the daylight clarity of his presentment4 ,we are1 in short1 so far as locale is concerned1 exiled in the tempestuous mists of the ,north1 with its gloomy sky and heavy clouds1 upon which the spirits ride or appear to heroes1 raimented in their form4 ,we may add that it is only quite recently that other ,gaelic minstrels of olden time have been discovered1 rather connected1 so ,wallis informs us1 with ,england than ,scotland or ,ireland1 minstrelsy having been for a long time continuous in that country1 which already must have possessed a considerable literature4 ,in these poems we have among other things reference to emigrations to ,america4 ,mention is also made of ,caesar2 but the reason here given for his invasion is a private passion for some king's daughter1 whom he saw in ,gaul and followed to ,england4 ,as a striking characteristic of their form triads are worthy of attention1 which combine in three organic parts three events of similar character1 though dating from different periods of time4 ,finally1 and more famous than these poems1 are on the one hand the heroic songs of the more ancient ,edda1 and on the other the myths with which for the first time in this cycle of song along with the narrative of human destinies we also come across various histories concerning the origin1 exploits1 and downfall of the gods4 ,i must1 however1 confess ,i have been unable to acquire a taste for the empty exuberance of these origins of a natural philosophy of symbolism1 which1 however1 are further attached to the appearance of particular human form and physiognomy1 such as ,thor with his hammer1 the ,werewolf1 the wild mead-carousals1 and in a word1 the savagery and troubled confusion of such a mythology4 ,we must admit1 of course1 that all that intimately concerns this folk of the ,north lies nearer to ourselves than1 say1 the poetry of the ,persians and ,mohammedanism2 but to press upon the educated man among us such an admission to the point that it has still at this time of day a claim upon his sympathy1 and indeed ought to pass for us as something national--such an assumption1 though often ventured1 means not merely to overrate conceptions1 which are to a great extent misshapen and barbarous1 but also to wholly misunderstand the significance and spirit of our own times4 77 ,if we1 secondly1 cast a glance over the poetry of the ,christian ,middle ,ages1 what we ought in the first instance and above all to consider are those works which have1 without more direct and penetrating influence of the old literature and culture1 sprung up from the fresh spirit of the ,middle ,ages and consolidated ,catholicism4 ,here we find the most multifold elements ready to supply the material and stimulus of epic poetry4 77 ,we may in the first place draw retention to that truly epic subject-matter which comprises in its content interests1 exploits1 and characters of the period mentioned of a wholly national character4 ,among these the ,cid is pre-eminently worthy of our notice4 ,the significance of this blossom of national heroism in the ,middle ,ages to the ,spanish1 this is set before us in epic guise in the poem ,cid1 and then at a later date with more attractive excellence in a succession of narrative romances1 which ,herder first brought to the notice of ,germany4 ,we have here a string of pearls1 every single picture entirely complete in itself1 and yet all so admirably in tune with each other that they make a consistent whole2 though throughout composed in the spirit of chivalry1 yet at the same time ,spanish and national2 eminently rich in the content of their varied interests1 whether these concern love1 marriage1 honour1 or the mastery of kings in wars waged between ,christians and ,moors4 ,all this material is voiced in so epic and plastic a style1 we have set before us the pertinent fact so simply in the purity of its exalted content1 and withal with such a wealth of the noblest pictures of human life displayed in a panorama of the most glorious exploit1 and all this bound together in a wreath so fair and fascinating1 that we moderns may compare it with the most beautiful creations of the ancient world4#cd ,as a matter of fact it is as impossible to compare the ,nibelungenlied1 as it is the ,iliad and ,odyssey1 with this world of romance1 which1 however dissevered in fragments it maybe1 is none the less epic in its fundamental type4 ,for although in the former precious and truly ,german work we have no lack of a national and substantive content1 in respect to family1 matrimonial affection1 duty of vassalage1 loyalty of service1 heroism1 and1 in a word1 genuine marrow and substance1 yet the entire collision1 despite all its epic breadth of vision1 is rather one of a dramatic type1 than truly epic1 and the exposition1 with all its detail1 neither tends towards the individualization of its abundance1 nor to a presentment that is wholly lifelike2 and from a further point of view it is frequently squandered in pure harshness1 savagery and ferocity1 so that the characters1 although we find them compactly braced and robust in action1 yet in their abstract ruggedness rather resemble coarse images of wood1 than are comparable to the humanely evolved1 genial individuality of the ,homeric heroes and women4 77 ,a second fundamental source of such literature is to be traced in the religious poems of the ,middle ,ages1 which take as their subject the life of ,christ1 or those of the ,madonna1 the ,apostles1 the saints and martyrs and the ,last ,judgment4 ,the most essentially complete and rich composition1 however1 the genuine art-,epic of ,catholic ,christianity in the ,middle ,ages1 the greatest subject-matter and the greatest poem is in this sphere ,dante's ,divine ,comedy4 ,it is true that we cannot call even this severely1 rather ,i should systematically organized poem1 an ,epopaea in the ordinary sense of the term4 ,for we have not here one progressive action1 individual and exclusive1 on the broad basis of the entire poem3 what1 however1 we do get in a conspicuous degree in this ,epos is the most secure articulation and consummate finish4 ,instead of a particular event it has for its subject-matter the eternal event1 the absolute end1 the ,divine ,love in its imperishable eventuality1 and in its unalterable circles' of relation to the object4 ,possessing further ,hell1 ,purgatory1 and ,paradise for its locality1 it plunges the living world of human action and suffering or1 more closely1 that of individual acts and destinies in this changeless existence4 ,everything single and particular in human interests and aims here vanishes before the absolute greatness of the purpose and end of all things2 at the same time1 however1 what is otherwise most perishable and evanescent in the living world receives here a completely epic form objectively based on its own innermost life1 and adjudged in its worth and unworth by the supreme notion of all1 that is ,god4 ,for as individuals were in their life and suffering1 their opinions and accomplishment on ,earth1 so are they here set before us for ever consolidated1 as it were1 into images of bronze4 ,it is in this way that the poem embraces the totality of the most objective life1 that is1 the eternal condition of ,hell1 of ,purification1 and of ,paradise2 and it is on these indestructible foundations that the characters of the actual world move in their particular personalities1 or rather they have already moved1 and are henceforward rendered moveless1 together with their action and being1 in the everlasting righteousness1 and are themselves eternal4 ,the ,homeric heroes indeed endure in our memories through the song of the ,muse4 ,these characters assert their condition on their own account1 and in the cause of their own individuality3 they do not so much exist in our imagination2 they are themselves essentially eternal4 ,the perpetuation through the ,mnemosyne of the poet has here the objective force of the very judgments of ,god1 in whose ,name the most dauntless spirit of his time has damned or beatified the entire present and past4 ,the exposition also must perforce follow the above character of an object1 which is received rather than given4 ,it can only be a wandering through a world that is for ever determined2 which1 although it is discovered1 organized1 and peopled with the freedom of the imagination wherewith ,hesiod and ,homer created their gods1 nevertheless undertakes to give us a picture and a report of what has actually happened1 an account full of energetic movement1 yet plastic in the rigidity of its pains2 rich in the flashes of its horror1 yet mitigated pitifully in ,hell through ,dante's own sympathy2 more gracious in purgatory1 but none the less fully and completely elaborated2 and1 finally1 translucent as light in ,paradise1 and for ever without materia form in the eternal ether of thought4 ,the ancient world no doubt peers into this world of the ,catholic poet1 but only as the guiding star and companion of human wisdom and culture2 for1 where it is a question of doctrine and dogma1 it is the scholasticism of ,christian theology and love which speaks4 77 ,a third fundamental subject-matter1 which arrests the interest of the poetry of the ,middle ,ages1 is that of chivalry4 ,this interest is not merely limited to its worldly and romantic association with love-adventure and tilting matches1 but is occupied with religious objects in virtue of the mysticism of ,christian knighthood4 ,the actions and events of such compositions have no relation to national interests2 they are matters effected by individuals1 which only concern the personal agent as such2 they are generally similar to what ,i have described in my previous reference to romantic chivalry4 ,individuals are consequently placed in a position of complete freedom and independence4 ,a novel form of heroism is thereby created within a social environment that is not as yet stereotyped to the prosaic mode and temper2 a heroism1 however1 which1 on account of interests which in part are due to religious phantasy1 and in part--that is from the worldly point of view--are wholly personal and imaginary1 eschews that substantive ,real1 upon the basis of which the ,greek heroes are united1 or as units contend1 are victorious or are vanquished4 ,despite all the varied epic compositions1 which such a course as the above occasions1 the adventurous character of the situations1 conflicts and plots rather tends1 on the one hand1 in the direction of a treatment usually met with in romances1 where the various examples of adventure are loosely interwoven in no more stringent bond of unity1 and on the other to that which1 while sharing the general features of such works1 is not evolved on the background of a consistently organized civic order and a truly prosaic condition of general life4 ,moreover the imagination is not content with the mere invention of knightly characters and adventures outside the pale of the ordinary world of things2 it furthermore associates the exploits of the same with important legendary centres of interest1 pre-eminent historical personages1 decisive conflicts of the age1 and receives by doing so1 if we view its broader lines1 at least a foundation such as we found indispensable to epic creation4 ,such a basis1 however1 we shall find is as a rule commingled with fantastic elements1 and is unable to secure the clarity of objective vision in its elaboration1 which above all distinguishes the ,homeric ,epos4 ,add to this the fact that on account of the very similar treatment accorded to the same subject-matter by ,frenchmen1 ,englishmen1 ,germans1 and to some extent even ,spaniards1 we fail to find here relatively at least1 and if we contrast it with that of the ,hindoo1 ,persian1 ,greek1 and ,celt1 the essentially national temper1 which in the last-mentioned cases constitutes in its security the epic core of the content and its execution4 ,i must1 however1 excuse myself here from entering further into the detail of this aspect1 either by way of illustration or critical judgment4 ,it will be sufficient if ,i merely draw attention to the larger circle1 within which the most important of these ,epopaea of knight-errantry are to be met with if we estimate them relatively to their subject-matter4 ,as a leading figure in this respect we have first ,charles the ,great with his peers in the conflict fought against ,saracens and pagans4 ,in this ,frankish circle of legend feudal chivalry forms a background of prime importance1 and branches off into poems of every description1 whose most significant material is concerned with the exploits of one of the twelve heroes1 such as ,roland or ,doolin1 of ,maintz and others4 ,more particularly in ,france during the reign of ,philip ,augustus many of such ,epopees were composed4 ,we have a further garland of legend with an ,english source1 one which aims at reproducing the exploits of ,king ,arthur and the ,round ,table4 ,legendary tale1 the chivalry of ,normans and ,englishmen1 service to woman1 the fealty of the vassal1 are all here involved together in melancholy or fantastic combination with ,christian mysticism4 ,the search for the ,holy ,grail1 that chalice containing the sacred blood of ,christ1 is1 indeed1 one main object of all knightly exploit1 and every description of fantastic adventure originates in this source1 until1 finally1 the entire company takes flight to ,abyssinia4 ,the above two subjects of legendary story are worked out with most completeness in ,northern ,france1 ,england1 and ,germany4 ,and as a last illustration we have a third circle of chivalrous poetry1 composed with yet more caprice and less substantive content1 which ever tends to emphasize knightly heroism to an excess with ideas of fairyland and fable2 this rather points to ,portugal or ,spain as its original nursery4 ,in this the family of the ,amadi are accepted as principal heroes4 ,the great allegorical poems1 so much beloved mainly in ,northern ,france in the thirteenth century1 are more nearly prose compositions in their abstract type4 ,i will only mention one example of these1 that is1 the famous ,roman de la ,rose4 ,we may compare or rather contrast such with the many anecdotes and still lengthier narratives1 the so-called fabliaux and contes1 which rather borrow their subject-matter from contemporary life1 tales of knights1 priests1 citizens1 and above all amours1 lawful and the reverse1 retailed to us sometimes in the comic vein1 at others in the tragic1 now in prose1 and again in verse4 ,such was the type of writing which the clear intellect and trained culture of a ,boccaccio carried to its perfection4 ,there is a final class of such compositions1 which1 turning to the ancients--with a casual knowledge of the ,epic of ,homer and ,virgil1 or ancient legend1 celebrates also1 in precisely the manner of the ,epopaea of chivalry1 the exploits of ,trojan heroes1 the foundation of ,rome by neas1 the conquests of ,alexander1 and other like subjects4 ,and this will conclude what ,i have to say upon the ,epic poetry of the ,middle ,ages4 77 ,in a third principal group of which ,i have still to speak1 the rich and pregnant study of ancient literature marks a point of departure for the purer artistic taste of a new culture1 in whose learning1 assimilation1 and blending of diverse elements1 however1 we frequently miss that primitive creative power1 which we admire in the ,hindoos1 ,arabs1 as also in ,homer and writers of the ,middle ,ages4 ,in the many-sided development in which1 dating from this age of the re-awakened sciences and their influence on national literatures1 the actual conditions of mankind undergo a reform in religion1 political condition1 morals1 and social relations1 epic poetry also seizes hold of the most varied content1 as also the most manifold forms1 the historical course of which ,i can only direct attention to in its most essential characteristics4 77 ,first1 we may remark that it is still the ,middle ,ages1 which now1 as previously1 supplies the material for the ,epos1 although the same is conceived and presented in a new spirit1 namely1 one permeated with the culture of classic literature ,we find here pre-eminently two directions in which the art of epic poetry displays itself4 ,on the one side the awakening consciousness of the age shows a necessary tendency to treat as ridiculous all that is capricious in the adventurous feats of the ,middle ,ages1 all that is fantastic and exaggerated in chivalry1 all that is merely formal in the independence and personal isolation of the heroes1 and which is now contained within a social reality embracing more abundance of national conditions and interest2 a consciousness which further brings this entire world before our vision in the light of comedy1 which does this1 however much what is really genuine within it is also asserted1 with seriousness and delight4 ,as the culminating points of this genial conception of the entire world of chivalry ,i have already pointed to ,ariosto and ,cervantes4 ,i will therefore in the present passage merely draw attention to the brilliant facility1 the charm and wit1 the loveliness and intense ingenuousness1 with which ,ariosto1 whose poem still hovers among the poetic aims of the ,middle ,ages1 merely in a more veiled and humorous fashion makes what is fantastic vanish away by means of the incredibility of his nonsense1 while the profounder romance of ,cervantes already assumes knight-errantry to be a ,past behind it2 which1 consequently1 can only enter into the real prose and presence of life as vanity in its isolation and fantastic folly2 yet at the same time it gives equal prominence to its great and noble aspects in their contrast to what is awkward1 stupid1 devoid of reason and order in this very prosaic reality1 making the defects of the same live before our eyes4 ,among writers who have contributed to a second phase in this type of epic development ,i will merely mention the representative name of ,tasso4 ,in his ,jerusalem ,delivered this poet1 in contrast to the poetry of ,ariosto1 selects for his central theme1 without any admixture of the humorist's temper whatever1 the great and common aims of ,christian chivalry1 the recovery of the ,holy ,sepulchre1 the victorious pilgrimage of the ,crusades1 and1 after the model of ,homer and ,virgil1 creates an ,epos with enthusiasm and study1 which may even be compared with the great prototypes abovementioned4 ,and no doubt we do discover in this work1 quite apart from a genuine1 and1 in part1 too1 national and religious interest1 a type of unity1 development1 and elaboration of the whole such as we have previously fixed as a primary condition4 ,we may add to this a fascinating music in the verse1 which makes the same still harmonious to living speech4 ,what1 however1 is pre-eminently wanting in this poem is just that kind of primitive origin which is alone able to create the real ,bible of an entire nation4 ,in other words1 instead of having1 as in ,homer's case1 a work which1 as true ,epos1 expresses once for all in language1 and with direct simplicity1 that which the nation is through its actions1 the epic in question rather appears simply a poem1 that is1 a poetically constructed event4 ,we are mainly pleased and satisfied with it in virtue of the artistic effect of its beautiful speech and form1 whether we consider its more lyrical aspects1 or its epic descriptions4 ,consequently1 however much ,tasso may have taken ,homer for his model in the collective arrangement of his material1 in the entire spirit of the conception and presentation it is rather and in chief the influence of ,virgil that we actually discover in the work1 and of course do so not to the poem's advantage4 ,finally1 among the great ,epopaea1 which are constructed upon the basis of a classic culture1 we must include the ,lysiad of ,camoens4 ,in the subject-matter of this entirely national composition1 which celebrates the bold sea-faring of the ,portuguese1 we are already beyond the true ,middle ,ages1 and have interests unfolded1 which inaugurate a new era4 ,but here1 too1 despite the glow of its patriotism1 despite the life-like character of the descriptive matter1 based for the most part upon the author's own experience1 we are still conscious of a real barrier between the subject that is national and an artistic culture which is partly borrowed from the ancients and in part from the ,italians1 and which impairs its impression as a truly original epic4 77 ,the essentially new manifestations in the religious belief and actual composition of modern life originate in the principle of the ,reformation4 ,the whole tendency of this general change of outlook is1 indeed1 rather favourable to lyric and dramatic1 than epic poetry4 ,but we do find nevertheless1 even in the latter sphere1 an autumnal blossoming of the religious ,epopaea1 of which the pre-eminent examples are ,milton's ,paradise ,lost and ,klopstock's ,messias4 ,in breadth of culture1 gained through study of the ancients1 and the correct elegance of his language1 ,milton is no doubt an admirable master of his age4 ,in the profundity of his content1 in energy1 original invention and execution1 and1 above all1 in the epic objectivity of his presentment1 however1 he is in every respect inferior to ,dante4 ,for not only does the conflict and the catastrophe of ,paradise ,lost take a direction which is contrary to its dramatic character2 but1 as ,i have above incidentally observed1 it is1 in a unique way1 supported by a lyrical impulse and ethical or didactic predilections1 which lie far enough away from the subject in its original form4#ce ,i have already1 in discussing ,klopstock1 referred to a similar cleft between the material and the form1 which a particular age gives to it in its epic reflection4 ,in the case of ,klopstock1 moreover1 an endeavour is throughout apparent through a rhetoric1 which is little more than the caricature of the ,sublime1 to infuse the reader with that recognition of the worth and solemnity of his subject1 which the poet has himself experienced4 ,from a somewhat different point of view we arrive at very much the same conclusion in the case of ,voltaire's ,henriade4 ,at any rate here too the poetry is an artificial production1 and all the more so1 inasmuch as the material1 as already observed1 is not adapted to the truly primitive ,epos4 77 ,if we try to discover really epic compositions in our own day we shall find ourselves in an atmosphere totally different from that of the genuine ,epopaea4 ,the general condition of the world to-day has assumed a form1 which1 in its prosaic character1 is diametrically opposed to everything which we found indispensable to the genuine ,epos1 while the revolutions1 which have been imposed upon the actual social conditions of states and nations1 are still too strongly riveted in our memory as actual experiences that they should be able to receive an epic type of art4 ,epic poetry has consequently taken refuge from the great national events in the narrow circle of the domestic life of individuals in the country and in the small town1 striving to find here the material adapted to epic composition4 ,in this way1 more particularly among us ,germans1 the ,epic has become idyllic1 after the genuine ,idyll1 of the sweet sentimentality and wishy-washy type1 died out4 ,as an example lying close to hand of an idyllic ,epos ,i will merely mention the ,luise of ,voss1 as also and above all ,goethe's masterpiece1 ,herman and ,dorothea4 ,in the latter work we have no doubt our attention directed to the background of the greatest world-event of our age1 with which the circumstances of the innkeeper and his family1 of the pastor and the apothecary1 are directly associated4 ,and inasmuch as the little country town is not placed before us in its political relations we at once remark a gap in the narrative which is not explained or mediated by any connecting link4 ,yet it is precisely through this omission of the intermediate link that the whole keeps its unique character4 ,for with the stroke of a master ,goethe has removed the revolution into the background1 despite the fact that he has known how to make the most happy use of it in the enlargement of his poem4 ,he only interweaves such circumstances with the action as1 in their simple humanity1 connect themselves absolutely without constraint with domestic and civic conditions4 ,the main point1 therefore1 is that ,goethe in this work has succeeded in detaching from the reality of our modern life traits1 descriptions1 conditions1 and developments1 and depicting the same1 which in their province once more make that alive which contributes to the imperishable charm of those primitive human conditions of the ,odyssey and the patriarchal picture of the ,old ,testament4 ,in respect to other spheres of our present national and social life ,i would observe in conclusion that in the field of epic poetry there are practically unlimited opportunities for the romance1 the narrative1 and the novel4 ,i am1 however1 unable1 even in the most general outline1 to follow the history of these in the breadth of their development from their first appearance until the present time4 ,footnote #a3 ,die echt poetische ,abrundung4 ,not1 however1 merely literary finish1 but complete ideal totality4 ,footnote #b3 ,einem bestimmten ,tone4 ,perhaps more truly a particular strain or atmosphere4 ,but both aspects are suggested4 ,footnote #c3 ,there is a misprint here eine recht for einer echt1 and also ,i should prefer eight lines lower down die for das agreeing with ,freiheit rather than ,leben4 ,footnote #d3 ,this sentence is obviously ironical1 but the sense intended is not very clear4 ,the words die sic are clearly a misprint for die sick1 and ,i presume kindisch is not used in its more common depreciatory sense of childish4 ,i am1 however1 not very confident of my translation4 ,war es ein ,zeichen would apparently refer back to the general intention of the previous sentence1 i4e41 the attempt of ,klopstock and others to make a national book4 ,footnote #e3 ,see vol4 ,i1 pp4 #bdj-bhi1 and particularly pp4 #bgj-bhi4 ,footnote #f3 ,eine ,sittlichkeit4 ,footnote #g3 ,poet41 c4 #ad4 ,footnote #h3 ,that is to say1 that the whole remains intact in its opposition4 ,the question of international ethics is not directly considered1 though reference is here made to historical evolution in its widest sense4 ,footnote #i3 ,wrong that is inflicted on a state which is1 as a whole1 innocent4 ,footnote #aj3 ,i presume the reference is mainly to the ,united ,states4 ,hegel's sentence is so mchten diese nur den ,sieg dereinstiger ,americanischer lebendiger ,vernnftigkeit ber die ,einkerkerung in ein ins ,unendliche fortgehendes ,messen und ,particularisiren darzustellen haben4 ,it may be doubted1 perhaps1 whether he would have expressed himself with equal confidence in our own day4 ,at least the position of the ,german ,states of his own time no doubt was strongly present in his mind4 ,footnote #aa3 ,von einem anderen beschrnkt4 ,curtailed1 ,i imagine1 as a spontaneous and free power4 ,footnote #ab3 ,that is acting in subservience to eternal forces1 not directing those forces4 ,hegel conceives the event as supplying the lines of direction through which the forces are effective4 ,footnote #ac3 ,aus der ,dumpfheit des ,bewusstseyns4 ,out of the confusions of consciousness4 ,footnote #ad3 ,i have adopted the masculine gender in accordance with the text1 though of course it does not imply personality in the ordinary sense4 ,footnote #ae3 ,i suppose the meaning is that it is a purely objective panorama4 ,footnote #af3 ,seiner ,sache1 ,somewhat vague and difficult to translate4 ,it means more than his affair or business4 ,footnote #ag3 ,trauer4 ,mournfulness or gloom is perhaps better4 ,footnote #ah3 ,liv41 ,,ii1 c4 #cb4 ,footnote #ai3 ,lit41 so far as they do not emphasize essential phases in 7,momente74 ,footnote #bj3 ,i presume the allusion is to the way1 already illustrated1 the ,homeric gods do not take themselves seriously4 ,footnote #ba3 ,messias1 ,canto ,,ii1 vv1 #fbg-hej4 ,footnote #bb3 ,it is possible ,hegel means by geistige intelligible4 ,footnote #bc3 ,act ,,ii1 sc4 #f4 ,footnote #bd3 ,o1 that ,i had never shipped hither over the sea1 unhappy that ,i am6 ,vain was the fancy which befooled me to seek an empty fame in ,france2 and now a fatal destiny carries me to this bloody field of death4 ,o that ,i were far from here housed at home on the banks of the blue ,severn1 where the mother remained behind and the gentle sweet bride mourning for me4 ,footnote #be3 ,to ,death thou art decreed6 ,a ,british matron it was that conceived thee6 ,footnote #bf3 ,with vow to slay at everything alive with the sword that the fateful god of battles confronts her with4 ,footnote #bg3 ,sitte und ,settlichkeit4 ,footnote #bh3 ,that is of the ,epos4 ,footnote #bi3 ,the course of painting is similar to that of sculpture in virtue of the fact that it is wholly of one type1 viz41 romantic1 but it differs from it in being less objective and requiring more historical illustration4 ,footnote #cj3 ,substantiellen1 i4e41 an outlook which concentrates attention on the one ,divine substance1 the essence beneath the phenomenal4 ,footnote #ca3 ,i presume this is another ,persian composition1 but it may be a cult of some kind4 ,footnote #cb3 ,substantive as contrasted with phenomenal4 ,footnote #cc3 ,that is the ,iliad and ,odyssey4 ,footnote #cd3 ,what ,hegel means to say by this and the following paragraph is by no means clear4 ,he first seems to state as a fact that a rivalry may be asserted1 or at least has been asserted by others1 between the ,spanish romances and the finest ,greek and ,latin epic literature1 and then immediately afterwards denies the fact so far as the ,iliad and ,odyssey is concerned4 ,the confusion and indeed uncertainty seems to be due to the fact that while explaining the disadvantage in which the ,german work is placed as compared with the ,spanish romances1 he merely contrasts the ,homeric poems with the former4 ,what he apparently means us to infer is that the latter are as superior as the ,german work is1 at least as an ,epos1 inferior4 ,the words we moderns are apparently ironical4 ,in any case the entire passage is1 ,i think1 clearly one which needed revision1 and it is possible that the two paragraphs have been tacked together by ,hegel's editors from different connections4 ,footnote #ce3 ,as we find it1 presumably1 in ,genesis4 7,b47 ,,lyric ,,poetry ,the poetic imagination does not1 as the plastic arts do1 present the objects of its creation before our vision in an objective shape1 but only envisages them to the inward vision and emotions4 ,no doubt from the first1 relatively to certain aspects of this universal type of composition1 it is the personal quality of ideal creation and construction which pre-eminently asserts itself in the presented work1 and as such is to be contrasted with plastic construction4 ,but when epic poetry offers to our contemplation its object either in its substantive universality1 or under a mode comparable with that of sculptor and painter--in other words1 in its living presence--in that case1 at least where the art is most consummate1 the individual mind and soul of the creator involved in the creation disappears before the objective result created4 ,the above personal or subjective aspect of mind can only completely be discarded in so far as1 in the first place1 the entire world of objects and relations are essentially absorbed by it and then permitted to stand forth freely from the veiled presence of the individual consciousness1 and1 further1 in so far as the self-centred soul unbars its doors1 opens wide its ears and eyes1 extends the purely unenlightened feeling to vision and idea1 and attaches to this wealth of hidden content word and speech as the vehicle of its intimate self-expression4 ,and just in proportion as this kind of communication persists in shutting itself away from the objective manifestation of epic art1 to that extent1 and precisely for that reason1 the subjective type of poetry is bound to find its own forms1 in a province of its own1 wholly independent of the ,epos4 ,in other words1 the human spirit descends from the objectivity of the object into its own private domain2 it peers into its particular conscious life2 it endeavours to satisfy the desire to reproduce the presence and reality of that1 as displayed in soul1 in the experience of heart and reflected idea1 and in doing so to unfold the content and activity of the personal life rather than the actual presence of the external fact4 ,but1 again1 inasmuch as this expression1 if it is not simply to remain the chance expression of mere individuality#a in its immediate feeling and conception1 must assert itself in speech as the reflection of an inner life that is poetic1 all that is thus envisaged of feeling or otherwise--and however much1 too1 it may be a part of the poet's unique personality1 and be presented by him as such--must nevertheless possess a universal validity1 in other words1 it must essentially include feelings and reflections for which the art of poetry is able to discover the vital and adequate means of expression4 ,and although1 apart from this1 pain and desire1 as conceived1 described1 and expressed in speech1 may lighten the heart1 and poetic ebullition is unquestionably permissible for such a purpose1 yet its function is not restricted to such domestic service4 ,rather it has a nobler vocation1 which is not so much to liberate the human spirit from emotion1 but in the medium of the same4 ,the blind tumult of passion surges on in a union with the entire soul-life unenlightened1 unawakened to the grasp of mind4 ,in such a state the soul cannot assert itself in idea and expression4 ,it is the function of poetry no doubt to free the heart from such a prison house1 in so far as it presents that life as an object to it4 ,but it does more than this mere translation of content from the immediacy of emotional experience2 it creates therefrom an object which is purified from all mere contingency of the passing mood2 an object in which the soul-life in this deliverance returns once more to itself freely and with self-conscious satisfaction1 and remains there at home4 ,conversely1 however1 this primary objectivisation ought not to be carried to the point of a reflection that actually discloses the individual activity of the soul-life and its passions as it is carried forward in practical impulse and action2 in other words1 in the self-return of the individual upon himself in veritable deed4 ,for the most pertinent reality of our inner life is still itself an inward something1 and consequently this passage from itself can only give us the sense of deliverance from the immediate concentration of heart in its blind and formless presence1 which now unbars itself in self-expression1 and in doing so grasps and expresses what was previously merely felt in the form of a self-conscious vision and ideas4 ,and with these remarks ,i think we have determined in their essential features both the sphere and function of lyric poetry as contrasted with the epic and dramatic types4 ,as regards the more detailed examination and classification of our new subject-matter1 we cannot do better than follow the course previously adopted in our examination of epic poetry4 ,first1 we have to discuss the general character of lyric composition4 ,secondly1 we shall consider the particular characteristics which make the lyric work of art and the types of the same worthy of attention in their more direct relation to the lyric poet4 ,thirdly1 we shall conclude the survey with a few remarks upon the historical development of this class of poetic work4 ,generally ,i may remark that this survey will be extremely restricted1 and for two reasons--first1 because ,i am compelled to reserve the necessary space for the discussion of the dramatic field2 secondly1 because ,i must limit myself exclusively to general considerations1 inasmuch as the detail embraced by it possesses far more incalculable resources of manifold complexity than in the case of the ,epos1 and could only be treated in greater fulness and completeness if viewed historically1 which is not within the aim of the present work4 ,i4 ,,general ,,character ,,of ,,the ,,lyric4 ,in the stimulus of epic poetry is the desire to hear the thing or matter which is unfolded on its own account1 and independently of the poet1#b as an objective and essentially exclusive totality4 ,in the lyric1 on the contrary1 it is the converse need which finds its satisfaction in self-expression and the coming to a knowledge of the soul in this expression of itself4 ,with regard to the nature of this effusion1#c we may enumerate its most important constituents as follows3 ,first1 there is the content in which soul-life is aware of itself and reflects itself in idea4 ,secondly1 there is the form1 in virtue of which the expression of this content becomes lyric poetry4 ,thirdly1 there is the stage of conscious life and culture from which the person thus lyrically viewed discloses his feelings and ideas4 7a7 ,the content of the lyric work of art cannot comprise the development of an objective action in its possibilities of expansion into all the breadth and wealth of a world4 ,it is the single person1 and along with him the isolated fact of situation and objects1 no less than the mode and manner in which the soul is made aware of itself in such content1 with its private judgments1 its joy1 its wonder1 its pain1 and its feeling1 which it presents to our vision4 ,through this principle of division and particularity1 as present in the ,lyric1 the content may be of the greatest variety1 associated with every tendency of national life4 ,there is1 however1 this essential distinction1 that whereas the ,epos combines in one and the same work the spirit of a people in all its breadth1 and in its actual deed and fashion1 the more definite content of lyrical poetry limits itself to one particular aspect1 or at least is unable successfully to attain to the explicit completeness and exposition which the ,epos ought at least to possess4 ,the entire wealth of lyrical poetry in a nation may1 therefore1 no doubt embrace the collective exuberance of national interest1 idea1 and purpose2 but it is not the single lyrical poem that can do this4 ,the ,lyric is not called upon to produce ,bibles such as we have discovered in ,epic poetry4 ,it does1 however1 enjoy the advantage of being able to touch upon every conceivable aspect of national development2 whereas the true ,epos is limited to distinct epochs of a primitive age1 and its success in our more recent times of prosaic culture is very jejune4 77 ,within this field of particularization we have1 to start with1 the universal as such--the supreme height and depth of human belief1 imagination1 and knowledge--the essential content of religion1 art1 ay1 even of scientific thought1 in so far as the same is adaptable to the form of imagination and creation1 and can enter the sphere of emotions4 ,consequently general opinions1 what is of permanent substance in a view of the world1 the profounder grasp of far-reaching social conditions are all not excluded from the ,lyric2 and a considerable part of the material ,i have referred to#d when discussing the more incomplete types of the ,epic falls rightly1 and with pertinency into the sphere now under review4 77 ,and along with such essentially universal topics we have associated the aspect of particularity1 which can be so interwoven with what is thus substantive that any specific situation1 feeling1 or idea is thereby seized in its profounder significance and expressed in a way wholly accordant thereto4 ,this is1 for example1 almost always the case in ,schiller's lyrical work1 as also in his ballads2 in this connection ,i will merely recall the superb description of the ,eumenides chorus in the ,cranes of ,ibicus1 which is neither dramatic nor epic1 but lyrical4 ,from a further point of view we may have this combination so asserted that a variety of particular traits1 moods1 occurrences are introduced by way of testimony to comprehensive views and maxims1 interlaced in vital coalescence by virtue of the general principle4 ,this style of writing is frequently employed in the elegy and epistle1 and generally in reflections upon life of a comprehensive character4 77 ,in conclusion1 inasmuch as in lyrical composition what is self-expressed is the individual person1 a content1 which is extremely slight1 will primarily suffice for this purpose4 ,it is1 in other words1 the soul itself1 subjective life simply1 which is the true content4 ,the emphasis is therefore throughout upon the animation of feeling1 rather than upon the more immediate object4 ,the most fleeting moods of the moment1 the overjoyment of the heart1 the swiftly passing gleams or clouds of careless merriment and jest1 sorrow1 melancholy1 and complaint1 in a word1 all and every phase of emotion are here seized in their momentary movement or isolated occurrence1 and rendered permanent in their expression4 ,what we find here in the domain of poetry may be paralleled with what ,i previously referred to when describing genre paintings4 ,the content1 the subject-matter1 is here the wholly contingent1 and what is over and above this important is exclusively the character of the individual conception and mode of presentment1 the charm of which in the ,lyric will either consist in the aroma of exquisite feeling1 or in the novelty of arresting points of view1 and the genial suggestion of literary phrases and turns which surprise4 7b7 ,in the second place we may observe in general with respect to the form1 wherein the ,lyric is composed1 that here too it is the individual person1 in the intimacy of his ideas or emotion that constitutes the focal centre4 ,the growth of the whole is rooted in the heart and temperament2 it starts1 to be more precise1 from a particular mood and situation of the poet4 ,by virtue of this fact the content and conjunction of the particular aspects of its growth are not inferred from it objectively as a substantively independent content1 or from its external manifestation as some really self-exclusive event1 but are borrowed from the individual subject as such4 ,but for this reason it is essential that the individual in question should himself appear poetical1 rich in fancy and feeling1 or imposing and profound in his views and reflections1 and above all should be essentially independent1 the possessor of a unique ideal world1 from which the servility and caprice of a prosaic nature is excluded4 ,the lyric poem1 then1 retains a mode of unity wholly different from that of the ,epos1 in other words1 the mysterious intimacy of the mood or reflection1 which expatiates upon itself1 mirrors itself in the objective world1 describes itself1 or concerns itself as it wills with any other matter1 always1 however1 retaining the right in the pursuit of such an interest to begin and break off very much as it pleases4 ,horace1 for instance1 very frequently comes to a stop at the very point1 where1 in the commonplace view of its literary treatment1 we might suppose he had only just started with his subject4 ,in other words1 what he describes is simply his feelings1 commands or arrangements for a banquet1 say1 without giving us further information as to how it went off4 ,in the same way we have every conceivable mode of progression and combination supplied by the nature of the mood1 the actual condition of the individual soul-life1 the degree of passion1 its excitement or rapid transition of conflicting emotion1 or the tranquillity of the heart or the mind in some long-drawn process of contemplation4 ,as a rule1 in respect to all such subject-matter1 we are able to determine very little that is fixed1 owing to the repeated changes in the ever varied facets of the soul4 ,i will therefore restrict myself to a few salient points of distinction4 77 ,just as we met with several specific kinds of epic poetry which showed a tendency to adopt a lyric vein of expression1 so1 too1 the ,lyric may accept as its subject-matter and its form an occurrence1 which1 so far as content and external appearance are concerned1 are epic1 and to this extent it will approximate to the latter type4 ,heroic songs1 romances1 and ballads belong to such a class4 ,the form of the whole is in such examples narrative1 inasmuch as it is the progressive advance of a situation or event1 as among other instances1 a particular direction in the fate of a nation1 which is communicated4 ,and yet at the same time the fundamental temper is wholly lyric1 inasmuch as the main object is not to give us a description and representation of the actual fact apart from all relation to the narrator1 but rather to disclose his personal attitude to it in the way he conceives and feels it1 whether with delight or complaint1 whether as a stimulus to good or depressed spirits1 the mood in short that rings throughout it4 ,and similarly the nature of the impression which the poet endeavours to produce thereby is entirely that of the province of the lyric4 ,in other words1 what the poet seeks to effect in his audience is precisely that state of emotion1 which the recounted event has produced in himself1 and which he therefore has attached to his composition4 ,he expresses his dejection1 mourning1 merriment1 his fire of patriotism1 and so forth1 in an appropriate occurrence in such a way that it is not this fact so much which contributes1 as it were1 the focus1 but rather the state of his emotional life we find reflected therein4 ,and for this reason he1 above all emphasizes those traits1 and depicts the same with feeling1 which are in accord with his own personal impulses2 and in the degree of vivacity with which these are expressed by them the same feelings are likely to be excited in his audience4 ,and thus1 though the content may be epic1 the treatment is lyrical4 77 ,to come yet more directly to detail there is1 first1 the example of the epigram1 in such a case where it is not merely an inscription which states concisely the bald nature of some fact1 but further associates with this an emotional state2 where1 in short1 the content1 regarded as the bare statement of external fact1 is merged in a condition of the soul4 ,in other words1 the writer here ceases to surrender himself wholly to the object3 rather he makes his own personality expressive in it2 he records his desires with regard to it2 he attaches to it his own sportive fancies1 his acute or unexpected suggestions and associations4 ,the ,greek ,anthology contains many such witty epigrams which have lost the epic manner4 ,in more recent times we find similar examples in the piquante couplets of the ,french1 abundantly illustrated in their ,vaudevilles4 ,we ,germans have much the same thing in our didactic distiches1 ,xenien1 and the like4 ,even tomb inscriptions frequently approximate to this lyrical character in virtue of the strong emotions expressed4 77 ,in much the same way the ,lyric accepts a wider range in descriptive narrative4 ,i will merely mention1 as a composition of this class1 the romance4 ,it is the most obvious and simple form of it1 in so far that is as it isolates the different scenes of an event1 and then depicts rapidly and with the full force of their most important characteristics each on its own account1 in descriptions marked throughout by sympathetic feeling4 ,such a consistent and well-defined grasp of the characteristic features of a situation1 together with an emphatic assertion of the writer's absolute sympathy with his subject1 is above all nobly represented in ,spanish literature and makes such romances strikingly impressive4 ,a peculiar clarity of atmosphere surrounds these lyrical representations which rather identifies them with the clear-cut definition of objective vision1 than with the ideal world of the imagination4 77 ,the class of the ballad1 in contrast to the above1 includes for the most part1 if in less degree than the truly epic poem1 the completeness of an independent event1 whose reflection1 of course1 it merely embodies in the most conspicuous of its phases1 while it seeks at the same time to give full1 if concentrated and ideal emphasis1 to the depth of the sentiment with which it is throughout interwoven1 and therein the plaint1 dejection1 joy1 and so forth1 of the soul4 ,english literature above all contains many such poetic compositions in the early and more primitive epoch of its history2 and1 generally1 popular poetry delights in the narration of such histories and collisions1 usually unfortunate1 with a true and emotional emphasis calculated to make both heart and voice thrill and falter with anguish4 ,but in more recent times also among ourselves ,brger and1 most famous of all1 ,goethe and ,schiller1 have composed masterpieces in this field2 ,brger in virtue of his sombre tone of navet2 ,goethe through the impeccable clarity of his emotional1 no less than imaginative vision1 which forms the lyrical thread throughout2 and ,schiller1 on account of his superb emotional emphasis on the fundamental thought which he seeks1 in a wholly lyrical manner1 to express under the form of an event1 in order thereby to affect the hearts of his readers with a similar lyric movement of feeling and contemplation4 77 ,the purely personal element of lyric poetry is rightly emphasized in those cases1 when the fact of a given situation is taken by the poet as an effective means of expressing his own individuality therein4 ,such is the case in the so-called poems d'occasion4 ,so far back as the poems of ,callinus and ,tyrtaeus we find elegies of battle based on conditions regarded as real1 which are made the stimulus of a personal enthusiasm1 albeit the poet's own individuality1 his purely private affections and feelings1 are as yet not so much in evidence4 ,the ,pindaric ,odes also bring to light in their panegyrics of particular contests1 victors1 and circumstances1 a vein or impulse that is more private2 and yet more in some of the odes of ,horace we mark a definitely personal motive1 or rather expressed thought to the effect1 ,i will as myself a man of culture and fame1 write a poem on this subject4 ,but the best illustration of all we have in our own ,goethe1 whose partiality for such a style was due to the fact that