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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5428-h.zip b/5428-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1ef580a --- /dev/null +++ b/5428-h.zip diff --git a/5428-h/5428-h.htm b/5428-h/5428-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..13ce184 --- /dev/null +++ b/5428-h/5428-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3429 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + A Defence of Poetry and Other Essays, by Percy Bysshe Shelley + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + .side { float: right; font-size: 75%; width: 25%; padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; margin-left: 0.8em; text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Defence of Poetry and Other Essays, by +Percy Bysshe Shelley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Defence of Poetry and Other Essays + +Author: Percy Bysshe Shelley + + +Release Date: April, 2004 [EBook #5428] +This file was first posted on July 18, 2002 +Last Updated: June 16, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DEFENCE OF POETRY *** + + + + +Text file produced by Steve Harris, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + +HTML file produced by David Widger + + + + +</pre> + + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + A DEFENCE OF POETRY AND OTHER ESSAYS + </h1> + <h2> + By Percy Bysshe Shelley + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + <b>CONTENTS</b> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> ON LOVE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> ON A FUTURE STATE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> ON THE PUNISHMENT OF DEATH </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> SPECULATIONS ON METAPHYSICS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> SPECULATIONS ON MORALS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. ON THE NATURE OF VIRTUE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> ESSAY ON THE LITERATURE, THE ARTS, AND THE + MANNERS OF THE ATHENIANS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> ON THE SYMPOSIUM, OR PREFACE TO THE BANQUET OF + PLATO </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> A DEFENCE OF POETRY </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + ON LOVE + </h2> + <p> + What is love? Ask him who lives, what is life? ask him who adores, what is + God? + </p> + <p> + I know not the internal constitution of other men, nor even thine, whom I + now address. I see that in some external attributes they resemble me, but + when, misled by that appearance, I have thought to appeal to something in + common, and unburthen my inmost soul to them, I have found my language + misunderstood, like one in a distant and savage land. The more + opportunities they have afforded me for experience, the wider has appeared + the interval between us, and to a greater distance have the points of + sympathy been withdrawn. With a spirit ill fitted to sustain such proof, + trembling and feeble through its tenderness, I have everywhere sought + sympathy and have found only repulse and disappointment. + </p> + <p> + Thou demandest what is love? It is that powerful attraction towards all + that we conceive, or fear, or hope beyond ourselves, when we find within + our own thoughts the chasm of an insufficient void, and seek to awaken in + all things that are, a community with what we experience within ourselves. + If we reason, we would be understood; if we imagine, we would that the + airy children of our brain were born anew within another's; if we feel, we + would that another's nerves should vibrate to our own, that the beams of + their eyes should kindle at once and mix and melt into our own, that lips + of motionless ice should not reply to lips quivering and burning with the + heart's best blood. This is Love. This is the bond and the sanction which + connects not only man with man, but with everything which exists. We are + born into the world, and there is something within us which, from the + instant that we live, more and more thirsts after its likeness. It is + probably in correspondence with this law that the infant drains milk from + the bosom of its mother; this propensity develops itself with the + development of our nature. We dimly see within our intellectual nature a + miniature as it were of our entire self, yet deprived of all that we + condemn or despise, the ideal prototype of everything excellent or lovely + that we are capable of conceiving as belonging to the nature of man. Not + only the portrait of our external being, but an assemblage of the minutest + particles of which our nature is composed;[Footnote: These words are + ineffectual and metaphorical. Most words are so—No help!] a mirror + whose surface reflects only the forms of purity and brightness; a soul + within our soul that describes a circle around its proper paradise, which + pain, and sorrow, and evil dare not overleap. To this we eagerly refer all + sensations, thirsting that they should resemble or correspond with it. The + discovery of its antitype; the meeting with an understanding capable of + clearly estimating our own; an imagination which should enter into and + seize upon the subtle and delicate peculiarities which we have delighted + to cherish and unfold in secret; with a frame whose nerves, like the + chords of two exquisite lyres, strung to the accompaniment of one + delightful voice, vibrate with the vibrations of our own; and of a + combination of all these in such proportion as the type within demands; + this is the invisible and unattainable point to which Love tends; and to + attain which, it urges forth the powers of man to arrest the faintest + shadow of that, without the possession of which there is no rest nor + respite to the heart over which it rules. Hence in solitude, or in that + deserted state when we are surrounded by human beings, and yet they + sympathize not with us, we love the flowers, the grass, and the waters, + and the sky. In the motion of the very leaves of spring, in the blue air, + there is then found a secret correspondence with our heart. There is + eloquence in the tongueless wind, and a melody in the flowing brooks and + the rustling of the reeds beside them, which by their inconceivable + relation to something within the soul, awaken the spirits to a dance of + breathless rapture, and bring tears of mysterious tenderness to the eyes, + like the enthusiasm of patriotic success, or the voice of one beloved + singing to you alone. Sterne says that, if he were in a desert, he would + love some cypress. So soon as this want or power is dead, man becomes the + living sepulchre of himself, and what yet survives is the mere husk of + what once he was. + </p> + <p> + [1815; publ. 1840] + </p> + <h3> + ON LIFE + </h3> + <p> + Life and the world, or whatever we call that which we are and feel, is an + astonishing thing. The mist of familiarity obscures from us the wonder of + our being. We are struck with admiration at some of its transient + modifications, but it is itself the great miracle. What are changes of + empires, the wreck of dynasties, with the opinions which supported them; + what is the birth and the extinction of religious and of political systems + to life? What are the revolutions of the globe which we inhabit, and the + operations of the elements of which it is composed, compared with life? + What is the universe of stars, and suns, of which this inhabited earth is + one, and their motions, and their destiny, compared with life? Life, the + great miracle, we admire not, because it is so miraculous. It is well that + we are thus shielded by the familiarity of what is at once so certain and + so unfathomable, from an astonishment which would otherwise absorb and + overawe the functions of that which is its object. + </p> + <p> + If any artist, I do not say had executed, but had merely conceived in his + mind the system of the sun, and the stars, and planets, they not existing, + and had painted to us in words, or upon canvas, the spectacle now afforded + by the nightly cope of heaven, and illustrated it by the wisdom of + astronomy, great would be our admiration. Or had he imagined the scenery + of this earth, the mountains, the seas, and the rivers; the grass, and the + flowers, and the variety of the forms and masses of the leaves of the + woods, and the colours which attend the setting and the rising sun, and + the hues of the atmosphere, turbid or serene, these things not before + existing, truly we should have been astonished, and it would not have been + a vain boast to have said of such a man, 'Non merita nome di creatore, se + non Iddio ed il Poeta.' But now these things are looked on with little + wonder, and to be conscious of them with intense delight is esteemed to be + the distinguishing mark of a refined and extraordinary person. The + multitude of men care not for them. It is thus with Life—that which + includes all. + </p> + <p> + What is life? Thoughts and feelings arise, with or without our will, and + we employ words to express them. We are born, and our birth is + unremembered, and our infancy remembered but in fragments; we live on, and + in living we lose the apprehension of life. How vain is it to think that + words can penetrate the mystery of our being! Rightly used they may make + evident our ignorance to ourselves, and this is much. For what are we? + Whence do we come? and whither do we go? Is birth the commencement, is + death the conclusion of our being? What is birth and death? + </p> + <p> + The most refined abstractions of logic conduct to a view of life, which, + though startling to the apprehension, is, in fact, that which the habitual + sense of its repeated combinations has extinguished in us. It strips, as + it were, the painted curtain from this scene of things. I confess that I + am one of those who are unable to refuse my assent to the conclusions of + those philosophers who assert that nothing exists but as it is perceived. + </p> + <p> + It is a decision against which all our persuasions struggle, and we must + be long convicted before we can be convinced that the solid universe of + external things is 'such stuff as dreams are made of.' The shocking + absurdities of the popular philosophy of mind and matter, its fatal + consequences in morals, and their violent dogmatism concerning the source + of all things, had early conducted me to materialism. This materialism is + a seducing system to young and superficial minds. It allows its disciples + to talk, and dispenses them from thinking. But I was discontented with + such a view of things as it afforded; man is a being of high aspirations, + 'looking both before and after,' whose 'thoughts wander through eternity,' + disclaiming alliance with transience and decay; incapable of imagining to + himself annihilation; existing but in the future and the past; being, not + what he is, but what he has been and shall be. Whatever may be his true + and final destination, there is a spirit within him at enmity with + nothingness and dissolution. This is the character of all life and being. + Each is at once the centre and the circumference; the point to which all + things are referred, and the line in which all things are contained. Such + contemplations as these, materialism and the popular philosophy of mind + and matter alike forbid; they are only consistent with the intellectual + system. + </p> + <p> + It is absurd to enter into a long recapitulation of arguments sufficiently + familiar to those inquiring minds, whom alone a writer on abstruse + subjects can be conceived to address. Perhaps the most clear and vigorous + statement of the intellectual system is to be found in Sir William + Drummond's Academical Questions. + </p> + <p> + After such an exposition, it would be idle to translate into other words + what could only lose its energy and fitness by the change. Examined point + by point, and word by word, the most discriminating intellects have been + able to discern no train of thoughts in the process of reasoning, which + does not conduct inevitably to the conclusion which has been stated. + </p> + <p> + What follows from the admission? It establishes no new truth, it gives us + no additional insight into our hidden nature, neither its action nor + itself. Philosophy, impatient as it may be to build, has much work yet + remaining, as pioneer for the overgrowth of ages. It makes one step + towards this object; it destroys error, and the roots of error. It leaves, + what it is too often the duty of the reformer in political and ethical + questions to leave, a vacancy. It reduces the mind to that freedom in + which it would have acted, but for the misuse of words and signs, the + instruments of its own creation. By signs, I would be understood in a wide + sense, including what is properly meant by that term, and what I + peculiarly mean. In this latter sense, almost all familiar objects are + signs, standing, not for themselves, but for others, in their capacity of + suggesting one thought which shall lead to a train of thoughts. Our whole + life is thus an education of error. + </p> + <p> + Let us recollect our sensations as children. What a distinct and intense + apprehension had we of the world and of ourselves! Many of the + circumstances of social life were then important to us which are now no + longer so. But that is not the point of comparison on which I mean to + insist. We less habitually distinguished all that we saw and felt, from + ourselves. They seemed as it were to constitute one mass. There are some + persons who, in this respect, are always children. Those who are subject + to the state called reverie, feel as if their nature were dissolved into + the surrounding universe, or as if the surrounding universe were absorbed + into their being. They are conscious of no distinction. And these are + states which precede, or accompany, or follow an unusually intense and + vivid apprehension of life. As men grow up this power commonly decays, and + they become mechanical and habitual agents. Thus feelings and then + reasonings are the combined result of a multitude of entangled thoughts, + and of a series of what are called impressions, planted by reiteration. + </p> + <p> + The view of life presented by the most refined deductions of the + intellectual philosophy, is that of unity. Nothing exists but as it is + perceived. The difference is merely nominal between those two classes of + thought, which are vulgarly distinguished by the names of ideas and of + external objects. Pursuing the same thread of reasoning, the existence of + distinct individual minds, similar to that which is employed in now + questioning its own nature, is likewise found to be a delusion. The words + <i>I</i>, YOU, THEY, are not signs of any actual difference subsisting + between the assemblage of thoughts thus indicated, but are merely marks + employed to denote the different modifications of the one mind. + </p> + <p> + Let it not be supposed that this doctrine conducts to the monstrous + presumption that I, the person who now write and think, am that one mind. + I am but a portion of it. The words <i>I</i>, and YOU, and THEY, are + grammatical devices invented simply for arrangement, and totally devoid of + the intense and exclusive sense usually attached to them. It is difficult + to find terms adequate to express so subtle a conception as that to which + the Intellectual Philosophy has conducted us. We are on that verge where + words abandon us, and what wonder if we grow dizzy to look down the dark + abyss of how little we know. The relations of THINGS remain unchanged, by + whatever system. By the word THINGS is to be understood any object of + thought, that is any thought upon which any other thought is employed, + with an apprehension of distinction. + </p> + <p> + The relations of these remain unchanged; and such is the material of our + knowledge. What is the cause of life? that is, how was it produced, or + what agencies distinct from life have acted or act upon life? All recorded + generations of mankind have weariedly busied themselves in inventing + answers to this question; and the result has been,—Religion. Yet, + that the basis of all things cannot be, as the popular philosophy alleges, + mind, is sufficiently evident. Mind, as far as we have any experience of + its properties, and beyond that experience how vain is argument! cannot + create, it can only perceive. It is said also to be the cause. But cause + is only a word expressing a certain state of the human mind with regard to + the manner in which two thoughts are apprehended to be related to each + other. If any one desires to know how unsatisfactorily the popular + philosophy employs itself upon this great question, they need only + impartially reflect upon the manner in which thoughts develop themselves + in their minds. It is infinitely improbable that the cause of mind, that + is, of existence, is similar to mind. + </p> + <p> + [1815; publ. 1840] + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + ON A FUTURE STATE + </h2> + <p> + It has been the persuasion of an immense majority of human beings in all + ages and nations that we continue to live after death,—that apparent + termination of all the functions of sensitive and intellectual existence. + Nor has mankind been contented with supposing that species of existence + which some philosophers have asserted; namely, the resolution of the + component parts of the mechanism of a living being into its elements, and + the impossibility of the minutest particle of these sustaining the + smallest diminution. They have clung to the idea that sensibility and + thought, which they have distinguished from the objects of it, under the + several names of spirit and matter, is, in its own nature, less + susceptible of division and decay, and that, when the body is resolved + into its elements, the principle which animated it will remain perpetual + and unchanged. Some philosophers-and those to whom we are indebted for the + most stupendous discoveries in physical science, suppose, on the other + hand, that intelligence is the mere result of certain combinations among + the particles of its objects; and those among them who believe that we + live after death, recur to the interposition of a supernatural power, + which shall overcome the tendency inherent in all material combinations, + to dissipate and be absorbed into other forms. + </p> + <p> + Let us trace the reasonings which in one and the other have conducted to + these two opinions, and endeavour to discover what we ought to think on a + question of such momentous interest. Let us analyse the ideas and feelings + which constitute the contending beliefs, and watchfully establish a + discrimination between words and thoughts. Let us bring the question to + the test of experience and fact; and ask ourselves, considering our nature + in its entire extent, what light we derive from a sustained and + comprehensive view of its component parts, which may enable, us to assert, + with certainty, that we do or do not live after death. + </p> + <p> + The examination of this subject requires that it should be stript of all + those accessory topics which adhere to it in the common opinion of men. + The existence of a God, and a future state of rewards and punishments, are + totally foreign to the subject. If it be proved that the world is ruled by + a Divine Power, no inference necessarily can be drawn from that + circumstance in favour of a future state. It has been asserted, indeed, + that as goodness and justice are to be numbered among the attributes of + the Deity, He will undoubtedly compensate the virtuous who suffer during + life, and that He will make every sensitive being who does not deserve + punishment, happy for ever. But this view of the subject, which it would + be tedious as well as superfluous to develop and expose, satisfies no + person, and cuts the knot which we now seek to untie. Moreover, should it + be proved, on the other hand, that the mysterious principle which + regulates the proceedings of the universe, is neither intelligent nor + sensitive, yet it is not an inconsistency to suppose at the same time, + that the animating power survives the body which it has animated, by laws + as independent of any supernatural agent as those through which it first + became united with it. Nor, if a future state be clearly proved, does it + follow that it will be a state of punishment or reward. + </p> + <p> + By the word death, we express that condition in which natures resembling + ourselves apparently cease to be that which they were. We no longer hear + them speak, nor see them move. If they have sensations and apprehensions, + we no longer participate in them. We know no more than that those external + organs, and all that fine texture of material frame, without which we have + no experience that life or thought can subsist, are dissolved and + scattered abroad. The body is placed under the earth, and after a certain + period there remains no vestige even of its form. This is that + contemplation of inexhaustible melancholy, whose shadow eclipses the + brightness of the world. The common observer is struck with dejection at + the spectacle. He contends in vain against the persuasion of the grave, + that the dead indeed cease to be. The corpse at his feet is prophetic of + his own destiny. Those who have preceded him, and whose voice was + delightful to his ear; whose touch met his like sweet and subtle fire; + whose aspect spread a visionary light upon his path—these he cannot + meet again. The organs of sense are destroyed, and the intellectual + operations dependent on them have perished with their sources. How can a + corpse see or feel? its eyes are eaten out, and its heart is black and + without motion. What intercourse can two heaps of putrid clay and + crumbling bones hold together? When you can discover where the fresh + colours of the faded flower abide, or the music of the broken lyre, seek + life among the dead. Such are the anxious and fearful contemplations of + the common observer, though the popular religion often prevents him from + confessing them even to himself. + </p> + <p> + The natural philosopher, in addition to the sensations common to all men + inspired by the event of death, believes that he sees with more certainty + that it is attended with the annihilation of sentiment and thought. He + observes the mental powers increase and fade with those of the body, and + even accommodate themselves to the most transitory changes of our physical + nature. Sleep suspends many of the faculties of the vital and intellectual + principle; drunkenness and disease will either temporarily or permanently + derange them. Madness or idiotcy may utterly extinguish the most excellent + and delicate of those powers. In old age the mind gradually withers; and + as it grew and was strengthened with the body, so does it together with + the body sink into decrepitude. Assuredly these are convincing evidences + that so soon as the organs of the body are subjected to the laws of + inanimate matter, sensation, and perception, and apprehension, are at an + end. It is probable that what we call thought is not an actual being, but + no more than the relation between certain parts of that infinitely varied + mass, of which the rest of the universe is composed, and which ceases to + exist so soon as those parts change their position with regard to each + other. Thus colour, and sound, and taste, and odour exist only relatively. + But let thought be considered as some peculiar substance, which permeates, + and is the cause of, the animation of living beings. Why should that + substance be assumed to be something essentially distinct from all others, + and exempt from subjection to those laws from which no other substance is + exempt? It differs, indeed, from all other substances, as electricity, and + light, and magnetism, and the constituent parts of air and earth, + severally differ from all others. Each of these is subject to change and + to decay, and to conversion into other forms. Yet the difference between + light and earth is scarcely greater than that which exists between life, + or thought, and fire. The difference between the two former was never + alleged as an argument for the eternal permanence of either, in that form + under which they first might offer themselves to our notice. Why should + the difference between the two latter substances be an argument for the + prolongation of the existence of one and not the other, when the existence + of both has arrived at their apparent termination? To say that fire exists + without manifesting any of the properties of fire, such as light, heat, + etc., or that the principle of life exists without consciousness, or + memory, or desire, or motive, is to resign, by an awkward distortion of + language, the affirmative of the dispute. To say that the principle of + life MAY exist in distribution among various forms, is to assert what + cannot be proved to be either true or false, but which, were it true, + annihilates all hope of existence after death, in any sense in which that + event can belong to the hopes and fears of men. Suppose, however, that the + intellectual and vital principle differs in the most marked and essential + manner from all other known substances; that they have all some + resemblance between themselves which it in no degree participates. In what + manner can this concession be made an argument for its imperishability? + All that we see or know perishes and is changed. Life and thought differ + indeed from everything else. But that it survives that period, beyond + which we have no experience of its existence, such distinction and + dissimilarity affords no shadow of proof, and nothing but our own desires + could have led us to conjecture or imagine. Have we existed before birth? + It is difficult to conceive the possibility of this. There is, in the + generative principle of each animal and plant, a power which converts the + substances by which it is surrounded into a substance homogeneous with + itself. That is, the relations between certain elementary particles of + matter undergo a change, and submit to new combinations. For when we use + the words PRINCIPLE, POWER, CAUSE, we mean to express no real being, but + only to class under those terms a certain series of co-existing phenomena; + but let it be supposed that this principle is a certain substance which + escapes the observation of the chemist and anatomist. It certainly MAY BE; + though it is sufficiently unphilosophical to allege the possibility of an + opinion as a proof of its truth. Does it see, hear, feel, before its + combination with those organs on which sensation depends? Does it reason, + imagine, apprehend, without those ideas which sensation alone can + communicate? If we have not existed before birth; if, at the period when + the parts of our nature on which thought and life depend, seem to be woven + together; if there are no reasons to suppose that we have existed before + that period at which our existence apparently commences, then there are no + grounds for supposition that we shall continue to exist after our + existence has apparently ceased. So far as thought is concerned, the same + will take place with regard to use, individually considered, after death, + as had place before our birth. + </p> + <p> + It is said that it, is possible that we should continue to exist in some + mode totally inconceivable to us at present. This is a most unreasonable + presumption. It casts on the adherents of annihilation the burthen of + proving the negative of a question, the affirmative of which is not + supported by a single argument, and which, by its very nature, lies beyond + the experience of the human understanding. It is sufficiently easy, + indeed, to form any proposition, concerning which we are ignorant, just + not so absurd as not to be contradictory in itself, and defy refutation. + The possibility of whatever enters into the wildest imagination to + conceive is thus triumphantly vindicated. But it is enough that such + assertions should be either contradictory to the known laws of nature, or + exceed the limits of our experience, that their fallacy or irrelevancy to + our consideration should be demonstrated. They persuade, indeed, only + those who desire to be persuaded. This desire to be for ever as we are; + the reluctance to a violent and unexperienced change, which is common to + all the animated and inanimate combinations of the universe, is, indeed, + the secret persuasion which has given birth to the opinions of a future + state. + </p> + <p> + [1815; publ. 1840] + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + ON THE PUNISHMENT OF DEATH + </h2> + <h3> + A FRAGMENT + </h3> + <p> + The first law which it becomes a Reformer to propose and support, at the + approach of a period of great political change, is the abolition of the + punishment of death. + </p> + <p> + It is sufficiently clear that revenge, retaliation, atonement, expiation, + are rules and motives, so far from deserving a place in any enlightened + system of political life, that they are the chief sources of a prodigious + class of miseries in the domestic circles of society. It is clear that + however the spirit of legislation may appear to frame institutions upon + more philosophical maxims, it has hitherto, in those cases which are + termed criminal, done little more than palliate the spirit, by gratifying + a portion of it; and afforded a compromise between that which is bests—the + inflicting of no evil upon a sensitive being, without a decisively + beneficial result in which he should at least participates—and that + which is worst; that he should be put to torture for the amusement of + those whom he may have injured, or may seem to have injured. + </p> + <p> + Omitting these remoter considerations, let us inquire what, DEATH is; that + punishment which is applied as a measure of transgressions of indefinite + shades of distinction, so soon as they shall have passed that degree and + colour of enormity, with which it is supposed no, inferior infliction is + commensurate. + </p> + <p> + And first, whether death is good or evil, a punishment or a reward, or + whether it be wholly indifferent, no man can take upon himself to assert. + That that within us which thinks and feels, continues to think and feel + after the dissolution of the body, has been the almost universal opinion + of mankind, and the accurate philosophy of what I may be permitted to term + the modern Academy, by showing the prodigious depth and extent of our + ignorance respecting the causes and nature of sensation, renders probable + the affirmative of a proposition, the negative of which it is so difficult + to conceive, and the popular arguments against which, derived from what is + called the atomic system, are proved to be applicable only to the relation + which one object bears to another, as apprehended by the mind, and not to + existence itself, or the nature of that essence which is the medium and + receptacle of objects. + </p> + <p> + The popular system of religion suggests the idea that the mind, after + death, will be painfully or pleasurably affected according to its + determinations during life. However ridiculous and pernicious we must + admit the vulgar accessories of this creed to be, there is a certain + analogy, not wholly absurd, between the consequences resulting to an + individual during life from the virtuous or vicious, prudent or imprudent, + conduct of his external actions, to those consequences which are + conjectured to ensue from the discipline and order of his internal + thoughts, as affecting his condition in a future state. They omit, indeed, + to calculate upon the accidents of disease, and temperament, and + organization, and circumstance, together with the multitude of independent + agencies which affect the opinions, the conduct, and the happiness of + individuals, and produce determinations of the will, and modify the + judgement, so as to produce effects the most opposite in natures + considerably similar. These are those operations in the order of the whole + of nature, tending, we are prone to believe, to some definite mighty end, + to which the agencies of our peculiar nature are subordinate; nor is there + any reason to suppose, that in a future state they should become suddenly + exempt from that subordination. The philosopher is unable to determine + whether our existence in a previous state has affected our present + condition, and abstains from deciding whether our present condition will + affect us in that which may be future. That, if we continue to exist, the + manner of our existence will be such as no inferences nor conjectures, + afforded by a consideration of our earthly experience, can elucidate, is + sufficiently obvious. The opinion that the vital principle within us, in + whatever mode it may continue to exist, must lose that consciousness of + definite and individual being which now characterizes it, and become a + unit in the vast sum of action and of thought which disposes and animates + the universe, and is called God, seems to belong