THE POET AND HIS POETRY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1473, 22 June 1912, Page 3

THE POET AND HIS POETRY.

In one of the "paradises" of tlio unseen world to which 3lr. Benson a latest book introduces us wo join the audience ot a lecturer wiio discusses poetry in a way than which nothing could be more 'acute, delicate, and discriminating," and yet nothing "more entirely valueless and pedantic." "He was tracing the development of a certain kind of dramatic, lync. and what surprised wo was that he supplied the subtle intellectual connections, the missing links, so to speak, of which there is no eftrtlily record. And yet to mo tt was all incredibly sterile and arid. 1 o what type of poetic criticism Jir. Benson is pointing ire need not too curiously inquire, but the lecturer may be taken as a symbol of those scores of writers who, although tho subject matter with which they deal is poetry, are interested in it because of something else than that vital element in virtue of which it is poetry. Such are the theorisers. They philosophise upon poetry. They start perhaps upon the wild gooso chase of a. definition and weave long chains of ingenious abstract reasoning 011 the subject. Now there is room in tho many mansions of the house of literature for such workers, bat n mere lover of poetry may be excused from reading them, becauso, when all is said and done, what they are at heart interested in is not poetry but their own theories about poetry. Other searchers out of the great poems of tho world seek for material to construct a picture of tho times in which they wero written, or they make elaborate inquiries into tlio quellen of . the poem, or they mako their text the subject of philologi cal dissertations. -All this may be interesting or even useful, but it may bo done by men who havo 110 perception of poetry. , No better are, tlicy who value the poet for his "message." Tliev disengage from tho poem the body of thought of which it is the vehicle, expound and criticise it, and, J tis odds, judge tho poet as great or the reverse ac'cording as his teaching docs or does not tallv with their own convictions. Nearer the mark are tliev who seel; the. poet in the poetry. Ono of the charms of much of the literature of the world is 'that it brings us into contact with thivgre-at spirits who produced it. Even in }he case of dramatic poetry tho per•l

sonal reference counts, iiiftough i:ii i-biit-ease it is not tho (]i:iiiiU)'lisl;. ivc co.iii'vj ill contact with, but liis chaiiueifiiis. Tims, of Macdulf's "lie has i.i!( ; ybiUlroli" Cli'ilii'umitli says that the Jttuf wbWis art) (i*?. most expressive perhaps. thai ever were utti're;!." This, obviously, .is dun t» the inherent of tho ironis— the very words occur a'ii'd. -a.rd imic.U less forcible in Miss Peabody's- plaly "Tjio I'ipcr,"—but to their relation to Irii.ii who uttered tliern anil the. .ei'rc'i.imsfii'uces of their utterance. The personal element Counts'. tliorr.T ami few can bo so ii.idiil'ev.e.nt lo it as Mr. Sailltsbury says lie i.-._ Xeve) ibcless tlicro is a vast body pf wiiat IS- best, ill poetry which- eomineiyds ftself irresistibly to 111!) perceptions as sUrli oii-. its inherent merit and without reference -to tilt? person belli ml it at ail. Spelt is CiiftUCers My looltynff is Hie fiider qf .pestilence, or Shakespeare's

| Light thickens,, and the crow. Hakes wins to tiro i:ookj w.opc'i, or Crashaw's dcscriptioir of -tho Star of Bethlehem, no saw heaven blossorii a. peiy-lxira light, . , On which, as on a glorias'stranger, .crtKOci Tlio golden eyes of Kigl.it.:. iv noise- .bdaii.i made bright . ... The way to Jielhlelwm, and as boldly blazed (Xor asked leavo of tiie sun) by .day as night. "It is almost always -tt.% says Sir Alfred Lyall,- ■'\vhose; iliaivida atity, so to .speak, is. legist .discerprt.bie. iii. liis work, and who'y like, some divinity, is at his best when liis miiUi -ancl m;'od(ls, liis lofty purpose ar.d his £iititu(l<> iOwards tho problems.-flf.-lifoj -JJiS r^ ,e 'V\ only through the riiediimi- w-aich- li£ has chosen for revealing them to mankind. "Manchester Guardian"