he discovered a poem in every incident of his life4 77 ,if1 however1 the lyric work of art is to be divested of all dependence of external occasion and purpose1 that may be implied in it1 and to be composed as a self-subsistent whole on its own account1 it is obviously essential that the poet also only make use of such external stimulus as an opportunity to express himself1 his mood1 delight1 sorrow1 or modes of thought and reflection generally4 ,the condition of most importance to such an intimate mode of personal expression consists in the poet's ability to absorb the real content absolutely1 converting it thereby into his own possession4 ,the true lyric poet lives a life of introspection1 he grasps relations in the light of his poetic individuality2 and1 however in varied fashion his inner life may be blended with the world around him1 in its conditions and destiny1 what he presents to us exclusively in such material is the unique and independent animation of his own emotions and observations4 ,when1 to take our former example1 ,pindar was invited to celebrate a victor of the ,hellenic games1 or undertakes this uninvited1 he made himself so entirely master of his subject-matter1 that his composition no longer so much appears a poem on the victor as an effusion of song created from his own resources4 77 ,if we consider more closely the manner of presentment of such a poem d'occasion1 we shall1 no doubt1 be ready to admit that the same can to a real extent borrow its more defined material and character1 no less than its conceived organization as an artistic work1 from the actual features of the occurrence or individual which constitute its content4 ,it is1 in fact1 precisely from this content that the emotional movement of the poet proceeds4 ,as the most illuminating1 though an extreme example1 ,i will merely mention ,schiller's ,song of the ,bell1 which makes out of the varied stages of bell-foundry the significant and arresting moments in the composition of the entire poem1 and only subject to this introduces the emotional element relevant thereto1 as also the various observations upon human life and the description of its conditions4 ,in a somewhat different manner1 too1 ,pindar makes use of the place of birth of the victor1 the exploits of the family to which he belongs1 or other relations of life as an opportunity in his own person to exalt certain gods to the exclusion of others1 or to mention these particular exploits and results alone1 or to emphasize exclusively the observations or maxims he has interpolated4 ,from a further point of view1 however1 the lyric poet is absolutely free1 inasmuch as it is not the external occasion as such1 but rather the poet's own soul-life which is here the subject2 and consequently it entirely depends on the particular views of the poet and the character of his general mood1 what aspects of the subject-matter and in what threads of connection and sequence they shall be composed4 ,in other words1 we are unable to predict decisively and a priori the degree in which the objective occasion with its given content1 or the purely personal factor of poet1 shall be predominant1 or whether both aspects shall on equal terms coalesce4 77 ,furthermore1 it is not the incentive and its positive reality1 but the ideal movement and conception of the individual soul which supplies the focus of unity4 ,the particular mood or general review1 which is aroused poetically by the occasion1 these constitute the centre1 radiating from which not merely the colour of the whole1 but also the embrace of the particular features unfolded1 the very mode of the execution and construction1 and therewith the build and coalescence of the poem as a work of art are determined4 ,in this way1 to return to our previous example1 ,pindar possesses in the life-conditions of his victors a genuine core of reality for differentiation or amplification4 ,in the particular poems1 however1 which he has written it is invariably other points of view1 another mood altogether1 whether it be of warning1 comfort1 or exaltation1 which he makes most pervasive1 and which1 although such exclusively belong to the poet in his creative capacity1 do none the less give him precisely that grasp of all he wishes to touch upon1 execute1 and hand to posterity in those historical facts1 while unfolding therewith the illuminating and constructive power of genius1 without which he would fail to secure the lyric effect intended4 77 ,but1 thirdly1 it is not absolutely necessary for the genuine lyrical poet to start from the external occurrence1 which he recounts in a medium rich with emotion1 or1 indeed1 from any such objectively real stimulus of his efforts4 ,he is1 let us repeat1 a truly exclusive world in himself4 ,he may find there both the original incentive and content1 and consequently go no further than this ideal world of condition1 event1 and passion discovered in his own heart and soul4 ,this is that domain in which man becomes1 in virtue of his private inner life1 himself the work of art2 while the epic poet avails himself exclusively of the hero and his exploits and experiences for this purpose4 77 ,and yet in this field1 too1 an element of narrative may enter1 where1 as in the case of the songs of ,anacreon1 bright little pictures of adventure with ,eros and the like receive the finish of delightful miniatures4 ,such an event1 however1 must obviously rather resemble the unveiling of a condition of personal soul-life4 ,in a somewhat different mode of the same thing ,horace1 in his ,integer vit makes use of the fact of his meeting a wolf1 not to the extent that we can1 therefore1 call his poem the verse d'occasion1 but rather regarding this fact as the prompting force of his first sentence and the serenity of the feelings of affection with which he concludes4 77 ,as a rule we may also observe that the situation under which the poet depicts himself should not restrict itself merely to the inner personal life as such4 ,it must rather attest itself as concrete1 and thereby we may even say external totality4 ,the poet1 in short1 reveals himself not merely in that inward personal life1 but as one of the objects of the external world4 ,in the example just cited of the ,anacreon odes the poet depicts himself among roses1 fair maidens1 and youths in the merry enjoyment of wine and dance1 without regret or yearning1 without obligation1 and yet without dislike of loftier aims1 which1 indeed1 are not present at all2 reveals himself rather as a hero1 who freely and without reserve1 and consequently without hesitation or loss1 is just this unity1 is what he is1 a man of his own type1 and figures as such in this intimate artistic presentment4 ,in the love-songs of ,hafis also we may observe the entire vital individuality of the poet in all its changes of content1 pose1 and an expression which approaches close to self-conscious humour4 ,and yet his poetry is without any specific theme1 any objective picture1 any god1 or mythology2 or1 rather1 when we peruse these light-hearted ebullitions1 one feels as though it would be impossible for the ,oriental to possess any such definite picture and constructive art4 ,he passes easily from one object to another2 he takes his walks abroad1 but it is a scene in which the entire man1 with his wine1 his damsels1 his court-life1 and all the rest of it1 is placed before us with delightful unreserve1 without passion or self-seeking in the simplicity of his enjoyment eye to eye and soul to soul4 ,improvisations of this type adapt themselves in the most various ways not merely to a reflection of the soul-life1 but also to external condition4 ,if1 however1 the poet is absorbed in his own individual experience1 we are not so much concerned to hear his particular fancies1 love affairs1 domestic arrangements1 and the history of his uncles and aunts4 ,we are so invited1 for instance1 in ,klopstock's ,eidli and ,fanny1 as to nave some vision given us of what is of universal human interest1 in order that our sympathies may be roused4 ,from this point of view1 therefore1 such lyrical poetry can readily degenerate into the spurious assumption that what is essentially private and particular must necessarily awaken interest4 ,on the contrary1 it would be no incorrect description of many songs of ,goethe if we called them ,songs of ,comradeship1 although they are not exactly executed by the poet under such a category4 ,in other words1 it is not so much himself that a man offers in society2 rather he places his particularity in the background1 and converses with the help of something else1 whether it be a story or an anecdote1 seizing its specific features in some particular mood1 and communicating them agreeably to such a temper4 ,in a case like this it is not exactly the poet1 and yet it is himself for all that4 ,it is not himself he gives us1 but something else as best he can4 ,he is1 in short1 an actor1 who runs through an infinite variety of parts4 ,first he lingers on this1 then on that2 he reviews momentarily a scene1 then maybe a group of people4 ,but whatever he may endeavour to reproduce1 it is throughout his individual artistic soul-life1 his own experience1 his own feeling1 which is vitally interwoven with it4 77 ,but1 further1 in so far as the individuality of self-conscious life is the true source of the ,lyric1 the poet is justified in limiting his expression to his own moods and reflections without any further combination of them in a concrete situation that includes a truly objective character4 ,it is in this direction that examples of what is little more than an empty fluting for fluting's sake1 the song and trill simply on its own account1 will yet give us genuine lyrical satisfaction4 ,in such the words are to a more or less extent merely the vehicle of cheerfulness or sorrow1 whose effect1 moreover1 very readily serves as an invitation to musical accompaniment4 ,folk-songs especially very often amount to little more than this4 ,in the songs of ,goethe1 too1 though we may no doubt discover here a more defined and abundant mode of expression1 it is not unfrequently simply a single and transitory bit of merriment that is vouchsafed1 a passing mood that the poet does not attempt to throw aside1 but on the tune of which he pipes for a moment in his tiny song4 ,in others1 of course1 his treatment of similar moods is on a larger scale1 even systematic1 as1 for instance1 in the poem3 ,ich hab mein ,sach' auf nichts gestellt1 in which the poet passes before us as things that come and vanish1 first1 money and property1 then women1 travel1 fame1 honour1 and1 last of all1 fight and war1 retaining throughout as the ever-recurring refrain of stability his own free and careless cheerfulness4 ,conversely1 however1 the intimate individual life may from the same point of view grow in depth and expansion1 in conditions of the soul of the most imposing proportions and ideas that embrace the world itself4 ,a considerable number of ,schiller's poems are of this type4 ,what is great1 what opens to intelligence1 this is the incentive of his heart4 ,but he will neither celebrate in hymn fashion a religious or otherwise profound subject2 nor will he be the minstrel who looks for inspiration without him to the pertinent fact or occasion4 ,he sings in the presence of1 and inspired by1 his own soul-life1 the highest interest of which are the ideals of life1 beauty1 and the imperishable claims and thoughts of our humanity4 7c7 ,there is a third consideration we have to deal with in connection with the general character of lyric poetry4 ,it is the nature of the general stage of human development and culture from which the isolated poem originates4 ,in this respect1 too1 the ,lyric occupies a position which is to be contrasted with ,epic poetry4 ,in other words1 while we regarded as necessary for the full bloom of the true ,epos a phase in the nation's growth which was1 speaking generally1 undeveloped1 at least in the sense that it had not ripened in the prosaic acceptance of its actual life1 the times which favour most of all lyrical composition are those which already are in possession of a more or less fixed organization of social condition4 ,it is in such a period that the individual seeks a reflection of his intimate personal life in contrast to this outer world1 creating from it and within its limits an independent whole of emotion and idea4 ,for in the ,lyric it is not1 we repeat1 the objective solidarity and individual action1 but the individual person as self-conscious life which supplies both content and form4 ,this1 however1 must not be understood in such a way as though the individual1 in order to express himself in lyrical form1 must perforce disjoin himself from every connection with national interests and the opinions1 and with rigid and exclusive severity remain as he stands4 ,on the contrary1 with such an abstract self-subsistency we should only have left us for content the wholly contingent and particular passion1 the mere caprice of concupiscence and affection1 false idiosyncrasies and distorted originality would have unlimited opportunities4 ,genuine lyrical poetry1 like all other poetry1 has no doubt to express the content of the human heart in its truth4 ,yet none the less1 regarded as the content of the ,lyric1 what is most a matter of fact and substantial must appear absorbed in personal feeling1 vision1 imagination1 and thought4 ,and1 in the second place1 the question here is not so much simply expression of the personal inner life1 is not so much concerned with a primary and direct statement in the epic fashion1 what the facts are1 as with an expression of the poetical nature in a manner both artistically fruitful and wholly different from chance and ordinary modes4 ,it follows that the ,lyric requires1 precisely on account of the fact that the concentrated life of the heart unfolds itself in manifold feelings and comprehensive views1 and the individual is conscious of the poetry of his most intimate life as nested in a world that is already more prosaically organized--an artistic culture already secured1 which must assert itself as the flower and independent product of the individual's natural endowment thus trained to a perfect result4 ,for these reasons the ,lyric is not limited to particular epochs of the spiritual development of a people1 but is the rich blossom of the most varied4 ,to an exceptional degree is it favoured in more recent times1 in which everybody is entitled to have and express his own views and emotions4 ,i will1 however1 draw attention1 in the interest of really important distinction1 to the following general considerations4 7a7 ,in the first place1 we have the type of lyrical expression peculiar to folk-songs4 77 ,in these above all we have witness to the varied and distinct qualities of national character4 ,it is on account of this1 and consonant with the widely-prevailing curiosity of our generation1 that great efforts are made to collect folk-songs of every kind1 in order to increase our acquaintance with the peculiarities of every national spirit1 and therewith our sympathies and vital contact with such4 ,already ,herder has done much in this direction4 ,goethe1 too1 with the help of his own more independent imitations1 has materially assisted an approach to very different examples of this style of poetry4 ,complete sympathy is1 however1 only possible for the songs of one's own people2 and however much we ,germans are able to make ourselves at home in the work of foreign lands1 the fact remains that the ultimate aroma in song#e of the intimate life of another folk can only appear as alien1 that we shall only catch the echo of the tone of feeling that truly belongs to it1 with the assistance of a more native reflection of its content4#f ,this ,goethe has imported into his songs of a foreign subject-matter1 stamped as they are with the finest sympathy and beauty4 ,we may take as an example the lament of the noble spouse of ,asan ,aga1 imitated from the ,icelandic--only so far as to retain throughout the unique spirit of such poems unimpaired4 77 ,the general character of the lyrical folk-song is comparable to the primitive ,epos in virtue of the fact that here too the poet does not make himself his subject-matter1 but is absorbed in his selected material4 ,although1 therefore1 intensity of soul in its extreme concentration may express itself in the folk-song1 it is nevertheless not a single person with the artistic expression of whose private experience we are made acquainted4 ,it is rather a national state of feeling1 which the author completely assimilates1 in so far as it possesses1 when taken by itself1 no intimate form of idea or feeling wholly independent of the nation's existence and interests4 ,and a condition is necessary1 as the presupposition for such an inseparable union1 in which independent personal reflection and culture is not yet awakened1 so that the poet is simply in his creative capacity merely the vehicle in the background1 by means of whom the national life is expressed in its lyrical emotion and general outlook4 ,this directly primitive character no doubt communicates to the folk-song an unconscious freshness of downright grasp and striking veracity1 which is often very effective2 but it receives thereby along with it very readily a fragmentary appearance2 it is defective in the continuity of its exposition1 which may amount to actual obscurity4 ,the feeling dives into depth1 but cannot and will not attain to full utterance4 ,moreover1 as before observed1 what is absent from such a point of view throughout1 however much the form in general is wholly lyric1 in other words subjective1 is just the lyrical individuality1 which expresses this form and its content as the possession of its own heart and mind1 and the creation of its own artistic resources4 77 ,peoples1 therefore1 which confine themselves to poetry of this type1 and do not combine such composition with that of the further stages of lyrical1 epic1 or dramatic work1 are as a rule in great measure barbarous nations1 uncultured1 characterized by transitory feud and catastrophes4 ,if they themselves1 in such heroic ages1 really combined to form a truly pregnant whole1 whose particular aspects were already fused together in an independent and withal harmonious objective union1 which could supply the ground for essentially concrete and individually distinct exploits1 we should find in them1 along with such primitive poetry1 epic poets as well4 ,the condition1 out of which such songs assert themselves as the single and ultimate mode of poetic expression1 is therefore rather limited to the field of family life and the association of clans1 without any further organization such as belongs already to the riper perfection of the heroic community4 ,if we are reminded here and there of national exploits1 such are for the most part conflicts waged against foreign aggressors1 expeditions of pillage1 reprisals of savagery with savagery1 or deeds of one individual against another in the same people1 in the narration of which lament and dejection or ecstatic jubilation over one conqueror after another1 are the moods throughout prevailing4 ,the national life as it actually is1 as yet unfolded in its wholly free development1 is relegated to the background in contrast with the world of more personal feeling1 which also1 on its own account1 betrays an immaturity2 and1 however much thereby we gain in concentration of effect1 the result only too frequently remains1 so far as content is concerned1 rude and barbarous4 ,the question then1 whether folk-songs should possess for us a poetic interest1 or on the contrary repel us to some extent1 depends on the kind of situation and emotion they portray4 ,that which appears admirable to the imagination of one people1 will readily strike another as wanting in taste1 horrible1 and offensive4 ,there is1 for example1 a folk-song which tells us the story of a wife who was immured at the command of her husband1 and all that her plea for mercy could effect was that apertures should be left open for her breasts1 in order that she might suckle her child2 we are told that she remained alive until her child was weaned4 ,this is a barbarous and frightful situation4 ,and in the same way tales of robbery1 exploits of the bluster or sheer savagery of individuals1 possess nothing in them in which alien peoples of a higher culture can sympathize4 ,folksongs1 consequently1 very often run into great detail as to the quality of which there is no fixed standard of comparison1 because such is too far removed from our common humanity4 ,when we consequently1 in more recent times1 are made acquainted with the songs of the ,iroquois1 the ,esquimaux1 and other wild nationalities1 the circle of a true poetic enjoyment is in no wise thereby enlarged4 77 ,further1 inasmuch as the ,lyric is the entire expression of the inward life of ,spirit1 it can neither restrict itself to the mode of expression nor the content of the genuine folksong1 or of later poems composed in a similar spirit4 77 ,in other words1 on the one hand1 it is of essential importance1 as already remarked1 that the wholly self-absorbed soul should detach itself from this absolute concentration and its direct introspection1 and should pass on instead to the free grasp of itself which1 in the conditions above described1 is only incompletely the case4 ,on the other1 it is necessary that it should expand in a world abundant in ideas1 passions1 varied conditions1 and conflicts1 in order to endow with ideal expression everything that the human heart is essentially able to apprehend1 and then communicate as the birth of its own spirit4 ,for the collective wealth of lyrical poetry should express in poetic form all that the inner life comprises1 so far as the same can pass into poetry1 and therefore finds itself at home alike in all phases of spiritual culture4 77 ,and1 secondly1 with the advent of a free self-consciousness is bound up the freedom of an assured art of its own4 ,the folk-song sings forth1 just as any natural song1 straight from the heart4 ,a free art1 however1 is aware of itself2 it requires a knowledge and desire of that which it produces2 and requires culture to promote this knowledge1 as also an executive power1 which is expert in the finest composition4 ,when1 consequently1 genuine epic poetry has to conceal the individual creative power of the poet1 or rather it lies with the entire character of the age of its origin that such should not yet be visible1 this result is merely because of the fact that the ,epos deals with the nation's positive existence rather than that which issues from the personal life of the poet himself1 and that it is not present in poetry in such a close personal relation1 but rather appears as a self-evolved product essentially independent4 ,in lyrical poetry1 on the contrary1 the creative activity no less than the content are inseparable from the inner life1 and are bound to declare themselves as such in actual fact4 77 ,in this respect1 later forms of lyric art are expressly distinguishable from the folk-song4 ,there are1 no doubt1 folk-songs which originate contemporaneously with the works of a genuine lyrical art4 ,these latter1 however1 belong to a range and type of individuals such as--far from participating in more modern stages of artistic culture--are1 in the entire nature of their general outlook1 not yet liberated from the immediate popular sense4 ,we must1 however1 not regard this distinction between the ,lyric of the folk-song and the artistic poem as though it was only when reflection and the artistic consciousness1 in union with deliberate executive ability1 appear with all the elegance of such a union1 that the ,lyric attains to its perfection4 ,such a notion would really amount to this--that a ,horace1 for instance1 and the ,roman lyric poets generally1 were to be reckoned among the finest writers of this type1 or even in their own range that the ,master ,singers were preferable to the preceding epoch of the genuine ,minnesong4 ,such an extreme deduction from our previous statement is not justified4 ,what we ought to conclude is this1 that individual imagination and art directed to the service of this very self-consistent personal life1 which in fact constitutes its principle1 presupposes also1 for the basis of their true perfection1 a free and self-trained recognition of imaginative idea no less than artistic activity4 77 ,we have our final phase of composition to distinguish from those already discussed4 ,the folk-song appears before the true elaboration of a prosaically organized condition of actual conscious life4 ,lyric poetry of the truly artistic type1 on the other hand1 wrests itself away from the prosaic coordination which surrounds it1 and creates from the poet's imagination1 in its acquired independence1 a new poetic world of inward observation and emotion1 by means of which1 for the first time1 the true content and type of expression truly adequate to the human soul1 as seen from within1 becomes the object of vital art4 ,there is1 however1 over and above this1 a form of intelligence which1 from this point of view1 stands in a more exalted position than the imagination of the emotional or conceptive life1 inasmuch as it is able1 with more penetrative universality and more necessary coalescence to bring its content before our free cognition than is ever possible to art4 ,this is philosophical thought4 ,conversely1 however1 this form is attached to the abstract condition of being exclusively evolved in the medium of thought1 posited as wholly ideal universality2 and1 in consequence1 the concrete man may find himself also constrained to express the content and the results of his philosophical consciousness in a concrete way1 that is1 as permeated by his temperament and sensuous perception1 his imagination and feeling1 in order thereby to possess and exhaust the absolute expression of all that engages either soul or intellect4 ,from such a standpoint we may distinguish between two principal types of conceptive activity4 ,it may1 in short1 either be the imagination which1 straining beyond its own domain1 struggles with the movement of pure thinking1 without successfully attaining the clarity and secured exactness of philosophical exposition4 ,in this case the ,lyric is for the most part the ebullition of a soul engaged in strife and contention1 which in its fermentation does violence both to art and abstract thought4 ,it transgresses one province without the ability to make itself at home in another4 ,or we may find that it is rather the tranquil movement of philosophical thought in its essential medium1 which may seek to animate its clearly grasped and systematically developed thoughts with emotion1 to make them perceptible to sensuous apprehension1 and to exchange the explicit scientific process and sequence in its causal necessity for that free play of particular aspects1 beneath the apparently loose connection of which art is the more compelled to conceal their ideal bonds of association in proportion as it is disinclined to narrow itself to the jejune style of purely didactic exposition4 ,as an illustration of this latter tendency1 we may point to many of ,schiller's poems4 #b4 ,,particular ,,aspects ,,of ,,lyrical ,,poetry ,having thus considered the general character of the content of lyric poetry1 and the mode of its expression1 as also the varied grades of culture which are more or less consonant with its fundamental principle1 it will be our further task to examine these general points of view more nearly in the detail of their more important features and relations4 ,here1 too1 ,i ought at starting once again to emphasize the distinction which obtains between epic and lyrical poetry4 ,in our consideration of the former we directed our attention above all to the primitive national ,epos1 and merely referred incidentally to the inadequate collateral branches1 as also to the poet in his creative capacity4 ,this we are unable to do in the case of the type under discussion4 ,on the contrary1 we shall find that subjects of the greatest importance invite our review as respects the individual creative power2 and1 on the other hand1 in respect to the classification of the several types in which lyrical poetry1 whose general principle it is to disintegrate and isolate the content and its configurations1 is respectively differentiated4 ,we may define the subsequent course of our investigation as follows3 ,first1 our attention will be directed to the lyrical poet himself4 ,secondly1 we propose to examine the lyrical work of art as the creation of the individual poet's imagination4 ,thirdly1 we shall classify the types which are deducible from the general notion of lyrical composition4 7a7 ,the ,lyric ,poet 77 ,now the content of the ,lyric embraces1 as we have seen1 first1 a type of contemplation1 which connects the universal quality of determinate being with its conditions1 and1 secondly1 the manifold character of its detailed aspects4 ,regarded1 however1 as pure generalizations and particular points of view of emotional condition these constituents1 both of them1 are nothing more than abstractions4 ,in order that these may acquire a vital lyrical individuality1 a principle of combination is necessary which can only be of an ideal1 in other words really personal#g character4 ,consequently the creatively concrete person1 the poet himself1 must be further presupposed as the focus and in fact realized content of lyrical poetry4 ,he must be there1 however1 in a form which is not carried to the point of definitive act and deed1 or to that of the evolved movement of dramatic conflicts4 ,his exclusive expression and activity is on the contrary restricted to the fact that he endows his inner experience with an articulate speech such as portrays the spiritual significance of himself as subject in his self-expression1 whatever the material selected may be1 and endeavours to arouse in and keep the hearer alive to the like meaning and spirit1 the same soul-state1 the similar course of reflection4 77 ,but1 furthermore1 the expression cannot rest alone in this result1 however successful1 in so far as it is for others a free overflooding of buoyant delight1 or the resolution and reconciliation of grief in song and lyric1 or the yet profounder impulse1 which issues in the most serious emotions of heart and the most far-reaching views of intelligence4 ,the man who sings and can write poetry has a necessary vocation thereto4 ,he composes because he cannot do otherwise4 ,at the same time the external incentive1 the direct invitation and the like are by no means excluded4 ,the great lyric poet1 however1 in such a case soon swerves aside from such an external stimulus4 ,his supreme object is himself4 ,to take the example once more to which we have constantly recurred1 ,pindar was frequently invited to celebrate this or that laurel-crowned victor1 nay1 he frequently accepted payment therefor2 and yet1 for all that1 it is he himself1 the minstrel1 who changes places with his hero4 ,he combines freely his own unfettered imagination with his praise of the exploits of ancestors1 or it maybe his memory of myths2 or1 when he gives voice to his profound views of life1 of wealth1 of mastery1 of all that is great and deserving1 of the supremacy and loveliness of the ,muses1 and above all of the high vocation of the singer4 ,it is not so much the hero in the renown that he spreads far and wide1 that he honours in his poems4 ,we are invited to listen to him1 the poet4 ,the honour is not to him in that he celebrates the victor1 but rather to the victor that he is celebrated by ,pindar4 ,and it is this emphatic personal sense of greatness which constitutes the nobility of the lyric poet4 ,homer1 as an individual person1 is in his ,epos so entirely sacrificed that people nowadays are loth to admit that he ever existed at all4 ,his heroes live on for ever4 ,pindar's heroes are for us little better than empty names4 ,he himself1 however1 the self-celebrated and self-honoured1 remains before us immortal as the poet4 ,the fame which his heroes claim is merely an appanage to that of the lyric singer4 ,even among the ,romans the lyric poet to some extent aspires to such an independent position4 ,suetonius tells us1 for instance1 that ,augustus wrote these works to ,horace2 an vereris1 ne apud posteros tibi infame sit1 quod videaris familiaris nobis esse4 ,horace1 however1 with the exception of those times1 easily demonstrable1 where he writes in an ex officio manner of ,augustus1 betrays for the most part a precisely similar proud self-consciousness4 ,his fourteenth ode of the third book1 for example1 opens with a reference to the return of ,augustus from ,spain after his victory over the ,cantabrians4 ,but the poet goes on to celebrate the fact1 that on account of the tranquillity1 which the emperor has given the world1 he himself as poet is able quietly to enjoy his easy-going leisure and his muse2 he calls for garlands1 unguents1 and venerable wine to celebrate the occasion1 and invites in all haste his mistress--in a word1 he is simply preoccupied with the arrangements for his own banquet4 ,we hear1 however1 at this time less of his love difficulties than in his youth1 when ,plaucus was consul1 an occasion where he expressly says to the messenger he despatches3 ,si per invisum mora janitorem ,fiet1 abito4 ,we may regard it as an even more honourable trait of ,klopstock1 that he felt in his day the independent worth of the singer1 and by his free expression of this and his regulation of his behaviour consonantly thereto1 disengaged the poet from his subservience to a court and any or every patron1#h as also from a tedious and useless toying with trifles1 which is the ruin of a man4 ,however1 the fact remains that it was no other than this very ,klopstock whom1 in the first instance1 the bookseller regarded as his poet4 ,it was ,klopstock's publisher in ,halle who paid him one or two thaler1 it appears1 for the manuscript of his ,messias1 adding over and above this1 however1 an order for a waistcoat and breeches1 and introduced him thus set up into society1 letting it clearly be seen from the nature of such a get up that he was responsible therefor4 ,in some contrast to this1 so at least we are informed at a later date on evidence1 however1 that is not irreproachable1#i the ,athenians erected a statue to ,pindar1 because he had celebrated them in one of his poems1 and sent him1 moreover1 twice the amount of the fine#aj the ,thebans refused to exempt him from on account of the inordinate praise he had lavished on an alien city4 ,indeed we have the statement that ,apollo himself declared through the mouth of the ,pythian prophetess that ,pindar was worthy of receiving half of all the gifts which the whole of ,hellas1 as in custom bound1 brought to the ,pythian games4 77 ,throughout the entire compass of lyric poetry the synthetic unity of a single personality asserts its presence in virtue of its poetic soul-movement4 ,the lyric poet is1 in fact1 moved to express everything that assumes a poetic form either in his emotional or intelligent life in the song4 ,in this type of composition ,goethe is pre-eminently noteworthy1 who in all the variety of his full life was thus continuously creative4 ,he was unquestionably in this respect a quite exceptional model4 ,it is rarely that we find an artistic personality1 who1 while retaining as ,goethe's did1 an interest so active on all sides and is able to live a life1 despite all such self-expansion1 so entirely self-possessed1 so ready to transmute everything it touches into the poetic vision4 ,his life in its public relations1 the peculiar nature of his heart1 which rather impressed with its reserve than the ease of its approach1 the indefatigable effort of his scientific pursuits and enquiry1 the general conclusions of his trained and practical experience1 his ethical maxims1 the impressions1 which the varied and conflicting facts of his times made upon him1 the inferences he deduced from such1 the effervescent joy of life and courage of his youth1 the well-organized force and ideal beauty of his manhood1 the comprehensive genial wisdom of his old age--all this passed into the magic crucible of his lyrics1 where the most delicate play of emotion1 no less than the most severe and painful conflicts of spirit1 alike find their expression and by this means their deliverance4 7b7 ,the ,lyric ,work of ,art ,secondly1 in respect to the lyric poem as a poetic work of art1 we are no doubt in general not able to advance much4 ,the fortuitous character of the abundance of its many modes of expression1 and the forms of its equally varied and incalculable content make this inevitable4 ,the peculiarly personal nature of this class of work1 however much the same is imperatively subject to the general principles of beauty and art1 none the less brings with it the necessary result1 that the range of the formal and melodious possibilities of its exposition admit of no theoretic definition4 ,for our purpose1 therefore1 the only question of importance is the nature of the distinction of artistic type that obtains between the lyric and the epic product4 ,upon this ,i will briefly draw attention to the following points of importance3 ,first1 the unity of the lyric composition4 ,secondly1 the nature of its progressive disclosure4 ,thirdly1 the external aspect of its verse-measure and general exhibition4 77 ,the importance1 which the ,epos possesses for art lies1 as already observed1 and pre-eminently so1 in the case of the primitive ,epopaea1 in the consummate elaboration of the perfected artistic form1 which as from the repository of the full embrace of the national spirit1 places before our vision one and the same composition in all the wealth of a completely evolved content4 77 ,the true lyric work of art will not undertake to present thus before us a synthesized whole of such extension4 ,the principle of personality can no doubt proceed to a comprehension of subject-matter of universal pretensions4 ,to be able truly to enforce itself1 however1 in its individual independence1 it necessarily implies the collateral principle of disintegration and isolation4 ,at the same time a variety of truth1 phenomenal or ideal1 derived from natural environment1 the memory of one's own or another's experience1 from mythical and historical events1 and the like1 is not therefore excluded3 but such an extension of view must not be permitted1 as with the ,epos1 on the ground that it belongs to the unified complexus of a given sphere of reality1 but is rather solely justifiable for the reason that it springs to renewed life in the memory of the poet1 and in his impulse and gift of vivid association4 77 ,we must consequently regard the intimate personal life as the true integrating principle of the lyric poem4 ,this inward life1 taken simply1 is in part the wholly formal unity of the self-conscious self2 in part also it is split up and dispersed in the most varied particularity1 and the most diverse content of ideas1 feelings1 impressions1 and perceptions1 whose power of combination is solely due to the fact that it is one and the selfsame personal identity which serves essentially as their vehicle4 ,in order therefore that this selfidentical subject may form the focal centre of the work of art1 it must1 on the one hand1 have reached the point where the mood or situation is defined in its concreteness1 and on the other it must affiliate itself with this isolation of its own possessions as with itself to the extent that it feels and pictures itself in the same4 ,it is only by this means that it becomes an essentially defined whole of such a personal character1 and exclusively expresses that which is emphasized by reason of such definition1 and is yet coalescent with it4 77 ,lyrical in the most pertinent sense is in this connection the emotional mood or colour as concentrated in a concrete condition1 inasmuch as the sensitive heart is that which is the most vital and personal factor of the subjective lips4 ,reflection and a contemplation which is mainly absorbed in generalization very readily tend to the didactic1 or are likely to assert what is substantive and positive in the content under an epic mode4 77 ,with respect to our second point1 viz41 the progressive disclosure of the lyric subject-matter1 speaking generally1 exact definition is here too out of the question4 ,i shall1 therefore1 restrict myself to a few searching observations4 77 ,the progressive exposition of the ,epos is of a dilatory description1 and it expands throughout in the display of an actual world of diversified character4 ,in the ,epos the poet projects himself into the objective world1 which is set before us in the independent form and movement of its own reality4 ,in contrast thereto it is the emotions and reflection which in the lyric composition absorb the given world into themselves1 animate the same within this ideal element1 and1 only after it is itself converted into a constituent of this personal life1 give form and expression to it in language4 ,in contrast to the epic principle of extension we have therefore in the ,lyric that of assimilation1#aa and have above all to seek for our effect by means of the implied ideal depth of expression rather than the diffuseness of descriptive or explanatory detail4 ,none the less1 however1 between the extremes of an almost speechless conciseness and the idea worked out into absolute lucidity of speech every conceivable sort of nuance and degree of clarity is still possible4 ,to as little extent is it necessary that a ban be placed on all reflection of external objects4 ,on the contrary genuinely concrete lyric compositions disclose the individual in his external conditions2 they accept1 therefore1 as an essential feature of their content1 natural and local environment4 ,in fact there are poems entirely limited to such descriptions4 ,in such cases1 however1 it is not so much the reality in its objective presence and its plastic presentment1 as the accord with which such objects affect the soul1 the mood excited by them1 the feelings of the heart under such positive conditions1 which are1 in fact1 the lyric result4 ,it is in short not this or that object as presented to our eyes1 in its several features1 which ought mainly to impress our inward vision1 but the emotional forces which are made vital in the same1 and which have for their aim a similar state of feeling and contemplation in ourselves4 ,romances and ballads are perhaps the most obvious illustration of this1 which1 as ,i have previously maintained1 approach the lyrical type in proportion as they exclusively emphasize those characteristics of a given event which are consistent with the state of the inner life1 in which the poet writes1 and disclose the course of his narrative in such a way1 that we receive a distinct and life-like echo back again of this personal temper4 ,for such reasons all out and out reproduction of material objects1 even though stamped with considerable emotion1 nay1 even the diffuse characterization of emotional states1 can only be of subordinate effect in lyrical effort1 if compared with concise concentration of effect and the vivid and significant expression4 77 ,we may add that episodes are permissible as well to the lyric poet2 but he ought to employ them on other grounds than those which justify their epic use4 ,in the latter case they are implied in the notion of the externally independent collocation of the different aspects contained2 and1 in respect to the advance of the epic action1 they also are significant as points of retardation and hindrance4 ,their lyrical justification is rather subjective in its character4 ,the living personality in short surveys his private world more rapidly2 his memory recurs to the most varied subjects on equally various occasions2 he combines material of the most divergent nature2 and1 without departing from his true and fundamental emotional state1 or the object of his thought1 gives free play on all sides to his imagination and contemplation4 ,an animating spirit of the same kind pervades the inner poetical life1 although for the most part it is impossible to say whether this or that feature in a lyric poem is to be understood as episodical or not4 ,as a general rule1 however1 digressions1 so long as they do not violate the unity1 and above all unexpected changes1 witty combinations and sudden1 or even violent transitions are peculiarly appropriate to the ,lyric4 77 ,on account of this the nature of the forward movement and bond of connection in this domain of poetry may be various1 and in some measure marked by excessive contrast4 ,generally no doubt the ,lyric1 quite as little as the ,epos1 adopts the caprices of ordinary conscious life1 or the purely scientific consequences1 or the speculative process of philosophical thought in its necessary development4 ,it requires indeed a freedom and self-subsistency in its single features4 ,but whereas1 in the case of the ,epos1 this relative isolation is referable to the form of the phenomenal reality1 in the type of which its realization is centered1 the lyric poet1 on the contrary1 communicates to the particular emotions and ideas1 in which he is himself expressed1 the character of a free self-assertion4 ,each and all1 although equally distrained from similar modes of feeling and observation1 nevertheless1 as viewed separately1 absorb his spirit1 which remains concentrated upon each severally1 until it is diverted to other points of view or other emotional states4 ,the movement of the whole may therefore have little to arrest its tranquil flow1 but with equal right we may find it pass without any mediation1 and in one bound to material of a totally different character4 ,the poet1 instead of following the logical current of his thought1 becomes1 it would seem1 in this sudden flight of ecstatic intoxication mastered by a force1 the pathos of which rules and carries him away in spite of himself4 ,the impulse and conflict of such passionate intensity is so characteristic a feature of certain forms of lyric composition1 that1 for example1 ,horace in many of his poems is at pains to harmonize with deliberate artistic means such apparently dislocating breaks in the poem's connection4 ,for the rest ,i must entirely pass over the various intermediate phases of treatment1 which fall between the extremes of the most lucid connection and most even flow on the one side1 and that of the unrestrained impetuosity of passion and enthusiasm on the other4 77 ,finally1 of our above three divisions of the immediate subject1 we have left us to discuss the external form and actual presentment of the lyric composition4 ,above all we shall have to deal with metre and the musical accompaniment4 77 ,it is obvious enough that the hexameter in its even1 sustained and none the less life-like forward movement is most exceptionally fitted as the measure of the ,epic4 ,the demand of the ,lyric is rather for an extreme variety of metres with every kind of co-ordination in their form4 ,the material of the lyric poem in short is not the object in the form wherein it unveils itself in ,nature1 but the movement of the poet's own soul1 the regularity or change of which1 its perturbation or repose1 its peaceful flow or tumultuous wave and leap1 must find expression in the time-movement of the word-length1 in which such inward life is asserted4 ,the nature of the prevailing mood and the mode of imaginative conception throughout ought to meet with an echo in the verse-measure itself4 ,the lyric effusion indeed is placed in a far more intimate relation to time1 regarded as the external medium of its communication1 than the epic narrative1 which consigns its phenomenal facts to the past1 and associates or interweaves them under a mode of extension more analogous to that of spatial condition4 ,the ,lyric1 in contrast to this1 displays the momentary emergence of emotion and idea in the temporal juxta-position of their origin and elaboration4 ,it has therefore to clothe in artistic form the varied temporal movement itself4 ,to this distinctive character belongs1 in the first place1 the more diverse sequence of long and short syllables in a more strongly emphasized inequality of rhythmical feet2 and1 secondly1 the more varied use of the caesura verse--and thirdly the rounding off of the strophes1 which not only admit of abundant alternation in respect to the comparative length of particular lines1 but also relatively to the rhythmic configuration of these on their own account and in their immediate sequence to each other4 77 ,yet more lyrical in its effect--a second feature this--is the musical sound of words and syllables simply4 ,the most important examples of this are alliteration1 rhyme and assonance4 ,in the system of versification under discussion what is predominant1 as ,i have already explained in a previous passage1 is1 on the one hand1 the ideal significance of syllables1 the accent of the meaning1 which disjoins itself from the purely natural element1 as taken by itself1 of their assured quantity1 and then defines under the direction of the mind their duration1 emphasis and subordination2 which1 from a further point of view1 asserts itself in isolation as the expressly concentrated sound of definite letters1 syllables1 and words4 ,the ,lyric is pre-eminently associated with this spiritualizing process effected by ideal significance1 no less than this emphatic insistence of sound4 ,it in fact not merely restricts its acceptance and expression of all that positively is or appears to the meaning which such possesses for the inward life1 but also lays hold of sound and musical tone as the significant medium of its communication4 ,no doubt in this sphere1 too1 the element of rhythm may associate with rhyme2 but even here this is effected in a manner which is closely related to the time-beat of music4 ,strictly speaking1 therefore1 the poetic use of assonance1 alliteration and rhyme is limited to the province of the ,lyric4 ,for although the ,epos of the ,middle ,ages is1 in accordance with the nature of more modern languages1 unable to keep itself aloof from these forms1 this is mainly permitted for the reason that here1 too1 the lyrical element is throughout more insistently active within the domain