to that class of opinion + which has been designated as indifferent. + </p> + <p> + To compel a person to know all that can be known by the dead concerning + that which the living fear, hope, or forget; to plunge him into the + pleasure or pain which there awaits him; to punish or reward him in a + manner and in a degree incalculable and incomprehensible by us; to disrobe + him at once from all that intertexture of good and evil with which Nature + seems to have clothed every form of individual existence, is to inflict on + him the doom of death. + </p> + <p> + A certain degree of pain and terror usually accompany the infliction of + death. This degree is infinitely varied by the infinite variety in the + temperament and opinions of the sufferers. As a measure of punishment, + strictly so considered, and as an exhibition, which, by its known effects + on the sensibility of the sufferer, is intended to intimidate the + spectators from incurring a similar liability, it is singularly + inadequate. + </p> + <p> + Firstly, Persons of energetic character, in whom, as in men who suffer for + political crimes, there is a large mixture of enterprise, and fortitude, + and disinterestedness, and the elements, though misguided and disarranged, + by which the strength and happiness of a nation might have been cemented, + die in such a manner, as to make death appear not evil, but good. The + death of what is called a traitor, that is, a person who, from whatever + motive, would abolish the government of the day, is as often a triumphant + exhibition of suffering virtue, as the warning of a culprit. The + multitude, instead of departing with a panic-stricken approbation of the + laws which exhibited such a spectacle, are inspired with pity, admiration + and sympathy; and the most generous among them feel an emulation to be the + authors of such flattering emotions, as they experience stirring in their + bosoms. Impressed by what they see and feel, they make no distinctive + between the motives which incited the criminals to the action for which + they suffer, or the heroic courage with which they turned into good that + which their judges awarded to them as evil or the purpose itself of those + actions, though that purpose may happen to be eminently pernicious. The + laws in this case lose their sympathy, which it ought to be their chief + object to secure, and in a participation of which consists their chief + strength in maintaining those sanctions by which the parts of the social + union are bound together, so as to produce, as nearly as possible, the + ends for which it is instituted. + </p> + <p> + Secondly,—Persons of energetic character, in communities not + modelled with philosophical skill to turn all the energies which they + contain to the purposes of common good, are prone also to fall into the + temptation of undertaking, and are peculiarly fitted for despising the + perils attendant upon consummating, the most enormous crimes. Murder, + rapes, extensive schemes of plunder are the actions of persons belonging + to this class; and death is the penalty of conviction. But the coarseness + of organization, peculiar to men capable of committing acts wholly + selfish, is usually found to be associated with a proportionate + insensibility to fear or pain. Their sufferings communicate to those of + the spectators, who may be liable to the commission of similar crimes a + sense of the lightness of that event, when closely examined which, at a + distance, as uneducated persons are accustomed to do, probably they + regarded with horror. But a great majority of the spectators are so bound + up in the interests and the habits of social union that no temptation + would be sufficiently strong to induce them to a commission of the + enormities to which this penalty is assigned. The more powerful, and the + richer among them,—and a numerous class of little tradesmen are + richer and more powerful than those who are employed by them, and the + employer, in general, bears this relation to the employed,—regard + their own wrongs as, in some degree, avenged, and their own rights secured + by this punishment, inflicted as the penalty of whatever crime. In cases + of murder or mutilation, this feeling is almost universal. In those, + therefore, whom this exhibition does not awaken to the sympathy which + extenuates crime and discredits the law which restrains it, it produces + feelings more directly at war with the genuine purposes of political + society. It excites those emotions which it is the chief object of + civilization to extinguish for ever, and in the extinction of which alone + there can be any hope of better institutions than those under which men + now misgovern one another. Men feel that their revenge is gratified, and + that their security is established by the extinction and the sufferings of + beings, in most respects resembling themselves; and their daily + occupations constraining them to a precise form in all their thoughts, + they come to connect inseparably the idea of their own advantage with that + of the death and torture of others. It is manifest that the object of sane + polity is directly the reverse; and that laws founded upon reason, should + accustom the gross vulgar to associate their ideas of security and of + interest with the reformation, and the strict restraint, for that purpose + alone, of those who might invade it. + </p> + <p> + The passion of revenge is originally nothing more than an habitual + perception of the ideas of the sufferings of the person who inflicts an + injury, as connected, as they are in a savage state, or in such portions + of society as are yet undisciplined to civilization, with security that + that injury will not be repeated in future. This feeling, engrafted upon + superstition and confirmed by habit, at last loses sight of the only + object for which it may be supposed to have been implanted, and becomes a + passion and a duty to be pursued and fulfilled, even to the destruction of + those ends to which it originally tended. The other passions, both good + and evil. Avarice, Remorse, Love, Patriotism, present a similar + appearance; and to this principle of the mind over-shooting the mark at + which it aims, we owe all that is eminently base or excellent in human + nature; in providing for the nutriment or the extinction of which, + consists the true art of the legislator. [Footnote: The savage and the + illiterate are but faintly aware of the distinction between the future and + the past; they make actions belonging to periods so distinct, the subjects + of similar feelings; they live only in the present, or in the past, as it + is present. It is in this that the philosopher excels one of the many; it + is this which distinguishes the doctrine of philosophic necessity from + fatalism; and that determination of the will, by which it is the active + source of future events, from that liberty or indifference, to which the + abstract liability of irremediable actions is attached, according to the + notions of the vulgar. + </p> + <p> + This is the source of the erroneous excesses of Remorse and Revenge; the + one extending itself over the future, and the other over the past; + provinces in which their suggestions can only be the sources of evil. The + purpose of a resolution to act more wisely and virtuously in future, and + the sense of a necessity of caution in repressing an enemy, are the + sources from which the enormous superstitions implied in the words cited + have arisen.] + </p> + <p> + Nothing is more clear than that the infliction of punishment in general, + in a degree which the reformation and the restraint of those who + transgress the laws does not render indispensable, and none more than + death, confirms all the inhuman and unsocial impulses of men. It is almost + a proverbial remark, that those nations in which the penal code has been + particularly mild, have been distinguished from all others by the rarity + of crime. But the example is to be admitted to be equivocal. A more + decisive argument is afforded by a consideration of the universal + connexion of ferocity of manners, and a contempt of social ties, with the + contempt of human life. Governments which derive their institutions from + the existence of circumstances of barbarism and violence, with some rare + exceptions perhaps, are bloody in proportion as they are despotic, and + form the manners of their subjects to a sympathy with their own spirit. + </p> + <p> + The spectators who feel no abhorrence at a public execution, but rather a + self-applauding superiority, and a sense of gratified indignation, are + surely excited to the most inauspicious emotions. The first reflection of + such a one is the sense of his own internal and actual worth, as + preferable to that of the victim, whom circumstances have led to + destruction. The meanest wretch is impressed with a sense of his own + comparative merit. He is one of those on whom the tower of Siloam fell not—he + is such a one as Jesus Christ found not in all Samaria, who, in his own + soul, throws the first stone at the woman taken in adultery. The popular + religion of the country takes its designation from that illustrious person + whose beautiful sentiment I have quoted. Any one who has stript from the + doctrines of this person the veil of familiarity, will perceive how + adverse their spirit is to feelings of this nature. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SPECULATIONS ON METAPHYSICS + </h2> + <h3> + I—THE MIND + </h3> + <p> + It is an axiom in mental philosophy, that we can think of nothing which we + have not perceived. When I say that we can think of nothing, I mean, we + can imagine nothing, we can reason of nothing, we can remember nothing, we + can foresee nothing. The most astonishing combinations of poetry, the + subtlest deductions of logic and mathematics, are no other than + combinations which the intellect makes of sensations according to its own + laws. A catalogue of all the thoughts of the mind, and of all their + possible modifications, is a cyclopedic history of the universe. + </p> + <p> + But, it will be objected, the inhabitants of the various planets of this + and other solar systems; and the existence of a Power bearing the same + relation to all that we perceive and are, as what we call a cause does to + what we call effect, were never subjects of sensation, and yet the laws of + mind almost universally suggest, according to the various disposition of + each, a conjecture, a persuasion, or a conviction of their existence. The + reply is simple; these thoughts are also to be included in the catalogue + of existence; they are modes in which thoughts are combined; the objection + only adds force to the conclusion, that beyond the limits of perception + and thought nothing can exist. + </p> + <p> + Thoughts, or ideas, or notions, call them what you will, differ from each + other, not in kind, but in force. It has commonly been supposed that those + distinct thoughts which affect a number of persons, at regular intervals, + during the passage of a multitude of other thoughts, which are called REAL + or EXTERNAL OBJECTS, are totally different in kind from those which affect + only a few persons, and which recur at irregular intervals, and are + usually more obscure and indistinct, such as hallucinations, dreams, and + the ideas of madness. No essential distinction between any one of these + ideas, or any class of them, is founded on a correct observation of the + nature of things, but merely on a consideration of what thoughts are most + invariably subservient to the security and happiness of life; and if + nothing more were expressed by the distinction, the philosopher might + safely accommodate his language to that of the vulgar. But they pretend to + assert an essential difference, which has no foundation in truth, and + which suggests a narrow and false conception of universal nature, the + parent of the most fatal errors in speculation. A specific difference + between every thought of the mind, is, indeed, a necessary consequence of + that law by which it perceives diversity and number; but a generic and + essential difference is wholly arbitrary. The principle of the agreement + and similarity of all thoughts, is, that they are all thoughts; the + principle of their disagreement consists in the variety and irregularity + of the occasions on which they arise in the mind. That in which they + agree, to that in which they differ, is as everything to nothing. + Important distinctions, of various degrees of force, indeed, are to be + established between them, if they were, as they may be, subjects of + ethical and economical discussion; but that is a question altogether + distinct. By considering all knowledge as bounded by perception, whose + operations may be indefinitely combined, we arrive at a conception of + Nature inexpressibly more magnificent, simple and true, than accords with + the ordinary systems of complicated and partial consideration. Nor does a + contemplation of the universe, in this comprehensive and synthetical view, + exclude the subtlest analysis of its modifications and parts. + </p> + <p> + A scale might be formed, graduated according to the degrees of a combined + ratio of intensity, duration, connexion, periods of recurrence, and + utility, which would be the standard, according to which all ideas might + be measured, and an uninterrupted chain of nicely shadowed distinctions + would be observed, from the faintest impression on the senses, to the most + distinct combination of those impressions; from the simplest of those + combinations, to that mass of knowledge which, including our own nature, + constitutes what we call the universe. + </p> + <p> + We are intuitively conscious of our own existence, and of that connexion + in the train of our successive ideas, which we term our identity. We are + conscious also of the existence of other minds; but not intuitively. Our + evidence, with respect to the existence of other minds, is founded upon a + very complicated relation of ideas, which it is foreign to the purpose of + this treatise to anatomize. The basis of this relation is, undoubtedly, a + periodical recurrence of masses of ideas, which our voluntary + determinations have, in one peculiar direction, no power to circumscribe + or to arrest, and against the recurrence of which they can only + imperfectly provide. The irresistible laws of thought constrain us to + believe that the precise limits of our actual ideas are not the actual + limits of possible ideas; the law, according to which these deductions are + drawn, is called analogy; and this is the foundation of all our + inferences, from one idea to another, inasmuch as they resemble each + other. + </p> + <p> + We see trees, houses, fields, living beings in our own shape, and in + shapes more or less analogous to our own. These are perpetually changing + the mode of their existence relatively to us. To express the varieties of + these modes, we say, WE MOVE, THEY MOVE; and as this motion is continual, + though not uniform, we express our conception of the diversities of its + course by—IT HAS BEEN, IT IS, IT SHALL BE. These diversities are + events or objects, and are essential, considered relatively to human + identity, for the existence of the human mind. For if the inequalities, + produced by what has been termed the operations of the external universe, + were levelled by the perception of our being, uniting and filling up their + interstices, motion and mensuration, and time, and space; the elements of + the human mind being thus abstracted, sensation and imagination cease. + Mind cannot be considered pure. + </p> + <p> + II—WHAT METAPHYSICS ARE. ERRORS IN THE USUAL METHODS OF CONSIDERING + THEM + </p> + <p> + We do not attend sufficiently to what passes within ourselves. We combine + words, combined a thousand times before. In our minds we assume entire + opinions; and in the expression of those opinions, entire phrases, when we + would philosophize. Our whole style of expression and sentiment is + infected with the tritest plagiarisms. Our words are dead, our thoughts + are cold and borrowed. + </p> + <p> + Let us contemplate facts; let us, in the great study of ourselves, + resolutely compel the mind to a rigid consideration of itself. We are not + content with conjecture, and inductions, and syllogisms, in sciences + regarding external objects. As in these, let us also, in considering the + phenomena of mind, severely collect those facts which cannot be disputed. + Metaphysics will thus possess this conspicuous advantage over every other + science, that each student, by attentively referring to his own mind, may + ascertain the authorities upon which any assertions regarding it are + supported. There can thus be no deception, we ourselves being the + depositaries of the evidence of the subject which we consider. + </p> + <p> + Metaphysics may be defined as an inquiry concerning those things belonging + to, or connected with, the internal nature of man. + </p> + <p> + It is said that mind produces motion; and it might as well have been said, + that motion produces mind. + </p> + <h3> + III—DIFFICULTY OF ANALYSING THE HUMAN MIND + </h3> + <p> + If it were possible that a person should give a faithful history of his + being, from the earliest epochs of his recollection, a picture would be + presented such as the world has never contemplated before. A mirror would + be held up to all men in which they might behold their own recollections, + and, in dim perspective, their shadowy hopes and fears,—all that + they dare not, or that, daring and desiring, they could not expose to the + open eyes of day. But thought can with difficulty visit the intricate and + winding chambers which it inhabits. It is like a river whose rapid and + perpetual stream flows outwards;—like one in dread who speeds + through the recesses of some haunted pile, and dares not look behind. The + caverns of the mind are obscure, and shadowy; or pervaded with a lustre, + beautifully bright indeed, but shining not beyond their portals. If it + were possible to be where we have been, vitally and indeed—if, at + the moment of our presence there, we could define the results of our + experience,—if the passage from sensation to reflection—from a + state of passive perception to voluntary contemplation, were not so + dizzying and so tumultuous, this attempt would be less difficult. + </p> + <h3> + IV—HOW THE ANALYSIS SHOULD BE CARRIED ON + </h3> + <p> + Most of the errors of philosophers have arisen from considering the human + being in a point of view too detailed and circumscribed He is not a moral, + and an intellectual,—but also, and pre-eminently, an imaginative + being. His own mind is his law; his own mind is all things to him. If we + would arrive at any knowledge which should be serviceable from the + practical conclusions to which it leads, we ought to consider the mind of + man and the universe as the great whole on which to exercise our + speculations. Here, above all, verbal disputes ought to be laid aside, + though this has long been their chosen field of battle. It imports little + to inquire whether thought be distinct from the objects of thought. The + use of the words EXTERNAL and INTERNAL, as applied to the establishment of + this distinction, has been the symbol and the source of much dispute. This + is merely an affair of words, and as the dispute deserves, to say, that + when speaking of the objects of thought, we indeed only describe one of + the forms of thought—or that, speaking of thought, we only apprehend + one of the operations of the universal system of beings. + </p> + <p> + V—CATALOGUE OF THE PHENOMENA OF DREAMS, AS CONNECTING SLEEPING AND + WAKING + </p> + <p> + 1. Let us reflect on our infancy, and give as faithfully as possible a + relation of the events of sleep. + </p> + <p> + And first I am bound to present a faithful picture of my own peculiar + nature relatively to sleep. I do not doubt that were every individual to + imitate me, it would be found that among many circumstances peculiar to + their individual nature, a sufficiently general resemblance would be found + to prove the connexion existing between those peculiarities and the most + universal phenomena. I shall employ caution, indeed, as to the facts which + I state, that they contain nothing false or exaggerated. But they contain + no more than certain elucidations of my own nature; concerning the degree + in which it resembles, or differs from, that of others, I am by no means + accurately aware. It is sufficient, however, to caution the reader against + drawing general inferences from particular instances. + </p> + <p> + I omit the general instances of delusion in fever or delirium, as well as + mere dreams considered in themselves. A delineation of this subject, + however inexhaustible and interesting, is to be passed over. What is the + connexion of sleeping and of waking? + </p> + <p> + 2. I distinctly remember dreaming three several times, between intervals + of two or more years, the same precise dream. It was not so much what is + ordinarily called a dream; the single image, unconnected with all other + images, of a youth who was educated at the same school with myself, + presented itself in sleep. Even now, after the lapse of many years, I can + never hear the name of this youth, without the three places where I + dreamed of him presenting themselves distinctly to my mind. + </p> + <p> + 3. In dreams, images acquire associations peculiar to dreaming; so that + the idea of a particular house, when it recurs a second time in dreams, + will have relation with the idea of the same house, in the first time, of + a nature entirely different from that which the house excites, when seen + or thought of in relation to waking ideas. + </p> + <p> + 4. I have beheld scenes, with the intimate and unaccountable connexion of + which with the obscure parts of my own nature, I have been irresistibly + impressed. I have beheld a scene which has produced no unusual effect on + my thoughts. After the lapse of many years I have dreamed of this scene. + It has hung on my memory, it has haunted my thoughts, at intervals, with + the pertinacity of an object connected with human affections. I have + visited this scene again. Neither the dream could be dissociated from the + landscape, nor the landscape from the dream, nor feelings, such as neither + singly could have awakened, from both. + </p> + <p> + But the most remarkable event of this nature, which ever occurred to me, + happened five years ago at Oxford. I was walking with a friend, in the + neighbourhood of that city, engaged in earnest and interesting + conversation. We suddenly turned the corner of a lane, and the view, which + its high banks and hedges had concealed, presented itself. The view + consisted of a wind-mill, standing in one among many plashy meadows, + inclosed with stone walls; the irregular and broken ground, between the + wall and the road on which we stood; a long low hill behind the windmill, + and a grey covering of uniform cloud spread over the evening sky. It was + that season when the last leaf had just fallen from the scant and stunted + ash. The scene surely was a common scene; the season and the hour little + calculated to kindle lawless thought; it was a tame uninteresting + assemblage of objects, such as would drive the imagination for refuge in + serious and sober talk, to the evening fireside, and the dessert of winter + fruits and wine. The effect which it produced on me was not such as could + have been expected. I suddenly remembered to have seen that exact scene in + some dream of long—. [Footnote: Here I was obliged to leave off, + overcome by thrilling horror.] + </p> + <p> + [1815; publ. 1840] + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SPECULATIONS ON MORALS + </h2> + <h3> + I—PLAN OF A TREATISE ON MORALS + </h3> + <p> + That great science which regards nature and the operations of the human + mind, is popularly divided into Morals and Metaphysics. The latter relates + to a just classification, and the assignment of distinct names to its + ideas; the former regards simply the determination of that arrangement of + them which produces the greatest and most solid happiness. It is admitted + that a virtuous or moral action, is that action which, when considered in + all its accessories and consequences, is fitted to produce the highest + pleasure to the greatest number of sensitive beings. The laws according to + which all pleasure, since it cannot be equally felt by all sensitive + beings, ought to be distributed by a voluntary agent, are reserved for a + separate chapter. + </p> + <p> + The design of this little treatise is restricted to the development of the + elementary principles of morals. As far as regards that purpose, + metaphysical science will be treated merely so far as a source of negative + truth; whilst morality will be considered as a science, respecting which + we can arrive at positive conclusions. + </p> + <p> + The misguided imaginations of men have rendered the ascertaining of what + IS NOT TRUE, the principal direct service which metaphysical science can + bestow upon moral science. Moral science itself is the doctrine of the + voluntary actions of man, as a sentient and social being. These actions + depend on the thoughts in his mind. But there is a mass of popular + opinion, from which the most enlightened persons are seldom wholly free, + into the truth or falsehood of which it is incumbent on us to inquire, + before we can arrive at any firm conclusions as to the conduct which we + ought to pursue in the regulation of our own minds, or towards our fellow + beings; or before we can ascertain the elementary laws, according to which + these thoughts, from which these actions flow, are originally combined. + </p> + <p> + The object of the forms according to which human society is administered, + is the happiness of the individuals composing the communities which they + regard, and these forms are perfect or imperfect in proportion to the + degree in which they promote this end. + </p> + <p> + This object is not merely the quantity of happiness enjoyed by individuals + as sensitive beings, but the mode in which it should be distributed among + them as social beings. It is not enough, if such a coincidence can be + conceived as possible, that one person or class of persons should enjoy + the highest happiness, whilst another is suffering a disproportionate + degree of misery. It is necessary that the happiness produced by the + common efforts, and preserved by the common care, should be distributed + according to the just claims of each individual; if not, although the + quantity produced should be the same, the end of society would remain + unfulfilled. The object is in a compound proportion to the quantity of + happiness produced, and the correspondence of the mode in which it is + distributed, to the elementary feelings of man as a social being. + </p> + <p> + The disposition in an individual to promote this object is called virtue; + and the two constituent parts of virtue, benevolence and justice, are + correlative with these two great portions of the only true object of all + voluntary actions of a human being. Benevolence is the desire to be the + author of good, and justice the apprehension of the manner in which good + ought to be done. + </p> + <p> + Justice and benevolence result from the elementary laws of the human mind. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I ON THE NATURE OF VIRTUE + </h2> + <p> + SECT. 1. General View of the Nature and Objects of Virtue.—2. The + Origin and Basis of Virtue, as founded on the Elementary Principles of + Mind.—3. The Laws which flow from the nature of Mind regulating the + application of those principles to human actions;—4. Virtue, a + possible attribute of man. + </p> + <p> + We exist in the midst of a multitude of beings like ourselves, upon whose + happiness most of our actions exert some obvious and decisive influence. + </p> + <p> + The regulation of this influence is the object of moral science. We know + that we are susceptible of receiving painful or pleasurable impressions of + greater or less intensity and duration. That is called good which produces + pleasure; that is called evil which produces pain. These are general + names, applicable to every class of causes, from which an overbalance of + pain or pleasure may result. But when a human being is the active + instrument of generating or diffusing happiness, the principle through + which it is most effectually instrumental to that purpose, is called + virtue. And benevolence, or the desire to be the author of good, united + with justice, or an apprehension of the manner in which that good is to be + done, constitutes virtue. + </p> + <p> + But wherefore should a man be benevolent and just? The immediate emotions + of his nature, especially in its most inartificial state, prompt him to + inflict pain, and to arrogate dominion. He desires to heap superfluities + to his own store, although others perish with famine. He is propelled to + guard against the smallest invasion of his own liberty, though he reduces + others to a condition of the most pitiless servitude. He is revengeful, + proud and selfish. Wherefore should he curb these propensities? + </p> + <p> + It is inquired, for what reason a human being should engage in procuring + the happiness, or refrain from producing the pain of another? When a + reason is required to prove the necessity of adopting any system of + conduct, what is it that the objector demands? He requires proof of that + system of conduct being such as will most effectually promote the + happiness of mankind. To demonstrate this, is to render a moral reason. + Such is the object of virtue. + </p> + <p> + A common sophism, which, like many others, depends on the abuse of a + metaphorical expression to a literal purpose, has produced much of the + confusion which has involved the theory of morals. It is said that no + person is bound to be just or kind, if, on his neglect, he should fail to + incur some penalty. Duty is obligation. There can be no obligation without + an obliger. Virtue is a law, to which it is the will of the lawgiver that + we should conform; which will we should in no manner be bound to obey, + unless some dreadful punishment were attached to disobedience. This is the + philosophy of slavery and superstition. + </p> + <p> + In fact, no person can be BOUND or OBLIGED, without some power preceding + to bind and oblige. If I observe a man bound hand and foot, I know that + some one bound him. But if I observe him returning self-satisfied from the + performance of some action, by which he has been the willing author of + extensive benefit, I do not infer that the anticipation of hellish + agonies, or the hope of heavenly reward, has constrained him to such an + act. