Having thus considered in due order the three laws of poetry, let us look to the result. In the First Book was examined the nature of Pleasure: in the present Book has been examined the nature of Poetic Pleasure. Poetic pleasure has been shown to differ from other pleasure by being imaginative, so that Poetry may shortly be defined to be Imaginative Pleasure; and if for the latter of these two words we substitute a definition, Poetry will then more fully be defined, The imaginative, harmonious, and unconscious activity of the soul. Although perhaps enough has now been brought forward to warrant this definition, I may be allowed in conclusion to cover it with a passage from a poet than whom, whatever may have been his practice, it may safely be said that, in the present century, no English poet, unless it be Coleridge, has evinced a deeper insight into the nature, into the ends, and into the requirements of poesy; and Coleridge excelled him not so much in the knowledge as in the understanding of these important points. Great, manifold, and manifest as were the failings of John Keats, perhaps in the whole history of letters there is not another instance to be found of a man dying so early and at the same time leaving so profound an impression upon the mind of his age; although indeed it must be admitted that his influence, however strong, is not likely to be lasting, and that erelong he will share the fate of Sir Philip Sidney, who, being the idol of his own day, is now little heard of, far less known, and least of all read. The following lines will no doubt have been regarded as a mere ranting upcry of poesy by those of his readers who have not remarked the depth of meaning contained in all his utterances on this his favourite theme; and, for myself, I will own that years ago I passed over them without stopping to consider, far less to discover, the truth of which now, when better prepared, I can see that they are full. We do not understand Keats; we do not understand comets; perhaps we never will. Here are the lines: "A drainless shower Of light is poesy: 'tis the supreme of power; 'Tis might half-slumbering on its own right arm.” The first of these verses declares the first law of poetry, its imaginative activity; the next implies the second law, harmonious power; and the last proclaims the third law, unconscious might. Thus by a single glance and a short flight of the intuitive faculty, heights are attained which the understanding, footsore with trying to be surefooted, can reach only after much, long, painful, and painstaking clambering. As in the case of pleasure, the foregoing definition accounts for the difficulty that has always been and ever will be felt in fully explaining the nature of poetry. There may be other reasons for failure, and for our knowing next to nothing of the laws of imagination, while the laws of thought have been fathomed to the bottom; such as that the Thinker will have little imagination, and therefore little knowledge of its doings, while the Dreamer, having much, will be unable to wield the scalpel-knife of the former; but the main cause must evidently be the self-blindness occasioned by imaginative activity, and necessary to a sense of pleasure; a deficiency which can be entirely overcome only by a manysided mind of great reach, with great powers of memory; in short, by such a mind as never yet has appeared, and perhaps never will,—a dreamy Aristotle. |