of epic poetry itself1 and effects a more forceful entrance where the subject-matter consists of heroic songs1 romances1 ballads1 tales1 and the like4 ,and we find the same thing in dramatic poetry4 ,what1 however1 is the peculiar possession of the ,lyric1 is the diversified configuration of rhyme1 which is elaborated and perfected by means of the recurrence of similar or the alternation of different letters1 syllables and verbal quantity in variously organized and alternated strophes of rhyme4 ,such differentiation is also of undoubted service both to epic and dramatic poetry1 but only on the same ground that rhyme itself is not excluded altogether4 ,the ,spaniards1 for instance1 in the most cultured epoch of their dramatic development1 gave the freest play to such craft in the expression of passion by no means appropriate to the genuine drama1 interweaving octave rhymes1 sonnets and the like with more usual verse-measures4 ,by so doing they at least testify1 in the continuity of such assonances and rhymes1 their predilection for the musical element in language4 77 ,finally1 lyric poetry1 to a far more considerable extent than is possible with the unassisted aid of rhyme1 avails itself of music1 by means of which the uttered word becomes veritable melody and song4 ,such a leaning may1 moreover1 be completely justified4 ,or1 in other words1 the less lyric subject-matter and content possess on their own account independence and objective stability1 but are rather1 above all1 of an ideal character1 rooted exclusively in the personal life1 while at the same time an external medium of articulate arrest is essential1 to that extent is the demand for a decisive medium of communication more insistent4 ,precisely for the reason that it remains of ideal intention1 the means it employs as a stimulus to others must be the more effective4 ,such an excitant of our emotional life can only be music4 ,we find consequently1 even in respect to external execution1 that lyric poetry is almost invariably associated with musical accompaniment4 ,at the same time we should note an essential gradation in this power of combination4 ,the romantic and above all the modern lyric1 no doubt more exceptionally so in such songs1 in which the temper1 the emotional mood is predominant1 and the function of music is to emphasize and expand this inner beat of soul-life in actual melody--are no doubt most readily adapted to such melodic fusion4 ,the folk-song is an obvious example which both delights in and demands a musical accompaniment4 ,we shall find in modern times more rarely a composer for the canzonet1 elegy1 epistle1 or even the sonnet4 ,the reason of this is that in cases where idea1 reflection1 nay1 even emotion are made completely explicit in the poetry1 and increasingly liberated from the bare point of spiritual selfconcentration1 and1 further1 from the sensuous medium of the art1 the ,lyric already secures1 in its deliverance as speech1 a greater self-stability1 and lends itself less simply to a free association with the vague definition of music4 ,on the other hand in proportion as the inner life expressed is not made explicit to that extent the aid of melody is required4 ,how it came about1 however1 that the ancients1 despite the pellucid clarity of their diction1 availed themselves of music in its actual delivery1 and the measure in which they did thus make use of it1 ,i shall have occasion to deal with subsequently4 7c7 ,types of the ,genuine ,lyric ,with regard to specific types1 in which we may classify lyrical composition1 ,i have already referred with more detail to some which form the transition step from the narrative form of the ,epos to the more subjective mode of exposition4 ,from a contrary point of view it might seem desirable in the same way to demonstrate the beginnings of the dramatic4 ,this inclination1 however1 of passage to the animation of the drama is exclusively and in essentials restricted to the circumstance that the lyric poem too as conversation1 without1 however1 carrying the movement of action to the point of actual conflict1 may itself accept the external form of dialogue4 ,we shall nevertheless omit further allusion to these intermediate and hybrid stages1 and restrict our cursory examination to those forms in which the real principle of the ,lyric fully asserts itself4 ,the main cause of this distinction is to be found in the attitude1 which the artistic consciousness assumes relatively to its object4 77 ,to be more definite the poet--this at least is one direction--annuls the particularity of his emotion and idea1 and is absorbed in the general contemplation of ,god or gods1 whose greatness and might permeates the whole of the personal life1 and causes the poet as an individual person to vanish4 ,hymns1 dithyrambs1 paeans1 psalms1 all belong to this class1 which are moreover quite differently treated by different peoples4 ,i propose merely to draw general attention to the following characteristic of such poetry4 77 ,the poet1 who is raised above the narrow limitation of his own purely personal life and external conditions1 or the ideas which are therewith associated1 replacing these with that which appears to him and his people as absolute and divine1 may1 in the first instance1 completely depict the divine in an objective presentment1 and set forth this1 as thus projected and executed for the spiritual vision of others1 to the honour and power of the glorified god4 ,the hymns which are ascribed to ,homer are of this character4 ,they contain above all mythological situations and histories of the divine ,being1 in whose celebration they are composed1 which are not merely conceived in the ideas of symbolism1 but are clothed in the downright objectivity of the ,epos4 77 ,in contrast to this1 secondly1 the dithyrambic impulse1 in its more personal aspect of an exalted divine service--overwhelmed1 as it is1 by the power of its object1 shattered and stunned to its soul-foundations--cannot1 by reason of the general diffusion of its emotional state1 go so far as to present an objective image and form4 ,it is more akin to the lyrical absorbtion4 ,we have here simply ecstatic rapture of soul4 ,the singer breaks out and forth from himself2 he is so exalted directly into the ,absolute1 steeped in the being and might of whom he exultantly sings his praise of the ,infinite1 into the depth whereof he plunges1 or that of the natural world1 in whose splendour the profound wealth of the ,godhead is declared4 ,the ,greeks1 in the solemnities of their worship1 have not limited themselves for long to such mere outcries and appeals4 ,they have sought to intermingle with such ecstasies the narrative of1 definite mythical situations and actions4 ,such expositions interposed between the effusion of lyric poetry1 became gradually of most importance1 and created the drama1 such narratives being asserted as action in its lifelike form1 and independently on its own account1 a drama1 which again in its turn received as a constituent feature the lyrics of its choruses4 ,even more searching in its utterance is this impulse of exultation1 this adoration1 jubel and outcry of soul to the ,one1 wherein the individual discovers the end of conscious life and the true object of all might and truth1 no less than glory and praise1 as we meet it in many of the sublime psalms of the ,old ,testament4 ,take the words of the thirty-third psalm1 for example3 ,rejoice in the ,lord1 ,o ye righteous1 for praise is comely for the upright4 ,praise the ,lord with harp3 sing unto him with psaltery and an instrument of ten strings4 ,sing unto him a new song2 play skilfully with a loud noise4 ,for the word of the ,lord is right2 and all his works are done in truth4 ,he loveth righteousness and judgment3 the earth is full of the goodness of the ,lord4 ,by the word of the ,lord were the heavens made2 and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth4#ab ,or take the twenty-ninth psalm3 ,give unto the ,lord1 ,o ye mighty1 give unto the ,lord glory and strength4 ,give unto the ,lord the honour due unto his name3 worship the ,lord in the beauty of holiness4 ,the voice of the ,lord is upon the waters3 the ,god of glory thundereth3 the ,lord is upon great waters4 ,the voice of the ,lord is powerful1 the voice of the ,lord is full of majesty4 ,the voice of the ,lord breaketh the cedars2 yea1 the ,lord breaketh the cedars of ,lebanon4 ,he maketh them to skip like a calf2 ,lebanon and ,sirion like a young unicorn4 ,the voice of the ,lord divideth the flames of fire4 ,the voice of the ,lord shaketh the wilderness2 the ,lord shaketh the wilderness of ,kadesh1 etc4 ,an exaltation and lyric sublimity such as the above contain a power of personal detachment1#ac and is consequently less adapted to self-absorbtion in the concrete content1 wherein the imagination can lay hold of the fact in tranquil satisfaction4 ,it is rather inclined to soar up in an indefinite enthusiasm1 which strains to make present to feeling and perception what is unutterable for the intelligence4 ,in this atmosphere of indeterminacy the individual soul is unable to envisage its unreachable object in quiescent beauty1 or enjoy its self-expression in a work of art4 ,instead of a tranquil picture the imagination sets forth external phenomena without co-ordination and in fragments2 and1 inasmuch as it does not succeed with emotional effort in any consistent articulation of its separate ideas1 in its positive artistic form1 too1 it employs a somewhat arbitrary and insurgent rhythm4 ,the prophets1 who oppose the mass of the community1 partly in the fundamental tones of grief and lamentation over the condition of their people1 partly1 too1 in this feeling of alienation and decadence1 carry to yet a further extreme this type of paranetic lyric in the sublime flame of their emotion and political indignation4 ,in a more modern age of imitation this sublime passion1 however1 is exchanged for a more artificial warmth1 which easily cools and becomes abstract4 ,thus1 for example1 we have much hymn and psalm-writing of ,klopstock1 which possesses neither depth of thought1 nor the tranquil development of any religious content whatever4 ,what is expressed is1 above all1 an effort of this exaltation to the ,infinite1 which1 agreeably with modern scientific ideas1 merely discloses the empty incommeasurability and inconceivable might1 greatness1 and splendour of ,god1 in its contrast to the very intelligible impotence and finitude of the poet4 77 ,from a second point of view1 we have those types of lyric poetry which may be described generally as odes1 in the more modern meaning of the term4 ,in these1 as distinguished from the type above described1 it is the personal life of the poet1 in its independence1 which asserts itself as a fundamental feature4 ,it is1 indeed1 the culmination1 which may be enforced in a twofold manner4 77 ,from one point of view the poet may1 within this new mode of expression1 select1 as he previously did1 a subjective matter itself of essential importance1 such as the glory and celebration of gods1 heroes1 princes1 love1 beauty1 art1 friendship1 and the like1 while he displays his inner life as so completely steeped and carried away by this content and its concreteness1 that it appears as though1 in this impulse of enthusiasm1 the subject has wholly mastered his soul1 and is present in it now1 as the one predominant power4 ,if this was entirely so the facts which master him might secure1 in their independence1 the plastic form1 motion1 and stability of an epic sculpturesque image4 ,or1 as a converse case1 it is just the personal life of the poet himself and its greatness which he seeks to express and make real on its own account4 ,as for the object itself1 it is that whereof he makes himself master2 he assimilates this in his own life1 expresses himself in and through this4 ,by so doing he freely and without reserve breaks up the more positive course of his subject with his own emotion or reflection2 he illuminates it from within2 he changes it2 and the final result is that it is not so much the subject1 but rather the personal enthusiasm in which it has steeped him1 which is most effective4 ,in this connection1 however1 we have two distinct aspects to consider4 ,first1 there is the compelling force of the subject-matter2 secondly1 we have that independent freedom of the poet which flashes into view in its conflict with that which would otherwise master it4 ,it is above all the stress of this opposition1 which renders inevitable the swing and the boldness of utterance and image1 the apparent absence of order in the ideal construction and course of the poem1 its digressions1 lacunae1 and sudden transitions1 and which preserves the ideal elevation of the poet1 by means of the mastery with which he is enabled1 through the artistic perfection of his work1 to overcome this disunion1 and to produce an' essentially harmonious whole1 which places him1 as his work1 in relief above the greatness of his subject4 ,it is to such a type of lyric enthusiasm that many of the ,pindaric odes are referable1 whose triumphant1 albeit personal glory is disclosed in a mode of rhythm equally conspicuous for its varied movement1 and yet for all that stringently regulated measure4 ,horace1 on the contrary1 more especially where he aims most at self-assertion1 is rather lacking in warmth and insipid4 ,we detect here an imitative artificiality1 which vainly endeavours to conceal the purely technical preciosity of his composition4 ,the enthusiasm of ,klopstock in the same way is never entirely genuine4 ,it too frequently gives the impression of laboured artifice1 despite the fact that many of his odes are rich in true and genuine emotion1 and stamped with an engaging masculine worth and force of expression4 77 ,from another point of view1 however1 it is not at all necessary that the content itself should be substantial or important4 ,the poet is himself1 in his own personality1 of such weight that he can attach to even the more trifling objects worth1 nobility1 or at least in a general way a more exalted interest owing to the fact that they are embodied in his poetic work4 ,many of the ,odes of ,horace are of this type4 ,klopstock1 too1 with many another1 may be included in such a category4 ,in such cases it is not the importance of the material itself1 which engages the poet's effort1 but on the contrary that of the process in virtue of which he exalts what is on its own account insignificant1 either in external facts or petty occurrences1 to the height of the emotion and idea they excite in himself4 77 ,in conclusion1 the entire infinite multiplicity of lyrical mood and reflection reaches its fullest compass in the sphere of the song1 in which consequently differences of national custom and creative individuality have their freest play4 ,characteristics of every extreme of diversity meet together here1 and the task of adequate classification is beset with difficulty4 ,we will restrict ourselves to pointing out a few of the most general character4 77 ,we have1 then1 first1 the genuine song intended for singing or purely musical practice1#ad whether in private or before others4 ,much intelligible content1 ideal greatness and loftiness is not necessary4 ,on the contrary1 worth1 nobility1 weight of thought can only prove an obstacle to the desire of direct self-expression4 ,imposing ideas or reflections1 or sublime emotions compel the artist to detach himself from his immediate personality and its interests4 ,and yet it is precisely this immediacy of joy and sorrow1 what we may call the unrestricted and momentary personal experience1 which ought to find its expression in the song4 ,and it is on this account that every folk is in a peculiar way at home and at ease in its songs4 ,despite the unlimited variety of content and of melodic exposition that offers itself here1 every song is without exception distinct from types previously considered by virtue of the simplicity of its subject-matter1 movement1 metre1 verbal expression1 and images4 ,the point of departure is direct from the soul2 the movement of inspiration is not so much from one object to another1 but is1 generally speaking1 centered exclusively in one and the same content1 whether it be a single emotional state1 or any definite expression of delight or sorrow1 that mood1 in short1 the effect of which carries the heart with it4 ,in this emotion or temper the song persists with no interruption in its flight and impression1 quietly and simply abiding therein without any strikingly bold contrast or transitions of idea2 and it creates thereby in the even flow of its images this one perfected whole1 sometimes without any interruption or disunion1 at others in a more expansive and consequential survey1 employing therewith rhythms adapted to song or the recurrence of rhymes easily intelligible and without any considerable complexity4 ,inasmuch1 however1 as it possesses for the most part as its content what is essentially transitory we are not to suppose that a nation is likely to sing the same songs over and over again1 for a hundred or a thousand years4 ,a people which can at all claim progressive development is neither so poor nor so so barren as only to possess poets of the song at one period of its life4 ,it is just the poetry of the song1 which1 in contrast to the ,epopaea1 does not so much die as it is forever being awakened anew4 ,this field of blossom starts up afresh every spring2 and it is only in the case of oppressed peoples1 peoples precluded from every advance1 which are unable to experience the ever requickened delight in poetic composition1 that the old and the oldest songs are retained4 ,the particular song1 just like the particular mood1 arises1 and then passes2 it animates1 delights1 and is forgotten4 ,whoever knows or sings1 for example1 the songs which fifty years ago were everywhere known and beloved8 ,every century strikes its own particular keynote2 the previous one sounds out of tune1 until it stops altogether4 ,none the less1 however1 must every song possess not so much a revelation of the personality of the singer as a certain community of sentiment1 which meets with response from all sides2 which excites in others a like emotion and so1 too1 passes from mouth to mouth4 ,songs which are not generally current as such in their time are seldom of the genuine stamp4 ,as an essential distinction in the composition of song ,i will merely emphasize two main aspects which ,i have already referred to4 ,on the one hand the poet may express his inner life in its emotions quite openly and without reserve1 more especially the feelings and state of joyfulness1 and so that he communicates completely all that he experiences4 ,on the other hand1 and in extreme contrast to this1 he may only suffer us to surmise through his very speechlessness1 what is brought to a focus in the unopened chamber of his heart4 ,the first type belongs mainly to the ,east1 and more especially to the careless hilarity and contented expansiveness of ,mohammedan poetry1 the splendid outlook of which loves to dilate itself hither and thither in all the breadth of sensuous perception and witty conceit4 ,the second type1 on the contrary1 applies with more force to our ,northern self-concentration and intimacy of soul-life1 which in its compressed tranquillity is often only able to seize hold of objects which are wholly external and to put suggestions in them1 while the essentially suppressed spirit is unable to express itself or find a bent1 but rather1 like the child with whom that father in the ,erl ,king rides through the night and the wind1 dies away with its glow on the wick4 ,the distinction above noticed applies also in a broader sense to other forms of lyrical composition such as the folk-song and more elaborate poetry2 it recurs again in the simple song with many shades and intermediate links in its variety4 ,with regard to particular forms applicable to this class of composition ,i will restrict myself to the following examples4 ,we may mention1 to start with1 the folk-song1 which1 on account of its direct appeal1 is mainly of the nature of the simple song1 being also generally adapted to singing1 or1 rather1 requiring the musical accompaniment4 ,its subject-matter is in part national exploit and event1 in which the nation is emotionally made aware of and recalls again its most essential life2 in part1 too1 feelings and situations are directly expressed which relate to particular classes4 ,it associates1 in short1 civic life with its natural condition and its closest human relations1 and it does so with every variety of note1 whether of exultation or sorrow1 which may duly harmonize with such4 ,in contrast to the above1 we have1 secondly1 songs of a more various and enriched culture1 a culture which finds its entertainment in the companionable amusement of all kinds of pleasantry1 graceful turns of phrase1 casual occurrences1 or polite modes of address1 or1 with more intensity of feeling1 recurs to the pathos or necessities of less favoured conditions of life1 describing therein both the facts and the consequent feelings they excite1 the poet always making his appeal from his own breast and the facts of his own sympathetic experience4 ,if such songs go no further than the bare narrative1 more particularly of natural phenomena1 the result is likely to be trivial and to betray the lack of imaginative resources4 ,the bare description of emotional states1 moreover1 not unfrequently fares little better4 ,the truth is that our poet in such descriptions1 whether of objective facts or emotions1 must not restrict his survey to the narrow outlook of direct wishes and desires1 but must already in the freedom of his intelligence have raised himself into a more serene atmosphere wherein the main thing of importance to himself is the satisfaction which the exercise of his imagination has afforded4 ,an undisturbed sense of freedom such as this1 through expansion of heart and delight in conceptive idea on its own account1 confers on many songs of ,anacreon1 as also certain poems of ,hafis and the ,weststliche ,divan of ,goethe the rarest charm of an unfettered creative gift4 ,there is a yet further type of composition of this general class1 to which we must concede a more exalted or1 at least1 a more widely embracing content4 ,the large majority of ,protestant hymns composed for spiritual edification are essentially songs4 ,they express the yearning after ,god1 the plea for ,his grace1 repentance1 hope1 trust1 doubts1 faith1 and the like of the religious heart2 no doubt1 in the first instance1 to meet the importunity of the individual soul1 but at the same time in a manner of general significance1 wherein such feelings and states of soul may or ought to apply1 to a greater or less extent1 to every member of the ,christian ,church4 77 ,we may further return to another division of this class1 the sonnet1 sestine1 elegy1 epistle1 and a few other such modes4 ,these latter assert themselves as distinct from the ordinary sphere of song previously discussed4 ,the immediacy of feeling and expression is emphasized in this class as a mediating bond with reflection1 and a contemplation which1 while remaining alert to many features of its subject1 conceives the particular detail of perception and soul-experience under more general points of view4 ,science1 learning1 and1 in short1 a wide culture may be here effective2 and if also in all the relations thus established the personal life1 which connects and mediates in itself the particular fact with the general concept1 is and remains the insistent and predominant factor1 yet the standpoint presupposed is of a wider and more universal import than that of the ordinary song4 ,the ,italians in particular have given us splendid examples of a highly sensitive type of feeling and reflection in their sonnets and sestines4 ,such not only directly expresses in a given situation states of yearning1 grief1 longing1 and the like1 or the counterfeit of external objects1 with a peculiarly intimate concentration1 but includes many a diversion1 many a shrewd glance into mythology and history1 whether past or present1 while remaining throughout able to return upon itself1 true to the fundamental demand of selfrestriction and concentration4 ,the simplicity of the song is incompatible with a culture of this kind4 ,the exalted character of the ode is equally disallowed4 ,as a primary consequence of this the possibility of actual musical delivery vanishes2 but1 on the other hand1 as some set-off to the absence of musical accompaniment1 the verbal expression itself1 in its sound and composed rhymes1 becomes a melodic flow of speech4 ,the ,elegy1 moreover1 may1 in the measure of its syllables1 its meditation1 its comments1 and the descriptive display of emotional life1 assume the form of the ,epic4 77 ,the third type of composition in this class is characterized by a mode of treatment which in recent times is most clearly represented among us ,germans in the work of ,schiller4 ,the majority of his lyrical poems1 such as those named by him ,resignation1 the ,ideals1 the realm of ,shades1 ,artists1 the ,ideal and ,life1 are just as little songs in the true sense as they are odes or hymns1 epistles1 or elegies in the classic sense4 ,their position1 on the contrary1 is distinct from all these types4 ,their significance consists above all in the imposing fundamental thought of their content by the force of which1 however1 the poet neither appears to be carried away as a dithyrambic poet might be1 nor in the press of his enthusiasm is there any appearance of conflict with the greatness of his subject4 ,he remains rather throughout completely master of the same1 and unfolds all that is therein implied from every point of view with his own poetic reflection4 ,and he does this in the full impulse of genuine feeling1 no less than with the comprehensive breadth of his intelligence1 expressed with a compelling force in the most admirable and full-toned utterance and image1 and yet1 withal1 for the most part in quite simple1 if really arresting rhythms and rhymes4 ,these great thoughts and fundamental interests1 to which his entire life was dedicate1 appear consequently as the most intimate possession of his spirit4 ,but he does not sing so much as one tranquilly self-absorbed1#ae or to a circle of companions1 as the rich-songed mouth of ,goethe was wont to do1 but as a singer who delivers himself of what is on its own account intrinsically of worth in a storehouse of all that is most excellent and distinguished4 ,his songs ring out1 in fact1 much as he says of his bell3 ,hoch ber'm niedern ,erdenleben ,soll sie im blauen ,himmelszelt1 ,die ,nachbarin des ,donners1 schweben ,und grenzen an die ,sternen weit1 ,soll eine ,stimme seyn von oben1 ,wie der ,gestirne helle ,schaar1 ,die ihren ,schpfer wandelnd toben ,und fhren das bekrnzte ,jahr4 ,nur ewigen und ernsten ,dingen ,sei ihr metall'ner ,mund geweiht1 ,und stndlich mit den schnellen ,schwingen ,berhr' im ,fluge sie die ,zeit4#af #c4 ,,historical ,,evolution ,,of ,,the ,,lyric4 ,it will already have sufficiently appeared from what ,i have pointed out in relation to the general character1 as also the more detailed features discussed with reference to the poet1 the lyrical composition and the several types of the art that to a singular degree in this province of poetry a concrete treatment is only possible which accepts the historical narrative as a constituent feature4 ,the universal1 which can be set forth in its independence1 does not merely remain restricted in its compass1 but is also abstract in its valid worth4 ,and this is so because in no other art to the like extent does the particularity of the time1 condition1 and nationality1 no less than the specific idiosyncracy of individual genius1 supply the determinating factor of the content and form of the artistic product4 ,but in proportion as the strength of the demand forces itself on our attention that such an historical exposition should be avoided1 ,i feel myself obliged1 in the interests of the very variety of material comprised in the embrace of lyric composition1 to limit myself exclusively to a very partial survey of all that ,i am acquainted of in this particular class of work1 and in which my lively interest could have been extended4 ,as the basis of our general classification of the varied national and more personal lyric compositions1 as in the case of epic poetry1 we cannot do better than follow the order of those radical types under which artistic creation generally is unfolded1 and which we now know as symbolic1 classic1 and romantic art4 ,as the main division1 therefore1 of our present subject-matter1 we may1 in other words1 adopt a similar sequence from ,oriental compositions to the ,lyric of the ,greeks and ,romans1 and then from this to the ,slavonic1 ,romance1 and ,german peoples4 7a7 ,taking1 then1 the ,oriental lyric first1 we may observe that it differs essentially from the lyrical composition of the ,west through its inability to attach to it the independent personality and free spirit of the poet1 or that unity which characterizes every content of romantic art1 its essential infinity1 reflecting1 in fact1 the potential depth of the romantic soul4 ,such a distinction is only in keeping with the universal principle of the ,east4 ,the individual conscious life is here1 referably to its content1 directly absorbed in the detail of external fact1 expressing itself under the condition and specific relations of this inseparable unity4 ,and1 from a further point of view1 it asserts itself1 without being able to secure a firm ground of stability in itself1 as opposed to what it conceives to be of potency and substance in ,nature and the conditions of human existence1 which it wrestles to reach whether through emotion or imagination1 at one time situated towards it rather in the relation of pure opposition1 at another with more freedom1 but in either case with ultimate failure4 ,what we find here1 therefore1 if we confine our attention to form1 is not so much the poetic expression of independent ideas over objects or their connections1 as it is the bare mirror of this unreflecting absorption1#ag wherein the individual consciousness does not disclose itself in its own self-concentration as free personality1#ah but rather in its self-annulment#ai before the external object or condition4 ,thus regarded1 the ,oriental lyric frequently1 particularly in its contrast to the romantic1 assumes a more objective tone4 ,here we shall often enough find that the poet does not so much express facts and conditions as they affect him1 but rather as they are in themselves1 a disclosure which frequently bestows on them an independent soul of vitality of their own4 ,for illustration we may take that exclamation of ,hafis3 ,come1 ,o come6 ,the nightingale passeth from the soul of ,hafis once again over the scent of the roses of delight4 ,regarded in another light1 the tendency of this lyrical poetry1 by freeing the poet from the limitations of his private individuality1 is to replace this with a kind of primitive expansion of soul1 which1 however1 very easily loses itself in mere boundlessness1 or is merged in a deliberate effort to express that which it accepts as object but cannot fully penetrate1 because this content is itself the formless substance4 ,for this reason1 speaking generally1 the lyric of the ,east1 more especially among the ,hebrews1 ,arabs1 and ,persians1 possesses the character of hymns of exaltation4 ,with spendthrift prodigality all greatness1 might1 and glory are lavished upon the creature1 in order to make all such transitory splendour vanish before the unspeakable majesty of ,god2 or1 at least1 it never is tired of stringing together in some precious chain everything that is lovable or fair1 in order to present the same as a thankoffering to the object1 be it ,sultan1 the beloved1 or the wine-shop1 which the poet has set himself above all things to celebrate4 ,in conclusion1 if we look more closely at form of expression in this type of poetry1 we shall find that it is mainly the metaphor1 the image1 and the simile which are favoured4 ,for1 in the first place1 on account of the fact that he is not himself wholly free to express his own personal life1 the poet can only disclose himself in something else1 something external to himself1 with the aid of life that can compare with himself4 ,and also we may observe that what is here universal and substantive remains abstract2 that is to say1 it is unable to merge itself in the definite form of a free individuality1 so that now1 even on its own account1 it is only in comparisons with the varied phenomena of the world that it is able to envisage itself2 and we may add that both these cases1 in the last instance1 only possess the worth of being able to assist some comparable approach to that ,one which alone possesses significance1 and is worthy of honour and praise4 ,these metaphors1 images1 and similes1 however1 in which the individual soul1 as it asserts itself1 is exclusively identified almost to the point of visibility1 are not the actual feeling and spiritual state itself1 but rather a mode of expression which is wholly personal and of the poet's composition4 ,what1 therefore1 the lyrical artist here loses in the concreteness of his spiritual freedom1 this we find is replaced by the freedom of his expression1 which moves forward through all the most manifold phases2 that is1 from the nave simplicity of its images and similes to every conceivable audacity and the acutest ingenuity of novel and surprising combinations4 ,as regards particular nations in which we find this ,oriental type of lyric represented1 we may mention1 first1 the ,chinese2 secondly1 the ,hindoos2 thirdly1 and to a pre-eminent degree1 the ,hebrews1 ,arabs1 and ,persians4 ,i cannot1 however1 enter into any closer description of these4 7b7 ,in the case of the second principal division of our present poetic type1 that is in the ,lyric of the ,greeks and ,romans1 it is the principle of classic individuality which1 above all1 distinguishes its character4 ,in accordance with this principle1 the artistic consciousness1 which seeks for lyrical expression1 neither loses itself in the facts of the natural world1 nor exalts itself over itself to the height of that ,sublime outcry to all creation3 ,let all that hath breath praise the ,lord6 ,nor is it absorbed1 after divesting itself joyfully from all the bonds of finite existence1 in that ,one ,being in which all live and move4 ,rather the poet here is freely merged in the ,universal1 regarded as the very substance of his own spirit2 and in this personal union within himself attains his self-conscious poetic activity4 ,and just as the ,lyric of the ,greeks and ,romans is distinct from that of the ,orientals1 so too1 from another point of view1 it differs from the romantic4 ,in other words1 instead of unveiling its depths in the intimacy of particular moods and states of feeling1 it rather elaborates1 to the point of the most explicit definition1 this inward life of its individual passion and meditation4 ,and by doing so it even retains1 even as the expression of this inward spirit1 so far as this is permitted to the ,lyric1 the plastic type of classic art4 ,all that it communicates1 in short1 of the views and maxims of life and wisdom1 despite all the penetration of its general principle1 nevertheless does not dispense with the free individuality of independent thought and conception4 ,it expresses itself less in the wealth of image and metaphor1 than directly and categorically4 ,at the same time1 also1 the personal feeling1 at one time in more general relations1 at another in the form of vision itself1 is on its own account objective4 ,in the same mode of individuality the particular types may be classified as distinct from each other in conception1 expression1 phraseology1 and verse-measure1 until they reach the culminating point of their independent elaboration4 ,and as we have found it true of the soul itself and its ideas1 so1 too1 the external presentment is of more plastic type4 ,in other words1 from a musical point or view1 it emphasizes less the ideal soul-melody of emotion than the sensuous verbal quantity in the rhythmical measure of its movement1 to which it may further attach the complex mazes of the dance4 77 ,with the richest originality this artistic form of ,greek lyric poetry is perfected4 ,in the first instance we may trace it in those hymns possessing a content as yet more akin to the epic mode1 which do not so much express in their epic metre a personal enthusiasm as they set before us a plastic image of gods in deliberately objective outlines4 ,the next step1 so far as metre is concerned1 we mark in the elegiac syllabic measure1 which associates the pentameter with the hexameter1 which1 in the regular recurrence of its ending after the hexameter1 and with its two equally divided sections1 opens the way to the complete singularity of the verse strophe4 ,the elegy is also throughout in its tone of the lyric type4 ,this is so in the case of the political elegy no less than the erotic1 although1 particularly as gnomic elegy1 it still closely approaches the epic insistence upon and expression of the substantive as such1 and for this reason almost exclusively belongs to the ,ionians1 with whom the objective point of view was generally predominant4 ,in respect also to its musical side1 it is primarily the aspect of rhythm which is here successfully worked out4 ,and1 on parallel lines with it1 we may observe1 thirdly1 the development of the ,iambic poem in a novel verse-measure4 ,this1 however1 is1 by reason of the keenness of its invectives1 from the first of a more subjective or personal tendency4 ,the genuine mode of lyrical reflection and passion1 however1 receives for the first time its full development in the so-called ,melisian#bj lyric4 ,the metres are more varied1 more capable of change2 the strophes are more rich2 the suggestions of musical accompaniment are more complete in virtue of the nature of the accepted modulation4 ,each poet creates a syllabic measure which corresponds with his or her lyrical nature4 ,thus ,sappho adapts one to a type of composition which is sensuous1 inspired with the glow of passion and expressed with an effect which works up to a supreme crisis4 ,alcaeus moulds one in harmony with his masculine and bolder odes4 ,to an exceptional degree1 too1 the ,scoliasts supply many indications of the finer nuances of diction and metre by reason of the variety of their content and melodic utterance4 ,last of all1 the lyric of the chorus is richest of all in the wealth of what it unfolds1 and not merely so in what concerns idea and thought1 boldness of transition and connection or the like1 but also relatively to its external presentment4 ,the choral song may be interchanged for the single voice1 and the ideal movement is not merely satisfied with the bare rhythm of speech and the modulations of music1 but summons as its associate the plastic pose and movement of the dance4 ,the ideal aspect of the ,lyric is consequently balanced to perfection with the sensuous character of its delivery4 ,the subject-matter of this type of inspired verse is the most substantive and weighty4 ,such poems celebrate the power and glory of the gods1 or that of victors in the games4 ,greeks1 who not unfrequently were divided in their political relations1 found in them the positive vision of their national unity4 ,and1 partly for this reason1 aspects of their ideal construction are not wanting which approach the objective standpoint of the ,epic4 ,pindar1 for example1 who reaches the highest point of attainment in this type of composition1 moves with ease1 as ,i have already pointed out1 from the external motives of his compositions to profound observations upon the general nature of ethical principle and divine matters1 or it may be upon heroes1 heroic exploit1 the foundations of ,states1 and the like4 ,his creative gift possesses1 in short1 the plastic sense of realization quite as much as the individual sweep of imaginative energy4 ,on this very account1 however1 it is not so much the facts which follow their independent course in the epic manner1 as the personal enthusiasm1 carried away by its object so completely that the latter appears to be the burden and product of the soul4 ,later lyric verse of the ,alexandrines is less an independent development and more a mere scholastic imitation and affectation of elegance and correctness of expression1 until finally it dissipates itself in trifling graces and pleasantries1 or seeks to bind up afresh flowers of art and life already to hand in a garland of tender feeling and conceit1 and the witty experiment of eulogy or satire4 77 ,among the ,romans lyric poetry finds a soil no doubt fashioned for it in various ways1 but of less original productive qualities4 ,the period of its splendour is limited mainly to the age of ,augustus1 in which it is cultivated as the elaborate expression and relaxation of cultured society2 or indeed1 to a considerable degree1 it is rather an affair of the clever translator or copyist1 and the fruit of taste and research1 than that of spontaneous feeling and really original conception4 ,at the same time it must be admitted that1 despite the learning and an alien mythology1 to say nothing of the preferred imitation of ,alexandrine models1 where the warmth of life is least apparent1 yet as a rule the characteristics of ,roman personality no less than the individual genius of particular poets1 do assert an independent position1 and1 so long as we put entirely on one side the most intimate soul and expression of the art of poetry1 have accomplished sterling and consummate results1 not merely in the province of the ode1 but also in that of epistles1 satires1 and elegy4 ,on the other hand1 the later type of satire1 which follows as a kind of supplement1 in its bitterness toward the decadence of the times1 its goaded indignation and virtuous declamation1 fails to represent the genuine sphere of an unperturbed poetical vision just in the degree that it possesses nothing whatever to oppose to its picture of a demoralized present save this very indignation and abstract rhetoric of virtuous excitement4 7c7 ,for this reason1 consequently1 it is only after more modern nationalities have appeared that a really original content and spirit are communicated to lyrical composition1 as we have previously seen1 was the case1 too1 with the ,epic4 ,this is due to the ,german1 ,romance1 and ,slavonic peoples1 which already1 in their previous pagan days1 but principally after their conversion to ,christianity1 both in the ,middle ,ages and in more recent times1 have brought into being1 and continuously elaborated in various ways1 a third fundamental revival of lyrical creation in what we may generally characterize as the romantic art-type4 ,in this third branch of its activity1 lyric poetry is of so overwhelming an importance that its principle is enforced1 more --especially in the first instance1 relatively to the ,epos1 but consequently in its more modern development and relatively to the drama1 with a far profounder significance than was possible with either ,greek or ,roman4 ,indeed1 among certain nations1 even genuine epic materials are treated exclusively under the type of the lyric narrative2 in this way we have compositions as to which we may find real difficulty in deciding the class to which they more truly belong4 ,the cause of this conspicuous tendency towards lyric composition is mainly due to the fact that the entire evolution of the life of these nations is based on this very principle of subjectivity1 which is constrained to assert and clothe what is substantive and objective as its own from its own resources1 and grows more and more self-conscious of this penetration into its own personal wealth4 ,such a principle declares its vigour in its least perturbed and most complete character among the ,german peoples4 ,the ,slavonic races have1 on the contrary1 first to wrestle forth from the ,oriental absorption in the substantive ,one and ,universal4 ,between the two we may place the ,romance stock1 which are confronted1 in the conquered provinces of the ,roman ,empire1 not merely with the residue of ,roman science and culture1 but a social system more elaborate from every point of view4 ,in the process of self-fusion with such conditions1 they inevitably lose a part of their original character4 ,as for the subject-matter of this poetry1 we may describe it as dealing with pretty nearly every phase of national or individual development1 capable of expressing either the religious or secular life of these nations as it expands in ever widening range1 and through the process of the centuries reflects in varied condition and emotional state the heart of its spiritual substance4 ,and the fundamental type of it is either the expression of an emotional state1 concentrated to the most intimate self-possession1 whether the immediate object of attraction be national and other events1 ,nature and external environment1 or simply and solely itself1 or whether it be of the nature of reflection1 both searching and self-introspective1 upon all that is implied for itself in such an extension of culture4 ,regarded on its formal side1 the plastic character of rhythmical versification is exchanged for the music of alliteration1 assonance1 and manifold alternations of rhyme4 ,these novel elements it makes use of sometimes in a quite simple and unassuming manner2 in other connections with much art and invention of modes of versification wholly distinct in character4 ,at the same time the external delivery becomes increasingly more elaborate in its powers of adaptation to the accompaniment of vocal and instrumental music4 ,in our classification of the extensive compass of this group1 we cannot do better than follow that we accepted in the case of epic poetry4 ,first1 we have the lyric composition of these modern nations while still in the state of primitive paganism4 ,secondly1 there is the richer development of this type in the ,christian ,middle ,ages4 ,thirdly1 there is that lyric art based in some measure on the reawakened study of ancient art1 and in part on the fundamental principle of modern ,protestantism1 a principle essential to its final elaboration4 ,in the present work1 however1 ,i shall be unable to discuss with more detail the characteristics of the above development4 ,i will1 by way of conclusion1 merely draw attention to one ,german poet1 whose influence has given in modern times a quite extraordinary impetus to the lyric poetry of our own fatherland1 and whose services in this respect are by no means appreciated by contemporary criticism as they deserve to be4 ,i refer to the poet of the ,messias4 ,klopstock is among the great ,germans1 who have inaugurated the new artistic epoch of their people4 ,he is a great figure1 who1 by means of courageous enthusiasm and superb self-respect1 wrested our poetry from the stupendous insignificance of the ,gottsched#ba period1 which with its blockish superficiality had completely destroyed the life of all that is noble and of worth in the genius of our race2 who has1 in short1 given us poems fully awake to the highest demand of the poet's vocation1 in a form of thorough artistic excellence1 if also somewhat austere1 the majority of which are stamped with the permanency of a classic4 ,some of the odes of his youth are dedicated to a generous friendship1 which was to him at once symbolic of nobility1 staunchness1 honour1 the pride of his soul1 a temple of his spirit4 ,others have reference to a personal attachment of real emotional depth1 although it is precisely in this field that we meet with many compositions which a critical sense can only regard as so much prose4 ,selmar and ,selma is a poem of this class1 a gloomy and tedious altercation between lovers1 which1 not without many tears1 woe1 empty yearning1 and useless feats of melancholy emotion1 revolves round the one mouldy and musty question1 which of the two1 ,selmar or ,selma1 is first to die4 ,but in ,klopstock we find at least a genuine impulse of patriotism alive in every pore4 ,as a good ,protestant the ,christian mythology1 with its sacred legends and so forth--we must except the angels1 for whom he retained as a poet a profound respect1 although they can only appear abstract and lifeless in a type of poetry such as his1 which claimed the realism of life--neither satisfied his sense of the ethical seriousness of art1 nor yet the vigour of life and an intelligence1 which aspired to something more than blind wailing and self-abasement1 was1 in short1 both self-respecting and actively religious4 ,the need of some mythology1 however1 and one connected with ,germany impressed him strongly as a poet1 in order that he might have definite names and characters ready to hand as a stable basis of his imaginative creation4 ,it is impossible to associate such patriotic sentiments with the gods of ,greece4 ,consequently ,klopstock attempted1 we may justly say from genuine national pride1 to give a renewed life to the old mythology of ,wodan1 ,hertha and the rest4 ,he was unfortunately as little able to carry his aim to the point of objective effect and sufficiency by this adoption of names of gods1 which are no longer really ,germanic1 however much they may have been so1 as1 let us say1 the imperial museum in ,regensburg is qualified to stand for the ideal of our present political life4 ,however strongly1 then1 he may have felt the need to be able to realize in poetry and as fact in a national form a general folk-mythology1 the truth of ,nature and conscious life1 these twilight gods remain entirely devoid of essential truth2 we may add there is a kind of childish self-flattery in the belief that either reasonable people or the national faith could take such an attempt seriously4 ,apart from this1 as objects of interest to the imagination1 the figures of ,greek mythology are elaborated in ways with incomparably more variety1 infinitely stronger appeal to our aesthetic taste1 our sense of delight and freedom4 ,in lyric poetry1 however1 it is the self-revelation of the poet that is all-important4 ,we ought at least to honour in our patriotic poet this his solicitude