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + . . . . . . . +</pre> + <p> + It remains to be stated in what manner the sensations which constitute the + basis of virtue originate in the human mind; what are the laws which it + receives there; how far the principles of mind allow it to be an attribute + of a human being; and, lastly, what is the probability of persuading + mankind to adopt it as a universal and systematic motive of conduct. + </p> + <h3> + BENEVOLENCE + </h3> + <p> + There is a class of emotions which we instinctively avoid. A human being, + such as is man considered in his origin, a child a month old, has a very + imperfect consciousness of the existence of other natures resembling + itself. All the energies of its being are directed to the extinction of + the pains with which it is perpetually assailed. At length it discovers + that it is surrounded by natures susceptible of sensations similar to its + own. It is very late before children attain to this knowledge. If a child + observes, without emotion, its nurse or its mother suffering acute pain, + it is attributable rather to ignorance than insensibility. So soon as the + accents and gestures, significant of pain, are referred to the feelings + which they express, they awaken in the mind of the beholder a desire that + they should cease. Pain is thus apprehended to be evil for its own sake, + without any other necessary reference to the mind by which its existence + is perceived, than such as is indispensable to its perception. The + tendencies of our original sensations, indeed, all have for their object + the preservation of our individual being. But these are passive and + unconscious. In proportion as the mind acquires an active power, the + empire of these tendencies becomes limited. Thus an infant, a savage, and + a solitary beast, is selfish, because its mind is incapable of receiving + an accurate intimation of the nature of pain as existing in beings + resembling itself. The inhabitant of a highly civilized community will + more acutely sympathize with the sufferings and enjoyments of others, than + the inhabitant of a society of a less degree of civilization. He who shall + have cultivated his intellectual powers by familiarity with the highest + specimens of poetry and philosophy, will usually sympathize more than one + engaged in the less refined functions of manual labour. Every one has + experience of the fact, that to sympathize with the sufferings of another, + is to enjoy a transitory oblivion of his own. + </p> + <p> + The mind thus acquires, by exercise, a habit, as it were, of perceiving + and abhorring evil, however remote from the immediate sphere of sensations + with which that individual mind is conversant. Imagination or mind + employed in prophetically imaging forth its objects, is that faculty of + human nature on which every gradation of its progress, nay, every, the + minutest, change, depends. Pain or pleasure, if subtly analysed, will be + found to consist entirely in prospect. The only distinction between the + selfish man and the virtuous man is, that the imagination of the former is + confined within a narrow limit, whilst that of the latter embraces a + comprehensive circumference. In this sense, wisdom and virtue may be said + to be inseparable, and criteria of each other. Selfishness is the + offspring of ignorance and mistake; it is the portion of unreflecting + infancy, and savage solitude, or of those whom toil or evil occupations + have blunted or rendered torpid; disinterested benevolence is the product + of a cultivated imagination, and has an intimate connexion with all the + arts which add ornament, or dignity, or power, or stability to the social + state of man. Virtue is thus entirely a refinement of civilized life; a + creation of the human mind; or, rather, a combination which it has made, + according to elementary rules contained within itself, of the feelings + suggested by the relations established between man and man. + </p> + <p> + All the theories which have refined and exalted humanity, or those which + have been devised as alleviations of its mistakes and evils, have been + based upon the elementary emotions of disinterestedness, which we feel to + constitute the majesty of our nature. Patriotism, as it existed in the + ancient republics, was never, as has been supposed, a calculation of + personal advantages. When Mutius Scaevola thrust his hand into the burning + coals, and Regulus returned to Carthage, and Epicharis sustained the rack + silently, in the torments of which she knew that she would speedily + perish, rather than betray the conspirators to the tyrant [Footnote: + Tacitus.]; these illustrious persons certainly made a small estimate of + their private interest. If it be said that they sought posthumous fame; + instances are not wanting in history which prove that men have even defied + infamy for the sake of good. But there is a great error in the world with + respect to the selfishness of fame. It is certainly possible that a person + should seek distinction as a medium of personal gratification. But the + love of fame is frequently no more than a desire that the feelings of + others should confirm, illustrate, and sympathize with, our own. In this + respect it is allied with all that draws us out of ourselves. It is the + 'last infirmity of noble minds'. Chivalry was likewise founded on the + theory of self-sacrifice. Love possesses so extraordinary a power over the + human heart, only because disinterestedness is united with the natural + propensities. These propensities themselves are comparatively impotent in + cases where the imagination of pleasure to be given, as well as to be + received, does not enter into the account. Let it not be objected that + patriotism, and chivalry, and sentimental love, have been the fountains of + enormous mischief. They are cited only to establish the proposition that, + according to the elementary principles of mind, man is capable of desiring + and pursuing good for its own sake. + </p> + <h3> + JUSTICE + </h3> + <p> + The benevolent propensities are thus inherent in the human mind. We are + impelled to seek the happiness of others. We experience a satisfaction in + being the authors of that happiness. Everything that lives is open to + impressions or pleasure and pain. We are led by our benevolent + propensities to regard every human being indifferently with whom we come + in contact. They have preference only with respect to those who offer + themselves most obviously to our notice. Human beings are indiscriminating + and blind; they will avoid inflicting pain, though that pain should be + attended with eventual benefit; they will seek to confer pleasure without + calculating the mischief that may result. They benefit one at the expense + of many. + </p> + <p> + There is a sentiment in the human mind that regulates benevolence in its + application as a principle of action. This is the sense of justice. + Justice, as well as benevolence, is an elementary law of human nature. It + is through this principle that men are impelled to distribute any means of + pleasure which benevolence may suggest the communication of to others, in + equal portions among an equal number of applicants. If ten men are + shipwrecked on a desert island, they distribute whatever subsistence may + remain to them, into equal portions among themselves. If six of them + conspire to deprive the remaining four of their share, their conduct is + termed unjust. + </p> + <p> + The existence of pain has been shown to be a circumstance which the human + mind regards with dissatisfaction, and of which it desires the cessation. + It is equally according to its nature to desire that the advantages to be + enjoyed by a limited number of persons should be enjoyed equally by all. + This proposition is supported by the evidence of indisputable facts. Tell + some ungarbled tale of a number of persons being made the victims of the + enjoyments of one, and he who would appeal in favour of any system which + might produce such an evil to the primary emotions of our nature, would + have nothing to reply. Let two persons, equally strangers, make + application for some benefit in the possession of a third to bestow, and + to which he feels that they have an equal claim. They are both sensitive + beings; pleasure and pain affect them alike. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II + </h2> + <p> + It is foreign to the general scope of this little treatise to encumber a + simple argument by controverting any of the trite objections of habit or + fanaticism. But there are two; the first, the basis of all political + mistake, and the second, the prolific cause and effect of religious error, + which it seems useful to refute. + </p> + <p> + First, it is inquired, 'Wherefore should a man be benevolent and just?' + The answer has been given in the preceding chapter. + </p> + <p> + If a man persists to inquire why he ought to promote the happiness of + mankind, he demands a mathematical or metaphysical reason for a moral + action. The absurdity of this scepticism is more apparent, but not less + real than the exacting a moral reason for a mathematical or metaphysical + fact. If any person should refuse to admit that all the radii of a circle + are of equal length, or that human actions are necessarily determined by + motives, until it could be proved that these radii and these actions + uniformly tended to the production of the greatest general good, who would + not wonder at the unreasonable and capricious association of his ideas? + </p> + <p> + The writer of a philosophical treatise may, I imagine, at this advanced + era of human intellect, be held excused from entering into a controversy + with those reasoners, if such there are, who would claim an exemption from + its decrees in favour of any one among those diversified systems of + obscure opinion respecting morals, which, under the name of religions, + have in various ages and countries prevailed among mankind. Besides that + if, as these reasoners have pretended, eternal torture or happiness will + ensue as the consequence of certain actions, we should be no nearer the + possession of a standard to determine what actions were right and wrong, + even if this pretended revelation, which is by no means the case, had + furnished us with a complete catalogue of them. The character of actions + as virtuous or vicious would by no means be determined alone by the + personal advantage or disadvantage of each moral agent individually + considered. Indeed, an action is often virtuous in proportion to the + greatness of the personal calamity which the author willingly draws upon + himself by daring to perform it. It is because an action produces an + overbalance of pleasure or pain to the greatest number of sentient beings, + and not merely because its consequences are beneficial or injurious to the + author of that action, that it is good or evil. Nay, this latter + consideration has a tendency to pollute the purity of virtue, inasmuch as + it consists in the motive rather than in the consequences of an action. A + person who should labour for the happiness of mankind lest he should be + tormented eternally in Hell, would, with reference to that motive, possess + as little claim to the epithet of virtuous, as he who should torture, + imprison, and burn them alive, a more usual and natural consequence of + such principles, for the sake of the enjoyments of Heaven. + </p> + <p> + My neighbour, presuming on his strength, may direct me to perform or to + refrain from a particular action; indicating a certain arbitrary penalty + in the event of disobedience within power to inflict. My action, if + modified by his menaces, can no degree participate in virtue. He has + afforded me no criterion as to what is right or wrong. A king, or an + assembly of men, may publish a proclamation affixing any penalty to any + particular action, but that is not immoral because such penalty is + affixed. Nothing is more evident than that the epithet of virtue is + inapplicable to the refraining from that action on account of the evil + arbitrarily attached to it. If the action is in itself beneficial, virtue + would rather consist in not refraining from it, but in firmly defying the + personal consequences attached to its performance. + </p> + <p> + Some usurper of supernatural energy might subdue the whole globe to his + power; he might possess new and unheard-of resources for enduing his + punishments with the most terrible attributes or pain. The torments of his + victims might be intense in their degree, and protracted to an infinite + duration. Still the 'will of the lawgiver' would afford no surer criterion + as to what actions were right or wrong. It would only increase the + possible virtue of those who refuse to become the instruments of his + tyranny. + </p> + <p> + II—MORAL SCIENCE CONSISTS IN CONSIDERING THE DIFFERENCE, NOT THE + RESEMBLANCE, OF PERSONS + </p> + <p> + The internal influence, derived from the constitution of the mind from + which they flow, produces that peculiar modification of actions, which + makes them intrinsically good or evil. + </p> + <p> + To attain an apprehension of the importance of this distinction, let us + visit, in imagination, the proceedings of some metropolis. Consider the + multitude of human beings who inhabit it, and survey, in thought, the + actions of the several classes into which they are divided. Their obvious + actions are apparently uniform: the stability of human society seems to be + maintained sufficiently by the uniformity of the conduct of its members, + both with regard to themselves, and with regard to others. The labourer + arises at a certain hour, and applies himself to the task enjoined him. + The functionaries of government and law are regularly employed in their + offices and courts. The trader holds a train of conduct from which he + never deviates. The ministers of religion employ an accustomed language, + and maintain a decent and equable regard. The army is drawn forth, the + motions of every soldier are such as they were expected to be; the general + commands, and his words are echoed from troop to troop. The domestic + actions of men are, for the most part, undistinguishable one from the + other, at a superficial glance. The actions which are classed under the + general appellation of marriage, education, friendship, &c., are + perpetually going on, and to a superficial glance, are similar one to the + other. + </p> + <p> + But, if we would see the truth of things, they must be stripped of this + fallacious appearance of uniformity. In truth, no one action has, when + considered in its whole extent, any essential resemblance with any other. + Each individual, who composes the vast multitude which we have been + contemplating, has a peculiar frame of mind, which, whilst the features of + the great mass of his actions remain uniform, impresses the minuter + lineaments with its peculiar hues. Thus, whilst his life, as a whole, is + like the lives of other men, in detail, it is most unlike; and the more + subdivided the actions become; that is, the more they enter into that + class which have a vital influence on the happiness of others and his own, + so much the more are they distinct from those of other men. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Those little, nameless, unremembered acts + Of kindness and of love, +</pre> + <p> + as well as those deadly outrages which are inflicted by a look, a word—or + less—the very refraining from some faint and most evanescent + expression of countenance; these flow from a profounder source than the + series of our habitual conduct, which, it has been already said, derives + its origin from without. These are the actions, and such as these, which + make human life what it is, and are the fountains of all the good and evil + with which its entire surface is so widely and impartially overspread; and + though they are called minute, they are called so in compliance with the + blindness of those who cannot estimate their importance. It is in the due + appreciating the general effects of their peculiarities, and in + cultivating the habit of acquiring decisive knowledge respecting the + tendencies arising out of them in particular cases, that the most + important part of moral science consists. The deepest abyss of these vast + and multitudinous caverns, it is necessary that we should visit. + </p> + <p> + This is the difference between social and individual man. Not that this + distinction is to be considered definite, or characteristic of one human + being as compared with another; it denotes rather two classes of agency, + common in a degree to every human being. None is exempt, indeed, from that + species of influence which affects, as it were, the surface of his being, + and gives the specific outline to his conduct. Almost all that is + ostensible submits to that legislature created by the general + representation of the past feelings of mankind—imperfect as it is + from a variety of causes, as it exists in the government, the religion, + and domestic habits. Those who do not nominally, yet actually, submit to + the same power. The external features of their conduct, indeed, can no + more escape it, than the clouds can escape from the stream of the wind; + and his opinion, which he often hopes he has dispassionately secured from + all contagion of prejudice and vulgarity, would be found, on examination, + to be the inevitable excrescence of the very usages from which he + vehemently dissents. Internally all is conducted otherwise; the + efficiency, the essence, the vitality of actions, derives its colour from + what is no ways contributed to from any external source. Like the plant + which while it derives the accident of its size and shape from the soil in + which it springs, and is cankered, or distorted, or inflated, yet retains + those qualities which essentially divide it from all others; so that + hemlock continues to be poison, and the violet does not cease to emit its + odour in whatever soil it may grow. + </p> + <p> + We consider our own nature too superficially. We look on all that in + ourselves with which we can discover a resemblance in others; and consider + those resemblances as the materials of moral knowledge. It is in the + differences that it actually consists. + </p> + <p> + [1815; publ. 1840] + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + ESSAY ON THE LITERATURE, THE ARTS, AND THE MANNERS OF THE ATHENIANS + </h2> + <h3> + A FRAGMENT + </h3> + <p> + The period which intervened between the birth of Pericles and the death of + Aristotle, is undoubtedly, whether considered in itself, or with reference + to the effects which it has produced upon the subsequent destinies of + civilized man, the most memorable in the history of the world. What was + the combination of moral and political circumstances which produced so + unparalleled a progress during that period in literature and the arts;—why + that progress, so rapid and so sustained, so soon received a check, and + became retrograde,—are problems left to the wonder and conjecture of + posterity. The wrecks and fragments of those subtle and profound minds, + like the ruins of a fine statue, obscurely suggest to us the grandeur and + perfection of the whole. Their very language—a type of the + understandings of which it was the creation and the image—in + variety, in simplicity, in flexibility, and in copiousness, excels every + other language of the western world. Their sculptures are such as we, in + our presumption, assume to be the models of ideal truth and beauty, and to + which no artist of modern times can produce forms in any degree + comparable. Their paintings, according to Pliny and Pausanias, were full + of delicacy and harmony; and some even were powerfully pathetic, so as to + awaken, like tender music or tragic poetry, the most overwhelming + emotions. We are accustomed to conceive the painters of the sixteenth + century, as those who have brought their art to the highest perfection, + probably because none of the ancient paintings have been preserved. For + all the inventive arts maintain, as it were, a sympathetic connexion + between each other, being no more than various expressions of one internal + power, modified by different circumstances, either of an individual, or of + society; and the paintings of that period would probably bear the same + relation as is confessedly borne by the sculptures to all succeeding ones. + Of their music we know little; but the effects which it is said to have + produced, whether they be attributed to the skill of the composer, or the + sensibility of his audience, are far more powerful than any which we + experience from the music of our own times; and if, indeed, the melody of + their compositions were more tender and delicate, and inspiring, than the + melodies of some modern European nations, their superiority in this art + must have been something wonderful, and wholly beyond conception. + </p> + <p> + Their poetry seems to maintain a very high, though not so disproportionate + a rank, in the comparison. Perhaps Shakespeare, from the variety and + comprehension of his genius, is to be considered, on the whole, as the + greatest individual mind, of which we have specimens remaining. Perhaps + Dante created imaginations of greater loveliness and energy than any that + are to be found in the ancient literature of Greece. Perhaps nothing has + been discovered in the fragments of the Greek lyric poets equivalent to + the sublime and chivalric sensibility of Petrarch.—But, as a poet. + Homer must be acknowledged to excel Shakespeare in the truth, the harmony, + the sustained grandeur, the satisfying completeness of his images, their + exact fitness to the illustration, and to that to which they belong. Nor + could Dante, deficient in conduct, plan, nature, variety, and temperance, + have been brought into comparison with these men, but for those fortunate + isles laden with golden fruit, which alone could tempt any one to embark + in the misty ocean of his dark and extravagant fiction. + </p> + <p> + But, omitting the comparison of individual minds, which can afford no + general inference, how superior was the spirit and system of their poetry + to that of any other period! So that had any other genius equal in other + respects to the greatest that ever enlightened the world, arisen in that + age, he would have been superior to all, from this circumstance alone—that + had conceptions would have assumed a more harmonious and perfect form. For + it is worthy of observation, that whatever the poet of that age produced + is as harmonious and perfect as possible. In a drama, for instance, were + the composition of a person of inferior talent, it was still homogeneous + and free from inequalities it was a whole, consistent with itself. The + compositions of great minds bore throughout the sustained stamp of their + greatness. In the poetry of succeeding ages the expectations are often + exalted on Icarian wings, and fall, too much disappointed to give a memory + and a name to the oblivious pool in which they fell. + </p> + <p> + In physical knowledge Aristotle and Theophrastus had already—no + doubt assisted by the labours of those of their predecessor whom they + criticize—made advances worthy of the maturity of science. The + astonishing invention of geometry, that series of discoveries which have + enabled man to command the element and foresee future events, before the + subjects of his ignorant wonder, and which have opened as it were the + doors of the mysteries of nature, had already been brought to great + perfection. Metaphysics, the science of man's intimate nature, and logic, + or the grammar and elementary principles of that science received from the + latter philosophers of the Periclean age a firm basis. All our more exact + philosophy is built upon the labours of these great men, and many of the + words which we employ in metaphysical distinctions were invented by them + to give accuracy and system to their reasonings. The science of morals, or + the voluntary conduct of men in relation to themselves or others, dates + from this epoch. How inexpressibly bolder and more pure were the doctrines + of those great men, in comparison with the timid maxims which prevail in + the writings of the most esteemed modern moralists! They were such as + Phocion, and Epaminondas, and Timoleon, who formed themselves on their + influence, were to the wretched heroes of our own age. + </p> + <p> + Their political and religious institutions are more difficult to bring + into comparison with those of other times. A summary idea may be formed of + the worth of any political and religious system, by observing the + comparative degree of happiness and of intellect produced under its + influence. And whilst many institution and opinions, which in ancient + Greece were obstacles to the improvement of the human race, have been + abolished among modern nations, how many pernicious superstitions and new + contrivances of misrule, and unheard-of complications of public mischief, + have not been invented among them by the ever-watchful spirit of avarice + and tyranny! + </p> + <p> + The modern nations of the civilized world owe the progress which they have + made—as well in those physical sciences in which they have already + excelled their masters, as in the moral and intellectual inquiries, in + which, with all the advantage of the experience of the latter, it can + scarcely be said that they have yet equalled them,—to what is called + the revival of learning; that is, the study of the writers of the age + which preceded and immediately followed the government of Pericles, or of + subsequent writers, who were, so to speak, the rivers flowing from those + immortal fountains. And though there seems to be a principle in the modern + world, which, should circumstances analogous to those which modelled the + intellectual resources of the age to which we refer, into so harmonious a + proportion, again arise, would arrest and perpetuate them, and consign + their results to a more equal, extensive, and lasting improvement of the + condition of man—though justice and the true meaning of human + society are, if not more accurately, more generally understood; though + perhaps men know more, and therefore are more, as a mass, yet this + principle has never been called into action, and requires indeed a + universal and an almost appalling change in the system of existing things. + The study of modern history is the study of kings, financiers, statesmen, + and priests. The history of ancient Greece is the study of legislators, + philosophers, and poets; it is the history of men, compared with the + history of titles. What the Greeks were, was a reality, not a promise. And + what we are and hope to be, is derived, as it were, from the influence and + inspiration of these glorious generations. + </p> + <p> + Whatever tends to afford a further illustration of the manners and + opinions of those to whom we owe so much, and who were perhaps, on the + whole, the most perfect specimens of humanity of whom we have authentic + record, were infinitely valuable. Let us see their errors, their + weaknesses, their daily actions, their familiar conversation, and catch + the tone of their society. When we discover how far the most admirable + community ever framed was removed from that perfection to which human + society is impelled by some active power within each bosom to aspire, how + great ought to be our hopes, how resolute our struggles! For the Greeks of + the Periclean age were widely different from us. It is to be lamented that + no modern writer has hitherto dared to show them precisely as they were. + Barthelemi cannot be denied the praise of industry and system; but he + never forgets that he is a Christian and a Frenchman. Wieland, in his + delightful novels, makes indeed a very tolerable Pagan, but cherishes too + many political prejudices, and refrains from diminishing the interest of + his romances by painting sentiments in which no European of modern times + can possibly sympathize. There is no book which shows the Greeks precisely + as they were; they seem all written for children with the caution that no + practice or sentiment, highly inconsistent with our present manners, + should be mentioned, lest those manners should receive outrage and + violation. But there are many to whom the Greek language is inaccessible, + who ought not to be excluded by this prudery from possessing an exact and + comprehensive conception of the history of man; for there is no knowledge + concerning what man has been and may be, from partaking of which a person + can depart, without becoming in some degree more philosophical, tolerant, + and just. + </p> + <p> + One of the chief distinctions between the manners of ancient Greece and + modern Europe, consisted in the regulations and the sentiments respecting + sexual intercourse. Whether this difference arises from some imperfect + influence of the doctrines of Jesus, who alleges the absolute and + unconditional equality of all human beings, or from the institutions of + chivalry, or from a certain fundamental difference of physical nature + existing in the Celts, or from a combination of all or any of these causes + acting on each other, is a question worthy of voluminous investigation. + The fact is, that the modern Europeans have in this circumstance, and in + the abolition of slavery, made an improvement the most decisive in the + regulation of human society; and all the virtue and the wisdom of the + Periclean age arose under other institutions, in spite of the diminution + which personal slavery and the inferiority of women, recognized by law and + opinion, must have produced in the delicacy, the strength, the + comprehensiveness, and the accuracy of their conceptions, in moral, + political, and metaphysical science, and perhaps in every other art and + science. + </p> + <p> + The women, thus degraded, became such as it was expected they would + become. They possessed, except with extraordinary exceptions, the habits + and the qualities of slaves. They were probably not extremely beautiful; + at least there was no such disproportion in the attractions of the + external form between the female and male sex among the Greeks, as exists + among the modern Europeans. They were certainly devoid of that moral and + intellectual loveliness with which the acquisition of knowledge and the + cultivation of sentiment animates, as with another life of overpowering + grace, the lineaments and the gestures of every form which they inhabit. + Their eyes could not have been deep and intricate from the workings of the + mind, and could have entangled no heart in soul-enwoven labyrinths. + </p> + <p> + Let it not be imagined that because the Greeks were deprived of its + legitimate object, they were incapable of sentimental love; and that this + passion is the mere child of chivalry and the literature of modern times. + This object or its archetype for ever exists in the mind, which selects + among those who resemble it that which most resembles it; and + instinctively fills up the interstices of the imperfect image, in the same + manner as the imagination moulds and completes the shapes in clouds, or in + the fire, into the resemblances of whatever form, animal, building, &c., + happens to be present to it. Man is in his wildest state a social being: a + certain degree of civilization and refinement ever produces the want of + sympathies still more intimate and complete; and the gratification of the + senses is no longer all that is sought in sexual connexion. It soon + becomes a very small part of that profound and complicated sentiment, + which we call love, which is rather the universal thirst for a communion + not only of the senses, but of our whole nature, intellectual, imaginative + and sensitive, and which, when individualized, becomes an imperious + necessity, only to be satisfied by the complete or partial, actual or + supposed fulfilment of its claims. This want grows more powerful in + proportion to the development which our nature receives from civilization, + for man never ceases to be a social being. The sexual impulse, which is + only one, and often a small part of those claims, serves, from its obvious + and external nature, as a kind of type or expression of the rest, a common + basis, an acknowledged and visible link. Still it is a claim which even + derives a strength not its own from the accessory circumstances which + surround it, and one which our nature thirsts to satisfy. To estimate + this, observe the degree of intensity and durability of the love of the + male towards the female in animals and savages and acknowledge all the + duration and intensity observable in the love of civilized beings beyond + that of savages to be produced from other causes. In the susceptibility of + the external senses there is probably no important difference. + </p> + <p> + Among the ancient Greeks the male sex, one half of the human race, + received the highest cultivation and refinement: whilst the other, so far + as intellect is concerned, were educated as slaves and were raised but few + degrees in all that related to moral of intellectual excellence above the + condition of savages. The gradations in the society of man present us with + slow improvement in this respect. The Roman women held a higher + consideration in society, and were esteemed almost as the equal partners + with their husbands in the regulation of domestic economy and the + education of their children. The practices and customs of modern Europe + are essentially different from and incomparably less pernicious than + either, however remote from what an enlightened mind cannot fail to desire + as the future destiny of human beings. + </p> + <p> + [1818; publ. 1840] + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + ON THE SYMPOSIUM, OR PREFACE TO THE BANQUET OF PLATO + </h2> + <h3> + A FRAGMENT + </h3> + <p> + The dialogue entitled The Banquet was selected by the translator as the + most beautiful and perfect among all the works of Plato. [Footnote: The + Republic, though replete with considerable errors of speculation, is, + indeed, the greatest repository of important truths of all the works of + Plato. This, perhaps, is because it is the longest. He first, and perhaps + last, maintained that a state ought to be governed, not by the wealthiest, + or the most ambitious, or the most cunning, but by the wisest; the method + of selecting such rulers, and the laws by which such a selection is made, + must correspond with and arise out of the moral freedom and refinement of + the people.] He despairs of having communicated to the English language + any portion of the surpassing graces of the composition, or having done + more than present an imperfect shadow of the language and the sentiment of + this astonishing production. + </p> + <p> + Plato is eminently the greatest among the Greek philosophers, and from, + or, rather, perhaps through him, his master Socrates, have proceeded those + emanations of moral and metaphysical knowledge, on which a long series and + an incalculable variety of popular superstitions have sheltered their + absurdities from the slow contempt of mankind. Plato exhibits the rare + union of close and subtle logic with the Pythian enthusiasm of poetry, + melted by the splendour and harmony of his periods into one irresistible + stream of musical impressions, which