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 T 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; And waked with silence, grunted "Good!" but we Redeemed it from the charge of nothingness,- The cock crew loud: as at that time of year The lusty bird takes every hour for dawn : -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 !) 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." The angel wrote and vanished. The next night It came again with a great wakening light, And showed the names whom love of God had blessed, And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest! Is hers who would have thought it ?— -Harrington: Idem. It has been said that pure representation may be either direct or illustrative. Let us look now at some examples of it in both forms. After doing so, we shall be better prepared to pass on and compare with them the various departures from it exemplified in alloyed representation. Direct pure representative poetry, as has been intimated, pictures to the mind, without the use of figurative language, a single transaction or series of transactions in such a way as to influence the thoughts of him who hears the poetry, precisely as they would have been influenced had he himself perceived the transaction or series of transactions of which the poetry treats. The works of Homer, as in fact of all the classic writers, are filled with examples of this kind of representation. Here are some of them, with an occasional exceptional expression in illustrative representation, indicated by italics : Then, from the fleet, illustrious Hector led In a clear space uncumbered by the slain, Of glittering brass, bound with a ring of gold. * So Hector spake, and all the Trojan host -The Iliad, 8: Bryant's Tr. Notice in these descriptions of contests in battle, how the directness and exactness of the language used augment its representative power. Beneath the collar bone It pierced him and passed through; the brazen point -Idem, 17. |