and effort1 an effort which was sufficiently effective to bear subsequent fruit1 and1 even in the field of poetry1 to stimulate by its suggestion composition on similar subjects4 ,we have1 however1 to conclude our review1 no word to say against the purity1 excellence1 and admirable influence of this patriotic sentiment of ,klopstock as expressed in his enthusiasm for the honour and value of our ,german speech1 and certain characters of our former history1 that of ,herrmann1 for example1 and above all particular ,german ,kaisers1 who in some instances have even been self-celebrated in song4 ,vital in him throughout is his justifiable pride in the ,german muse1 and his faith in her increasing courage to contend on equal terms and in high-spirited self-reliance with that of the ,greek1 the ,roman1 and the ,englishman4 ,and no less a genuine reflection of his patriotism is the nature of his survey of the royal princes of ,germany1 the expectations which their character have or had it in their power to arouse on all that generally concerns honour1 art1 and science1 questions of public import and spiritual objects of essential value4 ,on the one hand we find him expressing his contempt of our princes1 who1 as he tells us1 remain on their comfortable chairs1 surrounded with the tobacco smoke of courtiers1 buried in present obscurity and yet deeper to be buried in the future4 ,or he may express his feelings in the lament that even ,frederick ,,ii ,nicht sah1 dass ,deutschland's ,dichtkunst sich schnell erhob1 ,aus fester ,wurzel daurendem ,stamm1 und weit1 ,der ste ,schalten wurf6#bb ,with pain of a like quality those vain hopes1 too1 return back to him1 in which he saw in ,kaiser ,joseph the uprise of a new world of spiritual effort and poetry4 ,and1 finally1 it is an honour to the heart of the old veteran at least as great that he sympathizes with the present fact that a people had shattered its fetters of every kind1 had trodden under foot the injustice of a thousand years1 and for the first time sought to found its political life on reason and right4 ,he greets this new ,labende1 selbst nicht getrumte ,sonne4 ,geseegnet sei mir du1 das mein ,haupt bedeckt1 ,mein graues ,haar1 die ,kraft1 die nach sechzigen ,fortdauert2 denn sie war's1 so weithin ,brachte sie mich1 dass diess ,erlebte6#bc ,nay1 he will even express his gratitude to ,france3#bd ,verzeiht1 ,o ,franken 7,namen der ,bruder ist ,der edle ,name7 dass ich den ,deutschen einst ,zurufte1 das zu fliehen1 warum ich ,ihnen jetzt flehe1 euch nachzuahmen4 ,and1 naturally1 the acerbation of the poet was all the more bitter1 when this fair dawn of freedom changed to a day that was steeped in horror and blood1 one that murdered liberty4 ,klopstock1 however1 was unable to give poetical expression to such painful feelings4 ,what he did find the opportunity to say was all the more prosaic1 without definite structure and logical consequence on account of the fact that he had no higher purpose1#be veiled in such facts1 to set off against his disappointed hope4 ,his genius was in short entirely blind to any more profound demand of reason in the facts of such a revolution4 ,the greatness of ,klopstock consists then essentially in his national sympathies1 his keen sense of freedom1 friendship1 love1 and his staunch ,protestantism4 ,we may justly honour him for his noble character and his noble art1 for his effort and achievement4 ,and if1 too1 in many directions he shares the limitations of his own times1 and in truth is responsible for many odes that are solely of interest to the critic1 the grammarian1 the metrist1 odes deficient in all poetic vitality1 we may affirm1 nevertheless1 that with the single exception of ,schiller1 we shall find in our subsequent literature no more noble figure1 no disposition of such serious and masculine independence4 ,we have1 indeed1 to compare with him ,schiller and ,goethe1 who are not merely the poetic exponents of their own times in a spirit resembling his own1 but in their experience as poets are of course far more comprehensive4 ,and1 above all1 in the songs of ,goethe we ,germans unquestionably possess the most consummate1 profound1 and influential poetic compositions of modern times4 ,if they are wholly an expression of the poet they are equally the treasure of his people2 and1 in fact1 as the genuine growth of his native soil1 are completely in accord with the fundamental tones of our national life and genius4 ,footnote #a3 ,subjectivitt4 ,individual self-conscious life4 ,footnote #b3 ,das ,subject1 here the individual consciousness which composes4 ,footnote #c3 ,ergusses1 the pouring out into a mould4 ,footnote #d3 ,vol4 ,,iv1 pp4 #afi-agb4 ,footnote #e3 ,this appears to be the meaning of the words die letzte ,music eines nationalen ,inneren4 ,footnote #f3 ,i presume by ,nachhlfe ,hegel practically means imitation rather than translation4 ,it may be very much doubted whether any composition1 involving a change of language1 can give anything but the faintest knowledge of the original folk-song4 ,goethe's genius could produce poetry out of strange materials1 but he could not reproduce the music of another medium4 ,footnote #g3 ,subjektiver ,art4 ,footnote #h3 ,or as the text runs1 and as everybody's poet4 ,footnote #i3 ,pausanias1 ,i1 c4 #h4 ,footnote #aj3 schines1 ep4 #d4 ,footnote #aa3 ,zusammengezogenheit4 ,the idea of concentration is also present4 ,footnote #ab3 ,i have taken the revised translation4 ,footnote #ac3 ussersichseyn4 ,the being beside or aloof from oneself1 not so much in the sense of infatuation as ecstasy4 ,footnote #ad3 ,i presume ,hegel means this by the words nur zum ,trllern2 it might mean merely to be hummed4 ,footnote #ae3 ,still in sich4 ,footnote #af3 ,high above the life of earth beneath it shall wave in the blue band of heaven1 neighbour to the thunder1 on the boundary of the starry world4 ,it shall be a voice from above1 ay1 as the bright choir of the stars1 who praise their ,creator in their motion and conduct the garlanded year4 ,its voice of bronze is dedicate to eternal and earnest matters alone1 and1 hour by hour1 as it swiftly swings backwards and forwards1 it is one with ,time in its flight4 ,footnote #ag3 ,einlebung4 ,this vital fusion with the object4 ,footnote #ah3 ,in seiner in sich ,zurckgenommenen ,innerlichkeit4 ,footnote #ai3 ,in seinem ,aufgehohenseyn4 ,footnote #bj3 ,that is1 of the isle of ,melos1 ,sappho's birthplace4 ,footnote #ba3 ,readers of the ,xenien of ,goethe and ,schiller will recall the unsparing attacks which were directed against this formalist and pedant4 ,footnote #bb3 ,even ,frederick ,,ii did not see that the art of ,german poesy was raising itself swift on high from the enduring stock of a stable root1 and spread the shade of its branches far abroad4 ,footnote #bc3 ,he greets this new reawakened sun1 no mere dream at least of mine4 ,verily ,i bless thee1 who sweepest over my head1 my grey hairs1 the strength of me that still endures after its sixty years4 ,ay1 for was it not this strength which has carried me so far to see this very vision6 ,footnote #bd3 ,forgive me1 brother of ,france1 and brotherhood is the noblest tie after all1 that ,i once cried to my ,germans to flee from that1 which ,i now implore them to follow--imitation of you4 ,the reference is of course to the ,french ,revolution4 ,footnote #be3 ,hegel may mean that ,klopstock was unable to see the real benefits which would result from the ,french ,revolution despite its apparent failure4 ,the sentence which follows would1 however1 suggest an alternative interpretation that the poet was unable to see the higher demand which the facts of ,revolution made upon the ,french people1 and which from the first1 that is1 even when ,klopstock admired them1 they did not either frankly face or successfully respond to4 ,i think1 indeed1 this latter is most probable4 ,c4 ,,dramatic ,,poetry ,the reason that dramatic poetry must be regarded as the highest phase of the art of poetry1 and1 indeed1 of every kind of art1 is due to the fact that it is elaborated1 both in form and substance1 in a whole--that is the most complete4 ,for in contrast to every other sort of sensuous materia1 whether it be stone1 wood1 colour1 or tone1 that of human speech is the only medium fully adequate to the presentation of spiritual life2 and further1 among the particular types of the art of articulate speech1 dramatic poetry is the one1 in which we find the objective character of the ,epos essentially united to the subjective principle of the ,lyric4 ,in other words it presents directly before our vision an essentially independent action as a definite fact1 which does not merely originate from the personal life of character under the process of self-realization1 but receives its determinate form as the result of the substantive interaction in concrete life of ideal intention1 many individuals and collisions4 ,this mediated form of epic art by means of the intimate personal life of an individual viewed in the very presence of his activity does not1 however1 permit the drama to describe the external aspects of local condition and environment1 nor yet the action and event itself in the way that they are so described in the epic4 ,consequently1 in order that the entire art-product may receive the full animation of life1 we require its complete scenic representation4 ,and1 finally1 the action itself1 regarded in the full complexus of its ideal and external reality1 is adapted to two distinct types of composition of the most opposite character1 the predominant principles of which1 regarded severally as the tragic and comic type1 create in their turn also a further fundamental and specific point of view in our attitude to the dramatic art4 ,starting then from the vantage of these general observations we may indicate the course of our inquiry as follows3 ,firsts we propose to consider the dramatic composition1 both in its general and more detailed features1 in the contrast it presents to epic and lyrical poetry4 ,secondly1 our attention will be directed to its scenic presentation and the conditions of this necessity4 ,thirdly1 we shall pass under review the different types of dramatic poetry as we find them realized in the concrete facts of past history4 ,i4 ,,the ,,drama ,,as ,a ,,poetical ,,art-,,product ,what we have1 in the first instance1 to define more emphatically is the poetic aspect of the dramatic composition as such1 that is to say in its independence of the fact that the same is necessarily presented to our direct vision on the stage4 ,our investigation of this will do well to concentrate itself on the following points3 ,firsts there is the general principle of dramatic poetry4 ,secondly1 we have the several specific types of dramatic composition4 ,thirdly1 there is the relation which obtains between these and the public audience4 7a7 ,the ,principle of ,dramatic ,poetry ,the demand of the drama1 in the widest sense1 is the presentation of human actions and relations in their actually visible form to the imaginative consciousness1 that is to say1 in the uttered speech of living persons1 who in this way give expression to their action4 ,dramatic action1 however1 is not confined to the simple and undisturbed execution of a definite purpose1 but depends throughout on conditions of collision1 human passion and characters1 and leads therefore to actions and reactions1 which in their turn call for some further resolution of conflict and disruption4 ,what we have consequently before us are definite ends individualized in living personalities and situations pregnant with conflict2 we see these as they are asserted and maintained1 as they work in co-operation or opposition--all in a momentary and kaleidoscopic interchange of expression--and along with this1 too1 the final result presupposed and issuing from the entirety of this interthreading and conflicting skein of human life1 movement1 and accomplishment1 which has none the less to work out its tranquil resolution4 ,the mode of poetical composition adapted to this novel type of content can be1 as already suggested1 no other than a mediating union of the principles of epic and lyrical art respectively4 77 ,the first point of importance we have to settle to our satisfaction is that of the time at which dramatic poetry is able to assert itself in all its predominance4 ,drama is the product of an already essentially cultured condition of national life4 ,it already presupposes as essentially a feature of past history not only the primitive poetic period of the genuine ,epos1 but also the independent personal excogitation of lyrical rapture4 ,the bare fact that1 while combining these two points of view1 it is satisfied with neither sphere in its separation proves that this is so4 ,and in order that we may have this poetic combination the free self-consciousness of human aims1 developments and destinies must be already fully alert and awake1 must have attained1 in short1 a degree of culture such as is only possible in the intermediate and later epochs of a nation's development4 ,for this reason1 too1 the greatest exploits and events of a nation's primitive history are rather of an epic than a dramatic type4 ,such are features of the national existence for the most part related to communities outside it1 such as the ,trojan war1 or the wave of popular migration1 as illustrated in the ,crusades1 or the national resistance to a common enemy1 as was the case in the war of ,greece against ,persia4 ,it is only at a later stage that we meet with the more stable independence of single heroes1 who create for themselves and out of themselves in their isolation definite ends1 and carry through the undertakings they imply4 77 ,we may add the following remarks upon the nature of this mediation between the opposed principles of epic and lyric poetry4 ,the ,epos already makes an action visible to our imaginative sense4 ,it is1 however1 here presented as the substantive entirety of a national spirit under the form of definite events and exploits of external life1 in which personal volition1 the individual aim and the externality of vital conditions1 together with the obstructions which such external facts present1 are retained in an equal balance4 ,in the ,lyric1 on the contrary1 it is the individual person1 which is emphasized in the independence of his subjective life and as such expressed4 77 ,in combining these two points of view drama has in the first place1 following in this respect the ,epos1 to bring before our vision an event1 action1 or practical affair4 ,but above all in everything that is thus presented the factor of bare externality must be obliterated1 and in1 its place the self-conscious and active personality is posited as the paramount ground and vital force4 ,the drama1 in short1 does not take exclusive refuge in-the lyric presence of soul-life1 as such stands in contrast to an external world1 but propounds such a life in and through its external realization4 ,and in virtue of this the event does not appear to proceed from external conditions1 but rather from personal volition and character2 it receives in fact its dramatic significance exclusively in its relation to subjective aims and passions4 ,at the same time the individual is not left exclusively rooted in his self-exclusive independence2 he comes to his own through the peculiar nature of the conditions in which he is placed1 and subject to which his character and purpose become the content of his volitional faculty1 quite as much so in fact as in virtue of the nature of the particular purpose itself in its opposition to and conflict with other ends4 ,consequently the dramatic action in question must submit to a process of development and collision with other forces1 which themselves1 on their own account1 and even in a contrary direction to that willed and intended by the active personality1 effect the ultimate course of the events through which the personal factor1 in its essential1 characteristics of human purpose1 personality1 and spiritual conflict1 is asserted4 ,this substantive or objective aspect1 which is enforced along with the individual character1 in other respects acting independently from its own ideal resources1 is no other than the very point of view which we find effective and vital in the principle of dramatic poetry1 when it coincides with that of the epic composition4 77 ,however much1 therefore1 we may have as a centre of attraction the intimate soul-life of particular men and women1 nevertheless dramatic composition cannot rest content with the purely lyrical conditions of the emotional life2 nor can the poet of such merely limit his sympathy to the dusty record of exploits that are already complete1 or1 speaking generally1 merely describe the experience of enjoyment or other states of emotional or contemplative life4 ,the drama1 on the contrary1 has to exhibit situations and the spiritual atmosphere that belongs to them as definitely motived by the individual character1 which is charged with specific aims1 and which makes these an effective part of the practical content of its volitional self-identity4 ,the definition of soul-life1 therefore1 in the drama passes into the sphere of impulse1 the realization of personality by means of active volition1 in a word1 effective action2 it passes out of the sphere of pure ideality1 it makes itself an object of the outer world1 and inclines itself to the concrete facts of the epic world4 ,the external phenomenon1 however1 instead of attaining existence in the bare fact of an event1 is here1 in the view of the acting character himself1 charged with the opinions and aims he forms on his own account4 ,action is here the executed will1 which as such is at the same time recognized1 recognized1 that is1 not merely in its origin and point of departure from the soul-life1 but also in respect to its ultimate purpose4 ,in other words1 all that issues from the action1 issues1 so far as the personality in question is concerned1 from himself1 and reacts thereby on his personal character and its circumstances4 ,this constant relation of the entire complexus of external condition to the soul-life itself of the self-realized and self-realizing individuality1 who is at once the basis and assimilating force of the entire process1 marks the point where dramatic poetry falls in line with the truly lyrical principle4 77 ,it is only when thus regarded that human action asserts itself as action in the supreme sense1 that is1 as actual execution of ideal intentions and aims with the realization of which the individual agent associates himself as with himself1 discovers himself and his satisfaction therein1 and thereupon further takes his stand with his entire being in all that proceeds from it as a constituent of the objective world4 ,a character which is dramatic plucks for himself the fruit of his own deeds4 ,inasmuch1 however1 as the interest1 in a dramatic sense1 restricts itself to the personal aim1 whose hero the active personality is1 and it is only necessary in the artistic work to borrow from the external world so much as is bound in an essential relation to this purpose1 which originates in self-conscious life1 for this reason the drama is primarily of a more abstract nature than the epic poem4 ,for on the one hand the action1 in so far as it reposes in the self-determination of character1 and is deducible from this vital source and centre1 does not presuppose the epic background of an entire world through all the varied aspects and ramifications of its positive realization1 but is concentrated in the simpler definition of circumstance subject to which the individual man is absorbed in his immediate purpose and carries the same to accomplishment4 ,and from a further point of view we have not here the type of personality which asserts its development to our vision in the entire complexity of national qualities as such are displayed by the epic1 but rather character viewed in direct relation to its action1 character which possesses a definite end directed to spirit life in its universality4 ,this end or purpose1 this eventual fact on which it depends1 is placed in a more exalted position than is possible to the extension of the purely individual life1 which appears inclusively as living organ and animating vehicle of the same4 ,a more widely extended unveiling of character under the most varied aspects which are present either in no connection at all or only in a more remote one to its action1 as we find it concentrated on one single point of interest would be a superfluity2 consequently in this respect1 too1 that is1 in its relation to the active personality1 dramatic poetry ought to be more simply concentrated than epic poetry4 ,the same generalization is applicable to the number and variety of the characters represented4 ,for in virtue of the fact1 as previously insisted1 that the movement of the drama is not thrown upon the background of a national existence essentially complete in its envisagement of every conceivable variety of class1 age1 sex1 activity1 and so forth1 but on the contrary1 rivets our attention throughout on one fundamental purpose and its achievement1 a realization of objective fact so extended and intricate as this would not merely be ineffective1 but would actually impair the result proposed4 ,at the same time1 however1 and secondly1 the end and content of an action is only dramatic by reason of the fact that on account of its defined character1 in the distinctive qualities of which the particular personality itself can alone lay hold of it under equally definite conditions1 it calls into being in other individuals other objects and passions opposed to it1 ,this pathetic excitant#a may1 no doubt1 in each separate active agent1 assume the form of spiritual1 ethical1 and divine forces1 such as duty1 love to fatherland1 parents1 wife1 relations1 and the like4 ,if1 however1 this essential content of human feeling and activity is to assert itself as dramatic it must in its specialization confront us as distinct ends1 so that in every case the action will inevitably meet with obstruction in its relation to other active individuals1 and fall into subjection to changing conditions and contradictions1 which alternately prejudice the success of their own particular fulfilment4 ,the genuine content1 the essential operative energy throughout may therefore very well be the eternal forces1 the essentially explicit ethical ,state1 the gods of vital reality1 in a word the divine and the true1 but it is not these in the might of their tranquillity1 in that condition1 so to speak1 wherein the unmoved gods abide1 saved from all action1 as some serene figures of sculpture self-absorbed in a state of blessedness4 ,what we have here is the divine in its community1 as content1 that is1 and object of human personality1 as concrete existence in its realization1#b invited to act and charged with movement4 ,if1 however1 as above described1 the godlike presence constitutes the most vital objective truth in the external precipitate#c of human action1 then1 thirdly1 the deciding factor in the course and original departure of such an evolution and conflict cannot reside with particular individuals1 which are placed in a relation of opposition to one another2 it must be referred to the divine presence itself1 regarded as essential totality3 and for this reason1 the drama1 it matters not in what form it may be shaped1 will have to propound to us the vital energy of a principle of ,necessity which is essentially self-supporting1 and capable of resolving every conflict and contradiction4 77 ,consequently1 we have before everything else the demand made on the dramatic poet in his creative capacity1 that to the fullest extent his intelligence is awake to that ideal and universal substance which is at the root of human ends1 conflicts1 and destinies4 ,he must fully acquaint himself with all the contradictions and developments which the particular action will1 under the proposed conditions1 necessarily involve and display4 ,he must not merely be aware of them in so far as they originate in personal passion and the specific characterization of particular individuals1 or as he finds such related to the actual content of human designs and resolves2 but also in so far as they are simply referable to the external relations and circumstances of concrete life4 ,and1 along with this1 it should be within his powers to recognize what the real nature of these paramount forces are1 which apportion to man the just guerdon of his achievements4 ,the rightful claim1 no less than the wrongful misuse of the passions1 which storm through the human heart1 and excite to action1 must lie disclosed to him with equal clarity1 in order that precisely in those cases where the ordinary vision can only discover the ascendancy of obscurity1 chance1 and confusion1 he1 at least1 will find revealed the actual selfaccomplishment of what is the essence of reason and truth itself4 ,it follows1 therefore1 that the dramatic poet ought as little to confine his efforts to the indefinite exploration of the depths of emotional life1 as the one-sided retention of any single exclusive mood of soul-life1 or any limited partiality in the type of his sense-perception and spiritual outlook generally4 ,he ought1 rather1 to exclude nothing from his vision that may be embraced by the widest expansion of ,spirit conceivable4 ,and this is so because the spiritual powers which are exclusively distinct in the mythological ,epos1 and which1 by virtue of the many-sided aspects of actual individualization#dtend to lose the clear definition of their significance1 assert themselves in dramatic poetry in consonance with their simple substantive content as pathos altogether1 and as apart from individual characters4 ,the drama is1 in fact1 the resolution of the one-sided aspect of these powers1 which discover their self-stability in the dramatic character4 ,and this is so whether1 as in tragedy1 they are opposed to such in hostility1 or1 as in comedy1 they are displayed within these characters themselves1 without further mediation1 in a condition of resolution4 7b7 ,dramatic ,composition ,in discussing the drama as a concrete work of art1 ,i propose to emphasize1 briefly1 the following fundamental points3 ,first there is the unity of the same viewed in contrast to that of the ,epos and the lyric poem4 ,secondly1 we have to consider the articulation of its parts1 of its separate parts and their development4 ,thirdly1 there is the external aspect of diction1 dialogue1 and verse-measure4 77 ,what we have in the first instance to observe and1 from the broadest point of view1 to establish with regard to the unity of the drama1 is connected with a remark made in a previous passage to the effect that dramatic poetry1 in contradistinction to the ,epos1 must be more strenuously self-concentrated4 ,for1 although the ,epic makes a specific event its centre of unity1 this is none the less expanded over a wide and manifold field of the national existence1 and may break up into very various episodes and the independent presentation which belongs to each as parts of the entire panorama4 ,an analogous appearance of merely general connection1 on grounds which are converse to the above1 is permissible to certain types of lyrical poetry4 ,inasmuch1 however1 as in dramatic poetry1 from one point of view1 that epic foundation1 as we have seen1 falls away--and as1 otherwise regarded1 the individual characters do not find their expression under the insulation proper to lyric expression1 but rather assert in such a way their mutual relations to one another1 by means of the opposed features of their characterization and aims1 that it is just this personal relation which constitutes the ground of their dramatic realization--it follows1 as by a law of necessity1 that the synthetic unity of the entire composition is of a more stringent character4 ,now this more restricted homogeneity is quite as much objective as it is ideal in its nature4 ,it is objective relatively to the features of the practical content of the objects1 which the different characters carry out in a condition of conflict4 ,it is ideal or subjective in virtue of the fact that this essentially substantive content appears in dramatic work as the passion of particular characters1 so that the ill-success or achievement1 fortune or misfortune1 victory or defeat1 essentially affect the individuals1 whom such concern1 in their actual intention4#e ,the more obvious laws of dramatic composition may be summarized in the time-honoured prescription of the so-called unities of place1 time1 and action4 77 ,the inalterability of one exclusive locale of the action proposed belongs to the type of those rigid rules1 which the ,french in particular have deduced from classic tragedy and the critique of ,aristotle thereupon4 ,as a matter of fact1 ,aristotle merely says#f that the duration of the tragic action should not exceed at the most the length of a day4 ,he does not mention the unity of place at all2 moreover1 the ancient tragedians have not followed such a principle in the strict sense adopted by the ,french4 ,as examples of such a deviation1 we have a change of scene both in the ,eumenides of schylus and the ,ajax of ,sophocles4 ,to a still less extent can our more modern dramatic writing1 in its effort to portray a more extensive field of collision1 dramatis personae of whatever kind and incidental event1 and1 in a word1 an action the ideal explication of which requires1 too1 an external environment of greater breadth1 subject itself to the yoke of a rigid identity of scene4 ,modern poetry1 in so far1 that is1 as its creations are in harmony with the romantic type1 which as a rule displays more variety and caprice in its attitude to external condition1 has consequently freed itself from any such demand4 ,if1 however1 the action is in truth concentrated in a few great motives1 so that it can avoid complexity of external exposition1 there will be no necessity for considerable alternation of scene4 ,indeed1 the reverse will be a real advantage4 ,in other words1 however false such a rule may be in its purely conventional application1 it contains at least the just conception that the constant transition of scene1 without any particular reason why we should have one more than another1 is obviously quite inadmissible4 ,the dramatic concentration of the action ought necessarily to assert itself also in this external aspect1 and thus present a contrast to the ,epos1 which is permitted in the most varied way to adapt itself to the fresh expatiation in the form of the spatial condition and its changes4 ,moreover1 from a further point of view1 the drama is not1 as the ,epos1 composed exclusively for the imaginative sense1 but for the direct vision of our senses4 ,in the sphere of the pure imagination we can readily pass from one scene to another4 ,in a theatrical representation1 however1 we must not put too great a strain on the imaginative faculty beyond the point which contradicts the ordinary vision of life4 ,shakespeare1 for example1 in whose tragedies and comedies there is a very frequent change of scene1 had posts put up with notices attached to them indicating the particular scene on view4 ,a device of this kind is a poor sort of affair1 and can only impair the dramatic effect4 ,for this reason the unity of place is at least commendable to the extent that its intelligibility and convenience are prim facie assured1 in so far1 that is1 that all confusion is thus avoided4 ,but after all1 no doubt1 much may still be trusted to the imagination1 which would conflict with our ordinary perception and notion of probability4 ,the most convenient course in this1 as in other matters1 is a happy mean2 in other words1 while not wholly excluding the claim of purely natural fact and perception1 we may still permit ourselves considerable license in our attitude to both4 77 ,the unity of time is a precisely similar case4 ,in the pure realm of imaginative idea we may no doubt1 with no difficulty1 combine vast periods of time2 in the direct vision of perception we cannot so readily pass over a few years4 ,if the action is1 therefore1 of a simple character1 viewed in its entire content and conflict1 we shall do best to concentrate the time of such a conflict1 from its origin to its resolution1 in a restricted period4 ,if1 on the contrary1 it demands character richly diversified1 whose development necessitates many situations which1 in the matter of time1 lie widely apart from one another1 then the formal unity of a purely relative and entirely conventional duration of time will be essentially impossible4 ,to attempt to remove such a representation from the domain of dramatic poetry1 on the prim facie ground that it is inconsistent with the strict rule of time-unity would simply amount to making the prose of ordinary facts the final court of appeal1 as against the truth of poetic creation4 ,least of all need we waste time in discussing the purely empirical probability that as audience we could1 in the course of a few hours1 witness also1 directly through our sense1 merely the passage of a short space of time4 ,for it is precisely in the case where the poet is most at pains to illustrate this conclusion that1 from other points of view1 he well-nigh invariably perpetrates the most glaring improbabilities4 77 ,in contrast to the above examples of unity1 that of action is the one truly inviolable rule4 ,the true nature1 however1 of this unity may be a matter of considerable dispute4 ,i will therefore develop my own views of its significance at greater length4 ,every action must without exception have a distinct object which it seeks to achieve4 ,it is through his action that man enters actively into the concrete actual world1 in which also the most universal subject-matter is in its turn accepted in the poetic work and defined under more specific manifestation4 ,from this point of view1 therefore1 the unity will have to be sought for in the realization of an end itself essentially definite1 and carried under the particular conditions and relations of concrete life to its consummation4 ,the circumstances adapted to dramatic action are1 however1 as we have seen1 of a kind that the individual end meets with obstructions at the hands of other personal agents1 and this for the reason that a contradictory end stands in its path1 which in its turn equally strives after fulfilment1 so that it is invariably attached to the reciprocal relation of conflicts and their devolution4 ,dramatic action in consequence rests essentially upon an action that is involved with resistance2#g and the genuine unity can only find its rationale in the entire movement which consists in the assertion of this collision relatively to the definition of the particular circumstances1 characters1 and ends proposed1 not merely under a mode consonant to such ends and characters1 but in such a way as to resolve the opposition implied4 ,such a resolution has1 precisely as the action itself has1 an external and an inside point of view4 ,in other words1 on the one side1 the conflict of the opposed ends is finally composed2 and on the other the particular characters1 to a greater or less extent1 have committed their entire volitional energy and being to the undertaking they strive to accomplish4 ,consequently the success or misadventure of the same1 to complete or partial execution1 the inevitable disaster or the secure union effected with intentions that are apparently opposed to their extent1 also determine the destiny of the character in question1 that it is inextricably involved with that which it was impelled to commit to such activity4 ,a true end is therefore only then consummated1 where the object and interest of the action1 around which all revolves1 are identified with the individuals concerned1 and absolutely united to them4 ,and whether the difference and opposition of the dramatic character assumes a simple form or branches out in various accessory episodes and individuals1 the unity in either case may be of a more severe or less stringent nature4 ,comedy1 for instance1 in the many-sided features of its worked-out intrigue does not require such deliberate self-concentration as tragedy does1 which is as a rule motived on grandiose and simple lines4 ,romantic tragedy1 however1 is also in this respect more varied and less consistent in its unity than is classic tragedy4 ,and even where there is more licence the relation of the episodes and supplementary characters must be throughout recognizable2 and the entirety of the piece should also naturally and without strain fit in with and help to complete the conclusion4 ,so1 for example1 in ,romeo and ,juliet1 the discord between the families1 which lies outside the lovers and their object and destiny1 is no doubt the base on which the action is shaped1 though not the actual matter on which all actually depends4 ,shakespeare consequently devotes the necessary1 if also wholly subordinate attention to the final issue of this conflict in his conclusion4 ,in the same way in ,hamlet the fortunes of ,denmark remain a subsidiary interest1 though with the entrance of ,fortinbras they are apparently considered1 and are settled at last satisfactorily4 ,no doubt in the particular end1 which resolves the colliding factors1 the possibility of fresh interests and conflicts may be presented2 it is1 however1 the one collision with which the action is concerned1 which has to discover its final adjustment in the essentially independent composition4 ,of this type are the three tragedies of ,sophocles borrowed from the ,theban cycle of myths4 ,the first contains the discovery by dipus of the murderer of ,laius2 the second his peaceful death in the home of the ,eumenides2 the third the fate of ,antigone4 ,and1 despite of this connection1 every one of the three is equally an intrinsically complete whole independent of the other two4 77 ,with regard to our second point1 namely1 that of the mode of denouement in a dramatic composition1 we have three main features of distinction to consider between it and epic composition or the song1 namely1 the size of its extension1 the nature of its progression and its division into scenes and acts4 77 ,we have already seen that the embrace of a drama--is not so extensive as the demand of the epos implies4 ,i propose1 therefore--over and above the two features already discussed of that world-condition1 which is necessarily implied in the complete picture of the epic1 and the more simple collision which is an equally essential constituent of the content of drama--merely to advert to the further ground1 that in the drama the greater part of everything that the muse of the epic poet has to describe and linger over as servant of our imaginative vision1 is omitted altogether from the scenic reproduction4 ,and1 further1 in the case of drama it is not actual exploit1 but the exposition of personal passions which is here the main thing4 ,this personal life1 however1 in contrast to the expanse of the phenomenal world1 is concentrated in simple emotions1 sentences1 decisions1 and the like2 and here1 too1 as distinct from the collateral display of epic narration and its historical part1 it gives effect to the principle of lyric absorption and the origination and expression in present time of passion and idea4 ,dramatic poetry is1 however1 not satisfied with merely one situation2#h it presents the ideal world of emotional life or intelligence in active self-assertion as a totality of circumstances and ends of very various character1 which expresses taken together1 all that1 if viewed relatively to its activity1 passes in such an inward world4 ,in comparison with the lyrical poem1 the drama reaches out to and is completed in a far more extensive embrace of subject-matter4 ,to summarize this comparative relation we may say1 perhaps1 that dramatic poetry stands as a mean between the wide embrace of the ,epopaea and the concentrated compression of the ,lyric4 77 ,yet more important than this aspect of external extension is the nature of the dramatic progression as opposed to the mode of the epic's devolution ,the form of the epic objectivity demands throughout1 as we have seen1 a lingering style of description1 which may along with this become more intense and pointed in its display of active obstruction4 ,it is possible that we may at first blush incline to the view that1 inasmuch as other ends and characters resist the main end and principal character in dramatic exposition1 dramatic poetry is entitled to accept this sort of pause and obstacle as an essential feature of its principle4 ,as a matter of fact just the reverse is the case4 ,the true dramatic progression is a continuous movement onwards to the final catastrophe4 ,this is clear from the simple fact that it is in collision that we find the emphatic turning point4 ,in consequence of this we have the twofold view of1 in the first place1 a general strain towards the outbreak of this conflict1 and1 secondly1 the necessity implied in this discord and contradiction of views1 ends1 and activities1 that they should find some resolution to which they are driven forwards4 ,by this we by no means assert that mere celerity of forward movement is simply in itself beautiful in the dramatic sense4 ,on the contrary1 the dramatic poet should have himself room to supply every situation on its own account with all the motives which it truly implies4 ,episodical scenes1 however1 which only impede the action are contrary to the nature of the drama4 77 ,as a final point1 we may divide the course of the dramatic work most naturally by simply following the stages implied in the notion of dramatic movement itself4 ,in this connection ,aristotle#i long ago remarks that a whole is that which possesses a beginning1 a middle1 and a conclusion4 ,he further defines a beginning 'as that which1 of itself necessary1 does not issue from something else1 and out of which something other than itself issues and proceeds4 ,the end is the reverse of this1 namely1 that which originates from something else1 either of necessity1 or mainly so at least1 but which does not itself lead to further consequence4 ,the middle is that which both issues from something else1 and also is that from which something else proceeds4 ,now no doubt in the reality of our experience every action includes many presuppositions which make it a difficult matter to decide the exact point where we may find the true commencement4 ,in so far1 however1 as dramatic action rests essentially on a definite state of collision1 the right point of departure will lie in the situation1 out of which the future devolution of that conflict1 despite the fact that it has not as yet broken out1 will none the less in its further course issue4 ,the end1 on the contrary1 will then be attained1 when the resolution of the discord and its development is secured in every possible respect4 ,in the midway condition between origination and end we have the conflict of ends1 and the struggle of individual persons in collision4 ,these different section's are in dramatic composition1 so to speak1 the phases or moments of the action of what are also actions1 and the definition of this is admirably indicated by the acts of the piece4 ,they are now of course more or less equivalent to pauses of time1 and a prince on one occasion1 who was either in a hurry1 or wished the action to proceed without interruption1 blamed his chamberlain openly that such a pause occurred4 ,with regard to their number three such acts for every kind of drama is the number that will adapt itself most readily to intelligible theory4 ,of these the first discloses the appearance of the collision1 which is thereupon emphasized in the second with all the animation of conflicting interests as the positive difference of such discord and its progression1 until1 finally1 driven as it were upon the very apex of its contradiction1 it is necessarily resolved4 ,we may cite--as some kind of illustration of this division which the nature of such an action suggests--from ancient drama1 in which no doubt the dramatic articulation is as a rule less distinct1 the trilogies of schylus1 in which each single play combines with the others to form a single and completely exclusive whole4#aj ,in modern poetry the ,spaniards mainly follow such a division into three acts4 ,the ,english1 ,french1 and ,germans1 on the contrary1 for the most part divide the entire play into five acts1 in which the initial exposition is assigned to the first1 the three next are occupied with the various aggressions and reactionary effects1 the complex intentions and conflicts of the opposed parties2 and it is not until the fifth that we reach the entire resolution of such contending forces4 77 ,the third and final important aspect we have to investigate in our present connection is the nature of the external means1 in so far as the employment of the same by dramatic art can be held distinct from and independent of the actual scenic representation that is otherwise essential to its complete display4 ,an account of the specific nature of diction which is frequently dramatic generally1 secondly1 of the distinguishing features of the monologue1 dialogue1 and the like1 and1 lastly1 of verse measure1 will be all that is necessary here4 ,as we have more than once insisted in the drama the fact of the action is not the external aspect to which we refer1 but the exposition of the ideal spirit of the action1 not merely in respect to the dramatis personae and their passion1 pathos1 resolve1 interaction1 and mediation1 but also relatively to the universal essence of the action in its conflict and destiny4 ,it is this ideally pregnant spirit1 in so far as poetry gives embodiment to it in poetic form1 which pre-eminently discovers an appropriate expression in the language of poetry1 viewing this1 as we should1 as the most spiritual way of expressing emotions and ideas4 77 ,but1 moreover1 just as the drama combines the principles of the ,epos and the ,lyric1 dramatic diction1 too1 is compelled both to carry and assert within itself elements that are lyrical and those that are epic4 ,the lyrical approach is rather a special feature of modern drama1 and as a rule in those cases where the personal life is or tends to be self-absorbed1 and seeks in its decision and action throughout to retain the self-consciousness of its inward resources4 ,but none the less this unveiling of the individual heart-life1 if it is to remain dramatic1 ought not merely to be the exploitation of a vague and variable cloud of emotions1 memories1 and visions2 it should keep its relation to the action constant throughout1 should make its result identical with that of the different phases of the same4 ,in contrast to this subjective pathos the epic character of the diction1 which we may define as the objective pathos1 is mainly concerned with the unfolding of what is substantive in dramatic relations1 ends1 and persons on lines rather directed to the vision of the audience4 ,such a point of view can also in part assume a lyrical tone1 remaining when it does so dramatic only in so far as it does not more entirely in its independent force form the progress of the action and its asserted relation to the same4 ,and over and above this1 as a second residue1 so to speak1 of epic poetry1 we may have the records of narrative1 descriptions of battles and the like thrown in4 ,but these also1 in genuine dramatic composition1 ought to be marked with greater compression and animated movement1 and1 relatively to their presentment as narrative1 a necessary connection with the progress of the action should be evident4 ,in conclusion1 genuine dramatic art consists in the expression of individuals in the conflict of their interests and the discord roused between their characters and their transitory passions4 ,it is here that the twofold aspect of lyric and epic poetry#aa will assert its power in true dramatic union3 and we have then attached to this the aspect of positive external fact expressed likewise in the medium of language1 as where we have1 for instance1 the departure and entrance of dramatis personae as a rule announced beforehand2 not unfrequently also their external habit or demeanour is indicated by other persons4 ,a fundamental distinction over the entire field now under review is the so-called realistic mode of expression1 as opposed to a conventional speech of the theatre and its rhetoric4 ,diderot1 ,lessing1 ,goethe1 and ,schiller also in their youth addressed themselves in modern times above all to this attitude of direct and natural expression4 ,lessing did so with the powers of a trained and sensitive observation ,schiller and ,goethe did so with their predilection for the direct animation of unembellished robustness and force4 ,that men should converse with one another as in the ,greek1 or with more insistance--and in this latter respect the criticism has a reasonable basis--as in ,french comedy and tragedy was scouted as contrary to ,nature4 ,this type of naturalism1 however1 may very readily1 with its superfluity of merely realistic traits1 fall into the other extreme of dryness and prose1 in so far1 that is1 as the characters are not developed in the essential qualities of their emotional life and action1 but only as they happen to express themselves in the literal accuracy of their individual life1 without indicating therein any more significant self-consciousness or any further sense of their essential position4 ,the more natural the characterization is allowed to remain in this sense the more prosaic it becomes4 ,in actual life men converse and strive with one another before everything else on the mere basis of their distinct singularity4 ,if our object is to depict them simply as such it is impossible that they should also be represented in their truly substantive significance4#ab ,and1 if we look at the essence of the matter1 this question of crudeness and urbanity can only be in the last instance treated subject to the above considerations4 ,in other words while1 on the one hand1 such crudeness or coarseness is made to issue from the particular personality1 which is exclusively committed to the unmediated dictation of an imaginative type of outlook and feeling1 in the converse treatment an urbanity is the outcome of a