hurry the persuasions onward, as in a + breathless career. His language is that of an immortal spirit, rather than + a man. Lord Bacon is, perhaps, the only writer, who, in these particulars, + can be compared with him: his imitator, Cicero, sinks in the comparison + into an ape mocking the gestures of a man. His views into the nature of + mind and existence are often obscure, only because they are profound; and + though his theories respecting the government of the world, and the + elementary laws of moral action, are not always correct, yet there is + scarcely any of his treatises which do not, however stained by puerile + sophisms, contain the most remarkable intuitions into all that can be the + subject of the human mind. His excellence consists especially in + intuition, and it is this faculty which raises him far above Aristotle, + whose genius, though vivid and various, is obscure in comparison with that + of Plato. + </p> + <p> + The dialogue entitled the Banquet, is called [word in Greek], or a + Discussion upon Love, and is supposed to have taken place at the house of + Agathon, at one of a series of festivals given by that poet, on the + occasion of his gaining the prize of tragedy at the Dionysiaca. The + account of the debate on this occasion is supposed to have been given by + Apollodorus, a pupil of Socrates, many years after it had taken place, to + a companion who was curious to hear it. This Apollodorus appears, both + from the style in which he is represented in this piece, as well as from a + passage in the Phaedon, to have been a person of an impassioned and + enthusiastic disposition; to borrow an image from the Italian painters, he + seems to have been the St. John of the Socratic group. The drama (for so + the lively distinction of character and the various and well-wrought + circumstances of the story almost entitle it to be called) begins by + Socrates persuading Aristodemus to sup at Agathon's, uninvited. The whole + of this introduction affords the most lively conception of refined + Athenian manners. + </p> + <p> + [1818; publ. 1840] [UNFINISHED] + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + A DEFENCE OF POETRY + </h2> + <h3> + I + </h3> + <p> + According to one mode of regarding those two classes of mental action, + which are called reason and imagination, the former may be considered as + mind contemplating the relations borne by one thought to another, however + produced; and the latter, as mind acting upon those thoughts so as to + colour them with its own light, and composing from them, as from elements, + other thoughts, each containing within itself the principle of its own + integrity. The one is the [word in Greek], or the principle of synthesis, + and has for its objects those forms which are common to universal nature + and existence itself; the other is the [word in Greek], or principle of + analysis, and its action regards the relations of things, simply as + relations; considering thoughts, not in their integral unity, but as the + algebraical representations which conduct to certain general results. + Reason is the enumeration of quantities already known; imagination is the + perception of the value of those quantities, both separately and as a + whole. Reason respects the differences, and imagination the similitudes of + things. Reason is to the imagination as the instrument to the agent, as + the body to the spirit, as the shadow to the substance. + </p> + <p> + Poetry, in a general sense, may be defined to be 'the expression of the + imagination': and poetry is connate with the origin of man. Man is an + instrument over which a series of external and internal impressions are + driven, like the alternations of an ever-changing wind over an Aeolian + lyre, which move it by their motion to ever-changing melody. But there is + a principle within the human being, and perhaps within all sentient + beings, which acts otherwise than in the lyre, and produces not melody + alone, but harmony, by an internal adjustment of the sounds or motions + thus excited to the impressions which excite them. It is as if the lyre + could accommodate its chords to the motions of that which strikes them, in + a determined proportion of sound; even as the musician can accommodate his + voice to the sound of the lyre. A child at play by itself will express its + delight by its voice and motions; and every inflexion of tone and every + gesture will bear exact relation to a corresponding antitype in the + pleasurable impressions which awakened it; it will be the reflected image + of that impression; and as the lyre trembles and sounds after the wind has + died away, so the child seeks, by prolonging in its voice and motions the + duration of the effect, to prolong also a consciousness of the cause. In + relation to the objects which delight a child, these expressions are, what + poetry is to higher objects. The savage (for the savage is to ages what + the child is to years) expresses the emotions produced in him by + surrounding objects in a similar manner; and language and gesture, + together with plastic or pictorial imitation, become the image of the + combined effect of those objects, and of his apprehension of them. Man in + society, with all his passions and his pleasures, next becomes the object + of the passions and pleasures of man; an additional class of emotions + produces an augmented treasure of expressions; and language, gesture, and + the imitative arts, become at once the representation and the medium, the + pencil and the picture, the chisel and the statue, the chord and the + harmony. The social sympathies, or those laws from which, as from its + elements, society results, begin to develop themselves from the moment + that two human beings coexist; the future is contained within the present, + as the plant within the seed; and equality, diversity, unity, contrast, + mutual dependence, become the principles alone capable of affording the + motives according to which the will of a social being is determined to + action, inasmuch as he is social; and constitute pleasure in sensation, + virtue in sentiment, beauty in art, truth in reasoning, and love in the + intercourse of kind. Hence men, even in the infancy of society, observe a + certain order in their words and actions, distinct from that of the + objects and the impressions represented by them, all expression being + subject to the laws of that from which it proceeds. But let us dismiss + those more general considerations which might involve an inquiry into the + principles of society itself, and restrict our view to the manner in which + the imagination is expressed upon its forms. + </p> + <p> + In the youth of the world, men dance and sing and imitate natural objects, + observing in these actions, as in all others, a certain rhythm or order. + And, although all men observe a similar, they observe not the same order, + in the motions of the dance, in the melody of the song, in the + combinations of language, in the series of their imitations of natural + objects. For there is a certain order or rhythm belonging to each of these + classes of mimetic representation, from which the hearer and the spectator + receive an intenser and purer pleasure than from any other: the sense of + an approximation to this order has been called taste by modern writers. + Every man in the infancy of art observes an order which approximates more + or less closely to that from which this highest delight results: but the + diversity is not sufficiently marked, as that its gradations should be + sensible, except in those instances where the predominance of this faculty + of approximation to the beautiful (for so we may be permitted to name the + relation between this highest pleasure and its cause) is very great. Those + in whom it exists in excess are poets, in the most universal sense of the + word; and the pleasure resulting from the manner in which they express the + influence of society or nature upon their own minds, communicates itself + to others, and gathers a sort or reduplication from that community. Their + language is vitally metaphorical; that is, it marks the before + unapprehended relations of things and perpetuates their apprehension, + until the words which represent them become, through time, signs for + portions or classes of thoughts instead of pictures of integral thoughts; + and then if no new poets should arise to create afresh the associations + which have been thus disorganized, language will be dead to all the nobler + purposes of human intercourse. These similitudes or relations are finely + said by Lord Bacon to be 'the same footsteps of nature impressed upon the + various subjects of the world'; [Footnote: De Augment. Scient., cap. i, + lib. iii.] and he considers the faculty which perceives them as the + storehouse of axioms common to all knowledge. In the infancy of society + every author is necessarily a poet, because language itself is poetry; and + to be a poet is to apprehend the true and the beautiful, in a word, the + good which exists in the relation, subsisting, first between existence and + perception, and secondly between perception and expression. Every original + language near to its source is in itself the chaos of a cyclic poem: the + copiousness of lexicography and the distinctions of grammar are the works + of a later age, and are merely the catalogue and the form of the creations + of poetry. + </p> + <p> + But poets, or those who imagine and express this indestructible order, are + not only the authors of language and of music, of the dance, and + architecture, and statuary, and painting; they are the institutors of + laws, and the founders of civil society, and the inventors of the arts of + life, and the teachers, who draw into a certain propinquity with the + beautiful and the true, that partial apprehension of the agencies of the + invisible world which is called religion. Hence all original religions are + allegorical, or susceptible of allegory, and, like Janus, have a double + face of false and true. Poets, according to the circumstances of the age + and nation in which they appeared, were called, in the earlier epochs of + the world, legislators, or prophets: a poet essentially comprises and + unites both these characters. For he not only beholds intensely the + present as it is, and discovers those laws according to which present + things ought to be ordered, but he beholds the future in the present, and + his thoughts are the germs of the flower and the fruit of latest time. Not + that I assert poets to be prophets in the gross sense of the word, or that + they can foretell the form as surely as they foreknow the spirit of + events: such is the pretence of superstition, which would make poetry an + attribute of prophecy, rather than prophecy an attribute of poetry. A poet + participates in the eternal, the infinite, and the one; as far as relates + to his conceptions, time and place and number are not. The grammatical + forms which express the moods of time, and the difference of persons, and + the distinction of place, are convertible with respect to the highest + poetry without injuring it as poetry; and the choruses of Aeschylus, and + the book of Job, and Dante's Paradise, would afford, more than any other + writings, examples of this fact, if the limits of this essay did not + forbid citation. The creations of sculpture, painting, and music, are + illustrations still more decisive. + </p> + <p> + Language, colour, form, and religious and civil habits of action, are all + the instruments and materials of poetry; they may be called poetry by that + figure of speech which considers the effect as a synonym of the cause. But + poetry in a more restricted sense expresses those arrangements of + language, and especially metrical language, which are created by that + imperial faculty; whose throne is curtained within the invisible nature of + man. And this springs from the nature itself of language, which is a more + direct representation of the actions and passions of our internal being, + and is susceptible of more various and delicate combinations, than colour, + form, or motion, and is more plastic and obedient to the control of that + faculty of which it is the creation. For language is arbitrarily produced + by the imagination and has relation to thoughts alone; but all other + materials, instruments and conditions of art, have relations among each + other, which limit and interpose between conception and expression The + former is as a mirror which reflects, the latter as a cloud which + enfeebles, the light of which both are mediums of communication. Hence the + fame of sculptors, painters, and musicians, although the intrinsic powers + of the great masters of these arts may yield in no degree to that of those + who have employed language as the hieroglyphic of their thoughts, has + never equalled that of poets in the restricted sense of the term, as two + performers of equal skill will produce unequal effects from a guitar and a + harp. The fame of legislators and founders of religions, so long as their + institutions last, alone seems to exceed that of poets in the restricted + sense; but it can scarcely be a question, whether, if we deduct the + celebrity which their flattery of the gross opinions of the vulgar usually + conciliates, together with that which belonged to them in their higher + character of poets, any excess will remain. + </p> + <p> + We have thus circumscribed the word poetry within the limits of that art + which is the most familiar and the most perfect expression of the faculty + itself. It is necessary, however, to make the circle still narrower, and + to determine the distinction between measured and unmeasured language; for + the popular division into prose and verse is inadmissible in accurate + philosophy. + </p> + <p> + Sounds as well as thoughts have relation both between each other and + towards that which they represent, and a perception of the order of those + relations has always been found connected with a perception of the order + of the relations of thoughts. Hence the language of poets has ever + affected a certain uniform and harmonious recurrence of sound, without + which it were not poetry, and which is scarcely less indispensable to the + communication of its influence, than the words themselves, without + reference to that peculiar order. Hence the vanity of translation; it were + as wise to cast a violet into a crucible that you might discover the + formal principle of its colour and odour, as seek to transfuse from one + language into another the creations of a poet. The plant must spring again + from its seed, or it will bear no flower—and this is the burthen of + the curse of Babel. + </p> + <p> + An observation of the regular mode of the recurrence of harmony in the + language of poetical minds, together with its relation to music, produced + metre, or a certain system of traditional forms of harmony and language. + Yet it is by no means essential that a poet should accommodate his + language to this traditional form, so that the harmony, which is its + spirit, be observed. The practice is indeed convenient and popular, and to + be preferred, especially in such composition as includes much action: but + every great poet must inevitably innovate upon the example of his + predecessors in the exact structure of his peculiar versification. The + distinction between poets and prose writers is a vulgar error. The + distinction between philosophers and poets has been anticipated. Plato was + essentially a poet—the truth and splendour of his imagery, and the + melody of his language, are the most intense that it is possible to + conceive. He rejected the measure of the epic, dramatic, and lyrical + forms, because he sought to kindle a harmony in thoughts divested of shape + and action, and he forbore to invent any regular plan of rhythm which + would include, under determinate forms, the varied pauses of his style. + Cicero sought to imitate the cadence of his periods, but with little + success. Lord Bacon was a poet. [Footnote: See the Filum Labyrinthi, and + the Essay on Death particularly]. His language has a sweet and majestic + rhythm, which satisfies the sense, no less than the almost superhuman + wisdom of his philosophy satisfies the intellect; it is a strain which + distends, and then bursts the circumference of the reader's mind, and + pours itself forth together with it into the universal element with which + it has perpetual sympathy. All the authors of revolutions in opinion are + not only necessarily poets as they are inventors, nor even as their words + unveil the permanent analogy of things by images which participate in the + life of truth; but as their periods are harmonious and rhythmical, and + contain in themselves the elements of verse; being the echo of the eternal + music. Nor are those supreme poets, who have employed traditional forms of + rhythm on account of the form and action of their subjects, less capable + of perceiving and teaching the truth of things, than those who have + omitted that form. Shakespeare, Dante, and Milton (to confine ourselves to + modern writers) are philosophers of the very loftiest power. + </p> + <p> + A poem is the very image of life expressed in its eternal truth. There is + this difference between a story and a poem, that a story is a catalogue of + detached facts, which have no other connexion than time, place, + circumstance, cause and effect; the other is the creation of actions + according to the unchangeable forms of human nature, as existing in the + mind of the Creator, which is itself the image of all other minds. The one + is partial, and applies only to a definite period of time, and a certain + combination of events which can never again recur; the other is universal, + and contains within itself the germ of a relation to whatever motives or + actions have place in the possible varieties of human nature. Time, which + destroys the beauty and the use of the story of particular facts, stripped + of the poetry which should invest them, augments that of poetry, and for + ever develops new and wonderful applications of the eternal truth which it + contains. Hence epitomes have been called the moths of just history; they + eat out the poetry of it. A story of particular facts is as a mirror which + obscures and distorts that which should be beautiful: poetry is a mirror + which makes beautiful that which is distorted. + </p> + <p> + The parts of a composition may be poetical, without the composition as a + whole being a poem. A single sentence may be a considered as a whole, + though it may be found in the midst of a series of unassimilated portions: + a single word even may be a spark of inextinguishable thought. And thus + all the great historians, Herodotus, Plutarch, Livy, were poets; and + although, the plan of these writers, especially that of Livy, restrained + them; from developing this faculty in its highest degree, they made + copious and ample amends for their subjection, by filling all the + interstices of their subjects with living images. + </p> + <p> + Having determined what is poetry, and who are poets, let us proceed to + estimate its effects upon society. + </p> + <p> + Poetry is ever accompanied with pleasure: all spirits on which it falls + open themselves to receive the wisdom which is mingled with its delight. + In the infancy of the world, neither poets themselves nor their auditors + are fully aware of the excellence of poetry: for it acts in a divine and + unapprehended manner, beyond and above consciousness; and it is reserved + for future generations to contemplate and measure the mighty cause and + effect in all the strength and splendour of their union. Even in modern + times, no living poet ever arrived at the fullness of his fame; the jury + which sits in judgement upon a poet, belonging as he does to all time, + must be composed of his peers: it must be impanelled by Time from the + selectest of the wise of many generations. A poet is a nightingale, who + sits in darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds; + his auditors are as men entranced by the melody of an unseen musician, who + feel that they are moved and softened, yet know not whence or why. The + poems of Homer and his contemporaries were the delight of infant Greece; + they were the elements of that social system which is the column upon + which all succeeding civilization has reposed. Homer embodied the ideal + perfection of his age in human character; nor can we doubt that those who + read his verses were awakened to an ambition of becoming like to Achilles, + Hector, and Ulysses the truth and beauty of friendship, patriotism, and + persevering devotion to an object, were unveiled to the depths in these + immortal creations: the sentiments of the auditors must have been refined + and enlarged by a sympathy with such great and lovely impersonations, + until from admiring they imitated, and from imitation they identified + themselves with the objects of their admiration. Nor let it be objected, + that these characters are remote from moral perfection, and that they can + by no means be considered as edifying patterns for general imitation. + Every epoch, under names more or less specious, has deified its peculiar + errors; Revenge is the naked idol of the worship of a semi-barbarous age; + and Self-deceit is the veiled image of unknown evil, before which luxury + and satiety lie prostrate. But a poet considers the vices of his + contemporaries as a temporary dress in which his creations must be + arrayed, and which cover without concealing the eternal proportions of + their beauty. An epic or dramatic personage is understood to wear them + around his soul, as he may the ancient armour or the modern uniform around + his body; whilst it is easy to conceive a dress more graceful than either. + The beauty of the internal nature cannot be so far concealed by its + accidental vesture, but that the spirit of its form shall communicate + itself to the very disguise, and indicate the shape it hides from the + manner in which it is worn. A majestic form and graceful motions will + express themselves through the most barbarous and tasteless costume. Few + poets of the highest class have chosen to exhibit the beauty of their + conceptions in its naked truth and splendour; and it is doubtful whether + the alloy of costume, habit, &c., be not necessary to temper this + planetary music for mortal ears. + </p> + <p> + The whole objection, however, of the immorality of poetry rests upon a + misconception of the manner in which poetry acts to produce the moral + improvement of man. Ethical science arranges the elements which poetry has + created, and propounds schemes and proposes examples of civil and domestic + life: nor is it for want of admirable doctrines that men hate, and + despise, and censure, and deceive, and subjugate one another. But poetry + acts in another and diviner manner. It awakens and enlarges the mind + itself by rendering it the receptacle of a thousand unapprehended + combinations of thought. Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of + the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar; it + reproduces all that it represents, and the impersonations clothed in its + Elysian light stand thenceforward in the minds of those who have once + contemplated them as memorials of that gentle and exalted content which + extends itself over all thoughts and actions with which it coexists. The + great secret of morals is love; or a going out of our own nature, and an + identification of ourselves with the beautiful which exists in thought, + action, or person, not our own. A man, to be greatly good, must imagine + intensely and comprehensively; he must put himself in the place of another + and of many others; the pains and pleasures of his species must become his + own. The great instrument of moral good is the imagination; and poetry + administers to the effect by acting upon the cause. Poetry enlarges the + circumference of the imagination by replenishing it with thought of ever + new delight, which have the power of attracting and assimilating to their + own nature all other thoughts, and which form new intervals and + interstices whose void for ever craves fresh food. Poetry strengthens the + faculty which is the organ of the moral nature of man, in the same manner + as exercise strengthens a limb. A poet therefore would do ill to embody + his own conceptions of right and wrong, which are usually those of his + place and time, in his poetical creations, which participate in neither By + this assumption of the inferior office of interpreting the effect in which + perhaps after all he might acquit himself but imperfectly, he would resign + a glory in a participation in the cause. There was little danger that + Homer, or any of the eternal poets should have so far misunderstood + themselves as to have abdicated this throne of their widest dominion. + Those in whom the poetical faculty, though great, is less intense, as + Euripides, Lucan, Tasso, Spenser, have frequently affected a moral aim, + and the effect of their poetry is diminished in exact proportion to the + degree in which they compel us to advert to this purpose. + </p> + <p> + Homer and the cyclic poets were followed at a certain interval by the + dramatic and lyrical poets of Athens, who flourished contemporaneously + with all that is most perfect in the kindred expressions of the poetical + faculty; architecture, painting, music the dance, sculpture, philosophy, + and, we may add, the forms of civil life. For although the scheme of + Athenian society was deformed by many imperfections which the poetry + existing in chivalry and Christianity has erased from the habits and + institutions of modern Europe; yet never at any other period has so much + energy, beauty, and virtue, been developed; never was blind strength and + stubborn form so disciplined and rendered subject to the will of man, or + that will less repugnant to the dictates of the beautiful and the true, as + during the century which preceded the death of Socrates. Of no other epoch + in the history of our species have we records and fragments stamped so + visibly with the image of the divinity in man. But it is poetry alone, in + form, in action, or in language, which has rendered this epoch memorable + above all others, and the storehouse of examples to everlasting time. For + written poetry existed at that epoch simultaneously with the other arts, + and it is an idle inquiry to demand which gave and which received the + light, which all, as from a common focus, have scattered over the darkest + periods of succeeding time. We know no more of cause and effect than a + constant conjunction of events: poetry is ever found to coexist with + whatever other arts contribute to the happiness and perfection of man. I + appeal to what has already been established to distinguish between the + cause and the effect. + </p> + <p> + It was at the period here adverted to, that the drama had its birth; and + however a succeeding writer may have equalled or surpassed those few great + specimens of the Athenian drama which have been preserved to us, it is + indisputable that the art itself never was understood or practised + according to the true philosophy of it, as at Athens. For the Athenians + employed language, action, music, painting, the dance, and religious + institutions, to produce a common effect in the representation of the + highest idealisms of passion and of power; each division in the art was + made perfect in its kind by artists of the most consummate skill, and was + disciplined into a beautiful proportion and unity one towards the other. + On the modern stage a few only of the elements capable of expressing the + image of the poet's conception are employed at once. We have tragedy + without music and dancing; and music and dancing without the highest + impersonations of which they are the fit accompaniment, and both without + religion and solemnity. Religious institution has indeed been usually + banished from the stage. Our system of divesting the actor's face of a + mask, on which the many expressions appropriated to his dramatic character + might be moulded into one permanent and unchanging expression, is + favourable only to a partial and inharmonious effect; it is fit for + nothing but a monologue, where all the attention may be directed to some + great master of ideal mimicry. The modern practice of blending comedy with + tragedy, though liable to great abuse in point of practice, is undoubtedly + an extension of the dramatic circle; but the comedy should be as in KING + LEAR, universal, ideal, and sublime. It is perhaps the intervention of + this principle which determines the balance in favour of KING LEAR against + the OEDIPUS TYRANNUS or the AGAMEMNON, or, if you will, the trilogies with + which they are connected; unless the intense power of the choral poetry, + especially that of the latter, should be considered as restoring the + equilibrium. KING LEAR, if it can sustain this comparison, may be judged + to be the most perfect specimen of the dramatic art existing in the world; + in spite of the narrow conditions to which the poet was subjected by the + ignorance of the philosophy of the drama which has prevailed in modern + Europe. Calderon, in his religious AUTOS, has attempted to fulfil some of + the high conditions of dramatic representation neglected by Shakespeare; + such as the establishing a relation between the drama and religion and the + accommodating them to music and dancing; but he omits the observation of + conditions still more important, and more is lost than gained by the + substitution of the rigidly-defined and ever-repeated idealisms of a + distorted superstition for the living impersonations of the truth of human + passion. + </p> + <p> + But I digress.