These conditions which we have considered conceivable, we shall find to be true in fact; and for this reason poetic methods of communicating thought, considered as a whole, must be judged, precisely as was said in another place of poetic sounds, by the degree in which they represent the thought or feeling to which they give expression. Now what, in the last analysis must determine the method of the communication ?-what but the method in which the thought itself is conceived in the mind of the writer? If he think in pictures, his words, whether or not picturesque or figurative in themselves, will describe pictures. Otherwise they will not. Moreover, if we reflect a moment, we shall recognize that there are many times when he can think in pictures, even when he is not thinking of pictures; as, for instance, when he is impressing a truth upon the mind through using a story, a parable, or an illustration, as we call it. In this case, his method, if it accurately convey to us that which is passing before his. own mind, must be representative, and not merely presentative.

Accordingly we find, when we get to the bottom of our subject, that the figurative or the representative element in poetry may exist in the conception as well as in the phraseology. If it exist in only the conception, we have representation in plain language, or direct representation; if in the phraseology, by which is meant now the words or expressions illustrating the main thought, we have representation in figurative language, or illustrative representation, which, in turn, as will be shown presently, it is possible, but not practicable, to divide again into the expressional and the descriptive. If, in any of these ways, all the significance expressed in a passage be represented, the form of the representation will in this work

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be termed pure; if a part of the significance be merely presented, the representation will be termed alloyed; and in the degree in which this is the case, it will be shown by and by that the whole is prosaic.

Pure representation is pictorial in character, as we should expect from the pictorial tendency of which we have found it to be an outgrowth, and its methods are not wholly unlike those of painting. When composing in accordance with them, the poet indicates his thought by using words referring to things that can be perceived; and in this way he causes the imaginations of those whom he addresses to perceive pictures. Alloyed representation, while following in the main the methods of that which is pure, always contains more or less of something which cannot be supposed to have been perceived, at least not in connection with circumstances like those that are being detailed. For this reason, that which is added to the representation is like alloy, interfering with the pureness and clearness of the pictures presented to the imaginations of those addressed. It appeals to them not according to the methods of poetry, but of science or philosophy, or of any kind of thought addressed merely to the logical understanding.

The distinction between pure and alloyed representation lies at the basis of all right appreciation of poetic effects. Yet a man is more fortunate than most of his fellows, if among all his literary friends he finds one who really understands the difference between the two. Because, therefore, of the general ignorance with reference to this distinction, as also of its intrinsic subtlety, both forms of representation will now be explained and illustrated in full.

CHAPTER XX.

PURE DIRECT REPRESENTATION.

In what sense, and how far, Thought and Feeling can be Communicated Representitively-Pure Representation, as used by Tennyson-Hunt, etc.—Pure Direct Representation, as used by Homer, Milton, Shakespear, Morris, Heine, Tennyson, Arnold, Burns, Gilbert, etc.-Extensive Use of this Method in all Forms of Poetry.

IT

has been maintained all along in this work that the forms of art represent partly that which is passing in the mind of the artist at the time of composition, and partly that which he has perceived in nature. The art products -to state in a single expression all that they can dosymbolize the thoughts and feelings of the artist through an arrangement of the phenomena of nature which represents them. If we are to approach the subject before us in a logical way, therefore, it seems appropriate that we should first determine in what sense and to what extent thoughts and feelings can be expressed at all in any definite way according to the methods of representation. Afterwards we can go on and ask how a man desirous of representing his own thoughts and feelings would use the phenomena of nature in order to do this.

In considering the first of these questions, attention will be directed only to examples of pure representation. This will enable the reader to notice not only in what sense and how far thoughts and feelings can be represented as a possibility; but also, in connection with this,

how they actually are represented when poetry is at its best. Under these circumstances, as has been said, the poetry contains nothing except representation; and for this reason, if for no other, it is very properly termed pure. Its composer, when producing it, confines himself to his legitimate work. Poetry, as we have found, is an art; and art does not consist of thoughts, explanations, or arguments concerning things, but of images or pictures representing them; and there can be no legitimate image or picture, except of what may be supposed to be perceived. If, for instance, certain persons are doing certain things, one will probably draw some inferences from their actions with reference to their motives, and he will have a right to tell his inferences—in prose; but not, as a rule, in poetry. In this, he must picture what he has observed, and leave others, as free as he himself has been, to infer what they choose. At the same time, in the degree in which he is an artist, his picture will be of such a character as to impel others to draw from it the same inference that he himself has drawn. To illustrate how a genuine artist can make his product influence others thus, let me quote Tennyson's description of what followed the reading, by the poet Hall, of his epic on the "Death of Arthur." The reader will remember, perhaps, that when Hall began to read, he described the poem as being "nothing worth." The mention of this fact will explain the use of the phrase "There, now,-that 's nothing," in the quotation.

Here ended Hall, and our last light, that long

Had winked and threatened darkness, flared and fell;

At which the Parson, sent to sleep with sound,
And waked with silence, grunted "Good!" but we
Sat rapt; it was the tone with which he read-
Perhaps some modern touches here and there

Redeemed it from the charge of nothingness,—
Or else we loved the man, and prized his work ;
I know not; but we sitting, as I said,

The cock crew loud: as at that time of year

The lusty bird takes every hour for dawn:
Then Francis, muttering, like a man ill-used,
"There, now, that 's nothing!" drew a little back,
And drove his heel into the smouldered log,
That sent a blast of sparkles up the flue;
And so to bed.

-Mort d'Arthur: Tennyson.

Is not this simple tale of what was done, much more expressive than would have been a long prosy description of what was felt? This example shows, therefore, that poetry may be strictly representative of external sights and sounds, may confine itself to that which reproduces for the imagination a picture; and yet may be equally and in the highest sense representative also of those ideas and feelings which exist only in the mind.

Nor must it be supposed that this kind of representation is unfitted for clear and forcible communication of thought. Notice in the following how effectively Leigh Hunt represents his moral:

Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase !)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold:

Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,

And to the presence in the room he said:

"What writest thou?"—the vision raised its head,

And, with a look made of all sweet accord,

Answered: "The names of those who love the Lord."

"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"

Replied the angel. Abou spake more low,

But cheerly still, and said: "I pray thee, then,

Write me as one that loves his fellow-men."