purely abstract and formal generalization of consideration for others1 recognition of the claims of personality1 love1 honour1 and the like1 in which nothing that is suggestive of a rich and objective content can be expressed4#ac ,between these two extremes of a purely formal generality and this natural expression of unpolished peculiarities we have the true universal1 which is throughout neither formal nor destitute of individuality1 but finds its concrete realization in a twofold way from the defined content of character and the objective presence of opinions and aims4 ,genuine poetry will therefore consist in the assertion of what belongs to immediate and actual life as characteristic and individual in the purifying medium of universality1#ad both aspects being permitted to mediate each other4 ,in this case we are conscious1 even in respect to diction1 that without being wholly banished from the basis of reality and its actual traits of truth1 we are nevertheless carried into another sphere1 that is to say the ideal realm of art4 ,of this latter character is the diction of ,greek dramatic poetry1 the later diction of ,goethe1 and in part1 too1 that of ,schiller1 and in his own way ,shakespeare's also1 although the ,englishman1 owing to the peculiar conditions of the contemporary stage1 is forced in part now and again to accommodate his verbal language to the actual ability of the actor4#ae 77 ,we may further classify the mode of dramatic expression as that of choral interlude1 monologue1 and dialogue4 ,it is the ancient drama which has pre-eminently elaborated the distinction between chorus and dialogue4 ,in our modern drama this falls away4 ,what1 in the classical composition1 was presented by the chorus1 is now rather placed in the mouths of the leading characters4 ,the choric song expresses1 among the ancients1 by way of contrast to the particular characters and their more personal or more reciprocal conflict1 the general or more impersonal view of the situation1 and the emotions it excites1 in a manner which at one time inclines to the objective style of epic narrative1 at another to the impulsive movement of the ,lyric4 ,in the monologue1 on the other hand1 it is the isolated individual who1 in a given situation of the action1 becomes objective on his own account4 ,monologues are1 therefore1 dramatically in their right place at those moments chiefly when the emotional life is entirely self-concentrated as the result of previous events2 when it sums up1 as it were1 the nature of the cleft between itself and others1 or its own spiritual division2 or when it arrives at some sudden decision1 or comes to the final point of resolve on matters already long debated4 ,the third and complete form of the drama1 however1 is the dialogue4 ,for in this the dramatis personae are mutually able to express their character and aims1 not merely relatively to their personal attitude to each other1 but also to the substantive character of the pathos disclosed2 they engage in conflict1 and thereby actually advance the movement of the action4 ,we may further distinguish in the dialogue between the expression of a pathos that is subjective and one that is objective4 ,the first rather appertains to a given passion of more accidental a nature1 whether it be the case in which it is retained essentially in suppression1 and is only expressed aphoristically1 or that in which it finds a vent in the most complete and exhaustive explosion4 ,poets1 who endeavour to arouse the full movement of personal emotion by means of poignant scenes1 are exceptionally partial to this type of pathos4 ,nevertheless1 despite all their endeavour to depict personal suffering and unrestrained passion1 or the unreconciled inward dissension of soul-life1 it remains the fact that the human soul1 in its depth1 is less effected thereby than it is through a pathos1 wherein at the same time a genuine objective content is evolved4 ,for this reason the earlier plays of ,goethe1 despite all the real penetration of their subject-matter and the natural force of their dialogue1 make on the whole a weaker impression4 ,and1 in the same way1 outbreaks of unrelieved distraction and unrestrained fury1 effect a truly healthy sense only in subordinate degree2 and1 above all1 what is wholly frightful rather chills us than makes the blood flow4 ,the poet may describe passion with all the overwhelming power possible4 ,it is ineffective2 the heart is merely rent in pieces1#af and turns aside from it4 ,what we fail to find here is that which art can least dispense with1 the positive aspect of reconciliation4 ,the ancient tragedians1 therefore1 mainly sought for their effect by means of the objective type of pathos2 nor is there wanting here genuine human individuality1 so far as this was compatible with their art4 ,the plays1 also1 of ,schiller possess this pathos of a great spiritual force1#ag a pathos which is penetrative throughout1 and is manifested and expressed everywhere as fundamental to the action4 ,it is1 above all1 to this circumstance that we may ascribe the lasting effect which the tragedies of ,schiller produce even in our own day2 ,i refer in particular to their scenic reproduction4 ,for that which produces a profound dramatic effect of universal and enduring appeal can be only the substantive in action--by which ,i mean1 viewing it as definite content1 the ethical substance therein1 or1 in its more formal aspect1 the grandeur of ideal reach and character1 in which respect1 again1 ,shakespeare is supreme4 77 ,i will1 in conclusion1 add merely a word or two on the point of verse-measure4 ,dramatic metre is best when it lies midway between the tranquil1 uniform flow of the hexameter and the more interrupted and split-up syllabic metres congenial to the ,lyric4 ,in this respect the iambic metre is above all others commendable4 ,for the iambus1 with the rhythm of its onward movement1 which may be either accelerated by anapaests1 or be made more solemn and weighty with the spondee1 forms a most fitting accompaniment to the march of the action2 and in quite a peculiar way the senarius possesses a real tone of noble and restrained emotional force4 ,among modern authors the ,spaniards1 with an artistic purpose the reverse of this1 adopt trochaeic tetrameters1 the effect of which is one of tranquil retardation2 a measure which1 with its variety of interwoven rhymes and assonances1 in part1 too1 with its alternative absence of rhyme1 is admirably adapted to the imaginative exuberance of phantasy1 and to the fine-drawn argumentative antitheses1 which characterize this poetry and impede rather than advance the action4 ,in a contrast of a similar kind1 the ,french ,alexandrine is harmonious with the formal carriage and the declamatory rhetoric of passions1 sometimes held in restraint and at others expressed at full heat1 the conventional expression of which the art of ,french drama has tasked itself to elaborate4 ,the more realistic ,englishman1 whom we ,germans too have followed in more recent times1 has1 on the contrary1 retained the iambic metre1 which ,aristotle long ago defined as #ah ,he has1 however1 not accepted the same in identical form with the ,greek trimeter1 but substituted a measure of less pathetic character1 if capable of the greatest freedom of treatment4 7c7 ,the ,relation of the ,dramatic ,composition to the ,general ,public4 ,although the advantages or defects of diction and metre are important1 also1 in epic and lyrical poetry1 we must nevertheless ascribe a more emphatic effect to them in dramatic compositions1 in virtue of the circumstance that we are in this case dealing with opinions1 characters1 and actions which have to appear before us in all the reality of life itself4 ,a comedy of ,calderon1 for example1 with all the interplay of fantastic wit we may assume1 embodied1 however1 in the kind of diction we associate with this poet1 with its logical niceties and its bombast--subject1 also1 to all the variations of his lyrical metres--would not1 we may presume1 on the simple ground of this manner of expression1 be likely to arouse any general sympathy4 ,it is on account of this visual presence and nearness of approach that the other aspects of the content1 apart from that of purely dramatic form1 are brought into a far more direct relation to the public before whom they are reproduced4 ,we should like shortly to explain the nature of this4 ,scientific compositions and lyrical or epic poems either possess a distinct public1 whose interest in such works is associated with their profession1 or it is a matter of chance into what hands compositions of this character may fall4 ,if a book does not please anyone it can be neglected1 just as a man passes by the picture or statue that he does not like2 such works may1 in fact1 be held to carry to some extent with them the author's admission that his book is not written for such4 ,the case is somewhat otherwise with dramatic works4 ,here we have a distinct public for which the author has to cater1 and he is under certain obligations towards it4 ,such a public possesses the right of applause no less than expressed displeasure2 inasmuch as a work is represented before it in its entirety1 and the appeal is made that it should be enjoyed1 with sympathy in a given place and at a stated time4 ,a public of this sort1 as in the case of any--other public jury1 is of a very varied character2 it differs in its education1 interests1 accustomed tastes1 and hobbies1 so that to secure complete success in certain distinct respects a talent in the display of vulgar effect1 or at least a relative shame-facedness in regard to the finest demand of genuine art1 may be necessary4 ,no doubt the dramatic poet has always the alternative left him to despise his public4 ,but in that case he obviously fails to secure the very object for which dramatic writing exists4 ,with us ,germans1 to an exceptional extent1 it has become the fashion since the times of ,tieck thus to scorn the public4 ,our ,german play-writer will express his own particular individuality1 but takes no trouble to commend the result to his audience4 ,the ideal of our ,german egotism is quite the reverse1 namely1 that every man must turn out something different to that of other people1 in order that he may prove his originality4 ,it was owing1 in part1 to this that ,tieck and the brothers ,schlegel1 men who1 from the very nature of their sentimental irony1 were quite unable to master the emotional forces and intelligence of their nation and time1 fell foul of ,schiller1 and tried to blacken his poetical reputation on the ground that he did among us ,germans manage to strike the right key1 and obtain a popularity unsurpassed4 ,with our neighbours1 the ,french1 we find the opposite4 ,their authors write with the present effect on the public always in view1 which further1 on its own account1 is capable of being a keener and less indulgent critic of the author1 owing to the fact that a more definite artistic taste is already fixed in ,france3 with us anarchy prevails1 and everyone expresses his critical views1 applauds or condemns just as he likes1 or as his opinions1 emotion1 and mood may chance to dictate4 ,inasmuch1 however1 as it is an essential part of the definition of the dramatic composition that it should possess the vitality able to command a favourable popular reception1 the dramatic poet should submit to the conditions--quite apart1 that is1 from the accidental circumstances or tendencies of the time--which are likely to secure this result in an artistic form4 ,what these are ,i will attempt to explain1 at least in their more general features4 7a7 ,now1 in the first place1 the ends1 which in a dramatic work come into conflict and are resolved out of such conflict1 either possess a general human interest1 or at least have at bottom a pathos1 which is of a valid and substantive character for the people for whom the poet creates his work4 ,in such a case1 however1 the universal human quality and what is more definitely national1 in so far as either are connected with the substance of dramatic collisions1 may lie very widely apart4 ,compositions1 which stand in the national life1 at the very summit of their dramatic art and development1 may consequently quite fail to be appreciated by another age and nation4 ,we find1 for example1 in ,hindoo lyrical poetry1 even in our own time1 much that carries with it a real charm1 tenderness1 and fascinating sweetness4 ,the particular collision1 however1 around which the action in the ,sakontala revolves1 in other words1 the furious curse upon ,sakontala of the ,brahman1 because she does not see him1 and omits to make her obeisance1 can only strike us as absurd1 so much so in fact that1 despite all other excellences in this quite exceptionally beautiful poem1 we fail to discover any interest in the very culminating crisis of the action4 ,we may affirm very much the same thing of the way in which the ,spaniards treat the motive of personal honour with the abstract severity of a logic1 the brutality of which outrages most deeply all our ideas and feelings4 ,let me recall1 for example1 the attempt made by our own theatrical management to bring upon the stage one of the less famous plays of ,calderon entitled ,clandestine ,revenge for ,clandestine ,insult1 an attempt condemned to failure from the first on this ground4 ,another tragedy1 which on similar lines portrays a more profound human conflict1 ,the ,physician of his own ,honour1 under the changed title of ,the ,intrepid ,prince1 has after some revision secured more leeway2 but this1 too1 is handicapped by its abstract and unyielding ,catholic principle4 ,conversely1 and in an opposite direction1 the ,shakespearian tragedies and comedies are appreciated by a public that is constantly increasing4 ,we find here that1 despite all their nationality1 the universal human interest is incomparably greater4 ,shakespeare has only failed to secure an entrance where the national conventions of art are so narrow and specific that they either wholly exclude or materially weaken works of the ,shakespearian type4 ,a similar position of advantage1 such as that we allow to ,shakespeare1 would be attributable to the tragedies of the ancients1 if we did not1 apart from our changed habits in respect to scenic reproduction and certain aspects of the national consciousness1 make the further demand of a profounder psychological penetration and a greater breadth of particular characterization4 ,so far1 however1 as the subject-matter of ancient tragedy is concerned1 it could never at any time fail in its effect4 ,we may1 therefore1 broadly affirm that1 in proportion as a dramatic work accepts for its content wholly specific rather than typical characters and passions1 conditioned1 that is1 exclusively by definite tendencies of a particular epoch of history1 instead of mainly concerning itself with human interests substantive in all times1 to that extent1 despite of all its other advantages1 it will be more transitory4 77 ,and1 further1 it is necessary that universal human ends and actions of this kind should emphasize their poetic individualization to the point of animated life itself4 ,dramatic composition does not merely address itself to our sense of vitality1 a sense which even the public certainly ought to possess1 but it must itself1 in all essentials1 offer a living actual presence of situations1 conditions1 characters1 and actions4 77 ,i have already1 in a previous passage of this work1#ai entered into some detail relatively to the aspect of local environment1 customs1 usages and other matters which affect the visual representation of action4 ,in this respect dramatic individualization ought to be either so thoroughly poetical1 vital1 and rich with interest that we can discount what is alien to our sense1 and feel ourselves attracted to the performance by this vital claim on our attention1 or it should not pretend to do more than present such characteristics as external form1 which is entirely outshone by the spiritual and ideal characteristics which underlie it4 77 ,more important than this external aspect is the vitality of the dramatis personae4 ,such ought not to be merely specific interests personified1 which is only too frequently the case at the hands of modern dramatists4 ,such abstract impersonations of particular passions and aims are wholly destitute of dramatic effect4 ,a purely superficial individualization is equally insufficient4 ,content and form in such cases1 as in the analogous type of allegorical figures1 fail to coalesce4 ,profound emotions and reflections1 imposing ideas and language offer no real compensation4 ,dramatic personality ought to be1 on the contrary1 vital and self-identical throughout1 a complete whole in short1 the opinions and characterization of which are consonant with its aims and action4 ,it is not the breadth of particular traits which is here of first importance1 but the permeating individuality1 which synthetically binds all in the central unity1 which it in truth is1 and displays a given personality in speech and action as issuing from one and the same living source1 from which every characteristic1 whether it be of idea1 deed or manner of behaviour1 comes into being4 ,that which is merely an aggregate of different qualities and activities1 even though such be strung together in one string1 will not give us the vital character we require4 ,this presupposes from the point of view of the poet himself a creative activity which is instinct with life and imagination4 ,it is to the latter type1 for instance1 that the characters of the ,sophoclean tragedies belong1 despite the fact that they do not possess the variety of particular characteristics which distinguish the epic heroes of ,homer4 ,among later writers ,shakespeare and ,goethe are pre-eminently famous for the vitality of their characterization4 ,the ,french1 on the contrary1 particularly in their earlier dramatic compositions1 appear to have been rather content to excogitate characters that are little more than the formal impersonations of general types and passions1 than to have aimed at giving us true and living persons4 77 ,but1 thirdly1 the task of dramatic creation is not completed with the presentment of vital characterization4 ,goethe's ,iphigeneia and ,tasso throughout are good enough examples of this poetic excellence--and yet they are not1 if we look at them more strictly1 by any means perfect examples of dramatic vitality and movement4 ,it is for this reason that ,schiller long ago remarked of the ,iphigeneia1 that in it is the ethical content1 the heart experience1 the personal opinion which is made the object of the action1 and is as such visually reproduced4 ,and unquestionably the display and expression of the personal experience of different characters in definite situations is not by itself sufficient2 we must also have real emphasis laid on the collision of the ultimate ends involved1 and the forward and conflicting movement which such imply4 ,schiller is consequently of the view that the movement of the ,iphigeneia is not sufficiently disturbed2 we are permitted to linger within it too long and easily4 ,he even maintains that it without question inclines to the sphere of epic composition1 if we contrast it at least with any strict conception of tragedy4 ,in other words1 dramatic effect is action simply as action2 it is not the exposition of personality alone1 or practically independent of the express purpose and its final achievement4 ,in the ,epos play may be permitted to the breadth and variety of character1 external conditions1 occurrences and events2 in the drama1 on the contrary1 the self-concentration of its principle is most asserted relatively to the particular collision and its conflict4 ,it is thus that we recognize the truth of ,aristotle's dictum1#bj that tragic action possesses two sources 7 o71 opinion and character 7o o71 but what is most important is the end 7o71 and individuals do not act in order to display diverse characters1 but these latter are united with a common bond of imaginative conception to the former in the interest of the action4 77 ,as a matter for our final consideration in this place there is the relation in which the poet is placed to the general public4 ,epic poetry in its truly primitive state requires that the poet place wholly on one side his distinctive personality in its contrast to his actually objective work4 ,he offers us the content of that and only that4 ,the lyric poet1 on the contrary1 deliberately expresses his own emotional life and his personal views of the world4 77 ,we might imagine that the poet must perforce withdraw himself in the drama by reason of the very fact that he brings action before us in its sensuous presence1 and makes the characters speak and active in their own names1 to a greater extent than in the ,epos1 in which he appears at any rate as narrator of the events4 ,such an impression is only1 however1 very partially valid4 ,for1 as ,i have already contended1 the drama is exclusively referable in its origin to those epochs1 in which the personal self-consciousness1 both relatively to the general outlook on life and artistic culture1 has already reached a high degree of development4 ,a dramatic composition therefore should not1 as an epic one does1 present the appearance as though it originated from the popular consciousness simply1 for the display of which content the poet is merely an instrument of expression which possesses no reference to the poet's personal life2 rather what we seek to recognize in the complete work is quite as much the product of the self-aware and original creative force1 and by reason of this the art and virtuosity of a genuine poetic personality4 ,it is only thereby that dramatic productions attain to the genuine excellence of their artistic vitality and definition1 as contrasted with the actions and events of natural life4 ,it is on this account that where the authorship of dramatic works is a subject of controversy we find such to be nowhere more frequent than where it concerns the primitive ,epopaea4 77 ,from the opposite point of view the general public too1 if it has itself preserved a true sense of meaning of art1 will not submit to have placed before it in a drama the more accidental moods and opinions1 the peculiar tendencies and the one-sided outlook of this or that individual1 the expression of which is more appropriate to the lyric poet4 ,it has a right to demand that in the course and final issue of the dramatic action1 whether of tragedy or comedy1 what is fundamentally reasonable and true should be vindicated4 ,being myself convinced of this ,i have in a previous passage given a place of first importance to the demand that the dramatic poet must in the profoundest sense make himself master of the essential significance of human action and the divine order of the world1 and along with this of a power to unfold this eternal and essential foundation of all human characters1 passions and destinies in its clarity as also in its vital truth4 ,it is no doubt quite possible that a poet1 in rising equal to this demand upon his powers of penetration and artistic achievement1 may under particular circumstances find himself in conflict with the restricted and uncultured ideas of his age and nation4 ,in such a case the responsibility for such a disunion does not rest with himself1 but is a burden the public ought to carry4 ,he has the single obligation to follow the lead of truth and his own compelling genius1 the ultimate victory of which1 provided it is of the right quality1 is no less assured than that of ultimate truth itself universally4 ,it is impossible to define closely the limits within which a dramatic poet is entitled to bring his actual personality before the public4 ,i will therefore merely recall attention to the fact in a general way that in many periods of history dramatic poetry1 no less than other kinds1 is induced to disseminate with a vital impulse novel ideas upon politics1 morals1 poetry1 religion1 and the like4 ,so early as ,aristophanes we have polemics in those comedies of his youth against the domestic condition of ,athens and the ,peloponnesian war4 ,voltaire again frequently endeavours in his dramatic works to popularize his free thought principles4 ,but above all worthy of notice is the effort of our ,lessing in his ,nathan to vindicate his ethical faith against the strait waistcoat of a blockish orthodoxy4 ,in still more recent times too ,goethe has in his earliest works challenged the prose of our ,german life and its defective views of art4 ,tieck has to some extent followed his lead in this respect4 ,where personal views of the above type are not only of superior worth1 but are further not expressed in such deliberate separation from the action of the drama as to make the latter appear as a mere means for their exploitation1 the claims of true art are not likely to suffer injury4 ,if1 however1 the freedom of the composition is thereby impaired1 though no doubt the poet may possibly produce no inconsiderable impression on the public by his introduction of his own predilections into his work2 yet1 however true they may be1 if they are at the same time unable to coalesce with the work as an artistic whole the interest thereby aroused can only be limited to the matters thus handled2 it is in fact no true artistic interest at all4 ,the worst case of all is that1 however1 where a poet with similar deliberation seeks1 out of pure flattery and in order to please1 to give prominence to some popular prejudice which is entirely false4 ,his sins of commission are in that case twofold1 not merely against art1 but truth no less4 77 ,one further remark may be perhaps admitted in this connection to the effect that among the particular types of dramatic art a more limited measure of indulgence is permitted to tragedy than to comedy in this more free expatiation of the personality of the poet4 ,in the latter type the contingency and caprice of individual self-expression is from the first agreeable to its main principle4 ,thus we find that ,aristophanes frequently makes matters of immediate interest to his ,athenian public the subject of his parabases4 ,in portions of these he gives free utterance to his own views upon contemporary events and circumstances1 and withal shrewd advice to his fellow citizens4 ,he is at other times concerned to defend himself from the attacks of political opponents and his artistic rivals4 ,indeed there are passages in which he deliberately eulogizes himself and his peculiarities4 #b4 ,,the ,,external ,,technique ,,of ,a ,,dramatic ,,composition ,poetry1 alone among the arts1 completely dispenses with the sensuous medium of the objective world of phenomena4 ,inasmuch moreover as the drama does not interpret to the imaginative vision the exploits of the past1 or express an ideal personal experience to mind and soul1 but rather is concerned to depict an action in all the reality of its actual presence1 it would fall into contradiction with itself if it were forced to remain limited to the means1 which poetry1 simply as such1 is in a position to offer4 ,the present action no doubt belongs entirely to the personal self1 and from this point of view complete expression is possible through the medium of language4 ,from an opposite one1 however1 the movement of action is towards objective reality1 and it requires the complete man to express its movement in his corporeal existence1 deed and demeanour1 as well as the physiognomical expression of emotions and passions1 and not only these on their own account1 but in their effect on other men1 and the reactions which are thereby brought into being4 ,moreover1 in the display of individuality in its actual presence1 we require further an external environment1 a specific locale1 in which such movement and action is achieved4 ,consequently dramatic poetry1 by virtue of the fact that no one of these aspects can be permitted to remain in their immediate condition of contingency1 but have all to be reclothed in an artistic form as phases of fine art itself1 is compelled to avail itself of the assistance of pretty well all the other arts4 ,the surrounding scene is to some extent1 just as the temple is1 an architectonic environment1 and in part also external ,nature1 both aspects being conceived and executed in pictorial fashion4 ,in this locale the sculpturesque figures are presented with the animation of life1 and their volition and emotional states are artistically elaborated1 not merely by means of expressive recitation1 but also through a picturesque display of gesture and of posture and movement1 which1 in its objective form1 is inspired by the inward soul-life4 ,in this respect we may have brought home to us a distinction which recalls a feature ,i have at an earlier stage indicated in the sphere of music as the opposition implied in the arts of declamation and melody4 ,in other words1 just as in declamatory music language in its spiritual signification is the aspect of most importance1 to the characteristic expression of which the musical aspect is entirely subordinate1 whereas the movement of melody is unfolded freely on its own account in its own specific medium1 although it too is able to assimilate the content of language--so also dramatic poetry1 on the one hand1 avails itself of those sister arts merely as instrumental to a material basis and environment1 out of which the language of poetry is in its free domination asserted as the commanding central focus1 upon and around which all else really revolves4 ,from the further point of view1 however1 that which in the first instance had merely the force of an assistant and accompaniment1 becomes an object on its own account1 and receives the appearance in its own domain of an essentially independent beauty4 ,declamation passes into song1 action into the mimic of the dance1 and scenery in its splendour and pictorial fascination itself puts forward a claim to artistic perfection4 ,in contrasting1 then1 a contrast frequently insisted upon1 and more particularly in recent times1 poetry in its simplicity with the external dramatic execution such as we have above described1 we may continue the course of our review under the following heads of discussion4 ,first1 there is the dramatic poetry1 whose object is to restrict itself to the ordinary ground of poetry1 and consequently does not contemplate the theatrical representation of its productions4 ,secondly1 we have the genuine art of the theatre1 to the extent that is in which it is limited to recitation1 play of pose and action1 under the modes in which the language of the poet is able throughout to remain the definitive and decisive factor4 ,lastly1 there is that type of reproduction1 which admits the employment of every means of scenery1 music and dance1 and suffers the same to assert an independent position as against the dramatic language4 7a7 ,the ,reading and ,recitation of ,dramatical ,compositions4 ,the true sensuous medium or instrument of dramatic poetry is1 as we have seen1 not only the human voice and the spoken word1 but the entire man1 who not merely expresses emotions1 ideas1 and thoughts1 but1 as vitally absorbed in a concrete action1 in virtue of all that he is influences the ideas1 designs1 the action and behaviour of others1 experiences similar effects on himself1 or maintains his independent opposition to them4 77 ,in contrast to such a definite view1 which is based upon the essential character of dramatic poetry itself1 it is a feature of modern notions on the subject1 particularly so among ourselves1 to regard the organization of drama with a view to its theatrical reproduction as unessential and subsidiary1 although as a fact all dramatic authors1 even when they adopt this attitude of indifference and contempt1 entertain the wish and hope to see their compositions on the stage4 ,the result is that the greater number of more recent dramas are unable ever to find a stage1 and the simple reason of this is that they are undramatical4 ,we are not of course1 therefore1 in a position to deny that a dramatic composition may satisfy the conditions of genuine poetry in virtue of its intrinsic worth4 ,what we affirm is that it is only to an action1 the dramatic course of which is admirably adapted to theatrical representation1 that we are to attribute such intrinsic dramatic worth4 ,the best authority for such a statement is supplied by the ,greek tragedies4 ,it is true that we no longer see these on the contemporary stage1 but they do nevertheless1 if we regard the facts more closely1 completely satisfy us to a real extent precisely on this ground that they were written without reserve for the theatre of their day4 ,what has banished them from the theatre of today is not so much the character of their dramatic organization1 which differs mainly from that of to-day in its employment of the chorus1 as in the nature of national predilections and conditions1 upon which for the most part1 if we consider their content1 they are based1 and in which owing to the distance in which they are placed relatively to our own contemporary life we are unable now to feel ourselves at home4 ,the malady of ,philoctetes1 for instance1 the loathsome ulcer on his foot1 his ejaculations and outcries1 are as little likely to awaken the genuine interest of a modern audience as the arrows of ,hercules1 about which the main course of that drama revolves4 ,in a similar way1 though we may admit the barbaric cruelty of the human sacrifice in the ,iphigeneia in ,aulis and ,tauris in an opera1 we find it absolutely necessary in tragedy at any rate that this aspect should be wholly revised as ,goethe has in fact done4 77 ,the difference1 however1 thus indicated between ancient and modern customs1 which effects the mere perusal of such works1 no less than the complete and vital reproduction of them as a whole1 has had the further effect of pointing out to us another by-way1 in which poets to some extent deliberately fashion their work exclusively for the reader's perusal1 and in a manner by which the difficulty above indicated no longer affects the character of such compositions4 ,there are no doubt in this connection isolated points of view1 which merely refer to features of external form1 which are implied in the so-called knowledge of the stage1 and an indifference as to which does not lessen the poetical worth of a dramatical production4 ,to these belong1 for example1 the careful regulation of the scenic arrangements1 that one scene can follow without difficulty after another1 though it requires great alterations in the scenery1 or that the actor is given sufficient time to make the necessary change of costume1 or to recover from his previous exertions4 ,a knowledge and aptitude of this nature is neither indicative of any poetical superiority or the reverse2 they rather depend upon the naturally varying and conventional arrangements of the theatre4 ,there are1 however1 other features relatively to which the poet1 in order to be truly dramatical1 must have the animated reproduction visibly present in its substance1 must make his dramatis personae speak and act conformably thereto1 that is1 in complete congruity with an actually present realization4 ,viewed in this light theatrical reproduction is a real test4 ,for in the presence of the supreme court of appeal of a sound and artistic public the mere speeches and tirades of our so-called exquisite diction1 if dramatic truth is not thereby asserted1 will not hold water4 ,there are periods1 no doubt1 in which the public also is corrupted by the culture it is the fashion so highly to praise1 ,i mean by heads generally overstocked with the current opinions and fancies of the connoisseur and critic4 ,let it however only retain its own essentially sterling commonsense1 and it will only be satisfied in those cases where characters express themselves and act precisely as the reality of life no less than art demands and necessitates4 ,if the poet1 on the contrary1 writes exclusively for the single reader he very readily gets no further than making his characters speak and behave much as they might do in an epistolary correspondence4 ,if any one thus gives us the reasons for his aims and what he does1 or unbares his heart in any other respect1 instead of that which we should at once remark thereupon we get between the receipt of the letter and our immediate reply time for all kinds of reflection and idea4 ,the imagination opens in this case a wide field of possibilities4 ,in the actually present speech and rejoinder we have to presuppose that as between man and man the volition and heart1 the movement of feeling and decision are more direct1 that in short the dialogue passes on without any such recourse to considerable reflection1 but at once from soul to soul1 as eye to eye1 mouth to mouth1 and ear to ear4 ,only in such a case the actions and speeches are expressed with life from the actual personality1 who has no time left him to make a careful selection from one out of many possibilities4 ,under this view of the case it is not unimportant for the poet throughout his composition to keep his eye on the stage1 which renders such a direct type of animation necessary4 ,nay1 for myself ,i go to the length of maintaining that no dramatic work ought to be printed1 but rather1 as no doubt with the ancients1 it should belong to the stage repertory in manuscript form1#ba and only receive quite an insignificant circulation4 ,we should at least in that case limit very considerably the present superabundance of dramas1 which it is possible possess the speech of culture1 fine sentiments1 excellent reflections1 and profound thoughts1 but which are defective in the very direction which makes a drama dramatical1 that is1 in the display of action1 and the vital movement which belongs to it4 77 ,in the mere perusal and reading aloud of dramatic compositions we find a difficulty in deciding whether they are of a type which would produce the due effect from the stage4 ,even ,goethe1 whose experience of stage management in his later years was exceptional1 was far from being dependable on this head1 a result no doubt mainly due to the extraordinary confusion of our public taste1 which is able to accept with approval almost anything and everything4 ,if the character and object of the dramatis personae are on their own account great and substantive the manner of composition no doubt presents less difficulty4 ,but as regards the motive force of interests1 the various phases in the progress of the action1 the suspended interest and development of situations1 the just degree in which characters assert their effect on each other1 the appropriate force and truth of their demeanour and speech--in all such respects the mere perusal unassisted by a theatrical performance can only in the rarest cases arrive at a reliable decision4 ,reading a work aloud is only under great qualification a further assistance4 ,speech in drama requires the presence of separate individuals4 ,the delivery of one voice1 however artistically it may adapt itself to different shades of tone in alternate or varying change is insufficient4 ,add to this the fact that in reading aloud we are throughout confronted with the difficulty whether on every occasion the persons speaking should be mentioned or not4 ,both alternations are equally open to objection4 ,if the delivery is that of one voice the statement of the names of the characters speaking becomes an indispensable condition of intelligibility1 but by doing so the expression of pathos throughout suffers violence4 ,if1 on the other hand1 the delivery is vitally dramatic1 and we are carried thereby into the actual situation1 a further kind of contradiction can hardly fail to appear4 ,for with the satisfaction of our sense of hearing that of sight puts forward a certain claim of its own4 ,for when we listen to an action we desire to see the acting persons1 their demeanour and surroundings2 the eye craves for a completed vision1 and finds instead before it merely a reciter1 who sits or stands peacefully in a private house with company4 ,reading aloud or recitation is consequently always an unsatisfying compromise between the unambitious pretensions of private perusal1 in which the aspect of realization is absent entirely and all is left to the imagination1 and the complete theatrical presentation4 7b7 ,the ,art of the ,actor ,in conjunction with actual dramatic reproduction there is along with music a second practical art1 namely1 that of acting1 the complete development of which belongs entirely to more recent times4 ,its principle consists in this1 that while it summons to its assistance dramatic posture1 action1 declamation1 music1 dance1 and scenery1 it accepts as the predominant mark of its effort human speech and its poetical expression4 ,and this is for poetry in its simplest significance the exclusively just relation4 ,for if mere mimicry or song or dance once begin to assume an independent position of their own1 poetry viewed as a fine and creative art is degraded to the position of an instrument1 and loses its ascendancy over the in other respects accompanying arts4 ,we will venture to point out a few characteristic distinctions in this connection4 77 ,the primary phase of the art of acting is to be found among the ,greeks4 ,here1 as one aspect of the matter1 the art of speech is affiliated with that of sculpture4 ,the acting dramatis personae stands before us as an objective figure in his entire bodily realization4 ,in so far as here this statuesque figure is animated1 assimilates and expresses the content of the poetry1 enters into every movement of personal passion and at the same time asserts it through word and voice1 this presentation is more animated and more spiritually transparent than any statue or picture4 ,as to this quality of living animation we may draw a distinction between two distinct ways of regarding it4 77 ,first1 there is declamation in the sense of artistic speech4 ,declamation was not carried far among the ,greeks2 intelligibility is here what is of most importance4 ,we desire to recognize in the tone of the voice and in the quality of the recitations the characterization of soul-life in its finest shades and transitions1 as also in its oppositions and contrasts1 in short1 in its entire concreteness4 ,the ancients1 on the contrary1 added a musical accompaniment to declamation1 partly to emphasize rhythm1 and in part to increase the modulation of the verbal expression4 ,at the same time it is probable that the dialogue was either not at all or only very lightly accompanied4 ,to the reproduction of the choruses1 however1 the lyric association of music was essential4 ,it is highly probable that singing1 by means of its more definite accentuation of the meaning of the language used in the choice strophes and antistrophes1 made the same more intelligible2 only under such an assumption can ,i myself understand how it was possible for a ,greek audience to follow the choruses of either schylus or ,sophocles4 ,i admit that such choruses might not necessarily present to a ,greek all the difficulties we ourselves experience2 at the same time ,i confess that1 though ,i know the ,german language well and am not wholly destitute of imagination1 ,german lyrics written in the same style1 if declaimed from the stage1 even with the full accompaniment of song1 would still be far from wholly intelligible4 77 ,a further means of interpretation is supplied by the pose and movement of the body4 ,in this respect it is worth noticing that with the ,greeks the play of facial expression is entirely absent1 by reason of the fact that their actors wore masks4 ,the facial contour returned an unalterable sculpturesque image1 the plastic outlines of which were as unable to assimilate the varied expression of particular states of soul1 as to reproduce the acting characters1 which fought through a pathos securely fixed and universal in the nature of its dramatic conflict1 and neither deepened the substance of this pathos to the ideal intensity of our modern emotional life1 nor suffered it to expand into all the particularization of the world of dramatic individualities now in vogue4 ,the action was equally simple1 for which reason we do not possess any tradition of famous ,greek mimes4 ,sometimes the poet himself was actor2 both ,sophocles and ,aristophanes are examples4 ,to some extent the mere citizen1 who was not strictly a professional actor at all1 took a part in tragedy4 ,as a set-off to such difficulties the choric songs were accompanied with the dance1 a procedure which can only appear frivolous to us ,germans in the view we generally take of the dance4 ,with the ,greeks it belonged as an essential feature to their theatrical performances4 77 ,to summarize1 then1 we find that among the ancients not only was the poetical claim of language1 and the intelligible expression of general emotional states1 freely admitted1 but also the external realization received the most complete elaboration by means of musical accompaniment and the dance4 ,a concrete unity of this kind gives to the entire presentation a plastic character4 ,what is spiritual is not on its own account idealized as part of a personal soul-life1 nor is it expressed under such a mode of particularization2 the main effect is to bring about its complete affiliation and reconciliation with the external aspect of sensuous appearance whose correspondent claim is equally recognized4 77 ,in rivalry with music and the dance speech suffers injury1 in so far as it ought to remain the spiritual expression of spirit4 ,our modern art of the theatre has consequently succeeded in liberating itself from such features4 ,the poet is by this means exclusively placed in a relation to the actor simply1 who1 by his declamation1 play of facial expression1 and posture1 has to represent to vision the poetical work4 ,this relation of the author to the external material is1 however1 in its contrast to other arts1 quite unique4 ,in painting and sculpture it is the artist himself1 who executes his conceptions in colour1 bronze1 or marble2 and although musical execution is dependent upon the hands and voices of others1 yet the feature thus added1 albeit1 of course1 the element of soul in the delivery ought not to be absent1 is none the less1 to a more or less degree1 overwhelmingly mechanical technique and virtuosity4#bb ,the actor1 on the contrary1 appears before us in the entire personality which combines his bodily presence1 physiognomy1 voice1 and so forth1 and it is his function to coalesce absolutely with the character he portrays4 77 ,in this respect the poet has the right to demand of the actor that he enters with all his faculties into the part he receives1 without adding thereto anything peculiar to himself1 that1 in short1 he acts in complete consonance with the creative conception and means of its display supplied by the poet4 ,the actor ought1 in fact1 to be the instrument upon which the author plays1 an artist's brush which absorbs all colours and returns the same unchanged4 ,among the ancients this was more easily achieved for the reason that declamation1 as above stated1 was mainly restricted to clarity of meaning1 and music looked after the aspect of rhythm1 while masks concealed the faces1 and1 moreover1 not much scope was left to the action4 ,consequently1 the actor could without real difficulty conform in his delivery to a universal tragic pathos2 and although too1 in comedy1 portraits of living people such as ,socrates1 ,nicias1 ,creon1 and so forth1 had to be represented1 in a real measure the masks reproduced characteristic traits with sufficient force1 and further we should note that a detailed individualization was less necessary1 inasmuch as the comic poets1 as a rule1 merely introduced such characters in order to represent general tendencies of the time4 77 ,the position is different in the modern theatre4 ,here1 to start with1 we have no masks or musical accompaniment1 but have instead of these the play of facial expression1 the variety of pose1 and a richly modulated style of declamation4 ,for1 on the one hand1 human passions1 even when they are expressed by the poet in a more general and typical characterization1 have none the less to be asserted as part of an inner and personal life2 and for the rest our modern characters receive1 for the most part1 a far more extended compass of particularization1 the distinctively appropriate expression of which has in the same way to be placed before us with all the animation of present life4 ,the characters of ,shakespeare are1 above all1 entire men1 standing before us in distinctively unique personality1 so that we require of our actors that they1 for their part1 give us back the entire impression of such complete creations4 ,there is no specific rle here that does not require a definite kind of expression fitted to it1 and which covers in fact every feature of its display1 whether we regard that which we cannot see or that which we do1 whether it be in the tone of the voice1 the mode of delivery1 gesticulation1 or facial expression4 ,for this reason1 apart from the nature of the dialogue1 the varied character of the pose and gesture1 through every possible shade1 receives an entirely new significance4 ,in fact1 the modern poet leaves to the actor self-expression here much that the ancients would have expressed in words4 ,take the example of the final scene of ,wallenstein4 ,the old ,octavio has assisted materially in the downfall of ,wallenstein4 ,he finds him treacherously murdered by the machinations of ,buttler1 and at the very moment when the ,countess ,terzky makes the announcement that she has taken poison1 an imperial letter arrives4 ,gordon1 after reading the same1 hands it to ,octavio with a glance of reproach1 adding the words1 ,to the ,lord ,piccolomini4 ,octavio is confounded1 and1 pained to the heart1 glances heavenwards4 ,that which ,octavio experiences in this reward for a service1 for the bloody issue of which he himself is mainly responsible1 is in this passage not expressed in so many words1 but is left solely to the gesture of the actor4 77 ,owing to demands of this kind made by our modern art of acting1 poetry may1 relatively to the material of its presentation1 not unfrequently opens up