—The connexion of scenic exhibitions with the + improvement or corruption of the manners of men, has been universally + recognized: in other words, the presence or absence of poetry in its most + perfect and universal form, has been found to be connected with good and + evil in conduct or habit. The corruption which has been imputed to the + drama as an effect, begins when the poetry employed in its constitution + ends: I appeal to the history of manners whether the periods of the growth + of the one and the decline of the other have not corresponded with an + exactness equal to any example of moral cause and effect. + </p> + <p> + The drama at Athens, or wheresoever else it may have approached to its + perfection, ever co-existed with the moral and intellectual greatness of + the age. The tragedies of the Athenian poets are as mirrors in which the + spectator beholds himself, under a thin disguise of circumstance, stript + of all but that ideal perfection and energy which every one feels to be + the internal type of all that he loves, admires, and would become. The + imagination is enlarged by a sympathy with pains and passions so mighty, + that they distend in their conception the capacity of that by which they + are conceived; the good affections are strengthened by pity, indignation, + terror, and sorrow; and an exalted calm is prolonged from the satiety of + this high exercise of them into the tumult of familiar life: even crime is + disarmed of half its horror and all its contagion by being represented as + the fatal consequence of the unfathomable agencies of nature; error is + thus divested of its wilfulness; men can no longer cherish it as the + creation of their choice. In a drama of the highest order there is little + food for censure or hatred; it teaches rather self-knowledge and + self-respect. Neither the eye nor the mind can see itself, unless + reflected upon that which it resembles. The drama, so long as it continues + to express poetry, is as a prismatic and many-sided mirror, which collects + the brightest rays of human nature and divides and reproduces them from + the simplicity of these elementary forms, and touches them with majesty + and beauty, and multiplies all that it reflects, and endows it with the + power of propagating its like wherever it may fall. + </p> + <p> + But in periods of the decay of social life, the drama sympathizes with + that decay. Tragedy becomes a cold imitation of the form of the great + masterpieces of antiquity, divested of all harmonious accompaniment of the + kindred arts; and often the very form misunderstood, or a weak attempt to + teach certain doctrines, which the writer considers as moral truths; and + which are usually no more than specious flatteries of some gross vice or + weakness, with which the author, in common with his auditors, are + infected. Hence what has been called the classical and domestic drama. + Addison's CATO is a specimen of the one; and would it were not superfluous + to cite examples of the other! To such purposes poetry cannot be made + subservient. Poetry is a sword of lightning, ever unsheathed, which + consumes the scabbard that would contain it. And thus we observe that all + dramatic writings of this nature are unimaginative in a singular degree; + they affect sentiment and passion, which, divested of imagination, are + other names for caprice and appetite. The period in our own history of the + grossest degradation of the drama is the reign of Charles II, when all + forms in which poetry had been accustomed to be expressed became hymns to + the triumph of kingly power over liberty and virtue. Milton stood alone + illuminating an age unworthy of him. At such periods the calculating + principle pervades all the forms of dramatic exhibition, and poetry ceases + to be expressed upon them. Comedy loses its ideal universality: wit + succeeds to humour; we laugh from self-complacency and triumph, instead of + pleasure; malignity, sarcasm, and contempt, succeed to sympathetic + merriment; we hardly laugh, but we Obscenity, which is ever blasphemy + against the divine beauty in life, becomes, from the very veil which it + assumes, more active if less disgusting: it is a monster for which the + corruption of society for ever brings forth new food, which it devours in + secret. + </p> + <p> + The drama being that form under which a greater number of modes of + expression of poetry are susceptible of being combined than any other, the + connexion of poetry and social good is more observable in the drama than + in whatever other form. And it is indisputable that the highest perfection + of human society has ever corresponded with the highest dramatic + excellence; and that the corruption or the extinction of the drama in a + nation where it has once flourished, is a mark of a corruption of manners + and an extinction of the energies which sustain the soul of social life. + But, as Machiavelli says of political institutions, that life may be + preserved and renewed, if men should arise capable of bringing back the + drama to its principles. And this is true with respect to poetry in its + most extended sense: all language, institution and form, require not only + to be produced but to be sustained: the office and character of a poet + participates in the divine nature as regards providence, no less than as + regards creation. + </p> + <p> + Civil war, the spoils of Asia, and the fatal predominance first of the + Macedonian, and then of the Roman arms, were so many symbols of the + extinction or suspension of the creative faculty in Greece. The bucolic + writers, who found patronage under the lettered tyrants of Sicily and + Egypt, were the latest representatives of its most glorious reign. Their + poetry is intensely melodious, like the odour of the tuberose, it + overcomes and sickens the spirit with excess of sweetness; whilst the + poetry of the preceding age was as a meadow-gale of June, which mingles + the fragrance all the flowers of the field, and adds a quickening and + harmonizing spirit of its own, which endows the sense with a power of + sustaining its extreme delight. The bucolic and erotic delicacy in written + poetry is correlative with that softness in statuary, music and the + kindred arts, and even in manners and institutions, which distinguished + the epoch to which I now refer. Nor is it the poetical faculty itself, or + any misapplication of it, to which this want of harmony is to be imputed. + An equal sensibility to the influence of the senses and the affections is + to be found in the writings of Homer and Sophocles: the former, + especially, has clothed sensual and pathetic images with irresistible + attractions. Their superiority over these succeeding writers consists in + the presence of those thoughts which belong to the inner faculties of our + nature, not in the absence of those which are connected with the external: + their incomparable perfection consists in a harmony of the union of all. + It is not what the erotic poets have, but what they have not, in which + their imperfection consists. It is not inasmuch as they were poets, but + inasmuch as they were not poets, that they can be considered with any + plausibility as connected with the corruption of their age. Had that + corruption availed so as to extinguish in them the sensibility to + pleasure, passion, and natural scenery, which is imputed to them as an + imperfection, the last triumph of evil would have been achieved. For the + end of social corruption is to destroy all sensibility to pleasure; and, + therefore, it is corruption. It begins at the imagination and the + intellect as at the core, and distributes itself thence as a paralysing + venom, through the affections into the very appetites, until all become a + torpid mass in which hardly sense survives. At the approach of such a + period, poetry ever addresses itself to those faculties which are the last + to be destroyed, and its voice is heard, like the footsteps of Astraea, + departing from the world. Poetry ever communicates all the pleasure which + men are capable of receiving: it is ever still the light of life; the + source of whatever of beautiful or generous or true can have place in an + evil time. It will readily be confessed that those among the luxurious + citizens of Syracuse and Alexandria, who were delighted with the poems of + Theocritus, were less cold, cruel, and sensual than the remnant of their + tribe. But corruption must utterly have destroyed the fabric of human + society before poetry can ever cease. The sacred links of that chain have + never been entirely disjoined, which descending through the minds of many + men is attached to those great minds, whence as from a magnet the + invisible effluence is sent forth, which at once connects, animates, and + sustains the life of all. It is the faculty which contains within itself + the seeds at once of its own and of social renovation. And let us not + circumscribe the effects of the bucolic and erotic poetry within the + limits of the sensibility of those to whom it was addressed. They may have + perceived the beauty of those immortal compositions, simply as fragments + and isolated portions: those who are more finely organized, or born in a + happier age, may recognize them as episodes to that great poem, which all + poets, like the cooperating thoughts of one great mind, have built up + since the beginning of the world. + </p> + <p> + The same revolutions within a narrower sphere had place in ancient Rome; + but the actions and forms of its social life never seem to have been + perfectly saturated with the poetical element. The Romans appear to have + considered the Greeks as the selectest treasuries of the selectest forms + of manners and of nature, and to have abstained from creating in measured + language, sculpture, music, or architecture, anything which might bear a + particular relation to their own condition, whilst it should bear a + general one to the universal constitution of the world. But we judge from + partial evidence, and we judge perhaps partially Ennius, Varro, Pacuvius, + and Accius, all great poets, have been lost. Lucretius is in the highest, + and Virgil in a very high sense, a creator. The chosen delicacy of + expressions of the latter, are as a mist of light which conceal from us + the intense and exceeding truth of his conceptions of nature. Livy is + instinct with poetry. Yet Horace, Catullus, Ovid, and generally the other + great writers of the Virgilian age, saw man and nature in the mirror of + Greece. The institutions also, and the religion of Rome were less poetical + than those of Greece, as the shadow is less vivid than the substance. + Hence poetry in Rome, seemed to follow, rather than accompany, the + perfection of political and domestic society. The true poetry of Rome + lived in its institutions; for whatever of beautiful, true, and majestic, + they contained, could have sprung only from the faculty which creates the + order in which they consist. The life of Camillus, the death of Regulus; + the expectation of the senators, in their godlike state, of the victorious + Gauls: the refusal of the republic to make peace with Hannibal, after the + battle of Cannae, were not the consequences of a refined calculation of + the probable personal advantage to result from such a rhythm and order in + the shows of life, to those who were at once the poets and the actors of + these immortal dramas. The imagination beholding the beauty of this order, + created it out of itself according to its own idea; the consequence was + empire, and the reward everliving fame. These things are not the less + poetry quid carent vate sacro. They are the episodes of that cyclic poem + written by Time upon the memories of men. The Past, like an inspired + rhapsodist, fills the theatre of everlasting generations with their + harmony. + </p> + <p> + At length the ancient system of religion and manners had fulfilled the + circle of its revolutions. And the world would have fallen into utter + anarchy and darkness, but that there were found poets among the authors of + the Christian and chivalric systems of manners and religion, who created + forms of opinion and action never before conceived; which, copied into the + imaginations of men, become as generals to the bewildered armies of their + thoughts. It is foreign to the present purpose to touch upon the evil + produced by these systems: except that we protest, on the ground of the + principles already established, that no portion of it can be attributed to + the poetry they contain. + </p> + <p> + It is probable that the poetry of Moses, Job, David, Solomon, and Isaiah, + had produced a great effect upon the mind of Jesus and his disciples. The + scattered fragments preserved to us by the biographers of this + extraordinary person, are all instinct with the most vivid poetry. But his + doctrines seem to have been quickly distorted. At a certain period after + the prevalence of a system of opinions founded upon those promulgated by + him, the three forms into which Plato had distributed the faculties of + mind underwent a sort of apotheosis, and became the object of the worship + of the civilized world. Here it is to be confessed that 'Light seems to + thicken,' and + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + The crow makes wing to the rooky wood, + Good things of day begin to droop and drowse, + And night's black agents to their preys do rouze. +</pre> + <p> + But mark how beautiful an order has sprung from the dust and blood of this + fierce chaos! how the world, as from a resurrection, balancing itself on + the golden wings of knowledge and of hope, has reassumed its yet unwearied + flight into the heaven of time. Listen to the music, unheard by outward + ears, which is as a ceaseless and invisible wind, nourishing its + everlasting course with strength and swiftness. + </p> + <p> + The poetry in the doctrines of Jesus Christ, and the mythology and + institutions of the Celtic conquerors of the Roman empire, outlived the + darkness and the convulsions connected with their growth and victory, and + blended themselves in a new fabric of manners and opinion. It is an error + to impute the ignorance of the dark ages to the Christian doctrines or the + predominance of the Celtic nations. Whatever of evil their agencies may + have contained sprang from the extinction of the poetical principle, + connected with the progress of despotism and superstition. Men, from + causes too intricate to be here discussed, had become insensible and + selfish: their own will had become feeble, and yet they were its slaves, + and thence the slaves of the will of others: lust, fear, avarice, cruelty, + and fraud, characterized a race amongst whom no one was to be found + capable of CREATING in form, language, or institution. The moral anomalies + of such a state of society are not justly to be charged upon any class of + events immediately connected with them, and those events are most entitled + to our approbation which could dissolve it most expeditiously. It is + unfortunate for those who cannot distinguish words from thoughts, that + many of these anomalies have been incorporated into our popular religion. + </p> + <p> + It was not until the eleventh century that the effects of the poetry of + the Christian and chivalric systems began to manifest themselves. The + principle of equality had been discovered and applied by Plato in his + Republic, as the theoretical rule of the mode in which the materials of + pleasure and of power, produced by the common skill and labour of human + beings, ought to be distributed among them. The limitations of this rule + were asserted by him to be determined only by the sensibility of each, or + the utility to result to all. Plato, following the doctrines of Timaeus + and Pythagoras, taught also a moral and intellectual system of doctrine, + comprehending at once the past, the present, and the future condition of + man. Jesus Christ divulged the sacred and eternal truths contained in + these views to mankind, and Christianity, in its abstract purity, became + the exoteric expression of the esoteric doctrines of the poetry and wisdom + of antiquity. The incorporation of the Celtic nations with the exhausted + population of the south, impressed upon it the figure of the poetry + existing in their mythology and institutions. The result was a sum of the + action and reaction of all the causes included in it; for it may be + assumed as a maxim that no nation or religion can supersede any other + without incorporating into itself a portion of that which it supersedes. + The abolition of personal and domestic slavery, and the emancipation of + women from a great part of the degrading restraints of antiquity, were + among the consequences of these events. + </p> + <p> + The abolition of personal slavery is the basis of the highest political + hope that it can enter into the mind of man to conceive. The freedom of + women produced the poetry of sexual love. Love became a religion, the + idols of whose worship were ever present. It was as if the statues of + Apollo and the Muses had been endowed with life and motion, and had walked + forth among their worshippers; so that earth became peopled by the + inhabitants of a diviner world. The familiar appearance and proceedings of + life became wonderful and heavenly, and a paradise was created as out of + the wrecks of Eden. And as this creation itself is poetry, so its creators + were poets; and language was the instrument of their art: 'Galeotto fu il + libro, e chi lo scrisse.' The Provencal Trouveurs, or inventors, preceded + Petrarch, whose verses are as spells, which unseal the inmost enchanted + fountains of the delight which is in the grief of love. It is impossible + to feel them without becoming a portion of that beauty which we + contemplate: it were superfluous to explain how the gentleness and the + elevation of mind connected with these sacred emotions can render men more + amiable, more generous and wise, and lift them out of the dull vapours of + the little world of self. Dante understood the secret things of love even + more than Petrarch. His Vita Nuova is an inexhaustible fountain of purity + of sentiment and language: it is the idealized history of that period, and + those intervals of his life which were dedicated to love. His apotheosis + of Beatrice in Paradise, and the gradations of his own love and her + loveliness, by which as by steps he feigns himself to have ascended to the + throne of the Supreme Cause, is the most glorious imagination of modern + poetry. The acutest critics have justly reversed the judgement of the + vulgar, and the order of the great acts of the 'Divine Drama', in the + measure of the admiration which they accord to the Hell, Purgatory, and + Paradise. The latter is a perpetual hymn of everlasting love. Love, which + found a worthy poet in Plato alone of all the ancients, has been + celebrated by a chorus of the greatest writers of the renovated world; and + the music has penetrated the caverns of society, and its echoes still + drown the dissonance of arms and superstition. At successive intervals, + Ariosto, Tasso, Shakespeare, Spenser, Calderon, Rousseau, and the great + writers of our own age, have celebrated the dominion of love, planting as + it were trophies in the human mind of that sublimest victory over + sensuality and force. The true relation borne to each other by the sexes + into which human kind is distributed, has become less misunderstood; and + if the error which confounded diversity with inequality of the powers of + the two sexes has been partially recognized in the opinions and + institutions of modern Europe, we owe this great benefit to the worship of + which chivalry was the law, and poets the prophets. + </p> + <p> + The poetry of Dante may be considered as the bridge thrown over the stream + of time, which unites the modern and ancient world. The distorted notions + of invisible things which Dante and his rival Milton have idealized, are + merely the mask and the mantle in which these great poets walk through + eternity enveloped and disguised. It is a difficult question to determine + how far they were conscious of the distinction which must have subsisted + in their minds between their own creeds and that of the people. Dante at + least appears to wish to mark the full extent of it by placing Riphaeus, + whom Virgil calls justissimns unus, in Paradise, and observing a most + heretical caprice in his distribution of rewards and punishments. And + Milton's poem contains within itself a philosophical refutation of that + system, of which by a strange and natural antithesis, it has been a chief + popular support. Nothing can exceed the energy and magnificence of the + character of Satan as expressed in Paradise Lost. It is a mistake to + suppose that he could ever have been intended for the popular + personification of evil. Implacable hate, patient cunning, and a sleepless + refinement of device to inflict the extremest anguish on an enemy, these + things are evil; and, although venial in a slave are not to be forgiven in + a tyrant; although redeemed by much that ennobles his defeat in one + subdued, are marked by all that dishonours his conquest in the victor. + Milton's Devil as a moral being is as far superior to his God, as one who + perseveres in some purpose which he has conceived to be excellent in spite + of adversity and torture, is to one who in the cold security of undoubted + triumph inflicts the most horrible revenge upon his enemy, not from any + mistaken notion of inducing him to repent of a perseverance in enmity, but + with the alleged design of exasperating him to deserve new torments. + Milton has so far violated the popular creed (if this shall be judged to + be a violation) as to have alleged no superiority of moral virtue to his + God over his Devil. And this bold neglect of a direct moral purpose is the + most decisive proof of the supremacy of Milton's genius. He mingled as it + were the elements of human nature as colours upon a single pallet, and + arranged them in the composition of his great picture according to the + laws of epic truth; that is, according to the laws of that principle by + which a series of actions of the external universe and of intelligent and + ethical beings is calculated to excite the sympathy of succeeding + generations of mankind. The Divina Commedia and Paradise Lost have + conferred upon modern mythology a systematic form; and when change and + time shall have added one more superstition to the mass of those which + have arisen and decayed upon the earth, commentators will be learnedly + employed in elucidating the religion of ancestral Europe, only not utterly + forgotten because it will have been stamped with the eternity of genius. + </p> + <p> + Homer was the first and Dante the second epic poet: that is, the second + poet, the series of whose creations bore a defined and intelligible + relation to the knowledge and sentiment and religion of the age in which + he lived, and of the ages which followed it: developing itself in + correspondence with their development. For Lucretius had limed the wings + of his swift spirit in the dregs of the sensible world; and Virgil, with a + modesty that ill became his genius, had affected the fame of an imitator, + even whilst he created anew all that he copied; and none among the flock + of mock-birds, though their notes were sweet, Apollonius Rhodius, Quintus + Calaber, Nonnus, Lucan, Statius, or Claudian, have sought even to fulfil a + single condition of epic truth. Milton was the third epic poet. For if the + title of epic in its highest sense be refused to the Aeneid, still less + can it be conceded to the Orlando Furioso, the Gerusalemme Liberata, the + Lusiad, or the Fairy Queen. + </p> + <p> + Dante and Milton were both deeply penetrated with the ancient religion of + the civilized world; and its spirit exists in their poetry probably in the + same proportion as its forms survived in the unreformed worship of modern + Europe. The one preceded and the other followed the Reformation at almost + equal intervals. Dante was the first religious reformer, and Luther + surpassed him rather in the rudeness and acrimony, than in the boldness of + his censures of papal usurpation. Dante was the first awakener of + entranced Europe; he created a language, in itself music and persuasion, + out of a chaos of inharmonious barbarisms. He was the congregator of those + great spirits who presided over the resurrection of learning; the Lucifer + of that starry flock which in the thirteenth century shone forth from + republican Italy, as from a heaven, into the darkness of the benighted + world. His very words are instinct with spirit; each is as a spark, a + burning atom of inextinguishable thought; and many yet lie covered in the + ashes of their birth, and pregnant with a lightning which has yet found no + conductor. All high poetry is infinite; it is as the first acorn, which + contained all oaks potentially. Veil after veil may be undrawn, and the + inmost naked beauty of the meaning never exposed. A great poem is a + fountain for ever overflowing with the waters of wisdom and delight; and + after one person and one age has exhausted all its divine effluence which + their peculiar relations enable them to share, another and yet another + succeeds, and new relations are ever developed, the source of an + unforeseen and an unconceived delight. + </p> + <p> + The age immediately succeeding to that of Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, + was characterized by a revival of painting, sculpture, and architecture. + Chaucer caught the sacred inspiration, and the superstructure of English + literature is based upon the materials of Italian invention. + </p> + <p> + But let us not be betrayed from a defence into a critical history of + poetry and its influence on society. Be it enough to have pointed out the + effects of poets, in the large and true sense of the word, upon their own + and all succeeding times. + </p> + <p> + But poets have been challenged to resign the civic crown to reasoners and + mechanists, on another plea. It is admitted that the exercise of the + imagination is most delightful, but it is alleged that that of reason is + more useful. Let us examine as the grounds of this distinction, what is + here meant by utility. Pleasure or good, in a general sense, is that which + the consciousness of a sensitive and intelligent being seeks, and in + which, when found, it acquiesces. There are two kinds of pleasure, one + durable, universal and permanent; the other transitory and particular. + Utility may either express the means of producing the former or the + latter. In the former sense, whatever strengthens and purifies the + affections, enlarges the imagination, and adds spirit to sense, is useful. + But a narrower meaning may be assigned to the word utility, confining it + to express that which banishes the importunity of the wants of our animal + nature, the surrounding men with security of life, the dispersing the + grosser delusions of superstition, and the conciliating such a degree of + mutual forbearance among men as may consist with the motives of personal + advantage. + </p> + <p> + Undoubtedly the promoters of utility, in this limited sense, have their + appointed office in society. They follow the footsteps of poets, and copy + the sketches of their creations into the book of common life. They make + space, and give time. Their exertions are of the highest value, so long as + they confine their administration of the concerns of the inferior powers + of our nature within the limits due to the superior ones. But whilst the + sceptic destroys gross superstitions, let him spare to deface, as some of + the French writers have defaced, the eternal truths charactered upon the + imaginations of men. Whilst the mechanist abridges, and the political + economist combines labour, let them beware that their speculations, for + want of correspondence with those first principles which belong to the + imagination, do not tend, as they have in modern England, to exasperate at + once the extremes of luxury and want. They have exemplified the saying, + 'To him that hath, more shall be given; and from him that hath not, the + little that he hath shall be taken away.' The rich have become richer, and + the poor have become poorer; and the vessel of the state is driven between + the Scylla and Charybdis of anarchy and despotism. Such are the effects + which must ever flow from an unmitigated exercise of the calculating + faculty. + </p> + <p> + It is difficult to define pleasure in its highest sense; the definition + involving a number of apparent paradoxes. For, from an inexplicable defect + of harmony in the constitution of human nature, the pain of the inferior + is frequently connected with the pleasures of the superior portions of our + being. Sorrow, terror, anguish, despair itself, are often the chosen + expressions of an approximation to the highest good. Our sympathy in + tragic fiction depends on this principle; tragedy delights by affording a + shadow of the pleasure which exists in pain. This is the source also of + the melancholy which is inseparable from the sweetest melody. The pleasure + that is in sorrow is sweeter than the pleasure of pleasure itself. And + hence the saying, 'It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to + the house of mirth.' Not that this highest species of pleasure is + necessarily linked with pain. The delight of love and friendship, the + ecstasy of the admiration of nature, the joy of the perception and still + more of the creation of poetry, is often wholly unalloyed. + </p> + <p> + The production and assurance of pleasure in this highest sense is true + utility. Those who produce and preserve this pleasure are poets or + poetical philosophers. + </p> + <p> + The exertions of Locke, Hume, Gibbon, Voltaire, Rousseau, [Footnote: + Although Rousseau has been thus classed, he was essentially a poet. The + others, even Voltaire, were mere reasoners.] and their disciples, in + favour of oppressed and deluded humanity, are entitled to the gratitude of + mankind. Yet it is easy to calculate the degree of moral and intellectual + improvement which the world would have exhibited, had they never lived. A + little more nonsense would have been talked for a century or two; and + perhaps a few more men, women, and children, burnt as heretics. We might + not at this moment have been congratulating each other on the abolition of + the Inquisition in Spain. But it exceeds all imagination to conceive what + would have been the moral condition of the world if neither Dante, + Petrarch, Boccaccio, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Calderon, Lord Bacon, nor + Milton, had ever existed; if Raphael and Michael Angelo had never been + born; if the Hebrew poetry had never been translated; if a revival of the + study of Greek literature had never taken place; if no monuments of + ancient sculpture had been handed down to us; and if the poetry of the + religion of the ancient world had been extinguished together with its + belief. The human mind could never, except by the intervention of these + excitements, have been awakened to the invention of the grosser sciences, + and that application of analytical reasoning to the aberrations of + society, which it is now attempted to exalt over the direct expression of + the inventive and creative faculty itself. + </p> + <p> + We have more moral, political and historical wisdom, than we know how to + reduce into practice; we have more scientific and economical knowledge + than can be accommodated to the just distribution of the produce which it + multiplies. The poetry in these systems of thought, is concealed by the + accumulation of facts and calculating processes. There is no want of + knowledge respecting what is wisest and best in morals, government, and + political economy, or at least, what is wiser and better than what men now + practise and endure. But we let '<i>I</i> DARE NOT wait upon I WOULD, like + the poor cat in the adage.' We want the creative faculty to imagine that + which we know; we want the generous impulse to act that which we imagine; + we want the poetry of life: our calculations have outrun conception; we + have eaten more than we can digest. The cultivation of those sciences + which have enlarged the limits of the empire of man over the external + world, has, for want of the poetical faculty, proportionally circumscribed + those of the internal world; and man, having enslaved the elements, + remains himself a slave. To what but a cultivation of the mechanical arts + in a degree disproportioned to the presence of the creative faculty, which + is the basis of all knowledge, is to be attributed the abuse of all + invention for abridging and combining labour, to the exasperation of the + inequality of mankind? From what other cause has it arisen that the + discoveries which should have lightened, have added a weight to the curse + imposed on Adam? Poetry, and the principle of Self, of which money is the + visible, incarnation, are the God and Mammon of the world. + </p> + <p> + The functions of the poetical faculty are two-fold; by one it creates new + materials of knowledge and power and pleasure; by the other it engenders + in the mind a desire to reproduce and arrange them according to a certain + rhythm and order which may be called the beautiful and the good. The + cultivation of poetry is never more to be desired than at periods when, + from an excess of the selfish and calculating principle, the accumulation + of the materials of external life exceed the quantity of the power of + assimilating them to the internal laws of human nature. The body has then + become too unwieldy for that which animates it. + </p> + <p> + Poetry is indeed something divine. It is at once the centre and + circumference of knowledge; it is that which comprehends all science, and + that to which all science must be referred. It is at the same time the + root and blossom of all other systems of thought; it is that from which + all spring, and that which adorns all; and that which, if blighted, denies + the fruit and the seed, and withholds from the barren world the + nourishment and the succession of the scions of the tree of life. It is + the perfect and consummate surface and bloom of all things; it is as the + odour and the colour of the rose to the texture of the elements which + compose it, as the form and splendour of unfaded beauty to the secrets of + anatomy and corruption. What were virtue, love, patriotism, friendship—what + were the scenery of this beautiful universe which we inhabit; what were + our consolations on this side of the grave—and what were our + aspirations beyond it, if poetry did not ascend to bring light and fire + from those eternal regions where the owl-winged faculty of calculation + dare not ever soar? Poetry is not like reasoning, a power to be exerted + according to the determination of the will. A man cannot say, 'I will + compose poetry.' The greatest poet even cannot say it; for the mind in + creation is as a fading coal, which some invisible influence, like an + inconstant wind, awakens to transitory brightness; this power arises from + within, like the colour of a flower which fades and changes as it is + developed, and the conscious portions of our natures are unprophetic + either of its approach or its departure. Could this influence be durable + in its original purity and force, it is impossible to predict the + greatness of the results; but when composition begins, inspiration is + already on the decline, and the most glorious poetry that has ever been + communicated to the world is probably a feeble shadow of the original + conceptions of the poet. I appeal to the greatest poets of the present + day, whether it is not an error to assert that the finest passages of + poetry are produced by labour and study. The toil and the delay + recommended by critics, can be justly interpreted to mean no more than a + careful observation of the inspired moments, and an artificial connexion + of the spaces between their suggestions by the intertexture of + conventional expressions; a necessity only imposed by the limitedness of + the poetical faculty itself; for Milton conceived the Paradise Lost as a + whole before he executed it in portions; We have his own authority also + for the muse having 'dictated' to him the 'unpremeditated song'. And let + this be an answer to those who would allege the fifty-six various readings + of the first line of the Orlando Furioso. Compositions so produced are to + poetry what mosaic is to painting. This instinct and intuition of the + poetical faculty, is still more observable in the plastic and pictorial + arts; a great statue or picture grows under the power of the artist as a + child in the mother's womb; and the very mind which directs the hands in + formation is incapable of accounting to itself for the origin, the + gradations, or the media of the process. + </p> + <p> + Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and + best minds. We are aware of evanescent visitations of thought and feeling + sometimes associated with place or person, sometimes regarding our own + mind alone, and always arising unforeseen and departing unbidden, but + elevating and delightful beyond all expression; so that even in the desire + and regret they leave, there cannot but be pleasure, participating as it + does in the nature of its object. It is as it were the interpenetration of + a diviner nature through our own; but its footsteps are like those of a + wind over the sea, which the coming calm erases, and whose traces remain + only, as on the wrinkled sand which paves it. These and corresponding + conditions of being are experienced principally by those of the most + delicate sensibility and the most enlarged imagination; and the state of + mind produced by them is at war with every base desire. The enthusiasm of + virtue, love, patriotism, and friendship, is essentially linked with such + emotions; and whilst they last, self appears as what it is, an atom to a + universe. Poets are not only subject to these experiences as spirits of + the most refined organization, but they can colour all that they combine + with the evanescent hues of this ethereal world; a word, a trait in the + representation of a scene or a passion, will touch the enchanted chord, + and reanimate, in those who have ever experienced these emotions, the + sleeping, the cold, the buried image of the past. Poetry thus makes + immortal all that is best and most beautiful in the world; it arrests the + vanishing apparitions which haunt the interlunations of life, and veiling + them, or in language or in form, sends them forth among mankind, bearing + sweet news of kindred joy to those with whom their sisters abide—abide, + because there is no portal of expression from the caverns of the spirit + which they inhabit into the universe of things. Poetry redeems from decay + the visitations of the divinity in man. + </p> + <p> + Poetry turns all things to loveliness; it exalts the beauty of that which + is most beautiful, and it adds beauty to that which is most deformed; it + marries exultation and horror, grief and pleasure, eternity and change; it + subdues to union under its light yoke, all irreconcilable things. It + transmutes all that it touches, and every form moving within the radiance + of its presence is changed by wondrous sympathy to an incarnation of the + spirit which it breathes: its secret alchemy turns to potable gold the + poisonous waters which flow from death through life; it strips the veil of + familiarity from the world, and lays bare the naked and sleeping beauty, + which is the spirit of its forms. + </p> + <p> + All things exist as they are perceived; at least in relation to the + percipient. 'The mind is its own place, and of itself can make a heaven of + hell, a hell of heaven.' But poetry defeats the curse which binds us to be + subjected to the accident of surrounding impressions. And whether it + spreads its own figured curtain, or withdraws life's dark veil from before + the scene of things, it equally creates for us a being within our being. + It makes us the inhabitants of a world to which the familiar world is a + chaos. It reproduces the common universe of which we are portions and + percipients, and it purges from our inward sight the film of familiarity + which obscures from us the wonder of our being. It compels us to feel that + which we perceive, and to imagine that which we know. It creates anew the + universe, after it has been annihilated in our minds by the recurrence of + impressions blunted by reiteration. It justifies the bold and true words + of Tasso: Non merita nome di creatore, se non Iddio ed il Poeta. + </p> + <p> + A poet, as he is the author to others of the highest wisdom, pleasure, + virtue and glory, so he ought personally to be the happiest, the best, the + wisest, and the most illustrious of men. As to his glory, let time be + challenged to declare whether the fame of any other institutor of human + life be comparable to that of a poet. That he is the wisest, the happiest, + and the best, inasmuch as he is a poet, is equally incontrovertible: the + greatest poets have been men of the most spotless virtue, of the most + consummate prudence, and, if we would look into the interior of their + lives, the most fortunate of men: and the exceptions, as they regard those + who possessed the poetic faculty in a high yet inferior degree, will be + found on consideration to confine rather than destroy the rule. Let us for + a moment stoop to the arbitration of popular breath, and usurping and + uniting in our own persons the incompatible characters of accuser, + witness, judge, and executioner, let us decide without trial, testimony, + or form, that certain motives of those who are 'there sitting where we + dare not soar', are reprehensible. Let us assume that Homer was a + drunkard, that Virgil was a flatterer, that Horace was a coward, that + Tasso a madman, that Lord Bacon was a peculator, that Raphael was a + libertine, that Spenser was a poet laureate. It is inconsistent with this + division of our subject to cite living poets, but posterity has done ample + justice to the great names now referred to. Their errors have been weighed + and found to have been dust in the balance; if their sins 'were as + scarlet, they are now white as snow'; they have been washed in the blood + of the mediator and redeemer, Time. Observe in what a ludicrous chaos the + imputation of real or fictitious crime have been confused in the + contemporary calumnies against poetry and poets; consider how little is, + as it appears—or appears, as it is; look to your own motives, and + judge not, lest ye be judged. + </p> + <p> + Poetry, as has been said, differs in this respect from logic, that it is + not subject to the control of the active powers of the mind, and that its + birth and recurrence have no necessary connexion with the consciousness or + will. It is presumptuous to determine that these are the necessary + conditions of all mental causation, when mental effects are experienced + unsusceptible of being referred to them. The frequent recurrence of the + poetical power, it is obvious to suppose, may produce in the mind a habit + of order and harmony correlative with its own nature and its effects upon + other minds. But in the intervals of inspiration, and they may be frequent + without being durable, a poet becomes a man, and is abandoned to the + sudden reflux of the influences under which others habitually live. But as + he is more delicately organized than other men, and sensible to pain and + pleasure, both his own and that of others, in a degree unknown to them, he + will avoid the one and pursue the other with an ardour proportioned to + this difference. And he renders himself obnoxious to calumny, when he + neglects to observe the circumstances under which these objects of + universal pursuit and flight have disguised themselves in one another's + garments. + </p> + <p> + But there is nothing necessarily evil in this error, and thus cruelty, + envy, revenge, avarice, and the passions purely evil, have never formed + any portion of the popular imputations on the lives of poets. + </p> + <p> + I have thought it most favourable to the cause of truth to set down these + remarks according to the order in which they were suggested to my mind, by + a consideration of the subject itself, instead of observing the formality + of a polemical reply; but if the view which they contain be just, they + will be found to involve a refutation of the arguers against poetry, so + far at least as regards the first division of the subject. I can readily + conjecture what should have moved the gall of some learned and intelligent + writers who quarrel with certain versifiers; I confess myself, like them, + unwilling to be stunned, by the Theseids of the hoarse Codri of the day. + Bavius and Maevius undoubtedly are, as they ever were, insufferable + persons. But it belongs to a philosophical critic to distinguish rather + than confound. + </p> + <p> + The first part of these remarks has related to poetry in its elements and + principles; and it has been shown, as well as the narrow limits assigned + them would permit, that what is called poetry, in a restricted sense, has + a common source with all other forms of order and of beauty, according to + which the materials of human life are susceptible of being arranged, and + which is poetry in a universal sense. + </p> + <p> + The second part will have for its object an application of these + principles to the present state of the cultivation of poetry, and a + defence of the attempt to idealize the modern forms of manners and + opinions, and compel them into a subordination to the imaginative and + creative faculty. For the literature of England, an energetic development + of which has ever preceded or accompanied a great and free development of + the national will, has arisen as it were from a new birth. In spite of the + low-thoughted envy which would undervalue contemporary merit, our own will + be a memorable age in intellectual achievements, and we live among such + philosophers and poets as surpass beyond comparison any who have appeared + since the last national struggle for civil and religious liberty. The most + unfailing herald, companion, and follower of the awakening of a great + people to work a beneficial change in opinion or institution, is poetry. + At such periods there is an accumulation of the power of communicating and + receiving intense and impassioned conceptions respecting man and nature. + The persons in whom this power resides may often, as far as regards many + portions of their nature, have little apparent correspondence with that + spirit of good of which they are the ministers. But even whilst they deny + and abjure, they are yet compelled to serve, the power which is seated on + the throne of their own soul. It is impossible to read the compositions of + the most celebrated writers of the present day without being startled with + the electric life which burns within their words. They measure the + circumference and sound the depths of human nature with a comprehensive + and all-penetrating spirit, and they are themselves perhaps the most + sincerely astonished at its manifestations; for it is less their spirit + than the spirit of the age. Poets are the hierophants of an unapprehended + inspiration; the mirrors of the gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon + the present; the words which express what they understand not; the + trumpets which sing to battle, and feel not what they inspire; the + influence which is moved not, but moves. Poets are the unacknowledged + legislators of the world. + </p> + <h3> + THE END + </h3> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Defence of Poetry and Other Essays, by +Percy Bysshe Shelley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DEFENCE OF POETRY *** + +***** This file should be named 5428-h.htm or 5428-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/4/2/5428/ + + +Text file produced by Steve Harris, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + +HTML file produced by David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Defence of Poetry and Other Essays + +Author: Percy Bysshe Shelley + + +Release Date: April, 2004 [EBook #5428] +This file was first posted on July 18, 2002 +Last Updated: June 16, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DEFENCE OF POETRY *** + + + + +Produced by Steve Harris, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + +A DEFENCE OF POETRY AND OTHER ESSAYS + +By Percy Bysshe Shelley + + + + ON LOVE + ON LIFE IN A FUTURE STATE + ON THE PUNISHMENT OF DEATH SPECULATIONS + ON METAPHYSICS SPECULATIONS + ON MORALS + ON THE LITERATURE, THE ARTS AND THE MANNERS OF THE ATHENIANS + ON THE SYMPOSIUM, OR PREFACE TO THE BANQUET OF PLATO + A DEFENCE OF POETRY + + + + + +ON LOVE + +What is love? Ask him who lives, what is life? ask him who adores, +what is God? + +I know not the internal constitution of other men, nor even thine, +whom I now address. I see that in some external attributes they +resemble me, but when, misled by that appearance, I have thought +to appeal to something in common, and unburthen my inmost soul to +them, I have found my language misunderstood, like one in a distant +and savage land. The more opportunities they have afforded me for +experience, the wider has appeared the interval between us, and +to a greater distance have the points of sympathy been withdrawn. +With a spirit ill fitted to sustain such proof, trembling and feeble +through its tenderness, I have everywhere sought sympathy and have +found only repulse and disappointment. + +Thou demandest what is love? It is that powerful attraction towards +all that we conceive, or fear, or hope beyond ourselves, when we +find within our own thoughts the chasm of an insufficient void, +and seek to awaken in all things that are, a community with what we +experience within ourselves. If we reason, we would be understood; +if we imagine, we would that the airy children of our brain were +born anew within another's; if we feel, we would that another's +nerves should vibrate to our own, that the beams of their eyes +should kindle at once and mix and melt into our own, that lips of +motionless ice should not reply to lips quivering and burning with +the heart's best blood. This is Love. This is the bond and the +sanction which connects not only man with man, but with everything +which exists. We are born into the world, and there is something +within us which, from the instant that we live, more and more +thirsts after its likeness. It is probably in correspondence with +this law that the infant drains milk from the bosom of its mother; +this propensity develops itself with the development of our nature. +We dimly see within our intellectual nature a miniature as it were +of our entire self, yet deprived of all that we condemn or despise, +the ideal prototype of everything excellent or lovely that we are +capable of conceiving as belonging to the nature of man. Not only +the portrait of our external being, but an assemblage of the minutest +particles of which our nature is composed;[Footnote: These words +are ineffectual and metaphorical. Most words are so--No help!] a +mirror whose surface reflects only the forms of purity and brightness; +a soul within our soul that describes a circle around its proper +paradise, which pain, and sorrow, and evil dare not overleap. To +this we eagerly refer all sensations, thirsting that they should +resemble or correspond with it. The discovery of its antitype; the +meeting with an understanding capable of clearly estimating our own; +an imagination which should enter into and seize upon the subtle +and delicate peculiarities which we have delighted to cherish and +unfold in secret; with a frame whose nerves, like the chords of +two exquisite lyres, strung to the accompaniment of one delightful +voice, vibrate with the vibrations of our own; and of a combination +of all these in such proportion as the type within demands; this +is the invisible and unattainable point to which Love tends; and +to attain which, it urges forth the powers of man to arrest the +faintest shadow of that, without the possession of which there +is no rest nor respite to the heart over which it rules. Hence in +solitude, or in that deserted state when we are surrounded by human +beings, and yet they sympathize not with us, we love the flowers, +the grass, and the waters, and the sky. In the motion of the very +leaves of spring, in the blue air, there is then found a secret +correspondence with our heart. There is eloquence in the tongueless +wind, and a melody in the flowing brooks and the rustling of the +reeds beside them, which by their inconceivable relation to something +within the soul, awaken the spirits to a dance of breathless +rapture, and bring tears of mysterious tenderness to the eyes, like +the enthusiasm of patriotic success, or the voice of one beloved +singing to you alone. Sterne says that, if he were in a desert, +he would love some cypress. So soon as this want or power is dead, +man becomes the living sepulchre of himself, and what yet survives +is the mere husk of what once he was. + +[1815; publ. 1840] + + + +ON LIFE + +Life and the world, or whatever we call that which we are and feel, +is an astonishing thing. The mist of familiarity obscures from us +the wonder of our being. We are struck with admiration at some of +its transient modifications, but it is itself the great miracle. +What are changes of empires, the wreck of dynasties, with the +opinions which supported them; what is the birth and the extinction +of religious and of political systems to life? What are the revolutions +of the globe which we inhabit, and the operations of the elements +of which it is composed, compared with life? What is the universe +of stars, and suns, of which this inhabited earth is one, and their +motions, and their destiny, compared with life? Life, the great +miracle, we admire not, because it is so miraculous. It is well +that we are thus shielded by the familiarity of what is at once +so certain and so unfathomable, from an astonishment which would +otherwise absorb and overawe the functions of that which is its +object. + +If any artist, I do not say had executed, but had merely conceived +in his mind the system of the sun, and the stars, and planets, they +not existing, and had painted to us in words, or upon canvas, the +spectacle now afforded by the nightly cope of heaven, and illustrated it +by the wisdom of astronomy, great would be our admiration. Or had +he imagined the scenery of this earth, the mountains, the seas, +and the rivers; the grass, and the flowers, and the variety of +the forms and masses of the leaves of the woods, and the colours +which attend the setting and the rising sun, and the hues of the +atmosphere, turbid or serene, these things not before existing, +truly we should have been astonished, and it would not have been a +vain boast to have said of such a man, 'Non merita nome di creatore, +se non Iddio ed il Poeta.' But now these things are looked on with +little wonder, and to be conscious of them with intense delight is +esteemed to be the distinguishing mark of a refined and extraordinary +person. The multitude of men care not for them. It is thus with +Life--that which includes all. + +What is life? Thoughts and feelings arise, with or without our will, +and we employ words to express them. We are born, and our birth is +unremembered, and our infancy remembered but in fragments; we live +on, and in living we lose the apprehension of life. How vain is it +to think that words can penetrate the mystery of our being! Rightly +used they may make evident our ignorance to ourselves, and this is +much. For what are we? Whence do we come? and whither do we go? Is +birth the commencement, is death the conclusion of our being? What +is birth and death? + +The most refined abstractions of logic conduct to a view of life, +which, though startling to the apprehension, is, in fact, that which +the habitual sense of its repeated combinations has extinguished +in us. It strips, as it were, the painted curtain from this scene +of things. I confess that I am one of those who are unable to refuse +my assent to the conclusions of those philosophers who assert that +nothing exists but as it is perceived. + +It is a decision against which all our persuasions struggle, and we +must be long convicted before we can be convinced that the solid +universe of external things is 'such stuff as dreams are made +of.' The shocking absurdities of the popular philosophy of mind +and matter, its fatal consequences in morals, and their violent +dogmatism concerning the source of all things, had early conducted +me to materialism. This materialism is a seducing system to young and +superficial minds. It allows its disciples to talk, and dispenses +them from thinking. But I was discontented with such a view of +things as it afforded; man is a being of high aspirations, 'looking +both before and after,' whose 'thoughts wander through eternity,' +disclaiming alliance with transience and decay; incapable of +imagining to himself annihilation; existing but in the future and +the past; being, not what he is, but what he has been and shall be. +Whatever may be his true and final destination, there is a spirit +within him at enmity with nothingness and dissolution. This is the +character of all life and being. Each is at once the centre and +the circumference; the point to which all things are referred, and +the line in which all things are contained. Such contemplations as +these, materialism and the popular philosophy of mind and matter +alike forbid; they are only consistent with the intellectual system. + +It is absurd to enter into a long recapitulation of arguments +sufficiently familiar to those inquiring minds, whom alone a writer +on abstruse subjects can be conceived to address. Perhaps the most +clear and vigorous statement of the intellectual system is to be +found in Sir William Drummond's Academical Questions. + +After such an exposition, it would be idle to translate into other +words what could only lose its energy and fitness by the change. +Examined point by point, and word by word, the most discriminating +intellects have been able to discern no train of thoughts in the +process of reasoning, which does not conduct inevitably to the +conclusion which has been stated. + +What follows from the admission? It establishes no new truth, it +gives us no additional insight into our hidden nature, neither its +action nor itself. Philosophy, impatient as it may be to build, +has much work yet remaining, as pioneer for the overgrowth of ages. +It makes one step towards this object; it destroys error, and the +roots of error. It leaves, what it is too often the duty of the +reformer in political and ethical questions to leave, a vacancy. +It reduces the mind to that freedom in which it would have acted, +but for the misuse of words and signs, the instruments of its own +creation. By signs, I would be understood in a wide sense, including +what is properly meant by that term, and what I peculiarly mean. In +this latter sense, almost all familiar objects are signs, standing, +not for themselves, but for others, in their capacity of suggesting +one thought which shall lead to a train of thoughts. Our whole life +is thus an education of error. + +Let us recollect our sensations as children. What a distinct and +intense apprehension had we of the world and of ourselves! Many of +the circumstances of social life were then important to us which +are now no longer so. But that is not the point of comparison on +which I mean to insist. We less habitually distinguished all that +we saw and felt, from ourselves. They seemed as it were to constitute +one mass. There are some persons who, in this respect, are always +children. Those who are subject to the state called reverie, feel +as if their nature were dissolved into the surrounding universe, +or as if the surrounding universe were absorbed into their being. +They are conscious of no distinction. And these are states which +precede, or accompany, or follow an unusually intense and vivid +apprehension of life. As men grow up this power commonly decays, +and they become mechanical and habitual agents. Thus feelings and +then reasonings are the combined result of a multitude of entangled +thoughts, and of a series of what are called impressions, planted +by reiteration. + +The view of life presented by the most refined deductions of the +intellectual philosophy, is that of unity. Nothing exists but as +it is perceived. The difference is merely nominal between those two +classes of thought, which are vulgarly distinguished by the names +of ideas and of external objects. Pursuing the same thread of +reasoning, the existence of distinct individual minds, similar to +that which is employed in now questioning its own nature, is likewise +found to be a delusion. The words _I_, YOU, THEY, are not signs of +any actual difference subsisting between the assemblage of thoughts +thus indicated, but are merely marks employed to denote the different +modifications of the one mind. + +Let it not be supposed that this doctrine conducts to the monstrous +presumption that I, the person who now write and think, am that one +mind. I am but a portion of it. The words _I_, and YOU, and THEY, +are grammatical devices invented simply for arrangement, and totally +devoid of the intense and exclusive sense usually attached to +them. It is difficult to find terms adequate to express so subtle +a conception as that to which the Intellectual Philosophy has +conducted us. We are on that verge where words abandon us, and what +wonder if we grow dizzy to look down the dark abyss of how little +we know. The relations of THINGS remain unchanged, by whatever system. +By the word THINGS is to be understood any object of thought, that +is any thought upon which any other thought is employed, with an +apprehension of distinction. + +The relations of these remain unchanged; and such is the material +of our knowledge. What is the cause of life? that is, how was it +produced, or what agencies distinct from life have acted or act +upon life? All recorded generations of mankind have weariedly busied +themselves in inventing answers to this question; and the result +has been,--Religion. Yet, that the basis of all things cannot be, +as the popular philosophy alleges, mind, is sufficiently evident. +Mind, as far as we have any experience of its properties, and beyond +that experience how vain is argument! cannot create, it can only +perceive. It is said also to be the cause. But cause is only a +word expressing a certain state of the human mind with regard to +the manner in which two thoughts are apprehended to be related to +each other. If any one desires to know how unsatisfactorily the +popular philosophy employs itself upon this great question, they +need only impartially reflect upon the manner in which thoughts +develop themselves in their minds. It is infinitely improbable that +the cause of mind, that is, of existence, is similar to mind. + +[1815; publ. 1840] + + + + +ON A FUTURE STATE + +It has been the persuasion of an immense majority of human beings +in all ages and nations that we continue to live after death,--that +apparent termination of all the functions of sensitive and intellectual +existence. Nor has mankind been contented with supposing that +species of existence which some philosophers have asserted; namely, +the resolution of the component parts of the mechanism of a living +being into its elements, and the impossibility of the minutest +particle of these sustaining the smallest diminution. They have +clung to the idea that sensibility and thought, which they have +distinguished from the objects of it, under the several names +of spirit and matter, is, in its own nature, less susceptible of +division and decay, and that, when the body is resolved into its +elements, the principle which animated it will remain perpetual +and unchanged. Some philosophers-and those to whom we are indebted +for the most stupendous discoveries in physical science, suppose, +on the other hand, that intelligence is the mere result of certain +combinations among the particles of its objects; and those among +them who believe that we live after death, recur to the interposition +of a supernatural power, which shall overcome the tendency inherent +in all material combinations, to dissipate and be absorbed into +other forms. + +Let us trace the reasonings which in one and the other have conducted +to these two opinions, and endeavour to discover what we ought to +think on a question of such momentous interest. Let us analyse the +ideas and feelings which constitute the contending beliefs, and +watchfully establish a discrimination between words and thoughts. +Let us bring the question to the test of experience and fact; and +ask ourselves, considering our nature in its entire extent, what +light we derive from a sustained and comprehensive view of its +component parts, which may enable, us to assert, with certainty, +that we do or do not live after death. + +The examination of this subject requires that it should be stript +of all those accessory topics which adhere to it in the common opinion +of men. The existence of a God, and a future state of rewards and +punishments, are totally foreign to the subject. If it be proved +that the world is ruled by a Divine Power, no inference necessarily +can be drawn from that circumstance in favour of a future state. +It has been asserted, indeed, that as goodness and justice are to +be numbered among the attributes of the Deity, He will undoubtedly +compensate the virtuous who suffer during life, and that He will +make every sensitive being who does not deserve punishment, happy +for ever. But this view of the subject, which it would be tedious +as well as superfluous to develop and expose, satisfies no person, +and cuts the knot which we now seek to untie. Moreover, should it +be proved, on the other hand, that the mysterious principle which +regulates the proceedings of the universe, is neither intelligent +nor sensitive, yet it is not an inconsistency to suppose at the +same time, that the animating power survives the body which it +has animated, by laws as independent of any supernatural agent as +those through which it first became united with it. Nor, if a future +state be clearly proved, does it follow that it will be a state of +punishment or reward. + +By the word death, we express that condition in which natures +resembling ourselves apparently cease to be that which they were. +We no longer hear them speak, nor see them move. If they have +sensations and apprehensions, we no longer participate in them. +We know no more than that those external organs, and all that fine +texture of material frame, without which we have no experience that +life or thought can subsist, are dissolved and scattered abroad. +The body is placed under the earth, and after a certain period there +remains no vestige even of its form. This is that contemplation +of inexhaustible melancholy, whose shadow eclipses the brightness +of the world. The common observer is struck with dejection at the +spectacle. He contends in vain against the persuasion of the grave, +that the dead indeed cease to be. The corpse at his feet is prophetic +of his own destiny. Those who have preceded him, and whose voice +was delightful to his ear; whose touch met his like sweet and subtle +fire; whose aspect spread a visionary light upon his path--these +he cannot meet again. The organs of sense are destroyed, and the +intellectual operations dependent on them have perished with their +sources. How can a corpse see or feel? its eyes are eaten out, and +its heart is black and without motion. What intercourse can two +heaps of putrid clay and crumbling bones hold together? When you +can discover where the fresh colours of the faded flower abide, +or the music of the broken lyre, seek life among the dead. Such +are the anxious and fearful contemplations of the common observer, +though the popular religion often prevents him from confessing them +even to himself. + +The natural philosopher, in addition to the sensations common +to all men inspired by the event of death, believes that he sees +with more certainty that it is attended with the annihilation of +sentiment and thought. He observes the mental powers increase and +fade with those of the body, and even accommodate themselves to +the most transitory changes of our physical nature. Sleep suspends +many of the faculties of the vital and intellectual principle; +drunkenness and disease will either temporarily or permanently +derange them. Madness or idiotcy may utterly extinguish the most +excellent and delicate of those powers. In old age the mind gradually +withers; and as it grew and was strengthened with the body, so does +it together with the body sink into decrepitude. Assuredly these +are convincing evidences that so soon as the organs of the body +are subjected to the laws of inanimate matter, sensation, and +perception, and apprehension, are at an end. It is probable that +what we call thought is not an actual being, but no more than the +relation between certain parts of that infinitely varied mass, +of which the rest of the universe is composed, and which ceases +to exist so soon as those parts change their position with regard +to each other. Thus colour, and sound, and taste, and odour exist +only relatively. But let thought be