difficulties unknown to the ancients4 ,in other words1 the actor1 being the man he is1 possesses1 in respect to voice1 figure1 physiognomical expression1 as everybody else1 his native peculiarities1 which he is compelled to set on one side1 either owing to their incompatibility with a pathos of universal import and a really typical characterization1 or to bring them into harmony with the more complete personalities of a type of poetry rich in its power of individualization4 ,actors claim the title of artists1 and receive all the honours of an artistic profession4 ,according to our modern ideas1 no taint of any sort1 whether ethical or social1 is implied in the fact of being a dramatic actor4 ,this view is the right one4 ,the profession demands conspicuous talent1 intelligence1 perseverance1 energy1 practice1 knowledge1 and1 indeed1 its highest attainment is impossible without the rare qualities of genius4 ,the actor has not only to assimilate profoundly the spirit of the poet and the part he accepts1 and to make his own individuality conform entirely to the same1 both inwardly and outwardly2 he has1 over and above this1 in many respects to supplement the part with his own creative insight1 to fill in gaps1 to discover modes of transition1 and generally1 by his performance1 to interpret the poet by making visibly and vitally present and intelligible meanings which lie beneath the surface1 or the less obvious touches of a master's hand4 7c7 ,the ,theatrical ,art which is more ,independent of ,poetical ,composition ,finally1 we shall have that further1 or third aspect of the art in its actual employment1 where it liberates itself from the exclusive precedency of articulate poetry1 and accepts as an independent end what was previously1 to a more or less extent1 a mere accompaniment or instrument1 and elaborates the same on its own account4 ,to carry out this emancipation1 music and the dance are quite as much essential features of the dramatic development as the art of the actor simply4 77 ,in respect to this change in the art1 there are broadly speaking two systems4 ,the first1 according to which the performer tends to be simply in spirit and body the living instrument of the poet1 we have already referred to4 ,the ,french1 who make much of professional rles#bc and schools1 and are1 as a rule1 more typical in their theatrical representations1 have shown an exceptional fidelity to this system in their tragedy and haute comdie4 ,what we may define here as the position of the art of acting reversed consists in this1 that the entire creation of the poet now tends to be purely an appendage or frame to and for the natural endowment1 technical ability1 and art of the actor4 ,it is by no means uncommon to hear actors make the demand that poets should write expressly for them4 ,the soul function of poetical composition is1 in this view1 to give the artist an opportunity to display and unfold in all its brilliance his emotional powers and art1 to let us see the final outcome of his particular individuality4 ,among the ,italians1 the commedia dell' arte belongs to this type4 ,here1 no doubt1 we have certain definite types of character such as those of the arlecchino1 dottore1 and the like1 with appropriate situations and series of scenes2 the more detailed execution is1 however1 almost entirely left to the discretion of the actors4 ,among ourselves1 the dramatic pieces of ,iffland and ,kotzebue1 and many others besides1 though in large measure regarded as poetry1 unimportant or even bad compositions1 nevertheless offer such an opportunity for the creative powers of the actor1 who is compelled to initiate and shape something from such generally sketchy and artificial productions1 which on account of a vital and independent performance of this kind receives a unique interest exclusively united to one and no other artist4 ,it is here1 more especially1 that we find our much belauded realistic effects are displayed1 a style carried to such lengths that a mere mumble and whisper of articulate speech1 quite impossible to follow1 will pass as an admirable performance4 ,in protest to such a style1 ,goethe translated ,voltaire's ,tancred and ,mahomet for the ,weimar stage1 in order to compel its actors to drop this vulgar naturalism1 and accustom themselves to a more noble exposition4 ,and this is invariably the case with the ,french1 who1 even in all the animation of the farce1 always keep the audience in view1 and throughout address themselves to it4 ,as a matter of fact1 mere realism and imitation of our everyday expression is as little exhaustive of the real problem as the mere intelligibility and clever use made of characterization4 ,if an actor seeks to produce a really artistic effect in such cases1 he will have to extend his powers to a genial virtuosity similar to that ,i have described already in a previous passage when referring to musical execution4#bd 77 ,a second province belonging to the type under consideration is that of the modern opera1 in the direction1 at least1 which it more and more is inclined to take4 ,in other words1 although in opera1 generally speaking1 the music is of most importance1 which of course possesses a content in partnership with the poetry and the libretto1 albeit it treats and executes the same freely as it thinks best1 yet in more recent times1 and particularly among ourselves1 it has become increasingly an affair of luxurious display4 ,it has carried its accessoires1 in the splendour of its decorations1 the pomp of its costumes1 the completeness of its choruses and their grouping1 to a degree of independence that throws all else into the shade4 ,it was a magnificence of this kind1 sufficiently criticized among ourselves1 which ,cicero long ago complains of when referring to ,roman tragedy4 ,in tragedy1 where the poetry is always the most essential thing1 such a lavish display of the sensuous side of things is no doubt not in its right place1 although ,schiller1 in his ,maid of ,orleans1 shows a tendency here to run astray4 ,in the opera1 on the contrary1 with its sensuous exuberance of song and the melodic1 thundering chorus of voices and instruments1 we may with more reason admit such an emphasized charm of external embellishment and display4 ,if the decorations are splendid1 then the groups and processions1 to give point to them1 must be equally gorgeous1 and everything else must be adapted to the same scale4 ,the subject most suited to a sensuous luxuriance of this kind1 which1 no doubt1 is always some indication of the decline of genuine art1 is that part of the entire performance which inclines to the wonderful1 fantastic1 or fairy tale4 ,mozart1 in his ,magic ,flute1 has supplied us with an example which is not too extravagant1 and is worked out on completely artistic lines4 ,at the same time1 we may entirely exhaust all the arts of scenic display1 costume1 instrumentation and the rest1 but the fact remains that1 if we are not really in earnest with that part of the content which concerns real dramatic action1 the impression upon us can be at the strongest merely that of a perusal of the fairy-tale of ,the ,thousand and ,one ,nights4 77 ,the same observations apply to the modern ,ballet1 which above all is most suited to fairy-land and miracle of all kinds4 ,here1 too1 we note as one supreme feature1 quite apart from the picturesque beauty of the grouping and tableaux1 the kaleidoscopic splendour and fascination of the decorations1 costumes1 and lighting1 to an extent that ordinary persons find themselves transported into a world in which common sense and the laws and pressure of our daily life vanish altogether4 ,as a further aspect of these performances1 connoisseurs in such subjects will go into ecstacies over the elaborately trained dexterity and virtuosity of legs1 which is nowadays an essential feature of the dance4 ,if1 however1 any more spiritual significance is to flash athwart such mere physical agility1 which we have reduced to the final ultimatum of senselessness and ideal poverty1 we ought to have associated with the complete command over all the executive difficulties implied a real measure and euphony of movement1 a freedom and grace such as finds a response in the soul2 and it is only very rarely that we do so4 ,as a further element in association with the dance here1 which stands in the place of the choruses and solos of the opera1 we find as real expression of action the ,pantomime4 ,this1 however1 in proportion as our modern dance has advanced in technical dexterity1 has fallen from the rank which it once possessed1 and1 indeed1 has so deteriorated that the very thing tends once more to drop out of the modern ballet altogether1 which is alone able to lift the same into the free domain of art4 #c4 ,,the ,,types ,,of ,,dramatic ,,poetry ,,and ,,the ,,principal ,,phases ,,of ,,their ,,historical ,,development4 ,viewing for a moment the course of our present inquiry in retrospect1 it will be seen that we have1 first1 established the principle of dramatic poetry in its widest and more specific characteristics1 and1 further1 in its relation to the general public4 ,secondly1 we deduced from the fact of the drama's presenting an action distinct and independent in its actually visible development the conclusion that a fully complete sensuous reproduction is also essential1 such as is for the first time possible under artistic conditions in the theatrical performance4 ,in order that the action1 however1 may adapt itself to an external realization of this kind1 it is necessary that both in poetic conception and detailed execution it should be absolutely definite and complete4 ,this is only effected1 our third point1 by resolving dramatic poetry into particular types1 receiving their typical character1 which is in part one of opposition and also one of mediatory relation to such opposition1 from the distinction1 in which not only the end but also the characters1 as also the conflict and entire result of the action1 are manifested4 ,the most important aspects emphasized by such distinction and subject to an historical development are those peculiar to tragedy and comedy respectively1 as also the comparative value of either mode of composition4 ,this inquiry in dramatic poetry is for the first time so essentially important that it forms the basis of classification for the different types4 ,in considering more closely the nature of these distinctions we shall do well to discuss their subject-matter in the following order4 ,first1 we must define the general principle of tragedy1 comedy1 and the so-called drama4 ,secondly1 we must indicate the character of ancient and modern dramatic poetry1 to the contrast between which the distinctive relation of the above-named types is referable in their historical development4 ,thirdly1 we will attempt1 in conclusion1 to examine the concrete modes1 which these types1 though mainly comedy and tragedy1 are able to exhibit within the boundary of this opposition4 7a7 ,the ,principle of ,tragedy1 ,comedy1 and the ,drama1 or ,social ,play ,the essential basis of differentiation among the types of epic poetry is to be found in the distinction whether the essentially substantive displayed in the epic manner is expressed in its universality1 or is communicated in the form of objective characters1 exploits1 and events4 ,in contrast to this1 the classification of lyric poetry1 in its series of varied modes of expression1 is dependent upon the degree and specific form in which the content is assimilated in more or less stable consistency with the soul experience1 according as such content asserts this intimate life4 ,and1 finally1 dramatic poetry1 which accepts as its centre of significance the collision of aims and characters1 as also the necessary resolution of such a conflict1 cannot do otherwise than deduce the principle of its separate types from the relation in which individual persons are placed relatively to their purpose and its content4 ,the definition of this relation is1 in short1 the decisive factor in the determination of the particular mode of dramatic schism and the issue therefrom1 and consequently presents the essential type of the entire process in its animated and artistic display4 ,the fundamental points we have to examine in this connection are1 speaking broadly1 those phases or features in the process1 the mediation of which constitutes the essential purport of every true action4 ,such are from one point of view the substantively sound and great1 the fundamental stratum of the realized divine nature in the world1 regarded here as the genuine and essentially eternal content of individual character and end4 ,and1 on its other side1 we have the personal conscious life simply as such in its unhampered power of self-determination and freedom4 ,without doubt1 essential and explicit truth is asserted in dramatic poetry2 it matters not in what form it may be manifested from time to time in human action4 ,the specific type1 however1 within which this activity is made visible receives a distinct or1 rather1 actually opposed configuration1 according as the aspect of substantive worth or in its opposition thereto1 that of individual caprice1 folly1 and perversity is retained as the distinctive modus of operation either in individuals1 actions1 or conflicts4 ,we have therefore to consider the principle in its distinctive relation to the following types3 ,first1 as associated with tragedy in its substantive and primitive form4 ,secondly1 in its relation to comedy1 in which the life of the individual soul as such in volition and action1 as well as the external factor of contingency1 are predominant over all relations and ends4 ,thirdly1 in that to the drama1 the theatrical piece in the more restricted use of the term1 regarding such as the middle term between the two first-mentioned types4 77 ,with respect to tragedy1 ,i will here confine myself to a consideration of only the most general and essential characteristics1 the more concrete differentiation of which can only be made clear by a review of the distinctive features implied in the stages of its historical process4 77 ,the genuine content of tragic action subject to the aims which arrest tragic characters is supplied by the world of those forces which carry in themselves their own justification1 and are realized substantively in the volitional activity of mankind4 ,such are the love of husband and wife1 of parents1 children1 and kinsfolk4 ,such are1 further1 the life of communities1 the patriotism of citizens1 the will of those in supreme power4 ,such are the life of churches1 not1 however1 if regarded as a piety which submits to act with resignation1 or as a divine judicial declaration in the heart of mankind over what is good or the reverse in action2 but1 on the contrary1 conceived as the active engagement with and demand for veritable interests and relations4 ,it is of a soundness and thoroughness consonant with these that the really tragical characters consist4 ,they are throughout that which the essential notion of their character enables them and compels them to be4 ,they are not merely a varied totality laid out in the series of views of it proper to the epic manner2 they are1 while no doubt remaining also essentially vital and individual1 still only the one power of the particular character in question1 the force in which such a character1 in virtue of its essential personality1 has made itself inseparably coalesce with some particular aspect of the capital and substantive life-content we have indicated above1 and deliberately commits himself to that4 ,it is at some such elevation1 where the mere accidents of unmediated#be individuality vanish altogether1 that we find the tragic heroes of dramatic art1 whether they be the living representatives of such spheres of concrete life or in any other way already so derive their greatness and stability from their own free self-reliance that they stand forth as works of sculpture1 and as such interpret1 too1 under this aspect the essentially more abstract statues and figures of gods1 as also the lofty tragic characters of the ,greeks more completely than is possible for any other kind of elucidation or commentary4 ,broadly speaking1 we may1 therefore1 affirm that the true theme of primitive tragedy is the godlike4#bf ,but by godlike we do not mean the ,divine1 as implied in the content of the religious consciousness simply as such1 but rather as it enters into the world1 into individual action1 and enters in such a way that it does not forfeit its substantive character under this mode of realization1 nor find itself converted into the contradiction of its own substance4#bg ,in this form the spiritual substance of volition and accomplishment is ethical life4#bh ,for what is ethical1 if we grasp it1 in its direct consistency--that is to say1 not exclusively from the standpoint of personal reflection as formal morality--is the divine in its secular or world realization1 the substantive as such1 the particular no less than the essential features of which supply the changing content of truly human actions1 and in such action itself render this their essence explicit and actual4 77 ,these ethical forces1 as also the characters of the action1 are distinctively defined in respect to their content and their individual personality1 in virtue of the principle of differentiation to which everything is subject1 which forms part of the objective world of things4 ,if1 then1 these particular forces1 in the way presupposed by dramatic poetry1 are attached to the external expression of human activity1 and are realized as the determinate aim of a human pathos which passes into action1 their concordancy is cancelled1 and they are asserted in contrast to each other in interchangeable succession4 ,individual action will then1 under given conditions1 realize an object or character1 which1 under such a presupposed state1 inevitably stimulates the presence of a pathos#bi opposed to itself1 because it occupies a position of unique isolation in virtue of its independently fixed definition1 and1 by doing so1 brings in its train unavoidable conflicts4 ,primitive tragedy1 then1 consists in this1 that within a collision of this kind both sides of the contradiction1 if taken by themselves1 are justified2 yet1 from a further point of view1 they tend to carry into effect the true and positive content of their end and specific characterization merely as the negation and violation of the other equally legitimate power1 and consequently in their ethical purport and relatively to this so far fall under condemnation4 ,i have already adverted to the general ground of the necessity of this conflict4 ,the substance of ethical condition is1 when viewed as concrete unity1 a totality of different relations and forces1 which1 however1 only under the inactive condition of the gods in their blessedness achieve the works of the ,spirit in enjoyment of an undisturbed life4 ,in contrast to this1 however1 there is no less certainly implied in the notion of this totality itself an impulse to move from its1 in the first instance1 still abstract ideality1 and transplant itself in the real actuality of the phenomenal world4 ,on account of the nature of this primitive obsession1#cj it comes about that mere difference1 if conceived on the basis of definite conditions of individual personalities1 must inevitably associate with contradiction and collision4 ,only such a view can pretend to deal seriously with those gods which1 though they endure in their tranquil repose and unity in the ,olympus and heaven of imagination and religious conception1 yet1 in so far as they are actual1#ca viewed at least as the energic in the definite pathos of a human personality1 participate in concrete life1 all other claims notwithstanding1 and1 in virtue of their specific singularity and their mutual opposition1 render both blame and wrong inevitable4 77 ,as a result of this1 however1 an unmediated contradiction is posited1 which no doubt may assert itself in the ,real1 but1 for all that1 is unable to maintain itself as that which is wholly substantive and verily real therein2 which rather discovers1 and only discovers1 its essential justification in the fact that it is able to annul itself as such contradiction4 ,in other words1 whatever may be the claim of the tragic final purpose and personality1 whatever may be the necessity of the tragic collision1 it is1 as a consequence of our present view1 no less a claim that is asserted--this is our third and last point--by the tragic resolution of this division4 ,it is through this latter result that ,eternal ,justice is operative in such aims and individuals under a mode whereby it restores the ethical substance and unity in and along with the downfall of the individuality which disturbs its repose4 ,for1 despite the fact that individual characters propose that which is itself essentially valid1 yet they are only able to carry it out under the tragic demand in a manner that implies contradiction and with a onesidedness which is injurious4 ,what1 however1 is substantive in truth1 and the function of which is to secure realization1 is not the battle of particular unities1 however much such a conflict is essentially involved in the notion of a real world and human action2 rather it is the reconciliation in which definite ends and individuals unite in harmonious action without mutual violation and contradiction4 ,that which is abrogated in the tragic issue is merely the one-sided particularity which was unable to accommodate itself to this harmony1 and consequently in the tragic course of its action1 through inability to disengage itself from itself and its designs1 either is committed in its entire totality to destruction or at least finds itself compelled to fall back upon a state of resignation in the execution of its aim in so far as it can carry this out4 ,we are reminded of the famous dictum of ,aristotle that the true effect of tragedy is to excite and purify fear and pity4 ,by this statement ,aristotle did not mean merely the concordant or discordant feeling with anybody's private experience1 a feeling simply of pleasure or the reverse1 an attraction or a repulsion1 that most superficial of all psychological states1 which only in recent times theorists have sought to identify with the principle of assent or dissent as ordinarily expressed4 ,for in a work of art the matter of exclusive importance should be the display of that which is conformable with the reason and truth of ,spirit2 and to discover the principle of this we have to direct our attention to wholly different points of view4 ,and consequently we are not justified in restricting the application of this dictum of ,aristotle merely to the emotion of fear and pity1 but should relate it to the principle of the content the appropriately artistic display of which ought to purify such feelings4 ,man may1 on the one hand1 entertain fear when confronted with that which is outside him and finite2 but he may likewise shrink before the power of that which is the essential and absolute subsistency of social phenomena4#cb ,that which mankind has therefore in truth to fear is not the external power and its oppression1 but the ethical might which is self-defined in its own free rationality1 and partakes further of the eternal and inviolable1 the power a man summons against his own being when he turns his back upon it4 ,and just as fear may have two objectives1 so also too compassion4 ,the first is just the ordinary sensibility--in other words1 a sympathy with the misfortunes and sufferings of another1 and one which is experienced as something finite and negative4 ,your countrified cousin is ready enough with compassion of this order4 ,the man of nobility and greatness1 however1 has no wish to be smothered with this sort of pity4 ,for just to the extent that it is merely the nugatory aspect1 the negative of misfortune which is asserted1 a real depreciation of misfortune is implied4 ,true sympathy1 on the contrary1 is an accordant feeling with the ethical claim at the same time associated with the sufferer--that is1 with what is necessarily implied in his condition as affirmative and substantive4 ,such a pity as this is not1 of course1 excited by ragamuffins and vagabonds4 ,if the tragic character1 therefore1 just as he aroused our fear when contemplating the might of violated morality1 is to awake a tragic sympathy in his misfortune1 he must himself essentially possess real capacity and downright character4 ,it is only that which has a genuine content which strikes the heart of a man of noble feeling1 and rings through its depths4 ,consequently we ought by no means to identify our interest in the tragic dnouement with the simple satisfaction that a sad story1 a misfortune merely as misfortune1 should have a claim upon our sympathy4 ,feelings of lament of this type may well enough assail men on occasions of wholly external contingency and related circumstance1 to which the individual does not contribute1 nor for which he is responsible1 such cases as illness1 loss of property1 death1 and the like4 ,the only real and absorbing interest in such cases ought to be an eager desire to afford immediate assistance4 ,if this is impossible1 such pictures of lamentation and misery merely rack the feelings4 ,a veritable tragic suffering1 on the contrary1 is suspended over active characters entirely as the consequence of their own act1 which as such not only asserts its claim upon us1 but becomes subject to blame through the collision it involves1 and in which such individuals identify themselves heart and soul4 ,over and above mere fear and tragic sympathy we have therefore the feeling of reconciliation1 which tragedy is vouched for in virtue of its vision of eternal justice1 a justice which exercises a paramount force of absolute constringency on account of the relative claim of all merely contracted aims and passions2 and it can do this for the reason that it is unable to tolerate the victorious issue and continuance in the truth of the objective world of such a conflict with and opposition to those ethical powers which are fundamentally and essentially concordant4#cc ,inasmuch as then1 in conformity with this principle1 all that pertains to tragedy pre-eminently rests upon the contemplation of such a conflict and its resolution1 dramatic poetry is--and its entire mode of presentation offers a proof of the fact--alone able to make and completely adapt its form throughout its entire course and compass to the principle of the art product4 ,and this is the reason why ,i have only now found occasion to discuss the tragic mode of presentation1 although it extends an effective force1 if no doubt one of subordinate degree1 in many ways over the other arts4 77 ,in tragedy then that which is eternally substantive is triumphantly vindicated under the mode of reconciliation4 ,it simply removes from the contentions of personality the false one-sidedness1 and exhibits instead that which is the object of its volition1 namely1 positive reality1 no longer under an asserted mediation of opposed factors1 but as the real support of consistency4#cd ,and in contrast to this in comedy it is the purely personal experience1 which retains the mastery in its character of infinite self-assuredness4#ce ,and it is only these two fundamental aspects of human action which occupy a position of contrast in the classification of dramatic poetry into its several types4 ,in tragedy individuals are thrown into confusion in virtue of the abstract nature of their sterling volition and character1 or they are forced to accept that with resignation1 to which they have been themselves essentially opposed4 ,in comedy we have a vision of the victory of the intrinsically assured stability of the wholly personal soul-life1 the laughter of which resolves everything through the medium and into the medium of such life4 77 ,the general basis of comedy is therefore a world in which man has made himself1 in his conscious activity1 complete master of all that otherwise passes as the essential content of his knowledge and achievement2 a world whose ends are consequently thrown awry on of their own lack of substance4 ,a democratic folk1 with egotistic citizens1 litigious1 frivolous1 conceited1 without faith or knowledge1 always intent on gossip1 boasting and vanity--such a folk is past praying for2 it can only dissolve in its folly4 ,but it would be a mistake to think that any action that is without genuine content is therefore comic because it is void of substance4 ,people only too often in this respect confound the merely ridiculous with the true comic4 ,every contrast between what is essential and its appearance1 the object and its instrument1 may be ridiculous1 a contradiction in virtue of which the appearance is absolutely cancelled1 and the end is stultified in its realization4 ,a profounder significance is1 however1 implied in the comic4 ,there is1 for instance1 nothing comic in human crime4 ,the satire affords a proof of this1 to the point of extreme aridity1 no matter how emphatic may be the colours in which it depicts the condition of the actual world in its contrast to all that the man of virtue ought to be4 ,there is nothing in mere folly1 stupidity1 or nonsense1 which in itself necessarily partakes of the comic1 though we all of us are ready enough to laugh at it4 ,and as a rule it is extraordinary what a variety of wholly different things excite human laughter4 ,matters of the dullest description and in the worst possible taste will move men in this way2 and their laughter may be excited quite as much by things of the profoundest importance1 if only they happen to notice some entirely unimportant feature1 which may conflict with habit and ordinary experience4 ,laughter is consequently little more than an expression of self-satisfied shrewdness2 a sign that they have sufficient wit to recognize such a contrast and are aware of the fact4 ,in the same way we have the laughter of the scoffer1 the scornful and desperation itself4 ,what on the other hand is inseparable from the comic is an infinite geniality and confidence#cf capable of rising superior to its own contradiction1 and experiencing therein no taint of bitterness or sense of misfortune whatever4 ,it is the happy frame of mind1 a hale condition of soul1 which1 fully aware of itself1 can suffer the dissolution of its aims and realization4 ,the unexpansive type of intelligence is on the contrary least master of itself where it is in its behaviour most laughable to others4 77 ,in considering with more detail the kind of content which characterizes and educes the object of comic action1 ,i propose to limit myself to the following points of general interest4 ,on the one hand there are human ends and characters essentially devoid of substantive content and contradictory4 ,they are therefore unable to achieve the former or give effect to the latter4 ,avarice1 for example1 not only in reference to its aim1 but also in respect to the petty means which it employs1 is clearly from the first and fundamentally a vain shadow4 ,it accepts what is the dead abstraction of wealth1 money simply as such1 as the summum bonum1 the reality beyond which it refuses to budge2 and it endeavours to master this frigid means of enjoyment by denying itself every other concrete satisfaction1 despite the fact too that1 in the impotency of its end no less than the means of its achievement1 it is helpless when confronted with cunning and treachery1 and the like4 ,in such a case then1 if anyone identifies seriously his personal life with a content so essentially false1 to the extent of a man confining the embrace of his soul-life to that exclusively1 and in the result1 if the same is swept away as his foot-hold1 the more he strives to retain that former foot-hold1 the more the life collapses in unhappiness--in such a picture as this what is most vital to the comic situation fails1 as it does in every case where the predominant factors are simply on the one side the painfulness of the actual conditions1 and on the other scorn and pleasure in such misfortune4 ,there is therefore more of the true comic in the case where1 it is true1 aims intrinsically mean and empty would like to be achieved with an appearance of earnest solemnity and every kind of preparation1 but where the individual himself1 when he falls short of this1 does not experience any real loss because he is conscious that what he strove after was really of no great importance1 and is therefore able to rise superior with spontaneous amusement above the failure4 ,a situation which is the reverse of this occurs where people vaguely grasp at aims and a personal impression of real substance1 but in their own individuality1 as instruments to achieve this1 are in absolute conflict with such a result4 ,in such a case what substance there is only exists in the individual's imagination1 becomes a mere appearance to himself or others1 which no doubt offers the show and virtue of what is thus of material import1 but for this very reason involves end and personality1 action and character in a contradiction1 by reason of which the attainment of the imaged end or characterization is itself rendered impossible4 ,an example of this is the ,ecclesiazusae of ,aristophanes1 where the women who seek to advise and found a new political constitution1 retain all the temperament and passions of women as before4 ,we may add to the above two divisions of classification1 as a distinct basis for yet another1 the use made of external accident1 by means of the varied and extraordinary development of which situations are placed before us in which the objects desired and their achievement1 the personal character and its external conditions are thrown into a comic contrast1 and lead to an equally comic resolution4 77 ,but inasmuch as the comic element wholly and from the first depends upon contradictory contrasts1 not only of ends themselves on their own account1 but also of their content as opposed to the contingency of the personal life and external condition1 the action of comedy requires a resolution with even more stringency than the tragic drama4 ,in other words1 in the action of comedy the contradiction between that which is essentially true and its specific realization is more fundamentally asserted4 ,that which1 however1 is abrogated in this resolution is not by any means either the substantive being or the personal life as such4 ,and the reason of this is that comedy too1 viewed as genuine art1 has not the task set before it to display through its presentation what is essentially rational as that which is intrinsically perverse and comes to naught1 but on the contrary as that which neither bestows the victory1 nor ultimately allows any standing ground to folly and absurdity1 that is to say the false contradictions and oppositions which also form part of reality4 ,the masculine art of ,aristophanes1 for instance1 does not turn into ridicule what is truly of ethical significance in the social life of ,athens1 namely genuine philosophy1 true religious faith1 but rather the spurious growth of the democracy1 in which the ancient faith and the former morality have disappeared1 such as the sophistry1 the whining and querulousness of tragedy1 the inconstant gossip1 the love of litigation and so forth2 in other words1 it is those elements directly opposed to a genuine condition of political life1 religion and art1 which he places before us in their suicidal folly4 ,only in more modern times do we find in such a writer as ,kotzebue the baseness possible which throws over moral excellence1 and spares and strives to maintain that which only exists under a condition of sufferance4 ,to as little extent1 however1 ought the individual's private life suffer substantial injury in comedy4 ,or to put it otherwise1 if it is merely the appearance and imagined presence of what is substantive1 or if it is the essentially perverse and petty which is asserted1 yet in the essential self stability of individual character the more exalted principle remains1 which in its freedom reaches over and beyond the overthrow of all that such finite life comprises1 and continues itself in its character of self-security and self-blessedness4 ,this subjective life that we above all identify with comic personality has thus become master of all the phenomenal presence of the real4 ,the mode of actual appearance adequate to what is1 so to speak1 substantive1 has vanished out of it2 and1 if what is essentially without fundamental subsistence comes to naught with its mere pretence of being that which it is not1 the individual asserts himself as master over such a dissolution1 and remains at bottom unbroken and in good heart to the end4#cg 77 ,midway between tragedy and comedy we have furthermore a third fundamental type of dramatic poetry1 which is1 however1 of less distinctive importance1 despite the fact that in it the essential difference between what is tragic and comic makes an effort to construct a bridge of mediation1 or at least to effect some coalescence of both sides in a concrete whole without leaving either the one or the other in opposed isolation4 77 ,to this class we may1 for example1 refer the ,satyric drama of the ancients1 in which the principal action itself at least remains of a serious if not wholly tragic type1 while the chorus of its ,satyrs is in contrast to this treated in the comic manner4 ,we may also include in such a class the tragic-comedy4 ,plautus gives an example of this in his ,amphitryo1 and indeed in the prologue1 through verses given to ,mercury1 asserts this fact2 the declamation runs as follows3 ,quid contraxistis frontem8 ,quia ,tragoediam ,dini futuram hanc8 ,deus sum3 commutavero ,eamdem hanc1 si voltis3 faciam1 ex ,tragoedia ,comoedia ut sit1 omnibus eisdem versibus4 ,faciam ut conmista sit ,tragicocomoedia4 ,he offers us as a reason for this intermixture the fact1 that while gods and kings are represented among the dramatis personae1 we have also in comic contrast to this the figure of the slave ,sofia4 ,with yet more frequency in modern dramatic poetry we have the interplay of tragic and comic situation2 and this is naturally so1 because in modern compositions the principle of an intimate personal life has its place too in tragedy1 the principle which is asserted by comedy in all its freedom1 and from the first has been predominant1 forcing as it does into the background the substantive character of the content in which the ethical forces1 ,i have referred to previously1 are paramount4 77 ,the profounder mediation1 however1 of tragic and comic composition in a new whole does not consist in the juxtaposition or alteration of these contradictory points of view1 but in a mutual accommodation1 which blunts the force of such opposition4 ,the element of subjectivity1 instead of being exercised with all the perversity of the comic drama1 is steeped in the seriousness of genuine social conditions and substantial characters1 while the tragic steadfastness of volition and the depth of collisions is so far weakened and reduced that it becomes compatible with a reconciliation of interests and a harmonious union of ends and individuals4 ,it is under such a mode of conception that in particular the modern play and drama arise4 ,the profound aspect of this principle1 in this view of the playwright1 consists in the fact that1 despite the differences and conflicts of interests1 passions and characters1 an essentially harmonious reality none the less results from human action4 ,even the ancient world possesses tragedies1 which accept an issue of this character4 ,individuals are not sacrificed1 but maintained without serious catastrophe4 ,in the ,eumenides of schylus1 for example1 both parties there brought to judgment before the ,areopagus1 namely ,apollo and the avenging ,furies1 have their claims to honorable consideration vindicated4 ,also in the ,philoctetes the conflict between ,neoptolemos and ,philoctetes is disposed of through the divine interposition of ,hercules and the advice he gives4 ,they depart reconciled for ,troy4 ,in this case1 however1 the accommodation is due to a deus ex machin and the actual source of such is not traceable to the personal attitude of the parties themselves4 ,in the modern play1 however1 it is the individual characters alone who find themselves induced by the course of their own action to such an abandonment of the strife1 and to a reciprocal reconciliation of their aims and personalities4 ,from this point of view the ,iphigeneia of ,goethe is a genuine model of a play of this kind1 and it is more so than his ,tasso1 in which in the first place the reconciliation with ,antonio is rather an affair of temperament and personal acknowledgment that ,antonio possesses the genuine knowledge of life1 which is absent from the character of ,tasso1 and along with this that the claim of ideal life1 which ,tasso had rigidly adhered to in its conflict with actual conditions1 adaptability and grace of manners1 retains its force throughout with an audience merely in an ideal sense1 and relatively to actual conditions at most asserts itself as an excuse for the poet and a general sympathy for his position4 77 ,as a rule1 however1 the boundary lines of their intermediate type fluctuate more than is the case with tragedy or comedy4 ,it is also exposed to a further danger of breaking away from the true dramatic type1 or ceasing to be genuine poetry4 ,in other words1 owing to the fact that the opposing factors1 which have to secure a peaceful conclusion from out of their own division1 are from the start not antithetical to one another with the emphasis asserted by tragedy2 the poet is for this reason compelled to devote the full strength of his presentation to the psychological analysis of character1 and to make the course of the situations a mere instrument of such characterization4 ,or1 as an alternative1 he admits a too extensive field for the display of the material aspect of historical or ethical conditions2 and1 under the pressure of such material1 he tends to restrict his effort to keep the attention alive to the interest of the series of events evolved alone4 ,to this class of composition we may assign a host of our more recent theatrical pieces1 which rather aim at theatrical effect than claim to be poetry4 ,they do not so much seek to affect us as genuine poetical productions as to reach our emotions generally as men and women2 or they aim on the one hand simply at recreation1 and on the other at the moral education of public taste2 but while doing so they are almost equally concerned to provide ample opportunity to the actor for the display of his trained art and virtuosity in the most brilliant manner4 7b7 ,the ,difference between ,ancient and ,modern ,dramatic ,poetry ,the same principle which offered us a basis for the classification of dramatic art into tragedy and comedy also will give us the essential points of arrest in the history of their development4 ,the progress we find in this course of evolution can only appear after we have placed such particular phases in the process side by side for comparison and analysis4 ,they subsist1 in short1 in the notion of dramatic action1 with the result that on the one hand the entire composition and its theatrical execution emphasizes what is substantive in the ends1 conflicts1 and characters1 and on the other that the personal factor of conscious and individual life constitutes the focal centre throughout4 77 ,with regard to such an inquiry we may at once in the present work1 which does not attempt to include an exhaustive history of art1 leave out altogether those origins of dramatic art which we find among ,oriental peoples4 ,despite the considerable progress made by ,eastern poetry in the epic and certain types of lyrical composition the entire world-outlook of such peoples nevertheless from the first excludes an artistic development favourable to dramatic art4 ,and the reason is that to genuine tragic action it is essential that the principle of individual freedom and independence1 or at least that of self-determination1 the will to find in the self the free cause and source of the personal act and its consequences1 should already have been aroused2 and we may observe that to a still more emphatic degree is this free claim of the personal life and its self-recognized imperium a necessary condition to the appearance of comedy4 ,in the ,east we find in neither case such a condition satisfied4 ,in particular remoteness from any and every attempt at real dramatic self-expression is that imposing sublimity of ,mohammedan poetry1 although from a certain point of view it is capable with real power of vindicating the claim of individual independence4 ,but it necessarily fails1 because it is an equally essential assumption of it that the ,one substantive ,power overrules every created being and determines his irreversible destiny1 and with all the more irresistible fatality in proportion as such a spirit is asserted4 ,the justification of a particular content of individual action and of a personal life which explores its own most intimate substance1 in the sense that dramatic art presupposes1 is here impossible2 indeed it is precisely in ,mohammedanism that the subjugation of the individual self to the will of ,god is the more abstract in proportion as the ,one predominant ,power1 who rules the universe1 is more abstractly conceived in his universality1 and in the last instance will not tolerate one shred of particularity to remain4 ,we consequently only find origins of dramatic composition among the ,chinese and ,hindoos4 ,but here1 too1 so far as our present scanty evidence carries us1 these do not so much amount to the execution of any free and individual action2 they merely reflect the animated life of events and emotions under the mode of definite situations1 which are displayed in their course as they actually happen4 77 ,the true beginning of dramatic poetry we have consequently to seek among the ,hellenes1 with whom for the first time and in every respect the principle of free individuality renders the perfect elaboration of the classic type of art possible4 ,compatibly with this type of art1 however1 and in its relation to human action1 individuality is only so far asserted as it directly demands the free animation of the essential content of human aims4 ,that which pre-eminently is of valid force in ancient drama1 therefore1 whether it be tragedy or comedy1 is the universal and essential content of the end1 which individuals seek to achieve4 ,in tragedy this is the ethical claim of human consciousness in view of the particular action in question1 the vindication of the act on its own account4 ,and in the old comedy1 too1 it is in the same way at least the general public interests which are emphasized1 whether it be in statesmen and the mode in which they direct the ,state1 questions of peace or war1 the general public and its moral conditions1 or the condition of philosophy and its decline4 ,and it is owing to this that here neither the varied exposition of personal soul-life and exceptional character1 nor the equally exceptional plot and intrigue can obtain the fullest play1 nor does the main interest revolve so much around the fate of individuals4 ,in the place of this interest for such particular aspects of the drama above all else sympathy is evoked and claimed for the simple conflict and issue of the essential powers of life1 and for the godlike manifestations of the human heart1#ch as distinctive representatives of which the heroes of tragedy are set before us in much the same way as that in which the figures of comedy make visible the general perversity of mankind1 to the expression of which1 in the reality of the actual present1 even the fundamental institutions of public life have been corrupted4 77 ,in modern romantic poetry1 on the contrary1 it is the individual passion1 the satisfaction of which can only be relative to a wholly personal end1 generally speaking the destiny of some particular person or character placed under exceptional circumstances1 which forms the subject-matter of all importance4 ,from such a point of view the poetic interest consists in that greatness of characters1 which1 in virtue of their imaginative power or their disposition and talents1 display a spiritual#ci elevation over their situations and actions no less than over the entire wealth of their soul-life1 and show it as the real substance of political forces1 though often1 too1 these may be obstructed and1 indeed1 annihilated in the stress of particular circumstances and the current of events2 and we may add that in the greatness of such natures it is not infrequent to find that a power of recovery#dj is further contained4 ,with regard to the particular content of the action in this style of composition it is not therefore the ethical vindication and necessity1 but rather the isolated individual and his conditions to which our interest is directed4 ,from a standpoint such as this1 therefore1 a fundamental motive will arise in such qualities as love and ambition2 indeed1 crime itself is not excluded4 ,but in the latter case we may easily find rocks ahead difficult indeed to clear4 ,for an out and out criminal1 and irrevocably so when he is weak and a thoroughly mean scamp1 as is the hero in ,milliner's drama1 ,crime1 is something more than a sorry sight4 ,what we require therefore above all in such cases is at least the formal#da greatness of character and power of the personal life which is able to ride out everything that negates it1 and which1 without denial of its acts or1 indeed1 without being materially discomposed by them1 is capable of accepting their consequences4 ,and on the other side we find that those substantive ends1 such as patriotism1 family devotion1 loyalty1 and the rest1 are by no means to be excluded1 although for the individual persons concerned the main question of importance is not so much the substantive force as their own individuality4 ,but in such cases as a rule they rather form the particular ground upon which such persons1 viewed in the light of their private character1 take their stand and engage in conflict1 rather than have supplied what we may regard as the real and ultimate content of their volition and action4 ,and further1 in conjunction with a personal