considered as some peculiar +substance, which permeates, and is the cause of, the animation of +living beings. Why should that substance be assumed to be something +essentially distinct from all others, and exempt from subjection +to those laws from which no other substance is exempt? It differs, +indeed, from all other substances, as electricity, and light, and +magnetism, and the constituent parts of air and earth, severally +differ from all others. Each of these is subject to change and +to decay, and to conversion into other forms. Yet the difference +between light and earth is scarcely greater than that which exists +between life, or thought, and fire. The difference between the two +former was never alleged as an argument for the eternal permanence +of either, in that form under which they first might offer themselves +to our notice. Why should the difference between the two latter +substances be an argument for the prolongation of the existence +of one and not the other, when the existence of both has arrived +at their apparent termination? To say that fire exists without +manifesting any of the properties of fire, such as light, heat, +etc., or that the principle of life exists without consciousness, +or memory, or desire, or motive, is to resign, by an awkward +distortion of language, the affirmative of the dispute. To say +that the principle of life MAY exist in distribution among various +forms, is to assert what cannot be proved to be either true or +false, but which, were it true, annihilates all hope of existence +after death, in any sense in which that event can belong to the +hopes and fears of men. Suppose, however, that the intellectual +and vital principle differs in the most marked and essential manner +from all other known substances; that they have all some resemblance +between themselves which it in no degree participates. In what manner +can this concession be made an argument for its imperishability? +All that we see or know perishes and is changed. Life and thought +differ indeed from everything else. But that it survives that +period, beyond which we have no experience of its existence, such +distinction and dissimilarity affords no shadow of proof, and nothing +but our own desires could have led us to conjecture or imagine. +Have we existed before birth? It is difficult to conceive the +possibility of this. There is, in the generative principle of each +animal and plant, a power which converts the substances by which +it is surrounded into a substance homogeneous with itself. That +is, the relations between certain elementary particles of matter +undergo a change, and submit to new combinations. For when we use +the words PRINCIPLE, POWER, CAUSE, we mean to express no real being, +but only to class under those terms a certain series of co-existing +phenomena; but let it be supposed that this principle is a certain +substance which escapes the observation of the chemist and anatomist. +It certainly MAY BE; though it is sufficiently unphilosophical +to allege the possibility of an opinion as a proof of its truth. +Does it see, hear, feel, before its combination with those organs +on which sensation depends? Does it reason, imagine, apprehend, +without those ideas which sensation alone can communicate? If we +have not existed before birth; if, at the period when the parts +of our nature on which thought and life depend, seem to be woven +together; if there are no reasons to suppose that we have existed +before that period at which our existence apparently commences, +then there are no grounds for supposition that we shall continue +to exist after our existence has apparently ceased. So far as +thought is concerned, the same will take place with regard to use, +individually considered, after death, as had place before our birth. + +It is said that it, is possible that we should continue to exist +in some mode totally inconceivable to us at present. This is a most +unreasonable presumption. It casts on the adherents of annihilation +the burthen of proving the negative of a question, the affirmative +of which is not supported by a single argument, and which, by its +very nature, lies beyond the experience of the human understanding. +It is sufficiently easy, indeed, to form any proposition, concerning +which we are ignorant, just not so absurd as not to be contradictory +in itself, and defy refutation. The possibility of whatever enters +into the wildest imagination to conceive is thus triumphantly +vindicated. But it is enough that such assertions should be either +contradictory to the known laws of nature, or exceed the limits of our +experience, that their fallacy or irrelevancy to our consideration +should be demonstrated. They persuade, indeed, only those who +desire to be persuaded. This desire to be for ever as we are; the +reluctance to a violent and unexperienced change, which is common +to all the animated and inanimate combinations of the universe, is, +indeed, the secret persuasion which has given birth to the opinions +of a future state. + +[1815; publ. 1840] + + + + +ON THE PUNISHMENT OF DEATH + +A FRAGMENT + +The first law which it becomes a Reformer to propose and support, +at the approach of a period of great political change, is the +abolition of the punishment of death. + +It is sufficiently clear that revenge, retaliation, atonement, +expiation, are rules and motives, so far from deserving a place in +any enlightened system of political life, that they are the chief +sources of a prodigious class of miseries in the domestic circles +of society. It is clear that however the spirit of legislation may +appear to frame institutions upon more philosophical maxims, it +has hitherto, in those cases which are termed criminal, done little +more than palliate the spirit, by gratifying a portion of it; and +afforded a compromise between that which is bests--the inflicting +of no evil upon a sensitive being, without a decisively beneficial +result in which he should at least participates--and that which is +worst; that he should be put to torture for the amusement of those +whom he may have injured, or may seem to have injured. + +Omitting these remoter considerations, let us inquire what, DEATH +is; that punishment which is applied as a measure of transgressions +of indefinite shades of distinction, so soon as they shall have +passed that degree and colour of enormity, with which it is supposed +no, inferior infliction is commensurate. + +And first, whether death is good or evil, a punishment or a reward, +or whether it be wholly indifferent, no man can take upon himself +to assert. That that within us which thinks and feels, continues +to think and feel after the dissolution of the body, has been the +almost universal opinion of mankind, and the accurate philosophy +of what I may be permitted to term the modern Academy, by showing +the prodigious depth and extent of our ignorance respecting the +causes and nature of sensation, renders probable the affirmative +of a proposition, the negative of which it is so difficult to +conceive, and the popular arguments against which, derived from +what is called the atomic system, are proved to be applicable only +to the relation which one object bears to another, as apprehended +by the mind, and not to existence itself, or the nature of that +essence which is the medium and receptacle of objects. + +The popular system of religion suggests the idea that the mind, +after death, will be painfully or pleasurably affected according to +its determinations during life. However ridiculous and pernicious +we must admit the vulgar accessories of this creed to be, there +is a certain analogy, not wholly absurd, between the consequences +resulting to an individual during life from the virtuous or vicious, +prudent or imprudent, conduct of his external actions, to those +consequences which are conjectured to ensue from the discipline +and order of his internal thoughts, as affecting his condition in +a future state. They omit, indeed, to calculate upon the accidents +of disease, and temperament, and organization, and circumstance, +together with the multitude of independent agencies which affect +the opinions, the conduct, and the happiness of individuals, and +produce determinations of the will, and modify the judgement, so +as to produce effects the most opposite in natures considerably +similar. These are those operations in the order of the whole of +nature, tending, we are prone to believe, to some definite mighty +end, to which the agencies of our peculiar nature are subordinate; +nor is there any reason to suppose, that in a future state they should +become suddenly exempt from that subordination. The philosopher is +unable to determine whether our existence in a previous state has +affected our present condition, and abstains from deciding whether +our present condition will affect us in that which may be future. +That, if we continue to exist, the manner of our existence will be +such as no inferences nor conjectures, afforded by a consideration +of our earthly experience, can elucidate, is sufficiently obvious. +The opinion that the vital principle within us, in whatever mode +it may continue to exist, must lose that consciousness of definite +and individual being which now characterizes it, and become a unit +in the vast sum of action and of thought which disposes and animates +the universe, and is called God, seems to belong to that class of +opinion which has been designated as indifferent. + +To compel a person to know all that can be known by the dead +concerning that which the living fear, hope, or forget; to plunge +him into the pleasure or pain which there awaits him; to punish or +reward him in a manner and in a degree incalculable and incomprehensible +by us; to disrobe him at once from all that intertexture of good +and evil with which Nature seems to have clothed every form of +individual existence, is to inflict on him the doom of death. + +A certain degree of pain and terror usually accompany the infliction +of death. This degree is infinitely varied by the infinite variety +in the temperament and opinions of the sufferers. As a measure of +punishment, strictly so considered, and as an exhibition, which, by +its known effects on the sensibility of the sufferer, is intended +to intimidate the spectators from incurring a similar liability, +it is singularly inadequate. + +Firstly, Persons of energetic character, in whom, as in men who +suffer for political crimes, there is a large mixture of enterprise, +and fortitude, and disinterestedness, and the elements, though +misguided and disarranged, by which the strength and happiness of a +nation might have been cemented, die in such a manner, as to make +death appear not evil, but good. The death of what is called a +traitor, that is, a person who, from whatever motive, would abolish +the government of the day, is as often a triumphant exhibition +of suffering virtue, as the warning of a culprit. The multitude, +instead of departing with a panic-stricken approbation of the laws +which exhibited such a spectacle, are inspired with pity, admiration +and sympathy; and the most generous among them feel an emulation +to be the authors of such flattering emotions, as they experience +stirring in their bosoms. Impressed by what they see and feel, +they make no distinctive between the motives which incited the +criminals to the action for which they suffer, or the heroic courage +with which they turned into good that which their judges awarded +to them as evil or the purpose itself of those actions, though that +purpose may happen to be eminently pernicious. The laws in this +case lose their sympathy, which it ought to be their chief object +to secure, and in a participation of which consists their chief +strength in maintaining those sanctions by which the parts of the +social union are bound together, so as to produce, as nearly as +possible, the ends for which it is instituted. + +Secondly,--Persons of energetic character, in communities not +modelled with philosophical skill to turn all the energies which +they contain to the purposes of common good, are prone also to fall +into the temptation of undertaking, and are peculiarly fitted for +despising the perils attendant upon consummating, the most enormous +crimes. Murder, rapes, extensive schemes of plunder are the actions +of persons belonging to this class; and death is the penalty of +conviction. But the coarseness of organization, peculiar to men +capable of committing acts wholly selfish, is usually found to +be associated with a proportionate insensibility to fear or pain. +Their sufferings communicate to those of the spectators, who may be +liable to the commission of similar crimes a sense of the lightness +of that event, when closely examined which, at a distance, as +uneducated persons are accustomed to do, probably they regarded with +horror. But a great majority of the spectators are so bound up in +the interests and the habits of social union that no temptation +would be sufficiently strong to induce them to a commission of the +enormities to which this penalty is assigned. The more powerful, and +the richer among them,--and a numerous class of little tradesmen are +richer and more powerful than those who are employed by them, and +the employer, in general, bears this relation to the employed,--regard +their own wrongs as, in some degree, avenged, and their own rights +secured by this punishment, inflicted as the penalty of whatever +crime. In cases of murder or mutilation, this feeling is almost +universal. In those, therefore, whom this exhibition does not +awaken to the sympathy which extenuates crime and discredits the +law which restrains it, it produces feelings more directly at war +with the genuine purposes of political society. It excites those +emotions which it is the chief object of civilization to extinguish +for ever, and in the extinction of which alone there can be any +hope of better institutions than those under which men now misgovern +one another. Men feel that their revenge is gratified, and that +their security is established by the extinction and the sufferings +of beings, in most respects resembling themselves; and their daily +occupations constraining them to a precise form in all their thoughts, +they come to connect inseparably the idea of their own advantage +with that of the death and torture of others. It is manifest that +the object of sane polity is directly the reverse; and that laws +founded upon reason, should accustom the gross vulgar to associate +their ideas of security and of interest with the reformation, and +the strict restraint, for that purpose alone, of those who might +invade it. + +The passion of revenge is originally nothing more than an habitual +perception of the ideas of the sufferings of the person who inflicts +an injury, as connected, as they are in a savage state, or in such +portions of society as are yet undisciplined to civilization, with +security that that injury will not be repeated in future. This +feeling, engrafted upon superstition and confirmed by habit, at +last loses sight of the only object for which it may be supposed +to have been implanted, and becomes a passion and a duty to be +pursued and fulfilled, even to the destruction of those ends to +which it originally tended. The other passions, both good and evil. +Avarice, Remorse, Love, Patriotism, present a similar appearance; +and to this principle of the mind over-shooting the mark at which +it aims, we owe all that is eminently base or excellent in human +nature; in providing for the nutriment or the extinction of which, +consists the true art of the legislator. [Footnote: The savage and +the illiterate are but faintly aware of the distinction between +the future and the past; they make actions belonging to periods so +distinct, the subjects of similar feelings; they live only in the +present, or in the past, as it is present. It is in this that the +philosopher excels one of the many; it is this which distinguishes +the doctrine of philosophic necessity from fatalism; and that +determination of the will, by which it is the active source of future +events, from that liberty or indifference, to which the abstract +liability of irremediable actions is attached, according to the +notions of the vulgar. + +This is the source of the erroneous excesses of Remorse and Revenge; +the one extending itself over the future, and the other over the +past; provinces in which their suggestions can only be the sources +of evil. The purpose of a resolution to act more wisely and virtuously +in future, and the sense of a necessity of caution in repressing +an enemy, are the sources from which the enormous superstitions +implied in the words cited have arisen.] + +Nothing is more clear than that the infliction of punishment in +general, in a degree which the reformation and the restraint of +those who transgress the laws does not render indispensable, and +none more than death, confirms all the inhuman and unsocial impulses +of men. It is almost a proverbial remark, that those nations in which +the penal code has been particularly mild, have been distinguished +from all others by the rarity of crime. But the example is to be +admitted to be equivocal. A more decisive argument is afforded by +a consideration of the universal connexion of ferocity of manners, +and a contempt of social ties, with the contempt of human life. +Governments which derive their institutions from the existence of +circumstances of barbarism and violence, with some rare exceptions +perhaps, are bloody in proportion as they are despotic, and form +the manners of their subjects to a sympathy with their own spirit. + +The spectators who feel no abhorrence at a public execution, but +rather a self-applauding superiority, and a sense of gratified +indignation, are surely excited to the most inauspicious emotions. The +first reflection of such a one is the sense of his own internal and +actual worth, as preferable to that of the victim, whom circumstances +have led to destruction. The meanest wretch is impressed with a +sense of his own comparative merit. He is one of those on whom the +tower of Siloam fell not--he is such a one as Jesus Christ found +not in all Samaria, who, in his own soul, throws the first stone at +the woman taken in adultery. The popular religion of the country +takes its designation from that illustrious person whose beautiful +sentiment I have quoted. Any one who has stript from the doctrines +of this person the veil of familiarity, will perceive how adverse +their spirit is to feelings of this nature. + + + + + +SPECULATIONS ON METAPHYSICS + +I--THE MIND + +It is an axiom in mental philosophy, that we can think of nothing +which we have not perceived. When I say that we can think of nothing, +I mean, we can imagine nothing, we can reason of nothing, we can +remember nothing, we can foresee nothing. The most astonishing +combinations of poetry, the subtlest deductions of logic and +mathematics, are no other than combinations which the intellect +makes of sensations according to its own laws. A catalogue of all +the thoughts of the mind, and of all their possible modifications, +is a cyclopedic history of the universe. + +But, it will be objected, the inhabitants of the various planets of +this and other solar systems; and the existence of a Power bearing +the same relation to all that we perceive and are, as what we +call a cause does to what we call effect, were never subjects of +sensation, and yet the laws of mind almost universally suggest, +according to the various disposition of each, a conjecture, +a persuasion, or a conviction of their existence. The reply is +simple; these thoughts are also to be included in the catalogue +of existence; they are modes in which thoughts are combined; the +objection only adds force to the conclusion, that beyond the limits +of perception and thought nothing can exist. + +Thoughts, or ideas, or notions, call them what you will, differ +from each other, not in kind, but in force. It has commonly been +supposed that those distinct thoughts which affect a number of +persons, at regular intervals, during the passage of a multitude +of other thoughts, which are called REAL or EXTERNAL OBJECTS, +are totally different in kind from those which affect only a few +persons, and which recur at irregular intervals, and are usually +more obscure and indistinct, such as hallucinations, dreams, and the +ideas of madness. No essential distinction between any one of these +ideas, or any class of them, is founded on a correct observation of +the nature of things, but merely on a consideration of what thoughts +are most invariably subservient to the security and happiness of +life; and if nothing more were expressed by the distinction, the +philosopher might safely accommodate his language to that of the +vulgar. But they pretend to assert an essential difference, which +has no foundation in truth, and which suggests a narrow and false +conception of universal nature, the parent of the most fatal errors +in speculation. A specific difference between every thought of the +mind, is, indeed, a necessary consequence of that law by which it +perceives diversity and number; but a generic and essential difference +is wholly arbitrary. The principle of the agreement and similarity +of all thoughts, is, that they are all thoughts; the principle +of their disagreement consists in the variety and irregularity of +the occasions on which they arise in the mind. That in which they +agree, to that in which they differ, is as everything to nothing. +Important distinctions, of various degrees of force, indeed, are to +be established between them, if they were, as they may be, subjects +of ethical and economical discussion; but that is a question +altogether distinct. By considering all knowledge as bounded by +perception, whose operations may be indefinitely combined, we arrive +at a conception of Nature inexpressibly more magnificent, simple +and true, than accords with the ordinary systems of complicated and +partial consideration. Nor does a contemplation of the universe, +in this comprehensive and synthetical view, exclude the subtlest +analysis of its modifications and parts. + +A scale might be formed, graduated according to the degrees +of a combined ratio of intensity, duration, connexion, periods of +recurrence, and utility, which would be the standard, according to +which all ideas might be measured, and an uninterrupted chain of +nicely shadowed distinctions would be observed, from the faintest +impression on the senses, to the most distinct combination of those +impressions; from the simplest of those combinations, to that mass +of knowledge which, including our own nature, constitutes what we +call the universe. + +We are intuitively conscious of our own existence, and of that +connexion in the train of our successive ideas, which we term our +identity. We are conscious also of the existence of other minds; +but not intuitively. Our evidence, with respect to the existence of +other minds, is founded upon a very complicated relation of ideas, +which it is foreign to the purpose of this treatise to anatomize. +The basis of this relation is, undoubtedly, a periodical recurrence +of masses of ideas, which our voluntary determinations have, in +one peculiar direction, no power to circumscribe or to arrest, and +against the recurrence of which they can only imperfectly provide. +The irresistible laws of thought constrain us to believe that the +precise limits of our actual ideas are not the actual limits of +possible ideas; the law, according to which these deductions are +drawn, is called analogy; and this is the foundation of all our +inferences, from one idea to another, inasmuch as they resemble +each other. + +We see trees, houses, fields, living beings in our own shape, and +in shapes more or less analogous to our own. These are perpetually +changing the mode of their existence relatively to us. To express +the varieties of these modes, we say, WE MOVE, THEY MOVE; and as this +motion is continual, though not uniform, we express our conception +of the diversities of its course by--IT HAS BEEN, IT IS, IT SHALL +BE. These diversities are events or objects, and are essential, +considered relatively to human identity, for the existence of the +human mind. For if the inequalities, produced by what has been +termed the operations of the external universe, were levelled by the +perception of our being, uniting and filling up their interstices, +motion and mensuration, and time, and space; the elements of the +human mind being thus abstracted, sensation and imagination cease. +Mind cannot be considered pure. + +II--WHAT METAPHYSICS ARE. ERRORS IN THE USUAL METHODS OF CONSIDERING +THEM + +We do not attend sufficiently to what passes within ourselves. We +combine words, combined a thousand times before. In our minds we +assume entire opinions; and in the expression of those opinions, +entire phrases, when we would philosophize. Our whole style of +expression and sentiment is infected with the tritest plagiarisms. +Our words are dead, our thoughts are cold and borrowed. + +Let us contemplate facts; let us, in the great study of ourselves, +resolutely compel the mind to a rigid consideration of itself. We +are not content with conjecture, and inductions, and syllogisms, +in sciences regarding external objects. As in these, let us also, +in considering the phenomena of mind, severely collect those +facts which cannot be disputed. Metaphysics will thus possess this +conspicuous advantage over every other science, that each student, +by attentively referring to his own mind, may ascertain the +authorities upon which any assertions regarding it are supported. +There can thus be no deception, we ourselves being the depositaries +of the evidence of the subject which we consider. + +Metaphysics may be defined as an inquiry concerning those things +belonging to, or connected with, the internal nature of man. + +It is said that mind produces motion; and it might as well have +been said, that motion produces mind. + +III--DIFFICULTY OF ANALYSING THE HUMAN MIND + +If it were possible that a person should give a faithful history of +his being, from the earliest epochs of his recollection, a picture +would be presented such as the world has never contemplated before. +A mirror would be held up to all men in which they might behold +their own recollections, and, in dim perspective, their shadowy hopes +and fears,--all that they dare not, or that, daring and desiring, +they could not expose to the open eyes of day. But thought can +with difficulty visit the intricate and winding chambers which it +inhabits. It is like a river whose rapid and perpetual stream flows +outwards;--like one in dread who speeds through the recesses of +some haunted pile, and dares not look behind. The caverns of the +mind are obscure, and shadowy; or pervaded with a lustre, beautifully +bright indeed, but shining not beyond their portals. If it were +possible to be where we have been, vitally and indeed--if, at the +moment of our presence there, we could define the results of our +experience,--if the passage from sensation to reflection--from a +state of passive perception to voluntary contemplation, were not +so dizzying and so tumultuous, this attempt would be less difficult. + +IV--HOW THE ANALYSIS SHOULD BE CARRIED ON + +Most of the errors of philosophers have arisen from considering +the human being in a point of view too detailed and circumscribed +He is not a moral, and an intellectual,--but also, and pre-eminently, +an imaginative being. His own mind is his law; his own mind is all +things to him. If we would arrive at any knowledge which should be +serviceable from the practical conclusions to which it leads, we +ought to consider the mind of man and the universe as the great +whole on which to exercise our speculations. Here, above all, +verbal disputes ought to be laid aside, though this has long been +their chosen field of battle. It imports little to inquire whether +thought be distinct from the objects of thought. The use of the +words EXTERNAL and INTERNAL, as applied to the establishment of this +distinction, has been the symbol and the source of much dispute. +This is merely an affair of words, and as the dispute deserves, to +say, that when speaking of the objects of thought, we indeed only +describe one of the forms of thought--or that, speaking of thought, +we only apprehend one of the operations of the universal system of +beings. + +V--CATALOGUE OF THE PHENOMENA OF DREAMS, AS CONNECTING SLEEPING +AND WAKING + +1. Let us reflect on our infancy, and give as faithfully as possible +a relation of the events of sleep. + +And first I am bound to present a faithful picture of my own peculiar +nature relatively to sleep. I do not doubt that were every individual +to imitate me, it would be found that among many circumstances +peculiar to their individual nature, a sufficiently general +resemblance would be found to prove the connexion existing between +those peculiarities and the most universal phenomena. I shall employ +caution, indeed, as to the facts which I state, that they contain +nothing false or exaggerated. But they contain no more than certain +elucidations of my own nature; concerning the degree in which +it resembles, or differs from, that of others, I am by no means +accurately aware. It is sufficient, however, to caution the reader +against drawing general inferences from particular instances. + +I omit the general instances of delusion in fever or delirium, as +well as mere dreams considered in themselves. A delineation of this +subject, however inexhaustible and interesting, is to be passed +over. What is the connexion of sleeping and of waking? + +2. I distinctly remember dreaming three several times, between +intervals of two or more years, the same precise dream. It was +not so much what is ordinarily called a dream; the single image, +unconnected with all other images, of a youth who was educated at +the same school with myself, presented itself in sleep. Even now, +after the lapse of many years, I can never hear the name of this +youth, without the three places where I dreamed of him presenting +themselves distinctly to my mind. + +3. In dreams, images acquire associations peculiar to dreaming; so +that the idea of a particular house, when it recurs a second time +in dreams, will have relation with the idea of the same house, in +the first time, of a nature entirely different from that which the +house excites, when seen or thought of in relation to waking ideas. + +4. I have beheld scenes, with the intimate and unaccountable +connexion of which with the obscure parts of my own nature, I +have been irresistibly impressed. I have beheld a scene which has +produced no unusual effect on my thoughts. After the lapse of many +years I have dreamed of this scene. It has hung on my memory, it +has haunted my thoughts, at intervals, with the pertinacity of an +object connected with human affections. I have visited this scene +again. Neither the dream could be dissociated from the landscape, +nor the landscape from the dream, nor feelings, such as neither +singly could have awakened, from both. + +But the most remarkable event of this nature, which ever occurred +to me, happened five years ago at Oxford. I was walking with +a friend, in the neighbourhood of that city, engaged in earnest +and interesting conversation. We suddenly turned the corner of a +lane, and the view, which its high banks and hedges had concealed, +presented itself. The view consisted of a wind-mill, standing +in one among many plashy meadows, inclosed with stone walls; the +irregular and broken ground, between the wall and the road on which +we stood; a long low hill behind the windmill, and a grey covering +of uniform cloud spread over the evening sky. It was that season +when the last leaf had just fallen from the scant and stunted ash. +The scene surely was a common scene; the season and the hour little +calculated to kindle lawless thought; it was a tame uninteresting +assemblage of objects, such as would drive the imagination for +refuge in serious and sober talk, to the evening fireside, and the +dessert of winter fruits and wine. The effect which it produced on +me was not such as could have been expected. I suddenly remembered +to have seen that exact scene in some dream of long--. [Footnote: +Here I was obliged to leave off, overcome by thrilling horror.] + +[1815; publ. 1840] + + + + +SPECULATIONS ON MORALS + +I--PLAN OF A TREATISE ON MORALS + +That great science which regards nature and the operations of +the human mind, is popularly divided into Morals and Metaphysics. +The latter relates to a just classification, and the assignment +of distinct names to its ideas; the former regards simply the +determination of that arrangement of them which produces the greatest +and most solid happiness. It is admitted that a virtuous or moral +action, is that action which, when considered in all its accessories +and consequences, is fitted to produce the highest pleasure to the +greatest number of sensitive beings. The laws according to which +all pleasure, since it cannot be equally felt by all sensitive +beings, ought to be distributed by a voluntary agent, are reserved +for a separate chapter. + +The design of this little treatise is restricted to the development +of the elementary principles of morals. As far as regards that +purpose, metaphysical science will be treated merely so far as a +source of negative truth; whilst morality will be considered as a +science, respecting which we can arrive at positive conclusions. + +The misguided imaginations of men have rendered the ascertaining of +what IS NOT TRUE, the principal direct service which metaphysical +science can bestow upon moral science. Moral science itself is the +doctrine of the voluntary actions of man, as a sentient and social +being. These actions depend on the thoughts in his mind. But there +is a mass of popular opinion, from which the most enlightened persons +are seldom wholly free, into the truth or falsehood of which it +is incumbent on us to inquire, before we can arrive at any firm +conclusions as to the conduct which we ought to pursue in the +regulation of our own minds, or towards our fellow beings; or before +we can ascertain the elementary laws, according to which these +thoughts, from which these actions flow, are originally combined. + +The object of the forms according to which human society is administered, +is the happiness of the individuals composing the communities which +they regard, and these forms are perfect or imperfect in proportion +to the degree in which they promote this end. + +This object is not merely the quantity of happiness enjoyed by +individuals as sensitive beings, but the mode in which it should +be distributed among them as social beings. It is not enough, if +such a coincidence can be conceived as possible, that one person +or class of persons should enjoy the highest happiness, whilst +another is suffering a disproportionate degree of misery. It is +necessary that the happiness produced by the common efforts, and +preserved by the common care, should be distributed according to +the just claims of each individual; if not, although the quantity +produced should be the same, the end of society would remain +unfulfilled. The object is in a compound proportion to the quantity +of happiness produced, and the correspondence of the mode in which +it is distributed, to the elementary feelings of man as a social +being. + +The disposition in an individual to promote this object is called +virtue; and the two constituent parts of virtue, benevolence and +justice, are correlative with these two great portions of the only +true object of all voluntary actions of a human being. Benevolence +is the desire to be the author of good, and justice the apprehension +of the manner in which good ought to be done. + +Justice and benevolence result from the elementary laws of the +human mind. + + + +CHAPTER I ON THE NATURE OF VIRTUE + +SECT. 1. General View of the Nature and Objects of Virtue.