self-assertion of this type we may have presented the full extension of individual idiosyncrasy1 not merely in respect to the soul-life simply1 but also in relation to external circumstances and conditions1 within which the action proceeds4 ,and it is owing to this that in distinctive form the simple conflicts which characterize more classical dramatic composition1 we now meet with the variety and exuberance of the characters dramatized1 the unforeseen surprises of the ever new and complicated developments of plot1 the maze of intrigue1 the contingency of events1 and1 in a word1 all those aspects of the modern drama which claim our attention1 and the unfettered appearance of which1 as opposed to the overwhelming emphasis attached to what is essentially most fundamental in the content1 accentuates the type of romantic art in its distinction from the classic type4 ,but again1 even in the cases above indicated1 and despite all this apparently untrammelled particularity1 the whole ought to continue to be both dramatic and poetical4 ,in other words1 on the one hand1 the harshness of the collision1 which has to be fought through1 ought to be visibly obliterated1 and on the other1 pre-eminently in tragedy1 the predominant presence of a more exalted order of the world1 whether we adopt the conception of ,providence or ,fatality1 ought to plainly discover itself in and through the course and issue of the action4 7c7 ,the ,concrete ,development of ,dramatic ,poetry and its ,types ,within the essential distinctions of conception and poetical achievement which we have just considered the different types of dramatic art assert themselves1 and1 for the first time in such association1 and in so far as their development follows either one or the other direction1 attain a really genuine completeness4 ,we have1 therefore1 in concluding the present work1 still to concentrate our inquiry upon the concrete mode under which they receive such a configuration4 77 ,excluding as we shall do for the reasons already given from our subject-matter the origins of such poetry in ,oriental literature1 the material of first and fundamental importance which engages our attention1 as the most valuable phase of genuine tragedy no less than comedy1 is the dramatic poetry of the ,greeks4 ,in other words1 in it for the first time we find the human consciousness is illuminated with that which in its general terms the tragic and comic situation essentially is2 and after that these opposed types of dramatic outlook upon human action have been securely and beyond all confusion separated from each other1 we mark first in order tragedy1 and after that comedy1 rise in organic development to the height of their achievement4 ,of such a successful result the dramatic art of ,rome merely returns a considerably attenuated reflection1 which does not indeed reach the point secured by the similar effort of ,roman literature in epic and lyrical composition4 ,in my examination of the material thus offered my object will be merely to accentuate what is most important1 and ,i shall therefore limit my survey to the tragic point of view of schylus and ,sophocles1 and to ,aristophanes so far as comedy is concerned4 77 ,taking1 then1 tragedy first1 ,i have already stated that the fundamental type which determines its entire organization and structure is to be sought for in the emphasis attached to the substantive constitution of final ends and their content1 as also of the individuals dramatized and their conflict and destiny4 ,in the tragic drama we are now considering1 the general basis or background for tragic action is supplied1 as was also the case in the ,epos1 by that world-condition which ,i have already indicated as the heroic4 ,for only in heroic times1 when the universal ethical forces have neither acquired the independent stability of definite political legislation or moral commands and obligations1 can they be presented in their primitive jucundity as gods1 who are either opposed to each other in their personal activities1 or themselves appear as the animated content of a free and human individuality4 ,if1 however1 what is intrinsically ethical is to appear throughout as the substantive foundation1 the universal ground1 shall we say1 from which the growth of personal action arrests our attention with equal force in its disunion1 and is no less brought back again from such divided movement into unity1 we shall find that there are two distinct modes under which the ethical content of human action is asserted4 ,first1 we have the simple consciousness1 which1 in so far as it wills its substantive content#db wholly as the unbroken identity of its particular aspects1 remains in undisturbed1 uncriticized1 and neutral tranquillity on its own account and as related to others4 ,this undivided and1 we may add1 purely formal#dc state of mind in its veneration1 its faith1 and its happiness1 however1 is incapable of attaching itself to any definite action2 it has a sort of dread before the disunion which is implied in such1 although it does1 while remaining itself incapable of action1 esteem at the same time that spiritual courage which asserts itself resolutely and actively in a self-proposed object1 as of nobler worth1 yet is aware of its inability to undertake such enterprize1 and consequently considers that it can do nothing further for such active personalities1 whom it respects so highly1 than contrast with the energy of their decision and conflict the object of its own wisdom1 in other words1 the substantive ideality of the ethical ,powers4 ,the second mode under which this ethical content is asserted is that of the individual pathos1#dd which urges the active characters to their moral self-vindication into the opposition they occupy relatively to others1 and brings them thereby into conflict4 ,the individuals subject to this pathos are neither what1 in the modern use of the term1 we describe as characters1 nor are they mere abstractions4 ,they are rather placed in the vital midway sphere between both1 standing there as figures of real stability1 which are simply that which they are1 without aught of collision in themselves1 without any fluctuating recognition of some other pathos1 and in so far--in this respect a contrast to our modern irony--elevated1 absolutely determinate characters1 whose definition1 however1 discovers its content and basis in a particular ethical power4 ,forasmuch as1 then1 the tragic situation first appears in the antagonism of individuals who are thus empowered to act1 the same can only assert itself in the field of actual human life4 ,it results from the specific character of this alone that a particular quality so affects the substantive content of a given individual1 that the latter identifies himself with his entire interest and being in such a content1 and penetrates it throughout with the glow of passion4 ,in the blessed gods1 however1 it is the divine ,nature1 in its indifference1 which is what is essential2 in contrast to which we have the contradiction1 which in the last instance is not treated seriously1 rather is one which1 as ,i have already noticed when discussing the ,homeric ,epos1 becomes eventually a self-resolving irony4 ,these two modes or aspects--of which the one is as important for the whole as the other--namely1 the unsevered consciousness of the godlike1 and the combating human action1 asserted1 however1 in godlike power and deed1 which determines and executes the ethical purpose--supply the two fundamental elements1 the mediation of which is displayed by ,greek tragedy in its artistic compositions under the form of chorus and heroic figures respectively4 ,in modern times1 considerable discussion has been raised over the significance of the ,greek chorus1 and the question has been raised incidentally whether it can or ought to be introduced into modern tragedy4 ,in fact1 the need of some such substantial foundation has been experienced2 but critics have found it difficult to prescribe the precise manner in which effect should be given to such a change1 because they failed to grasp with sufficient penetration the nature of that in which true tragedy consists and the necessity of the chorus as an essential constituent of all that ,greek tragedy implies4 ,critics have1 no doubt1 recognized the nature of the chorus to the extent of maintaining that in it we find an attitude of tranquil meditation over the whole1 whereas the characters of the action remain within the limits of their particular objects and situations1 and1 in short1 receive in the chorus and its observations a standard of valuation of their characters and actions in much the same way as the public discovers in it1 and within the drama itself1 an objective representative of its own judgment upon all that is thus represented4 ,in this view we have to this extent the fact rightly conceived1 that the chorus is1 in truth1 there as a substantive and more enlightened intelligence1 which warns us from irrelevant oppositions1 and reflects upon the genuine issue4 ,but1 granting this to be so1 it is by no means a wholly disinterested person1 at leisure to entertain such thoughts and ethical judgments as it likes as are the spectators1 which1 uninteresting and tedious on its own account1 could only be attached for the sake of such reflections4 ,the chorus is the actual substance of the heroic life and action itself3 it is1 as contrasted with the particular heroes1 the common folk regarded as the fruitful heritage1 out of which individuals1 much as flowers and towering trees from their native soil1 grow and whereby they are conditioned in this life4 ,consequently1 the chorus is peculiarly fitted to a view of life in which the obligations of ,state legislation and settled religious dogmas do not1 as yet1 act as a restrictive force in ethical and social development1 but where morality only exists in its primitive form of directly animated human life1 and it is merely the equilibrium of unmoved life which remains assured in its stability against the fearful collisions which the antagonistic energies of individual action produces4 ,we are made aware of the fact that an assured asylum of this kind is also a part of our actual existence by the presence of the chorus4 ,it does not1 therefore1 practically co-operate with the action2 it executes by its action no right as against the contending heroes2 it merely expresses its judgment as a matter of opinion2 it warns1 commiserates1 or appeals to the divine law1 and the ideal forces imminent in the soul1 which the imagination grasps in external guise as the sphere of the gods that rule4 ,in this self-expression it is1 as we have already seen1 lyrical2 for it does not act and there are no events for it to narrate in epical form4 ,the content1 however1 retains at the same time the epic character of substantive universality2 and its lyric movement is of such a nature that it can1 and in this respect in contrast to the form of the genuine ode1 approach at times that of the paean and the dithyramb4 ,we must lay emphatic stress upon this position of the chorus in ,greek tragedy4 ,just as the theatre itself possesses its external ground1 its scene and environment1 so1 too1 the chorus1 that is the general community1 is the spiritual scene2 and we may compare it to the architectural temple which surrounds the image of the god1 which resembles the heroes in the action4 ,among ourselves1 statues are placed under the open sky without such a background1 which also modern tragedy does not require1 for the reason that its actions do not depend on this substantive basis1 but on the personal volition and personality1 no less than the apparently external contingency of events and circumstances4 ,in this respect it is an entirely false view which regards the chorus as an accidental piece of residuary baggage1 a mere remnant from the origins of ,greek drama4 ,of course1 it is incontestable that its source is to be traced to the circumstance that1 in the festivals of ,bacchus1 so far as the artistic aspect is concerned1 the choral song was of most importance until the introduction and interruption of its course by one reciter1 whose relation finally was transformed into and exalted by the real figures of dramatic action4 ,in the blossoming season of tragedy1 however1 the chorus was not by any means merely retained in honour of this particular phase of the festival and ritual of the god ,bacchus2 rather it became continuously more elaborate in its beauty and harmonious measures by reason of the fact that its association with the dramatic action is essential and1 indeed1 so indispensable to it that the decline of tragedy is intimately connected with the degeneration of the choruses1 which no longer remain an integral member of the whole1 but are degraded to a mere embellishment4 ,in contrast to this1 in romantic tragedy1 the chorus is neither intrinsically appropriate nor does it appear to have originated from choric songs4 ,on the contrary1 the content is here of a type which defeats from the first any attempt to introduce choruses as understood by ,greek dramatists4 ,for1 even if we go back to the most primitive of those so-called mysteries1 morality plays and farces of a similar character1 from which the romantic drama issued1 we find that these present no action in that original ,greek sense of the term1 no outbreak1 that is1 of opposing forces from the undivided consciousness of life and the god-like4 ,to as little extent is the chorus adapted to the conditions of chivalry and the dominion of kings1 in so far as1 in such cases1 the attitude of the folk is one of mere obedience1 or it is itself a party1 involved together with the interest of its fortune or misfortune in the course of the action4 ,and in general the chorus entirely fails to secure its true position where the main subject-matter consists of particular passions1 ends1 and characters1 or any considerable opportunity is admitted to intrigue4 ,in contrast to the chorus1 the second fundamental feature of dramatic composition is that of the individuals who act in conflict with each other4 ,in ,greek tragedy it is not at all the bad will1 crime1 worthlessness1 or mere misfortune1 stupidity1 and the like1 which act as an incentive to such collisions1 but rather1 as ,i have frequently urged1 the ethical right to a definite course of action4#de ,abstract evil neither possesses truth in itself1 nor does it arouse interest4 ,at the same time1 when we attribute ethical traits of characterization to the individuals of the action1 these ought not to appear merely as a matter of opinion4 ,it is rather implied in their right or claim that they are actually there as essential on their own account4 ,the hazards of crime1 such as are present in modern drama--the useless1 or quite as much the so-called noble criminal1 with his empty talk about fate1 we meet with in the tragedy of ancient literature1 rarely1 if at all1 and for the good reason that the decision and deed depends on the wholly personal aspect of interest and character1 upon lust for power1 love1 honour1 or other similar passions1 whose justification has its roots exclusively in the particular inclination and individuality4 ,a resolve of this character1 whose claim is based upon the content of its object1 which it carries into execution in one restricted direction of particularization1 violates1 under certain circumstances1 which are already essentially implied in the actual possibility of conflicts1 a further and equally ethical sphere of human volition1 which the character thus confronted adheres to1 and1 by his thus stimulated action1 enforces1 so that in this way the collision of powers and individuals equally entitled to the ethical claim is completely set up in its movement4 ,the sphere of this content1#df although capable of great variety of detail1 is not in its essential features very extensive4 ,the principal source of opposition1 which ,sophocles in particular1 in this respect following the lead of schylus1 has accepted and worked out in the finest way1 is that of the body politic1 the opposition1 that is1 between ethical life in its social universality and the family as the natural ground of moral relations4 ,these are the purest forces of tragic representation4 ,it is1 in short1 the harmony of these spheres and the concordant action within the bounds of their realized content1 which constitute the perfected reality of the moral life4 ,in this respect ,i need only recall to recollection the ,seven before ,thebes of schylus and1 as a yet stronger illustration1 the ,antigone of ,sophocles4 ,antigone reverences the ties of blood-relationship1 the gods of the nether world4 ,creon alone recognizes ,zeus1 the paramount ,power of public life and the commonwealth4 ,we come across a similar conflict in the ,iphigeneia in ,aulis1 as also in the ,agamemnon1 the ,choephorae1 and ,eumenides of schylus1 and in the ,electra of ,sophocles4 ,agamemnon1 as king and leader of his army1 sacrifices his daughter in the interest of the ,greek folk and the ,trojan expedition4 ,he shatters thereby the bond of love as between himself and his daughter and wife1 which ,clytemnestra retains in the depths of a mother's heart1 and in revenge prepares an ignominious death for her husband on his return4 ,orestes1 their son1 respects his mother1 but is bound to represent the right of his father1 the king1 and strikes dead the mother who bore him4 ,a content of this type retains its force through all times1 and its presentation1 despite all difference of nationality1 vitally arrests our human and artistic sympathies4 ,of a more formal type is that second kind of essential collision1 an illustration of which in the tragic story of dipus the ,greek tragedians especially favoured4 ,of this ,sophocles has left us the most complete example in his dipus ,rex1 and dipus in ,colonos4 ,the problem here is concerned with the claim of alertness in our intelligence1 with the nature of the obligation#dg implied in that which a man carries out with a volition fully aware of its acts as contrasted with that which he has done in fact1 but unconscious of and with no intention of doing what he has done under the directing providence of the gods4 dipus slays his father1 marries his mother1 begets children in this incestuous alliance1 and nevertheless is involved in these most terrible of crimes without active participation either in will or knowledge4 ,the point of view of our profounder modern consciousness of right and wrong would be to recognize that crimes of this description1 inasmuch as they were neither referable to a personal knowledge or volition1 were not deeds for which the true personality of the perpetrator was responsible4 ,the plastic nature of the ,greek on the contrary adheres to the bare fact which an individual has achieved1 and refuses to face the division implied by the purely ideal attitude of the soul in the self-conscious life on the one hand and the objective significance of the fact accomplished on the other4 ,for ourselves1 to conclude this survey1 other collisions1 which either in general are related to the universally accepted association of personal action to the ,greek conception of ,destiny1 or in some measure to more exceptional conditions1 are comparatively speaking less important4 ,in all these tragic conflicts1 however1 we must above all place on one side the false notion of guilt or innocence4 ,the heroes of tragedy are quite as much under one category as the other4 ,if we accept the idea as valid that a man is guilty only in the case that a choice lay open to him1 and he deliberately decided on the course of action which he carried out1 then these plastic figures of ancient drama are guiltless4 ,they act in accordance with a specific character1 a specific pathos1 for the simple reason that they are this character1 this pathos4 ,in such a case there is no lack of decision and no choice4 ,the strength of great characters consists precisely in this that they do not choose1 but are entirely and absolutely just that which they will and achieve4 ,they are simply themselves1 and never anything else1 and their greatness consists in that fact4 ,weakness in action1 in other words1 wholly consists in the division of the personal self as such from its content1 so that character1 volition and final purpose do not appear as absolutely one unified growth2 and inasmuch as no assured end lives in the soul as the very substance of the particular personality1 as the pathos and might of the individual's entire will1 he is still able to turn with indecision from this course to that1 and his final decision is that of caprice4 ,a wavering attitude of this description is alien to these plastic creations4 ,the bond between the psychological state of mind and the content of the will is for them indissoluble4 ,that which stirs them to action is just in this very pathos which implies an ethical justification and which1 even in the pathetic aspects of the dialogue1 is not enforced in and through the merely personal rhetoric of the heart and the sophistry of passion1 but in the equally masculine and cultivated objective presence1 in the profound possibilities1 the harmony and vitally plastic beauty of which ,sophocles was to a superlative degree master4 ,at the same time1 however1 such a pathos1 with its potential resources of collision1 brings in its train deeds that are both injurious and wrongful4 ,they have no desire to avoid the blame that results therefrom4 ,on the contrary1 it is their fame to have done what they have done4 ,one can in fact urge nothing more intolerable against a hero of this type than by saying that he has acted innocently4 ,it is a point of honour with such great characters that they are guilty4 ,they have no desire to excite pity or our sensibilities4 ,for it is not the substantive1 but rather the wholly personal deepening#dh of the individual character1 which stirs our individual pain4 ,these securely strong characters1 however1 coalesce entirely with their essential pathos1 and this indivisible accord inspires wonder1 but does not excite heart emotions4 ,the drama of ,euripides marks the transition to that4 ,the final result1 then1 of the development of tragedy conducts us to this issue and only this1 namely1 that the twofold vindication of the mutually conflicting aspects are no doubt retained1 but the onesided mode under which they were maintained is cancelled1 and the undisturbed ideal harmony brings back again that condition of the chorus1 which attributes without reserve equal honour to all the gods4 ,the true course of dramatic development consists in the annulment of contradictions viewed as such1 in the reconciliation of the forces of human action1 which alternately strive to negate each other in their conflict4 ,only so far is misfortune and suffering not the final issue1 but rather the satisfaction of spirit1 as for the first time1 in virtue of such a conclusion1 the necessity of all that particular individuals experience1 is able to appear in complete accord with reason1 and our emotional attitude is tranquillized on a true ethical basis1 rudely shaken by the calamitous result to the heroes1 but reconciled in the substantial facts4 ,and it is only in so far as we retain such a view securely that we shall be in a position to understand ancient tragedy4 ,we have to guard ourselves therefore from concluding that a dnouement of this type is merely a moral issue conformably to which evil is punished and virtue rewarded1 as indicated by the proverb that when crime turns to vomit1 virtue sits down at table4 ,we have nothing to do here with this wholly personal aspect of a self-reflecting personality and its conception of good and evil1 but are concerned with the appearance of the affirmative reconciliation and with the equal validity of both the powers engaged in actual conflict1 when the collision actually took place4 ,to as little extent is the necessity of the issue a blind destiny1 or in other words a purely irrational1 unintelligible fate1 identified with the classical world by many2 rather it is the rationality of destiny1 albeit it does not as yet appear as self-conscious ,providence1 the divine final end of which in conjunction with the world and individuals appears on its own account and for others1 depending as it does on just this fact that the highest ,power paramount over particular gods and mankind cannot suffer this1 namely1 that the forces1 which affirm their selfsubsistence in modes that are abstract or incomplete1 and thereby overstep the boundary of their warrant1 no less than the conflicts which result from them1 should retain their self-stability4 ,fate drives personality back upon its limits1 and shatters it1 when it has grown overweening4 ,an irrational compulsion1 however1 an innocence of suffering would rather only excite indignation in the soul of the spectator than ethical tranquillity4 ,from a further point of view1 therefore1 the reconciliation of tragedy is equally distinct from that of the ,epos4 ,if we look at either ,achilles or ,odysseus in this respect we observe that both attain their object1 and it is right that they do so2 but it is not a continuous happiness with which they are favoured2 they have on the contrary to taste in its bitterness the feeling of finite condition1 and are forced to fight wearily through difficulties1 losses and sacrifices4 ,it is in fact a universal demand of truth that in the course of life and all that takes place in the objective world the nugatory character of finite conditions should compel attention4 ,so no doubt the anger of ,achilles is reconciled2 he obtains from ,agamemnon that in respect of which he had suffered the sense of insult2 he is revenged upon ,hector2 the funeral rites of ,patroclus are consummated1 and the character of ,achilles is acknowledged in all its glory4 ,but his wrath and its reconciliation have for all that cost him his dearest friend1 the noble ,patroclus2 and1 in order to avenge himself upon ,hector for this loss1 he finds himself compelled to disengage himself from his anger1 to enter once more the battle against the ,trojans1 and in the very moment when his glory is acknowledged receives the prevision of his early death4 ,in a similar way ,odysseus reaches ,ithaca at last1 the goal of his desire2 but he does so alone and in his sleep1 having lost all his companions1 all the war-booty from ,ilium1 after long years of endurance and fatigue4 ,in this way both heroes have paid their toll to finite conditions and the claim of nemesis is evidenced in the destruction of ,troy and the misfortunes of the ,greek heroes4 ,but this nemesis is simply justice as conceived of old1 which merely humiliates what is everywhere too exalted1 in order to establish once more the abstract balance of fortune by the instrumentality of misfortune1 and which merely touches and affects finite existence without further ethical signification4 ,and this is the justice of the ,epic in the field of objective fact1 the universal reconciliation of what is simply accommodation4#di ,the higher conception of reconciliation in tragedy is on the contrary related to the resolution of specific ethical and substantive facts from their contradiction into their true harmony4 ,the way in which such an accord is established is asserted under very different modes2 ,i propose therefore merely to direct attention to the fundamental features of the actual process herein involved4 ,firsts we have particularly to emphasize the fact1 that if it is the onesidedness of the pathos which constitutes the real basis of collisions this merely amounts to the statement that it is asserted in the action of life1 and therewith has become the unique pathos of a particular individual4 ,if this one-sidedness is to be abrogated then it is this individual which1 to the extent that his action is exclusively identified with this isolated pathos1 must perforce be stripped and sacrificed4 ,for the individual here is merely this single life1 and1 if this unity is not secured in its stability on its own account1 the individual is shattered4 ,the most complete form of this development is possible when the individuals engaged in conflict relatively to their concrete or objective life appear in each case essentially involved in one whole1 so that they stand fundamentally under the power of that against which they battle1 and consequently infringe that1 which1 conformably to their own essential life1 they ought to respect4 ,antigone1 for example1 lives under the political authority of ,creon2 she is herself the daughter of a king and the affianced of ,haemon1 so that her obedience to the royal prerogative is an obligation4 ,but ,creon also1 who is on his part father and husband1 is under obligation to respect the sacred ties of relationship1 and only by breach of this can give an order that is in conflict with such a sense4 ,in consequence of this we find immanent in the life of both that which each respectively combats1 and they are seized and broken by that very bond which is rooted in the compass of their own social existence4 ,antigone is put to death before she can enjoy what she looks forward to as bride1 and ,creon too is punished in the fatal end of his son and wife1 who commit suicide1 the former on account of ,antigone's death1 and the latter owing to ,haemon's4 ,among all the fine creations of the ancient and the modern world--and ,i am acquainted with pretty nearly everything in such a class1 and one ought to know it1 and it is quite possible--the ,antigone of ,sophocles is from this point of view in my judgment the most excellent and satisfying work of art4 ,the tragic issue does not1 however1 require in every case as a means of removing both over-emphasized aspects and the equal honour which they respectively claim the downfall of the contestant parties4 ,the ,eumenides does not end1 as we all know1 with the death of ,orestes1 or the destruction of the ,eumenides1 these avenging spirits of matricide and filial affection1 these opponents of ,apollo1 who seeks to protect unimpaired the worth of and reverence for the family chief and king1 the god who had prompted ,orestes to slay ,clytaemnestra1 but will have ,orestes released from the punishment and honour bestowed on both himself and the ,furies4 ,at the same time we cannot fail to see in this adjusted conclusion the nature of the authority which the ,greeks attached to their gods when they presented them as mere individuals contending with each other4 ,they appear1 in short1 to the ,athenian of everyday life merely as definite aspects of ethical experience which the principles of morality viewed in their complete and harmonious coherence bind together4 ,the votes of the ,areopagus are equal on either side4 ,it is ,athene1 the goddess1 the life of ,athens1 that is1 imagined in its essential unity1 who adds the white pebble1 who frees ,orestes1 and at the same time promises altars and a cult to the ,eumenides no less than ,apollo4 ,as a contrast to this type of objective reconciliation the settlement may be1 secondly1 of a more personal character4 ,in other words1 the individual concerned in the action may in the last instance surrender his onesided point of view4 ,in this betrayal by personality of its essential pathos1 however1 it cannot fail to appear destitute of character2 and this contradicts the masculine integrity of such plastic figures4 ,the individual1 therefore1 can only submit to a higher ,power and its counsel or command1 to the effect that while on his own account he adheres to such a pathos1 the will is nevertheless broken in its bare obstinacy by a god's authority4 ,in such a case the knot is not loosened1 but1 as in the case of ,philoctetes1 it is severed by a deus ex machin4 ,but as a further and final class1 and one more beautiful than the above rather external mode of resolution we have the reconciliation more properly of the soul itself1 in which respect there is1 in virtue of the personal significance1 a real approach to our modern point of view4 ,the most perfect example of this in ancient drama is to be found in the ever admirable dipus ,coloneus of ,sophocles4 ,the protagonist here has unwittingly slain his father1 secured the sceptre of ,thebes1 and the bridal bed of his own mother4 ,he is not rendered unhappy by these unwitting crimes2 but the power of divination he has of old possessed makes him realize1 despite himself1 the darkness of the experience that confronts him1 and he becomes fearfully1 if indistinctly1 aware of what his position is4#ej ,in this resolution of the riddle in himself he resembles ,adam1 losing his happiness when he obtains the knowledge of good and evil4 ,what he then does1 the seer1 is to blind himself1 then abdicate the throne and depart from ,thebes1 very much as ,adam and ,eve are driven from ,paradise4 ,from henceforward he wanders about a helpless old man4 ,finally a god calls the terribly afflicted man to himself1#ea the man1 that is1 who refusing the request of his sons that he should return to ,thebes1 prefers to associate with the ,erinnys2 the man1 in short1 who extinguishes all the disruption in himself and who purifies himself in his own soul4 ,his blind eyes are made clear and bright1 his limbs are healed1 and become a treasure of the city which received him as a free guest4 ,and this illumination in death is for ourselves no less than for him the more truly visible reconciliation which is worked out both in and for himself as individual man1 in and through1 that is1 his essential character4 ,critics have endeavoured to discover here the temper of the ,christian life2 we are told we have here the picture of a sinner1 whom ,god receives into ,his grace2 and the fateful misfortunes which expire in their finite condition1 are made good with the seal of blessedness in death4 ,the reconciliation of the ,christian religion1 however1 is an illumination of the soul1 which1 bathed in the everlasting waters of salvation1 is raised above mortal life and its deeds4 ,here it is the heart itself1 for in such a view the spiritual life can effect this1 which buries that life and its deed in the grave of the heart itself1 counting the recriminations of earthly guilt as part and parcel of its own earthly individuality2 and which1 in the full assuredness of the eternally pure and spiritual condition of blessedness1 holds itself in itself calm and steadfast against such impeachment4 ,the illumination of dipus1 on the contrary1 remains throughout1 in consonance with ancient ideas1 the restoration of conscious life from the strife of ethical powers and violations to the renewed and harmonious unity of this ethical content itself4#eb ,there is a further feature in this type of reconciliation1 however1 and that is the personal or ideal nature of the satisfaction4 ,we may take this as a point of transition to the otherwise to be contrasted province of comedy4 77 ,that which is comic is1 as we have already seen1 in general terms the subjective or personal state1 which forces and then dissolves the action which issues from it by its own effect into and in contradiction1 remaining throughout and in virtue of this process tranquil in its own self-assurance4 ,comedy possesses1 therefore1 for its basis and point of departure that with which it is possible for tragedy to terminate1 that is1 a soul to the fullest extent and eventually reconciled1 a joyous state1 which1 however much it is instrumental in the marring of its volitional power1 and1 indeed1 in itself comes to grief1 by reason of its asserting voluntarily what is in conflict with its aim1 does not therefore lose its general equanimity4 ,a personal self-assurance of this character1 however is1 from a further point of view1 only possible in so far as the ends proposed1 and withal the characters include nothing that is on its own account essentially substantive2 or1 if they do possess such an intrinsic worth1 it is adopted and carried out intentionally under a mode which is totally opposed to the genuine truth contained1 in a form1 therefore1 that is destitute of such truth1 so that in this respect1 as in the previous case1 it is merely that which is itself essentially of no intrinsic importance1 but a matter of indifference which is marred1 and the individual remains just as he was and unaffected4 ,such a view is1 too1 in its general lines the conception of the old classic comedy1 in so far as tradition reflects it in the plays of ,aristophanes4 ,we should1 however1 be careful to notice the distinction whether the individuals in the play are aware that they are comic1 or are so merely from the spectator's point of view4 ,it is only the first class that we can reckon as part of the genuine comedy in which ,aristophanes was a master4 ,conformably to such a type a character is only placed in a ridiculous situation1 when we perceive that he himself is not serious in what is actually of such a quality in his purpose and voluntary effort1 so that this constituent of either is throughout the means of his own undoing1 inasmuch as throughout such a character is unable to enter into any more noble and universally valid interest1 which necessarily involves it in a situation of conflict2#ec and1 even assuming that he does actually partake of it1 merely does so in a way that shows a nature1 which1 in virtue of its practical existence1 has already annihilated that which it appears to strive to bring into operation1 so that after all one sees such a coalescence has never been really effected4 ,the comic comes1 therefore1 rather into play among classes of a lower social order in actual conditions of life1 among men who remain much as they are1 and neither are able or desire to be anything else2 who1 while incapable of any genuine pathos1 have no doubt whatever as to what they are and do4 ,at the same time the higher nature that is in them is asserted in this that they are not with any seriousness attached to the finite conditions which hem them in1 but remain superior to the same and in themselves essentially steadfast and self-reliant against mishap and loss4 ,this absolute freedom of spirit1 which brings its own essential comfort from the first in all that a man undertakes1 this world of the blitheness of human soul-life is that to which ,aristophanes conducts us4 ,without a reading of him it is hardly possible to imagine what a wealth of exuberance there is in the human heart4 ,the interests among which this type of comedy moves are not necessarily taken from the opposed spheres of religion1 morality1 and art4 ,on the contrary the old ,greek comedy remains no doubt within the limits of this positive and substantive content of human life2 but it is the individual caprice1 the vulgar folly and perversity1 by reason of which the characters concerned bring to nought activities which in their aim have a finer significance4 ,and in this respect an ample and very pertinent material is supplied ,aristophanes partly by ,greek gods1 and partly by the life of the ,athenian people4 ,in other words1 the configuration of the divine in human impersonation itself possesses1 in its mode of presentation and its particularization1 to the extent at least that it is further enforced in opposition to that which is merely one-sided and human1 the contradiction that is opposed to the nobility of its significance2 it is thus permitted to appear as a purely empty extension of this personal life which is inadequate wholly to express it4 ,more particularly1 however1 ,aristophanes revels in the follies of the common folk1 the stupidities of its orators and statesmen1 the blockheadedness of war1 and is eager1 above all1 and with all the politeness of his satire and the full weight of his ridicule1 but also not without the profoundest meaning1 to hand over the new tendencies of the tragedies of ,euripides to the laughter of his fellow-citizens4 ,the characters he has imported into the substance of his amazing artistic creations he runs into the mould of fool from the start with a sportive fancy that seems inexhaustible1 so that the very idea of a rational result is impossible4 ,he treats all alike1 whether it be a ,strepsiades1 who will join the ranks of philosophers in order to be rid of his debts1 or a ,socrates1 who offers to instruct the aforesaid ,strepsiades and his son1 or ,bacchus1 whom he makes descend into the lower world1 in order to bring up a genuine tragic poet1 and in just the same way ,cleon1 the women and the ,greeks1 who would like to pump up the goddess of ,peace from the well4 ,the key-note that we find in all these various creations is the imperturbable self-assurance of such characters one and all1 which becomes all the more emphatic in proportion as they prove themselves incapable of carrying into effect that which they project4 ,our fools here are so entirely unembarrassed in their folly1 and also the more sensible among them possess such a tincture of that which runs contrary to the very course upon which they are set1 that they all1 the more sensible with the rest1 remain fixed to this personal attitude of prodigious imperturbility1 no matter what comes next or where it carries them4 ,it is in fact the blessed laughter of the ,olympian gods1 with their untroubled equanimity1 now at home in the human breast1 and prepared for all contingences4 ,and withal we never find ,aristophanes merely a cold or evil-disposed mocker4 ,he was a man of the finest education1 a most exemplary citizen1 to whom the weal of ,athens was of really deep importance1 and who through thick and thin shows himself to be a true patriot4 ,what therefore is in the fullest sense resolved in his comedies is1 as already stated1 not the divine and what is of ethical import1 but the thoroughgoing upside-down-ness which inflates itself into the semblance of these substantive forces1 the particular form and distinctive mode of its manifestation1 in which the essential thing or matter is already from the first no longer present1 so that it can without restriction be simply handed over to the unconcerned play of unqualified personal caprice4 ,but for the very reason that ,aristophanes makes explicit the absolute contradiction between the essential nature of the gods1 or that of political and social life1 and the personal activities of individual persons or citizens1 who ought to endow such substantive form with reality1 we find in this very triumph of purely personal self-assertion1 despite all the profounder insight which the poet displays1 one of the greatest symptoms of the degeneracy of ,greece4 ,and it is on account of this that these pictures of a wholly unperturbed sense of everything coming out right in the end #ed are as a matter of fact the last important harvest which we have from the poetry created by the exuberant genius1 culture1 and wit of the ,greek nation4 77 ,i shall now direct attention to the dramatic art of the modern world1 and here1 too1 ,i only propose to emphasize the more general and fundamental features which we find of importance1 whether dealing with tragedy or the ordinary drama and comedy4 77 ,tragedy1 in the nobility which distinguishes it in its ancient plastic form1 is limited to the partial point of view that for its exclusive and essential basis it only enforces as effective the ethically substantive content and its necessary laws2 and1 on the other hand1 leaves the individual and subjective self-penetration of the dramatic characters essentially unevolved2 while comedy on its part1 to complete what we may regard as the reversed side of such plastic construction1 exhibits to us the personal caprice of soul-life in the unfettered abandonment of its topsy-turvydom and ultimate dissolution4 ,modern tragedy accepts in its own province from the first the principle of subjectivity or self-assertion4 ,it makes1 therefore1 the personal intimacy of character--the character1 that is1 which is no purely individual and vital embodiment of ethical forces in the classic sense--its peculiar object and content4 ,it1 moreover1 makes1 in a type of concurrence that is adapted to this end1 human actions come into collision through the instrumentality of the external accident of circumstances in the way that a contingency of a similar character is also decisive in its effect on the consequence1 or appears to be so decisive4 ,in this connection we would subject to examination the following fundamental points3 ,firsts the nature of the varied ends which ought to come into the executive process of the action as the content of the characters therein4 ,secondly1 the nature of the tragic characters themselves1 as also of the collisions they are compelled to face4 ,thirdly1 the nature of the final issue and tragic reconciliation1 as these differ from those of ancient tragedy4 ,to start with1 we may observe that1 however much in romantic tragedy the personal aspect of suffering and passions1 in the true meaning of such an attitude1 is the focal centre1 yet1 for all that1 it is impossible in human activity that the ground basis of definite ends borrowed from the concrete worlds of the family1 the ,state1 the ,church1 and others should be dispensed with4 ,in so far1 however1 as in the drama under discussion1 it is not the substantive content as such in these spheres of life which constitutes the main interest of individuals4 ,such ends are from a certain point of view particularized in a breadth of extension and variety1 as also in exceptional modes of presentment1 in which it often happens that what is truly essential is only able to force itself on our attention with attenuated strength4 ,and over and above this fact1 these ends receive an entirely altered form4 ,in the province of religion1 for example1 the content which pre-eminently is asserted is no longer the particular ethical powers exhibited imaginatively under the mode of divine individuals1 either in their own person or in the pathos of human heroes4 ,it is the history of ,christ1 or of saints and the like1 which is now set before us4 ,in the political community it is mainly the position of kingship1 the power of vassal chiefs1 the strife of dynasties1 or the particular members of one and the same ruling family which forms the content of the varied picture4 ,nay1 if we take a step further we find as the principal subject-matter questions of civic or private right and other relations of a similar character2 and1 further1 we shall find a similar attention paid to features in the family life which were not yet within the reach of ancient drama4 ,and the reason of this is that1 inasmuch as in the spheres of life above-mentioned the principle of the personal life in its independence has asserted its claim1 novel phases of existence make their inevitable appearance in each one of them1 which the modern man claims to set up as the end and directory of his action4 ,and1 from a further point of view in this drama1 it is the right of subjectivity1 as above defined1 absolutely unqualified1 which is retained as the dominating content2 and for this reason personal love1 honour1 and the rest make such an exclusive appeal as ends of human action that1 while in one direction other relations cannot fail to appear as the purely external background on which these interests of our modern life are set in motion1 in another such relations on their own account actively conflict with the requirements of the more individual state of emotion4 ,of more profound significance still is wrong and crime1 even assuming that a particular character does not deliberately and to start with place himself in either1 yet does not avoid in order to attain his original purpose4 ,and1 furthermore1 in contrast to this particularization and individual standpoint1 the ends proposed may likewise either in one direction expand to cover the universality and all-inclusive embrace of the content1 or they are in another apprehended and carried into execution as themselves intrinsically substantive4 ,in the first respect1 ,i will merely recall to memory that typically philosophical tragedy1 the ,faust of ,goethe1 in which1 on the one hand1 a spirit of disillusion in the pursuit of science1 and1 on the other1 the vital resources of a worldly life and earthly enjoyment--in a word1 the attempted mediation in the tragic manner of an individual's wisdom and strife with the ,absolute in its essential significance and phenomenal manifestation1 offers a breadth of content such as no other dramatic poet has hitherto ventured to include in one and the same composition4 ,the ,carl ,moor of ,schiller is something of the same fashion4 ,he rebels against the entire order of civic society and the collective condition of the world and the humanity of his time1 and fortifies himself as such against the same4 ,wallenstein in the same way conceives a great and far-reaching purpose1 the unity and peace of ,germany1 an object he fails to carry into effect by the means which1 in virtue of the fact that they are wielded together in an artificial manner1 and one that lacks essential coherence1 break in pieces and come to nought precisely in the direction where he is most anxious of their success2 and he fails in the same way by reason of his opposition to the imperial authority1 upon which he himself and his enterprise are inevitably shattered4 ,such objects of a world-wide policy1 such as a ,carl ,moor or a ,wallenstein pursue1 are as a rule not accomplished at the hands of a single individual by the simple means that other men are induced to obey and co-operate2 they are carried into effect by the commanding personality1 partly acting in conjunction with the wills of many others1 and in part in opposition to1 or at least on lines of which they have no knowledge4 ,as an illustration of a conception of objects viewed in their essential significance1 ,i will merely instance certain tragedies of ,calderon1 in which love1 honour1 and similar virtues are respectively to the rights and obligations in which they involve the characters of the action1 treated as so many unyielding laws of independent force with all the stringency of a code4 ,we find also frequently much the same thing assumed in ,schiller's tragic characters1 though the point of view is no doubt wholly different1 at least to the extent that such individuals conceive and combat for their ends with the assumption they are universal and absolutely valid human rights4 ,so in the early play of ,kabale und ,liebe ,major ,ferdinand seeks to defend the rights of ,nature against the conveniences of fashionable society1 and1 above all1 claims of the ,marquis ,posa freedom of thought as an inalienable possession of humanity4 ,generally speaking1 however1 in modern tragedy it is not the substantive content of its object in the interest of which men act1 and which is maintained as the stimulus of their passion2 rather it is the inner experience of their heart and individual emotion1 or the particular qualities of their personality1 which insist on satisfaction4 ,for even in the examples already referred to we find that to a real extent in those heroes of ,spanish honour and love the content of their ultimate ends is so essentially of a personal character that the rights and obligations deducible from the same are able to fuse in direct concurrence with the individual desires of the heart1 and to a large extent1 too1 in the youthful works of ,schiller this continual insistence upon ,nature1 rights of man1 and a converted world somewhat savours of the excess of a wholly personal enthusiasm4 ,and if it came about that ,schiller in later years endeavoured to enforce a more mature type of pathos1 this was simply due to the fact that it was his main idea to restore once again in modern dramatic art the principle of ancient tragedy4 ,in order to emphasize still more distinctly the difference which in this respect obtains between ancient and modern tragedy1 ,i will merely refer the reader to ,shakespeare's ,hamlet4 ,here we find fundamentally a collision similar to that which is introduced by schylus into his ,choeporae and that by ,sophocles into his ,electra4 ,for ,hamlet's father1 too1 and the ,king1 as in these ,greek plays1 has been murdered1 and his mother has wedded the murderer4 ,that which1 however1 in the conception of the ,greek dramatists possesses a certain ethical justification--,i mean the death of ,agamemnon--relatively to his sacrifice of ,iphigeneia in the contrasted case of ,shakespeare's play1 can only be viewed as an atrocious crime1 of which ,hamlet's mother is innocent2 so that the son is merely concerned in his vengeance to direct his attention to the fratricidal king1 and there is nothing in the latter's character that possesses any real claim to his respect4 ,the real collision1 therefore1 does not turn on the fact that the son1 in giving effect to a rightful sense of vengeance1 is himself forced to violate morality1 but rather on the particular personality1 the inner life of ,hamlet1 whose noble soul is not steeled to this kind of energetic activity1 but1 while full of contempt for the world and life1 what between making up his mind and attempting to carry into effect or preparing to carry into effect its resolves1 is bandied from pillar to post1 and finally through his own procrastination and the external course of events meets his own doom4 ,if we now turn1 in close connection with the above conclusions1 to our second point of fundamental importance in modern tragedy--that is to say1 the nature of the characters and their collisions--we may summarily take a point of departure from the following general observations4 ,the heroes of ancient classic tragedy discover circumstances under which they1 so long as they irrefragably adhere to the one ethical state of pathos which alone corresponds to their own already formed personality1 must infallibly come into conflict with an ethical ,power which opposes them and possesses an equal ethical claim to recognition4 ,romantic characters1 on the contrary1 are from the first placed within a wide expanse of contingent relations and conditions1 within which every sort of action is possible2 so that the conflict1 to which no doubt the external conditions presupposed supply the occasion1 essentially abides within the character itself1 to which the individuals concerned in their passion give effect1 not1 however1 in the interests of the ethical vindication of the truly substantive claims1 but for the simple reason that they are the kind of men they are4 ,greek heroes also no doubt act in accordance with their particular individuality2 but this individuality1 as before noted1 if we take for our examples the supreme results of ancient tragedy1 is itself necessarily identical with an ethical pathos which is substantive4 ,in modern tragedy the peculiar character in its real significance1 and to which it as a matter of accident remains constant1 whether it happens to grasp after that which on its own account is on moral grounds justifiable1 or is carried into wrong and crime1 forms its resolves under the dictate of personal wishes and necessities1 or among other things purely external considerations4 ,in such a case1 therefore1 though we may have a coalescence between the moral aspect of the object and the character1 yet1 for all that1 such a concurrence does not constitute1 and cannot constitute--owing to the divided character of ends1 passions1 and the life wholly personal to the individual1 the essential basis and objective condition of the depth and beauty of the tragic drama4 ,in view of the great variety of difference which further separates particular characters in this type of poetry1 it is impossible to do much in the way of generalization4 ,i will1 therefore1 restrict myself to a reference to the following fundamental points of view4 ,a primary opposition which at once invites notice is that of an abstract1 and consequently formal1 characterization in its contrast with the actual individuals whom we are accustomed to meet in the concrete living world4 ,as example of this type1 we may with exceptional pertinency cite the tragic characters of the ,french and ,italians1 which1 originating in the imitation of ancient drama1 to a greater or less degree merely amount to pure personifications of specific passions1 such as love1 honour1 fame1 ambition1 tyranny1 and so forth1 and which1 while they present the motives of their actions1 as also the gradation and quality of their emotions to the best advantage with a lavish display of declamation1 and all the arts of rhetoric1 none the less by doing so rather resemble the dramatic failures of ,seneca than the dramatic masterpieces of the ,greeks4 ,spanish tragedy also receives the stamp of this abstract style of character-drawing4 ,in this case1 however1 the pathos of love1 in its conflict with honour1 friendship1 royal prerogative1 and the rest is itself of so abstract a subjective character that in the case where the intention is to make this equally ideal#ee substantiality stand out as the genuine object of interest1 a more complete particularization of characters is hardly feasible4 ,the characters of ,spanish drama1 however1 often possess a certain kind of solidity1 and1 if ,i may use the expression1 inflexible personality1 however wanting in content it may be1 a feature that is absent from ,french work2 and at the same time ,spanish writers1 here also in contrast to the cold simplicity which the movement of ,french tragedies exhibits even in their tragic composition1 know how to make up with the cleverly invented abundance of interesting situations and developments the deficiency referred to in the matter of characterization4 ,in contrast to both these schools1 and in their mastery of the exposition of fully developed human characters and personality1 the ,english are exceptionally distinguished2 and among them1 and soaring above the rest at an almost unapproachable height1 stands ,shakespeare4 ,for even in the cases where a purely formal passion1 as for instance ambition in ,macbeth1 or jealousy in ,othello1 claims as its field the entire pathos#ef of his tragic hero1 such an abstraction impairs by no fraction the full breadth of the personality4 ,despite of this restriction of analysis#eg the characters remain throughout entire men4 ,in fact1 the more ,shakespeare on the infinite embrace of his world-stage1 proceeds to develop the extreme limits of evil and folly1 to that extent1 as ,i have already observed1 on these very boundaries--of course1 not without real wealth of poetic embellishment--he concentrates these characters in their limitations4 ,while doing so1 however1 he confers on them intelligence and imagination2 and1 by means of the image in which they1 by virtue of that intelligence1 contemplate themselves objectively as a work of art1 he makes them free artists of themselves1 and is fully able1 through the complete virility and truth of his characterization1 to awaken our interest in criminals1 no less than in the most vulgar and weak-witted lubbers and fools4 ,of a similar nature is the style of expression he makes his tragic characters adopt4 ,it is at once individual1 realistic1 emphatically vital1 extraordinarily various1 and1 moreover1 where it seems advisable1 it can rise to sublimity and is marked by an overwhelming force of utterance4 ,its ideal intensity and its qualities of invention are displayed in images and simile that flash from each other with lightning rapidity4 ,its very rhetoric1 here the barren child of no school1 but the growth of genuine emotion and penetration into human personality1 is such that1 if we take into account this extraordinary union of the directness of life itself and ideal greatness of soul1 we shall find it hard indeed to point to a single other dramatic poet among the moderns whom we are entitled to rank in his company4 ,no doubt ,goethe in his youth made a real effort to achieve some approach to a like natural truth and detailed characterization2 but in the ideal force and exaltation of passion his rivalry collapses4 ,the style of ,schiller1 again1 has shown an increasing tendency to violent methods1 the tempestuous expatiation of which lack the true core of reality for their basis4 ,modern characters also differ in the nature of their constancy or their spiritual vacillation and distraction4 ,we find1 no doubt1 the weakness of indecision1 the fluctuations of reflection1 the weighing of reasons1 conformably to which a resolve should be directed1 here and there in classic drama1 and more particularly in the tragedies of ,euripides4 ,but ,euripides is a writer whose tendency is already to forsake the wholly plastic completeness of characterization and action and to develop exceptional aspects of personal sensibility4 ,in modern tragedy we meet yet more frequently such vacillating characters1 more particularly on the ground that they are essentially under the sway of two opposed passions1 which make them fluctuate from one resolve or one kind of deed to another4 ,i have already made some observations on this attitude of vacillation in another context1 and will now merely supplement this by stating that1 although the tragic action must depend on colliding factors1 yet where we find such a division in one and the same individual such a concurrence is always attended with precarious consequences4 ,and the reason is that this disruption into interests1 which are opposed to each other1 is due in part to an obscurity and obtuseness of the intelligence1 and in some measure1 too1 to weakness and immaturity4 ,we come across characters of this type in the creations of ,goethe's younger days1 notably ,weisungen1 ,fernando in ,stella1 and above all ,clavigo4 ,they are1 as we may say1 double men1 who are unable to secure a ready1 and so stable1 individuality4 ,it is wholly another matter when two opposed spheres of life or moral obligation are equally sacred to a character which1 on its own account1 is not deficient in stability1 and such a person is under the necessity of ranking himself on one side to the exclusion of the other4 ,in a case of that kind1 the vacillation is merely a moment of passage1 and does not itself constitute1 as it were1 the nervous system of the character4 ,again1 of a somewhat similar kind1 is the tragic case where the spiritual life is seduced1 despite its nobler purpose1 into objects of passion which are contradictory#eh to the same1 as in the case of ,schiller's ,holy ,maid1 and are then forced to seek a recovery from this division of the soul in their own intimate or objective life1 or pay the penalty4 ,at the same time1 this personal tragedy of the distraction of soul-life1 when it is made the pivot on which the tragic action revolves1#ei contains1 as a rule1 what is merely pitiful and painful1 or1 from another standpoint1 exasperating2#fj and the poet will rather do better to avoid it than go out of his way to find it and develop it4 ,the worst case is that1 however1 where such a vacillation and veering round of character and the entire personality is--the very dialectic of art being thrown awry for this purpose--made the principle of the entire presentation1 as though the truth of all importance was to demonstrate that no character is in itself firmly rooted and self-assured4 ,the one-sided ends of specific passions1 it is true1 ought not to bring about a realization which is secured without a battle2 and also1 in everyday life1 they cannot fail to experience1 through the reactionary power of conditions and individuals which oppose them1 their finite character and lack of stability4 ,an issue of this kind1 however1 before the appearance of which we are unable to get the pertinent conclusion1 ought not to be introduced as a dialectical piece of wheel adjustment#fa in the personality itself2 if it is1 the person concerned1 viewed as this personal state of the soul1 is a wholly empty and undefined form1 whose collective living growth is found1 no less in respect to its objects than in its character1 to be wholly wanting in definition4 ,in much the same way the case1 also1 is otherwise1 where the change in the spiritual condition of the entire man itself appears as a direct consequent of just this1 its own kind of self-detachment1 so that only that is developed and emphasized which essentially and from the first lay secured in the character4 ,as an example1 we find in ,shakespeare's ,lear that the original folly of the old man is intensified to the point of madness much in the same way that ,gloster's spiritual blindness is converted into actual physical blindness1 in which for the first time his eyes are opened to the true distinction in the love he entertains for his two sons respectively4 ,it is precisely ,shakespeare who1 as a contrast to that exposition of vacillating and essentially self-divided characters1 supplies us with the finest examples of essentially stable and consequential characters1 who go to their doom precisely in virtue of this tenacious hold upon themselves and their ends4 ,unsupported by the sanction of the moral law1 but rather carried onward by the formal necessity of their personality1 they suffer themselves to be involved in their acts by the coil of external circumstances1 or they plunge blindly therein and maintain themselves there by sheer force of will1 even where all that they do is merely done because they are impelled to assert themselves against others1 or because they have simply come to the particular point they have reached4 ,the rise of insurgent passion1 one essentially consonant with a certain type of character1 one which has not as yet fully emerged1 but now secures its utmost expansion1 this onward movement and process of a great soul1 with all the intimate traits of its evolution1 this picture of its selfdestructive conflict with circumstances1 human and objective conditions and results1 is the main content of some of ,shakespeare's most interesting tragedies4 ,the last of the subjects which we have still to discuss as proposed is the nature of the tragic issue which characters in our present drama have to confront1 as also the type of tragic reconciliation compatible with such a standpoint4 ,in ancient tragedy it is the eternal justice which1 as the absolute might of destiny1 delivers and restores the harmony of substantive being in its ethical character by its opposition to the particular forces which1 in their strain to assert an independent subsistence1 come into collision1 and which1 in virtue of the rational ideality implied in its operations1 satisfies us even where we see the downfall of particular men4 ,in so far as a justice of the same kind is present in modern tragedy1 it is necessarily1 in part1 more abstract on account of the closer differentiation of ends and characters1 and1 in part1 of a colder nature and one that is more akin to that of a criminal court1 in virtue of the fact that the wrong and crime into which individuals are necessarily carried1 in so far as they are intent upon executing their designs1 are of a profounder significance4 ,macbeth1 for instance1 the elder daughters of ,lear and their husbands1 the president in ,kabale und ,liebe1 ,richard ,,iii1 and many similar examples1 on account of their atrocious conduct1 only deserve the fate they get4 ,this type of dnouement usually is presented under the guise that individuals are crushed by an actual force which they have defied in order to carry out their personal aims4 ,wallenstein1 for example1 is shattered on the adamantine wall of the imperial power2 but the old ,piccolomini1 who1 in order to maintain the lawful rgime1 betrays a friend and misuses the rights of friendship1 is punished through the death and sacrifice of his son4 ,gtz von ,berlichingen1 too1 attacks a dominant and securely founded political order1 and goes to ground1 as also ,weislingen and ,adelheid1 who range themselves1 no doubt1 on the side of this organized power1 but1 through wrongful deed and disloyalty1 prepare the way to disaster4 ,and along with this we have the demand emphasized1 in virtue of the personal point of view of such characters1 that these should of necessity appear themselves to acknowledge the justice of their fate4 ,such a state of acceptance may either be of a religious nature1 in which case the soul becomes conscious of a more exalted and indestructible condition of blessedness with which to confront the collapse of its mundane personality2 or it may be of a more formal1 albeit more worldly1 type1 in so far1 that is1 as the strength and equanimity of the character persists in its course up to the point of overthrow without breaking asunder2 and in this way1 despite all circumstances and mischances1 preserves with unimpaired energy its personal freedom4 ,or1 as a final alternative1 where the substance of such acceptance is of more real value1 by the recognition that the lot which the individual receives is the one1 however bitter it may be1 which his action merits4 ,from another point of view1 however1 we may see the tragic issue also merely in the light of the effect of unhappy circumstances and external accidents1 which might have brought about1 quite as readily1 a different result and a happy conclusion4 ,from such a point of view we have merely left us the conception that the modern idea of individuality1 with its searching definition of character1 circumstances1 and developments1 is handed over essentially to the contingency of the earthly state1 and must carry the fateful issues of such finitude4 ,pure commiseration of this sort is1 however1 destitute of meaning2 and it is nothing less than a frightful kind of external necessity in the particular case where we see the downfall of essentially noble natures in their conflict thus assumed with the mischance of purely external accidents4 ,such a course of events can insistently arrest our attention2 but in the result it can only be horrible1 and the demand is direct and irresistible that the external accidents ought to accord with that which is identical with the spiritual nature of such noble characters4 ,only as thus regarded can we feel ourselves reconciled with the grievous end of ,hamlet and ,juliet4 ,from a purely external point of view1 the death of ,hamlet appears as an accident occasioned by his duel with ,laertes and the interchange of the daggers4 ,but in the background of ,hamlet's soul1 death is already present from the first4 ,the sandbank of finite condition will not content his spirit4 ,as the focus of such mourning and weakness1 such melancholy1 such a loathing of all the conditions of life1 we feel from the first that1 hemmed within such an environment of horror1 he is a lost man1 whom the surfeit of the soul has wellnigh already done to death before death itself approaches him from without4 ,the same thing may be observed in the case of ,romeo and ,juliet4 ,the ground on which these tender blossoms have been planted is alien to their nature2 we have no alternative left us but to lament the pathetic transiency of such a beautiful love1 which1 as some tender rose in the vale of this world of accident1 is broken by rude storms and tempests1 and the frangible reckonings of noble and well-meaning devices4 ,this pitiful state of our emotions is1 however1 simply a feeling of reconciliation that is painful1 a kind of unhappy blessedness in misfortune4 77 ,much as poets present to us the bare downfall of particular people they are also able to treat the similar contingency of the development of events in such a way1 that1 despite of the fact the circumstances in all other respects would appear to give them little enough support1 a happy issue of such conditions and characters is secured1 in which they elicit our interest4 ,no doubt the favour of such a destiny of events has at least an equal claim upon us as the disfavour4 ,and so far as the question merely concerns the nature of this difference1 ,i must admit that ,i prefer a happy conclusion4 ,how could it be otherwise8 ,i can myself discover no better ground for the preference of misfortune1 simply on its own account as such1 to a happy resolution than that of a certain condition of fine sensibility1 which is devoted to pain and suffering1 and experiences more interest in their presence than in painless situations such as it meets with every day4 ,if therefore the interests are of such a nature1 that it is really not worth the trouble to sacrifice the men or women concerned on their altar1 it being possible for them either to surrender their objects1 without making such surrender as is equivalent to a surrender of their individuality1 or to mutually come to an agreement in respect thereof1 there is no reason why the conclusion should be tragic4 ,the tragic aspect of the conflicts and their resolution ought in principle merely to be enforced in the cases where it is actually necessary in order to satisfy the claim of a superior point of view4 ,if this necessity is absent there is no sufficient ground for mere suffering and unhappiness4 ,and it is simply due to this fact that social plays and dramas originate which form1 as it were1 an intermediate link between tragedies and comedies4 ,i have already in a previous passage explained the poetical standpoint of this class of composition4 ,among us ,germans we find it to some extent appropriating what readily moves us in the world of the citizen and family life2 in another direction it is preoccupied with chivalry1 a movement to which the ,gtz of ,goethe has given a decided stimulus2 mainly1 however1 we may call it the triumph of ordinary morality1 which in the large majority of cases is the main thing celebrated4 ,the subject-matter of such plays most in vogue are questions of finance or property1 differences of status1 unfortunate love affairs1 examples of spiritual baseness in the more restricted conditions and affairs of life and so on4 ,in one word1 what we have here is that which otherwise is already before our eyes1 only with this difference1 that in such moral dramas1 virtue and duty obtain the victory1 and crime is shamed and punished1 or betakes itself to repentance1 so that in a moral conclusion of this kind the reconciliation ought to centre in this1 namely1 that whatever happens good is the result4 ,thereby the fundamental interest is concentrated in the personal or spiritual quality of views held and a good or evil heart4 ,the more1 however1 the abstractly moral state of mind or heart supplies the pivot on which all turns1 so much the less can it be the pathos of a particular matter1 or an intrinsically essential object1 to which the personality in question is attached4 ,and add to this1 from a further point of view1 so much the less ultimately is the definite character able to maintain itself and persist in such self-assertion4 ,if all is to be finally focussed in the purely moral aspects of the psychological state1 or the condition of the heart1 from a subjective point of view such as this1 with its dominating emphasis on ethical reflection1 no standing ground remains for any other definite characteristics1 or at least specific ends to be proposed4 ,let the heart break and change its views4 ,such seems to be the idea4 ,pathetic dramas of this type1 notably ,kotzebue's ,menschenhass und ,reue1 and also too many moral offences in the dramas of ,iffland1 strictly speaking1 have therefore an issue which we can neither call good or bad4 ,i mean by this that the main thing is as a rule the question of pardon and the promise of moral improvement1 and we are therefore confronted with that possibility of spiritual conversion and surrender of the self4 ,no doubt in this fact we discover the exalted nature and greatness of ,spirit4 ,when1 however1 the jolly dog1#fb as the heroes of ,kotzebue are for the most part1 and not unfrequently ,iffland's too1 after being a scamp and a rascal1 suddenly promises to turn over a new leaf1 it is frankly impossible with a good-for-nothing chap of this sort that his conversion can be otherwise than mere pretence1 or of so superficial a character that it merely affects his skin1 and merely supplies a momentary conclusion to the course of events that has no substantial basis1 but rather1 by all ordinary reckoning1 will take the knave to disreputable quarters1 if we will only acquaint ourselves with his subsequent history4 77 ,as regards our modern comedy ,i must draw particular attention to one point of difference1 to which ,i have already alluded when discussing the old ,attic comedy4 ,the point is this--whether the folly and restricted outlook of the characters of the drama merely appears ridiculous to others1 or is equally perceived as such by those persons themselves2 whether in short the comic characters are an object of laughter only to the audience1 or also to such characters4 ,aristophanes1 that creator of genuine comedy1 exclusively accepted as the main principle of his plays the latter alternative4 ,already1 however1 in ,greek comedy of a later date1 and subsequently in the hands of ,plautus and ,terence1 the opposite principle came into vogue2 and in our modern examples of comedy it has been carried to such a length that we find a large number of comic compositions the inclination of which is more or less the subject-matter which is ridiculous in a purely prosaic sense1 or rather we might say matters that leave a sour taste in the mouth of and are repugnant to the comic characters4 ,this is the standpoint of ,molire in particular in his best comedies1 which have no right to be regarded as farces4 ,the prosaic quality here is justified on the ground that the objects aimed at by such characters are a matter of bitter earnest4 ,they are deadly serious in the pursuit of it2 they are therefore quite unable to join with satisfaction in the laughter1 when they are finally deceived1 or themselves are responsible for its failure4 ,they are in short merely the disillusioned objects of a laughter foreign to themselves and generally damaging to themselves4 ,as an example3 ,molire's ,tartuffe le faux dvot1 viewed as the unmasking of a really damned rascal has nothing funny in it1 but is a very earnest business1 and the deception of the deluded ,orgon amounts to a sheer intensity of misfortune1 which can only be resolved by the ,deus ex machina1 in reference to whom the official of the court of justice utters the following exhortation3 ,remettez-vous1 monsieur1 d'une alarme si chaude4 ,nous vivons sous un prince1 ennemi de la fraude1 ,un prince dont les yeux se font jour dans les coeurs1 ,et que ne peut tromper tout l'art des imposteurs4 ,we may add1 too1 that the odious abstract#fc excess of characters so stable as1 for example1 ,molire's ,miser1 the absolutely stolid and serious subjection of whom to his idiotic passion renders any emancipation from such fetters impossible1 contains in it nothing that is genuinely comic4 ,it is pre-eminently in this field that for compensation of such defects a fine artistic power in the accurate and exhaustive delineation of character is manifested1 or a true mastery of the craft discovers its best opportunity for an admirably thought-out intrigue4 ,as a rule the occasion for such an intrigue is supplied by the circumstance that some character or other endeavours to secure his objects by deluding some one else1 such a course appearing to harmonize with these interests and advance them4 ,as a matter of fact1 however1 it only results in the contradictory situation that it is through this pernicious demand they are self-destructive4 ,in opposition to such a plot we find as a rule a similar plot of dissembled appearances put in motion1 which has for its object the like confusion of the original plotter4 ,such a general scheme admits of an infinite number and degree of ups and downs in the interweaving of its situations which are adapted to every conceivable subtlety4 ,the ,spaniards are1 in particular1 the most consummate masters in the invention of such intrigues and developments1 and have composed much that is delightful and excellent in this class of work4 ,the subject-matter generally consists of the attractive incidents of love or affairs of honour and the like4 ,in tragedy these bring about the profoundest collisions2 in comedy1 however1 where such qualities as pride and love that has been long experienced do not assert themselves as such1 but rather by doing the reverse and in the result give the lie to themselves1 such interests can merely appear to us as entirely superficial and comic4#fd ,a word in conclusion as to the characters who hatch and carry out such intrigues4 ,such are usually1 following the example of the slaves in the ,roman comedy1 servants or menials1 who have no respect for the objects of their superiors1 but rather make them subordinate to their own advantage or bring them to nought1 and merely present us with the amusing position1 that the real masters are the servants and the masters the slaves1 or at least give rise to all kinds of comic situation1 which come about accidentally1 or are directly the result of intention4 ,we of course1 as audience1 are in the know of such mysteries1 and can fortify ourselves against every sort of cunning and deceit1 which often carries the most serious consequences to fathers1 uncles1 aunts1 and the rest1 all of the most respectable antecedents2 and we may laugh as we please over the contradictory situations that appear before us1 or are involved in such ingenious deceptions4 ,in this kind of way our modern comedy1 generally speaking1 gives play on the stage to private interests and personalities of the social life ,i have mentioned in their accidental vagaries1 laughable features1 abnormal habits and follies1 partly by means of character delineation1 and partly with the help of comic developments of situations and circumstances4 ,a joviality so frank and genial as that which persists in the ,aristophanic comedy as the mediating element of its resolution1 does not animate this kind of comedy2 or rather cases occur where it can be actually repulsive1 that is to say1 where that which is essentially evil1 the tricks of menials1 the treachery of sons and wards towards worthy men1 fathers and guardians is triumphant1 always assuming that the persons deluded have in no way themselves been influenced by false prejudices or eccentricities of such a kind that there is some reason why they should be made to appear ridiculous in their helpless stupidity and handed over as the sport of the aims of others4 ,in a converse way1 however1 and in contrast as such to the above generally prosaic type of treatment1 the modern world1 too1 has elaborated a world of comedy which is both truly comic and poetical in its nature4 ,the fundamental note here again is the cheeriness of disposition1 the inexhaustible resources of fun1 no matter what may be the nature of miscarriage or bad luck1 the exuberance and dash of what is at bottom nothing better than pure tomfoolery1 and1 in a word1 exploited self-assurance4 ,we have here as a result1 in yet profounder expatiation1 and yet more intense display of humour1 whether the sphere of it be more restricted or capacious1 and whether the mode of it be more or less important1 what runs on parallel lines with that which ,aristophanes in the ancient world and in his own field created beyond all rivalry4 ,as the master1 who in a similar way outshines all others in his field1 or rather the particular portion to which ,i now refer1 ,i will1 though without now further entering into detail1 once again emphasize the name of ,william ,shakespeare4 99 ,having completed our review of the types under which comedy is elaborated we have at last reached the absolute conclusion of our scientific inquiry4 ,we started with symbolical art1 in which the ideality of the human soul struggles to discover itself as content and configuration1 and1 in a word1 to become an object to itself4 ,we passed on to the plastic of classical art1 which displays to human vision that which has become unveiled to itself as substantive being in man's vital personality4 ,we reached our conclusion in the romantic art of the individual soul-life1 that inward world united to the absolute medium of its self-conscious energy1 which expatiates unfettered within its own ideal life of ,spirit2 and which1 content with that realm1 no longer unites itself with what is objective and particularized1 and finally makes itself aware of the negative significance of such a resolution in the humour of the comic ,spirit4 ,nevertheless we find that in this very consummation it is ,comedy which opens the way to a dissolution of all that human art implies4 ,for the aim of all art is nothing else than that identity asserted and displayed by the human ,spirit1 in which the eternal1 the ,divine1 the essential and explicated truth is unfolded in the forms and phenomenal presence of the objective world to the apprehension of our external senses and our emotional life and imagination4 ,if1 however1 as is the fact1 comedy merely enforces this unity under a mode that annihilates it1 inasmuch as the absolute substance1#fe which strives here to enforce its realized manifestation1 perceives that this realization is1--through the instrumentality of those interests which have now secured an independent freedom within the embrace of the objective world of ,nature1#ff and are as such exclusively directed to what is contingent and personal to the soul1--itself shattered1 it follows that the presence and activity of the ,absolute is no longer truly asserted in positive coalescence with the individual characters and ends of existing objective reality1 but rather solely gives effect to itself in the negative form that everything which does not correspond with itself is thereby cancelled1 and all that remains is the presence of this free personal activity of soul-life which is displayed in and along with this dissolution as aware of itself and self-assured4 ,by such a path1 then1 as this we have arrived at our goal2 and with the aid of our philosophical method have gathered every essential type and determinant of the beauty and conformation of art into a garland1 the task of arranging which in its associate completeness belongs to the most worthy of any within the range of human science to undertake4 ,for in human ,art we are not merely dealing with playthings1 however pleasant or useful they may be1 but with the liberation of the human ,spirit from the substance and forms of finite condition4 ,we are occupied with the presence and reconciliation of the ,absolute in sense and the phenomenal1 with a revelation of truth1 which is not exhausted of its wealth in natural-history1 but is unfolded in the history of the world1 as a constituent part of which ,art supplies us with the most beautiful point of view1 the most generous reward for the severe labours of our contact with objective reality and the grievous pains of knowledge4 ,and for this reason it was impossible that our inquiry should wholly restrict itself to the criticism of individual works of art1 or any mere recipe or inducement to their production4 ,rather it could have but the one object1 namely1 that of following up1 of seizing and retaining in and through the instrumentality of thought the fundamental notion of beauty and art through all the stages which it passes in its process of realization4 ,if ,i may be permitted to assume that from the above explained point of view my exposition has not been wholly inadequate to general expectation1 and that the bonds of obligation with which ,i have throughout been united to my reader in the pursuit of an object which we hold in common are now released1 ,i will merely add the wish1 it is my last word1 that a bond yet more exalted and indestructible with the idea of beauty and truth may rivet itself between us in place of that released1 and establish an union which shall now and for good remain secure4 ,footnote #a3 ,diess treibende ,pathos4 ,pathos is here used to signify the emotional state4 ,this motive force would give the sense4 ,footnote #b3 ,als konkretes ,daseyn zur ,existence gebracht4 ,footnote #c3 ,in der usseren ,objektivitt4 ,footnote #d3 ,the reference is of course to lyric composition4 ,by reale ,individualisirung ,hegel seems to refer to the apprehension by the lyric poet of the individual subjective experience in its independent reality4 ,footnote #e3 ,what ,hegel means apparently by this statement is that the results of the action are in the view of the persons concerned primarily referred to their own act of volition and sense of responsibility1 and as such they modify their future intention or conduct4 ,footnote #f3 ,poet4 c4 #e4 ,footnote #g3 ,einem colliderenden ,handeln4 ,footnote #h3 ,as lyric poetry is4 ,footnote #i3 ,poet41 c4 #g4 ,footnote #aj3 ,the fact should be noted1 however1 that in the illustration each division is a complete whole in itself4 ,footnote #aa3 ,hegel apparently means this by his reference to die beiden ersten ,elemente1 but the passage is not very clear4 ,footnote #ab3 ,gehalt4 ,that is1 an imaginative personality1 which seizes the type and our general humanity4 ,footnote #ac3 ,in this obscure passage ,i have rather sought to emphasize what appears to me the general sense than adhere to literal accuracy4 ,what is contrasted is clearly the naturalism of such a diction as ,schiller's ,robbers and the ,french classic diction4 ,footnote #ad3 ,der ,allgemeinheit4 ,we should say of a more ideal or creative atmosphere4 ,the creative poet imports his own universality into the final result both of diction and imaginative conception4 ,hegel adheres to the philosophical term1 which1 apart from explanation1 is certainly very bald1 and even1 as it stands1 unintelligible4 ,footnote #ae3 ,it is not very clear to what ,hegel here refers unless to the fact that female parts were played by youths4 ,footnote #af3 ,we should say rather stunned as by a blow1 zerschmettert1 rather than zerschnitten4 ,footnote #ag3 ,eines grossen ,gemths4 ,it is not clear how far the reference is to the poet or the characters4 ,it applies to both4 ,footnote #ah3 ,poet41 c4 #d4 ,footnote #ai3 ,vol4 ,i1 pp4 #cee-cgi4 ,footnote #bj3 ,poet41 c4 #f4 ,footnote #ba3 ,apart from the practical impossibility of enforcing such a condition in modern times1 ,hegel appears here rather to overlook the fact that the printing of a work is of great convenience1 and may even involve less expense where its repetition in several theatres is possible1 and1 after all1 important drama is literature4 ,where the art is bad it is no more possible to prevent its appearance1 if the artist is able to afford the expense of publication1 than in any other art4 ,in the one case as in the other public taste and the law of supply and demand are here the sole and ultimate tests4 ,sophocles may have written his dramas1 no doubt1 with a particular stage in view1 but we are not therefore entitled to conclude that either he or ,aristophanes would have refused assent to the publication of any or all of their works had there been a publisher willing to accept responsibility4 ,most certainly we may suppose that ,shakespeare would not have done so1 at least after due representation and revision4 ,i have1 however1 met with students of ,shakespeare who maintain that no complete autograph manuscript of any single drama of this poet ever existed4 ,footnote #bb3 ,i think it is obvious that if we take the case of the finest musical reproduction by individual artists of the first rank this distinction is not so emphatic as ,hegel would make it out to be4 ,a really great musical performance is something much more than a reproduction of musical sound4 ,the effect of personality plays here a part of real and essential importance4 ,footnote #bc3 ,rollenfcher4 ,hegel may possibly mean the professional adjustment of harmonious castes4 ,footnote #bd3 ,see vol4 ,,iii1 pp4 #dbg-dcj4 ,footnote #be3 ,unmittelbaren ,individualitt4 ,hegel means the individuality that is abstract1 not soldered into the substance of concrete human life4 ,footnote #bf3 ,das ,gttliche4 ,footnote #bg3 ,in ,gegentheil seiner4 ,hegel means1 apparently1 that the principle asserts itself positively rather than as the mere negation of the finite1 as in exclusive asceticism4 ,footnote #bh3 ,das ,sittliche1 i4e41 concrete ethical condition4 ,footnote #bi3 ,hegel appears to understand by pathos here little more than a psychological state4 ,footnote #cj3 ,element1 i4e41 apparently1 this primitive impulse of realization4 ,footnote #ca3 ,hegel's language1 wenn sie itzt aber wirklich1 seems to go as far as my translation4 ,the difficulty of the entire passage1 and it is no doubt considerable1 is primarily due to the fact that ,hegel is here importing into the notion of classic divinities the profounder significance of what he calls sittlichen ,mchte4 ,by doing this he can more readily shelve the problem how we are to regard the nature of their existence as potential forces of the ,divine ,being2 that is1 apart from their operative energy in human life1 as also the modus operandi of such ,divine energy in its original participation with a real world4 ,he avoids1 no doubt1 one of the most disputed aspects of his philosophy4 ,but if it is urged in criticism that at least in part his present exposition tends rather to vagueness1 or at least to accept a certain measure of symbolism rather than remain severely on the ground of genuine philosophical method and thought1 to associate itself rather with ,plato than ,aristotle1 in the present context1 at any rate1 ,i am inclined to agree with it4 ,footnote #cb3 ,der ,gewalt des ,anundfrsichseyenden4 ,lit41 of that which is or becomes explicit on its own account1 i4e41 essentially4 ,hegel refers1 of course1 to the ethical forces in the process of life4 ,footnote #cc3 ,hegel here uses the word einig rather in its secondary sense than in its primary one of unique4 ,footnote #cd3 ,als das zu ,erhaltende1 viz41 the consistency of concrete life4 ,footnote #ce3 ,by ihrer unendlichen ,sicherheit ,hegel refers to the stability of the principle of self-conscious1 and self-assured character1 which in its weakness may be merely equivalent to cocksuredness4 ,footnote #cf3 ,wohlgemuthkeit und ,zuversicht4 ,footnote #cg3 ,hegel seems to have in his mind characters in comedy of which ,falstaff may be taken as a supreme example1 and ,shakespeare above all the creator of many such4 ,roy ,richmond and ,sancho ,panza are of the same type4 ,footnote #ch3 ,der in der ,menschenbrust waltenden ,gtter4 ,footnote #ci3 ,in no religious or even strictly ethical sense of course4 ,footnote #dj3 ,i am not quite sure what ,hegel means by his use here of the word ,vershnung1 lit41 reconciliation4 ,i presume he means a power of harmonious recovery1 whether in a good sense is not quite clear4 ,footnote #da3 ,formal as contrasted with really ethical content4 ,footnote #db3 ,die ,substanz4 ,i presume this is the meaning1 i4e41 the substantive ideality of the ethical forces inherent in man4 ,the entire passage is sufficiently difficult to translate1 or indeed wholly to follow1 or at least apart from its subsequent application to the chorus of ,tragedy4 ,footnote #dc3 ,allgemeine4 ,formal in the sense that such a state is not concretely realized in action1 but restricts itself to the ideal homogeneity of its form4 ,footnote #dd3 ,it is perhaps best to repeat ,hegel's own phrase4 ,footnote #de3 ,die sittliche ,berechtigung zu einer bestimmten ,that4 ,the context shows that ,hegel does not merely mean the justification in the individual conscience1 which is demanded by and perfected in such activity1 but the actual ethical claim which is vindicated in such action4 ,footnote #df3 ,that is1 the content of the dramatic action in ,greek drama4 ,footnote #dg3 ,by ,rechtfertigung ,hegel here seems to mean not so much the vindicated right as the degree of responsibility which a certain attitude of mind involves4 ,it is the nature of the subjection to the vindicated right1 or its absence4 ,footnote #dh3 ,by die subjektive ,vertiefung der ,persnlichkeit ,hegel would seem to mean the psychological analysis of character on its own account4 ,footnote #di3 ,blosser ,ausgleichung4 ,the metaphor seems to be that of a final settlement of accounts1 a general settlement would be perhaps a better translation4 ,footnote #ej3 ,hegel's statement is hardly supported by the facts as they are narrated in the dipus ,rex4 ,it is the force of facts rather than a power of prevision1 which arouse the knowledge of the terrible truth4 ,but ,hegel is here evidently most absorbed in the ideal and universal significance of the drama4 ,footnote #ea3 ,that is1 of course1 in death4 ,sophocles himself of course only very indefinitely1 through the evidence of an eye-witness1 refers to such a possible apotheosis4 ,footnote #eb3 ,the statement of the general contrast is no doubt true enough4 ,it may be doubted1 however1 whether ,hegel's own interpretation of the reconciliation of dipus as one consummated in death can be wholly brought under the ancient conception4 ,it would seem truer to admit that in the spirit at least of the dipus ,coloneus we have1 at least in so far as that reconciliation is objective1 and not merely a reconciling influence on our minds1 the spectators1 as in the case of the deaths of ,king ,lear or ,cornelia1 in the sense that death makes all things sweet1 a mysterious approach to problems which ,christianity first attempted seriously to solve1 and which are usually regarded as insoluble without the assumption of a future state1 or at least a divine absorption4 ,even admitting that dipus in his death became a real constituent of the harmonious unity of the civic life that received him1 we cannot with truth say that such a reconciliation was one in which he shared personally1 and whereof he was conscious1 except in so far as he was aware of this by prevision2 and to that extent the reconciliation was not in his death1 but rather1 as in the ,christian view1 a condition of the soul1 a conviction that by his death he would live again1--almost identical in fact with some modern interpretations of immortality4 ,footnote #ec3 ,hegel means the conflict between the universal social interest and the private interest1 between the concrete social life and the wholly private life4 ,footnote #ed3 ,i think this gives the nearest approach ,i can make to the self-coined word ,grundwohlseyns1 lit41 the at bottom well being4 ,footnote #ee3 ,subjektiven ,substantialitt4 ,ideal1 that is1 as opposed to a substantive content based on the facts of living people4 ,impersonations of qualities imagined rather than portraits of living men1 ideal therefore in a theoretic and bad sense4 ,footnote #ef3 ,as previously stated ,i adopt ,hegel's expression1 being unable to express it otherwise better4 ,the whole emotional condition is more or less the meaning1 but it is rooted in ,greek literature4 ,footnote #eg3 ,in dieser ,bestimmtheit1 lit41 in this particular definition of their content4 ,footnote #eh3 ,hegel may mean that the passions are opposed to each other4 ,the nett result is the same4 ,footnote #ei3 ,lit41 ,is made the tragic lever4 ,footnote #fj3 ,the epithet might mean also suggestive of personal irritation1 but the other epithets rather negative this rendering4 ,footnote #fa3 ,rderwerk4 ,the whole of this passage1 in its theoretical analysis1 is extremely difficult not merely to translate1 but to follow clearly4 ,footnote #fb3 ,i presume this is the meaning of ,pursche or ,bursche1 and not merely youngster4 ,footnote #fc3 ,abstract in the sense that the vices are detached in their extreme from concrete human nature4 ,footnote #fd3 ,i have made the best ,i can of a very badly expressed sentence1 and1 as ,i should add1 a very meagre description of the aim of modern comic drama4 ,i am1 however1 not quite satisfied that it is an adequate translation1 or that ,i have grasped what ,hegel means by the words nicht gestehen zu wollen4 ,it would apply very aptly to such a character as ,sir ,willoughby ,patterne1 but the pertinency of such an epithet as lang empfunden ,i fail to see4 ,i doubt myself if we have here anything more than a chance note of ,hegel tacked in by editors4 ,the whole of the present paragraph is a very jejune description of the treatment of the love passion or affairs of honour by modern drama4 ,a pity we cannot supplement it with the substance of ,meredith's ,essay on ,comedy4 ,the passage1 however1 must be read as qualified by the further note lower down on the exuberance of one aspect of modern comedy4 ,but the reference to ,comedy in the modern sense is a mere fragment4 ,footnote #fe3 ,that is1 self-conscious life4 ,the ,absolute here seems to be identified with man's self-conscious activity4 ,footnote #ff3 ,i think this is what ,hegel must mean here by im ,elemente der ,wirklichkeit1 in the element1 that is1 of material reality4