--2. The +Origin and Basis of Virtue, as founded on the Elementary Principles +of Mind.--3. The Laws which flow from the nature of Mind regulating +the application of those principles to human actions;--4. Virtue, +a possible attribute of man. + +We exist in the midst of a multitude of beings like ourselves, upon +whose happiness most of our actions exert some obvious and decisive +influence. + +The regulation of this influence is the object of moral science. +We know that we are susceptible of receiving painful or pleasurable +impressions of greater or less intensity and duration. That is called +good which produces pleasure; that is called evil which produces +pain. These are general names, applicable to every class of causes, +from which an overbalance of pain or pleasure may result. But when +a human being is the active instrument of generating or diffusing +happiness, the principle through which it is most effectually +instrumental to that purpose, is called virtue. And benevolence, +or the desire to be the author of good, united with justice, or +an apprehension of the manner in which that good is to be done, +constitutes virtue. + +But wherefore should a man be benevolent and just? The immediate +emotions of his nature, especially in its most inartificial state, +prompt him to inflict pain, and to arrogate dominion. He desires +to heap superfluities to his own store, although others perish with +famine. He is propelled to guard against the smallest invasion of +his own liberty, though he reduces others to a condition of the most +pitiless servitude. He is revengeful, proud and selfish. Wherefore +should he curb these propensities? + +It is inquired, for what reason a human being should engage +in procuring the happiness, or refrain from producing the pain of +another? When a reason is required to prove the necessity of adopting +any system of conduct, what is it that the objector demands? He +requires proof of that system of conduct being such as will most +effectually promote the happiness of mankind. To demonstrate this, +is to render a moral reason. Such is the object of virtue. + +A common sophism, which, like many others, depends on the abuse of +a metaphorical expression to a literal purpose, has produced much +of the confusion which has involved the theory of morals. It is said +that no person is bound to be just or kind, if, on his neglect, he +should fail to incur some penalty. Duty is obligation. There can +be no obligation without an obliger. Virtue is a law, to which it +is the will of the lawgiver that we should conform; which will we +should in no manner be bound to obey, unless some dreadful punishment +were attached to disobedience. This is the philosophy of slavery +and superstition. + +In fact, no person can be BOUND or OBLIGED, without some power +preceding to bind and oblige. If I observe a man bound hand and +foot, I know that some one bound him. But if I observe him returning +self-satisfied from the performance of some action, by which he has +been the willing author of extensive benefit, I do not infer that +the anticipation of hellish agonies, or the hope of heavenly reward, +has constrained him to such an act. + + . . . . . . . + +It remains to be stated in what manner the sensations which +constitute the basis of virtue originate in the human mind; what +are the laws which it receives there; how far the principles of +mind allow it to be an attribute of a human being; and, lastly, +what is the probability of persuading mankind to adopt it as a +universal and systematic motive of conduct. + +BENEVOLENCE + +There is a class of emotions which we instinctively avoid. A human +being, such as is man considered in his origin, a child a month +old, has a very imperfect consciousness of the existence of other +natures resembling itself. All the energies of its being are +directed to the extinction of the pains with which it is perpetually +assailed. At length it discovers that it is surrounded by natures +susceptible of sensations similar to its own. It is very late before +children attain to this knowledge. If a child observes, without +emotion, its nurse or its mother suffering acute pain, it is +attributable rather to ignorance than insensibility. So soon as +the accents and gestures, significant of pain, are referred to the +feelings which they express, they awaken in the mind of the beholder +a desire that they should cease. Pain is thus apprehended to be evil +for its own sake, without any other necessary reference to the mind +by which its existence is perceived, than such as is indispensable +to its perception. The tendencies of our original sensations, indeed, +all have for their object the preservation of our individual being. +But these are passive and unconscious. In proportion as the mind +acquires an active power, the empire of these tendencies becomes +limited. Thus an infant, a savage, and a solitary beast, is selfish, +because its mind is incapable of receiving an accurate intimation +of the nature of pain as existing in beings resembling itself. +The inhabitant of a highly civilized community will more acutely +sympathize with the sufferings and enjoyments of others, than +the inhabitant of a society of a less degree of civilization. He +who shall have cultivated his intellectual powers by familiarity +with the highest specimens of poetry and philosophy, will usually +sympathize more than one engaged in the less refined functions +of manual labour. Every one has experience of the fact, that to +sympathize with the sufferings of another, is to enjoy a transitory +oblivion of his own. + +The mind thus acquires, by exercise, a habit, as it were, of +perceiving and abhorring evil, however remote from the immediate +sphere of sensations with which that individual mind is conversant. +Imagination or mind employed in prophetically imaging forth its +objects, is that faculty of human nature on which every gradation +of its progress, nay, every, the minutest, change, depends. Pain +or pleasure, if subtly analysed, will be found to consist entirely +in prospect. The only distinction between the selfish man and the +virtuous man is, that the imagination of the former is confined within +a narrow limit, whilst that of the latter embraces a comprehensive +circumference. In this sense, wisdom and virtue may be said to be +inseparable, and criteria of each other. Selfishness is the offspring +of ignorance and mistake; it is the portion of unreflecting infancy, +and savage solitude, or of those whom toil or evil occupations +have blunted or rendered torpid; disinterested benevolence is the +product of a cultivated imagination, and has an intimate connexion +with all the arts which add ornament, or dignity, or power, +or stability to the social state of man. Virtue is thus entirely +a refinement of civilized life; a creation of the human mind; or, +rather, a combination which it has made, according to elementary +rules contained within itself, of the feelings suggested by the +relations established between man and man. + +All the theories which have refined and exalted humanity, or those +which have been devised as alleviations of its mistakes and evils, +have been based upon the elementary emotions of disinterestedness, +which we feel to constitute the majesty of our nature. Patriotism, +as it existed in the ancient republics, was never, as has been +supposed, a calculation of personal advantages. When Mutius Scaevola +thrust his hand into the burning coals, and Regulus returned +to Carthage, and Epicharis sustained the rack silently, in the +torments of which she knew that she would speedily perish, rather +than betray the conspirators to the tyrant [Footnote: Tacitus.]; +these illustrious persons certainly made a small estimate of their +private interest. If it be said that they sought posthumous fame; +instances are not wanting in history which prove that men have even +defied infamy for the sake of good. But there is a great error in +the world with respect to the selfishness of fame. It is certainly +possible that a person should seek distinction as a medium of +personal gratification. But the love of fame is frequently no more +than a desire that the feelings of others should confirm, illustrate, +and sympathize with, our own. In this respect it is allied with all +that draws us out of ourselves. It is the 'last infirmity of noble +minds'. Chivalry was likewise founded on the theory of self-sacrifice. +Love possesses so extraordinary a power over the human heart, only +because disinterestedness is united with the natural propensities. +These propensities themselves are comparatively impotent in cases +where the imagination of pleasure to be given, as well as to be +received, does not enter into the account. Let it not be objected +that patriotism, and chivalry, and sentimental love, have been the +fountains of enormous mischief. They are cited only to establish the +proposition that, according to the elementary principles of mind, +man is capable of desiring and pursuing good for its own sake. + + +JUSTICE + +The benevolent propensities are thus inherent in the human mind. +We are impelled to seek the happiness of others. We experience +a satisfaction in being the authors of that happiness. Everything +that lives is open to impressions or pleasure and pain. We are +led by our benevolent propensities to regard every human being +indifferently with whom we come in contact. They have preference +only with respect to those who offer themselves most obviously +to our notice. Human beings are indiscriminating and blind; they +will avoid inflicting pain, though that pain should be attended +with eventual benefit; they will seek to confer pleasure without +calculating the mischief that may result. They benefit one at the +expense of many. + +There is a sentiment in the human mind that regulates benevolence +in its application as a principle of action. This is the sense of +justice. Justice, as well as benevolence, is an elementary law of +human nature. It is through this principle that men are impelled +to distribute any means of pleasure which benevolence may suggest +the communication of to others, in equal portions among an equal +number of applicants. If ten men are shipwrecked on a desert island, +they distribute whatever subsistence may remain to them, into equal +portions among themselves. If six of them conspire to deprive the +remaining four of their share, their conduct is termed unjust. + +The existence of pain has been shown to be a circumstance which the +human mind regards with dissatisfaction, and of which it desires +the cessation. It is equally according to its nature to desire that +the advantages to be enjoyed by a limited number of persons should +be enjoyed equally by all. This proposition is supported by the +evidence of indisputable facts. Tell some ungarbled tale of a number +of persons being made the victims of the enjoyments of one, and he +who would appeal in favour of any system which might produce such +an evil to the primary emotions of our nature, would have nothing +to reply. Let two persons, equally strangers, make application for +some benefit in the possession of a third to bestow, and to which +he feels that they have an equal claim. They are both sensitive +beings; pleasure and pain affect them alike. + + + +CHAPTER II + +It is foreign to the general scope of this little treatise to encumber +a simple argument by controverting any of the trite objections of +habit or fanaticism. But there are two; the first, the basis of all +political mistake, and the second, the prolific cause and effect +of religious error, which it seems useful to refute. + +First, it is inquired, 'Wherefore should a man be benevolent and +just?' The answer has been given in the preceding chapter. + +If a man persists to inquire why he ought to promote the happiness +of mankind, he demands a mathematical or metaphysical reason for +a moral action. The absurdity of this scepticism is more apparent, +but not less real than the exacting a moral reason for a mathematical +or metaphysical fact. If any person should refuse to admit that all +the radii of a circle are of equal length, or that human actions +are necessarily determined by motives, until it could be proved that +these radii and these actions uniformly tended to the production of +the greatest general good, who would not wonder at the unreasonable +and capricious association of his ideas? + +The writer of a philosophical treatise may, I imagine, at this +advanced era of human intellect, be held excused from entering into +a controversy with those reasoners, if such there are, who would +claim an exemption from its decrees in favour of any one among those +diversified systems of obscure opinion respecting morals, which, +under the name of religions, have in various ages and countries +prevailed among mankind. Besides that if, as these reasoners have +pretended, eternal torture or happiness will ensue as the consequence +of certain actions, we should be no nearer the possession of a +standard to determine what actions were right and wrong, even if this +pretended revelation, which is by no means the case, had furnished +us with a complete catalogue of them. The character of actions as +virtuous or vicious would by no means be determined alone by the +personal advantage or disadvantage of each moral agent individually +considered. Indeed, an action is often virtuous in proportion to +the greatness of the personal calamity which the author willingly +draws upon himself by daring to perform it. It is because an +action produces an overbalance of pleasure or pain to the greatest +number of sentient beings, and not merely because its consequences +are beneficial or injurious to the author of that action, that it +is good or evil. Nay, this latter consideration has a tendency to +pollute the purity of virtue, inasmuch as it consists in the motive +rather than in the consequences of an action. A person who should +labour for the happiness of mankind lest he should be tormented +eternally in Hell, would, with reference to that motive, possess as +little claim to the epithet of virtuous, as he who should torture, +imprison, and burn them alive, a more usual and natural consequence +of such principles, for the sake of the enjoyments of Heaven. + +My neighbour, presuming on his strength, may direct me to perform +or to refrain from a particular action; indicating a certain arbitrary +penalty in the event of disobedience within power to inflict. +My action, if modified by his menaces, can no degree participate +in virtue. He has afforded me no criterion as to what is right or +wrong. A king, or an assembly of men, may publish a proclamation +affixing any penalty to any particular action, but that is not +immoral because such penalty is affixed. Nothing is more evident +than that the epithet of virtue is inapplicable to the refraining +from that action on account of the evil arbitrarily attached to it. +If the action is in itself beneficial, virtue would rather consist +in not refraining from it, but in firmly defying the personal +consequences attached to its performance. + +Some usurper of supernatural energy might subdue the whole globe +to his power; he might possess new and unheard-of resources for +enduing his punishments with the most terrible attributes or pain. +The torments of his victims might be intense in their degree, +and protracted to an infinite duration. Still the 'will of the +lawgiver' would afford no surer criterion as to what actions were +right or wrong. It would only increase the possible virtue of those +who refuse to become the instruments of his tyranny. + + +II--MORAL SCIENCE CONSISTS IN CONSIDERING THE DIFFERENCE, NOT THE +RESEMBLANCE, OF PERSONS + +The internal influence, derived from the constitution of the mind +from which they flow, produces that peculiar modification of actions, +which makes them intrinsically good or evil. + +To attain an apprehension of the importance of this distinction, +let us visit, in imagination, the proceedings of some metropolis. +Consider the multitude of human beings who inhabit it, and survey, +in thought, the actions of the several classes into which they are +divided. Their obvious actions are apparently uniform: the stability +of human society seems to be maintained sufficiently by the uniformity +of the conduct of its members, both with regard to themselves, +and with regard to others. The labourer arises at a certain hour, +and applies himself to the task enjoined him. The functionaries +of government and law are regularly employed in their offices and +courts. The trader holds a train of conduct from which he never +deviates. The ministers of religion employ an accustomed language, +and maintain a decent and equable regard. The army is drawn forth, +the motions of every soldier are such as they were expected to be; +the general commands, and his words are echoed from troop to troop. +The domestic actions of men are, for the most part, undistinguishable +one from the other, at a superficial glance. The actions which +are classed under the general appellation of marriage, education, +friendship, &c., are perpetually going on, and to a superficial +glance, are similar one to the other. + +But, if we would see the truth of things, they must be stripped of +this fallacious appearance of uniformity. In truth, no one action +has, when considered in its whole extent, any essential resemblance +with any other. Each individual, who composes the vast multitude +which we have been contemplating, has a peculiar frame of mind, +which, whilst the features of the great mass of his actions remain +uniform, impresses the minuter lineaments with its peculiar hues. +Thus, whilst his life, as a whole, is like the lives of other men, +in detail, it is most unlike; and the more subdivided the actions +become; that is, the more they enter into that class which have +a vital influence on the happiness of others and his own, so much +the more are they distinct from those of other men. + + Those little, nameless, unremembered acts + Of kindness and of love, + +as well as those deadly outrages which are inflicted by a look, +a word--or less--the very refraining from some faint and most +evanescent expression of countenance; these flow from a profounder +source than the series of our habitual conduct, which, it has +been already said, derives its origin from without. These are the +actions, and such as these, which make human life what it is, and +are the fountains of all the good and evil with which its entire +surface is so widely and impartially overspread; and though they are +called minute, they are called so in compliance with the blindness +of those who cannot estimate their importance. It is in the due +appreciating the general effects of their peculiarities, and in +cultivating the habit of acquiring decisive knowledge respecting +the tendencies arising out of them in particular cases, that the +most important part of moral science consists. The deepest abyss +of these vast and multitudinous caverns, it is necessary that we +should visit. + +This is the difference between social and individual man. Not that +this distinction is to be considered definite, or characteristic +of one human being as compared with another; it denotes rather two +classes of agency, common in a degree to every human being. None +is exempt, indeed, from that species of influence which affects, as +it were, the surface of his being, and gives the specific outline +to his conduct. Almost all that is ostensible submits to that +legislature created by the general representation of the past +feelings of mankind--imperfect as it is from a variety of causes, +as it exists in the government, the religion, and domestic habits. +Those who do not nominally, yet actually, submit to the same power. +The external features of their conduct, indeed, can no more escape +it, than the clouds can escape from the stream of the wind; and +his opinion, which he often hopes he has dispassionately secured +from all contagion of prejudice and vulgarity, would be found, on +examination, to be the inevitable excrescence of the very usages +from which he vehemently dissents. Internally all is conducted +otherwise; the efficiency, the essence, the vitality of actions, +derives its colour from what is no ways contributed to from any +external source. Like the plant which while it derives the accident +of its size and shape from the soil in which it springs, and is +cankered, or distorted, or inflated, yet retains those qualities +which essentially divide it from all others; so that hemlock +continues to be poison, and the violet does not cease to emit its +odour in whatever soil it may grow. + +We consider our own nature too superficially. We look on all that +in ourselves with which we can discover a resemblance in others; +and consider those resemblances as the materials of moral knowledge. +It is in the differences that it actually consists. + +[1815; publ. 1840] + + + + +ESSAY ON THE LITERATURE, THE ARTS, AND THE MANNERS OF THE ATHENIANS + +A FRAGMENT + +The period which intervened between the birth of Pericles and the +death of Aristotle, is undoubtedly, whether considered in itself, +or with reference to the effects which it has produced upon +the subsequent destinies of civilized man, the most memorable in +the history of the world. What was the combination of moral and +political circumstances which produced so unparalleled a progress +during that period in literature and the arts;--why that progress, +so rapid and so sustained, so soon received a check, and became +retrograde,--are problems left to the wonder and conjecture of +posterity. The wrecks and fragments of those subtle and profound +minds, like the ruins of a fine statue, obscurely suggest to us the +grandeur and perfection of the whole. Their very language--a type +of the understandings of which it was the creation and the image--in +variety, in simplicity, in flexibility, and in copiousness, excels +every other language of the western world. Their sculptures are +such as we, in our presumption, assume to be the models of ideal +truth and beauty, and to which no artist of modern times can +produce forms in any degree comparable. Their paintings, according +to Pliny and Pausanias, were full of delicacy and harmony; and some +even were powerfully pathetic, so as to awaken, like tender music +or tragic poetry, the most overwhelming emotions. We are accustomed +to conceive the painters of the sixteenth century, as those who +have brought their art to the highest perfection, probably because +none of the ancient paintings have been preserved. For all the +inventive arts maintain, as it were, a sympathetic connexion between +each other, being no more than various expressions of one internal +power, modified by different circumstances, either of an individual, +or of society; and the paintings of that period would probably bear +the same relation as is confessedly borne by the sculptures to all +succeeding ones. Of their music we know little; but the effects +which it is said to have produced, whether they be attributed to +the skill of the composer, or the sensibility of his audience, are +far more powerful than any which we experience from the music of +our own times; and if, indeed, the melody of their compositions +were more tender and delicate, and inspiring, than the melodies of +some modern European nations, their superiority in this art must +have been something wonderful, and wholly beyond conception. + +Their poetry seems to maintain a very high, though not so +disproportionate a rank, in the comparison. Perhaps Shakespeare, from +the variety and comprehension of his genius, is to be considered, +on the whole, as the greatest individual mind, of which we have +specimens remaining. Perhaps Dante created imaginations of greater +loveliness and energy than any that are to be found in the ancient +literature of Greece. Perhaps nothing has been discovered in the +fragments of the Greek lyric poets equivalent to the sublime and +chivalric sensibility of Petrarch.--But, as a poet. Homer must be +acknowledged to excel Shakespeare in the truth, the harmony, the +sustained grandeur, the satisfying completeness of his images, their +exact fitness to the illustration, and to that to which they belong. +Nor could Dante, deficient in conduct, plan, nature, variety, and +temperance, have been brought into comparison with these men, but +for those fortunate isles laden with golden fruit, which alone +could tempt any one to embark in the misty ocean of his dark and +extravagant fiction. + +But, omitting the comparison of individual minds, which can afford +no general inference, how superior was the spirit and system of +their poetry to that of any other period! So that had any other +genius equal in other respects to the greatest that ever enlightened +the world, arisen in that age, he would have been superior to all, +from this circumstance alone--that had conceptions would have assumed +a more harmonious and perfect form. For it is worthy of observation, +that whatever the poet of that age produced is as harmonious and +perfect as possible. In a drama, for instance, were the composition +of a person of inferior talent, it was still homogeneous and free +from inequalities it was a whole, consistent with itself. The +compositions of great minds bore throughout the sustained stamp of +their greatness. In the poetry of succeeding ages the expectations +are often exalted on Icarian wings, and fall, too much disappointed +to give a memory and a name to the oblivious pool in which they +fell. + +In physical knowledge Aristotle and Theophrastus had already--no +doubt assisted by the labours of those of their predecessor whom +they criticize--made advances worthy of the maturity of science. +The astonishing invention of geometry, that series of discoveries +which have enabled man to command the element and foresee future +events, before the subjects of his ignorant wonder, and which have +opened as it were the doors of the mysteries of nature, had already +been brought to great perfection. Metaphysics, the science of man's +intimate nature, and logic, or the grammar and elementary principles +of that science received from the latter philosophers of the Periclean +age a firm basis. All our more exact philosophy is built upon the +labours of these great men, and many of the words which we employ +in metaphysical distinctions were invented by them to give accuracy +and system to their reasonings. The science of morals, or the +voluntary conduct of men in relation to themselves or others, dates +from this epoch. How inexpressibly bolder and more pure were the +doctrines of those great men, in comparison with the timid maxims +which prevail in the writings of the most esteemed modern moralists! +They were such as Phocion, and Epaminondas, and Timoleon, who formed +themselves on their influence, were to the wretched heroes of our +own age. + +Their political and religious institutions are more difficult to +bring into comparison with those of other times. A summary idea +may be formed of the worth of any political and religious system, +by observing the comparative degree of happiness and of intellect +produced under its influence. And whilst many institution and +opinions, which in ancient Greece were obstacles to the improvement +of the human race, have been abolished among modern nations, how +many pernicious superstitions and new contrivances of misrule, and +unheard-of complications of public mischief, have not been invented +among them by the ever-watchful spirit of avarice and tyranny! + +The modern nations of the civilized world owe the progress which +they have made--as well in those physical sciences in which they +have already excelled their masters, as in the moral and intellectual +inquiries, in which, with all the advantage of the experience of +the latter, it can scarcely be said that they have yet equalled +them,--to what is called the revival of learning; that is, the study +of the writers of the age which preceded and immediately followed +the government of Pericles, or of subsequent writers, who were, +so to speak, the rivers flowing from those immortal fountains. +And though there seems to be a principle in the modern world, +which, should circumstances analogous to those which modelled +the intellectual resources of the age to which we refer, into so +harmonious a proportion, again arise, would arrest and perpetuate +them, and consign their results to a more equal, extensive, and +lasting improvement of the condition of man--though justice and +the true meaning of human society are, if not more accurately, more +generally understood; though perhaps men know more, and therefore +are more, as a mass, yet this principle has never been called into +action, and requires indeed a universal and an almost appalling change +in the system of existing things. The study of modern history is +the study of kings, financiers, statesmen, and priests. The history +of ancient Greece is the study of legislators, philosophers, +and poets; it is the history of men, compared with the history of +titles. What the Greeks were, was a reality, not a promise. And what +we are and hope to be, is derived, as it were, from the influence +and inspiration of these glorious generations. + +Whatever tends to afford a further illustration of the manners and +opinions of those to whom we owe so much, and who were perhaps, on +the whole, the most perfect specimens of humanity of whom we have +authentic record, were infinitely valuable. Let us see their errors, +their weaknesses, their daily actions, their familiar conversation, +and catch the tone of their society. When we discover how far the +most admirable community ever framed was removed from that perfection +to which human society is impelled by some active power within each +bosom to aspire, how great ought to be our hopes, how resolute our +struggles! For the Greeks of the Periclean age were widely different +from us. It is to be lamented that no modern writer has hitherto +dared to show them precisely as they were. Barthelemi cannot +be denied the praise of industry and system; but he never forgets +that he is a Christian and a Frenchman. Wieland, in his delightful +novels, makes indeed a very tolerable Pagan, but cherishes too many +political prejudices, and refrains from diminishing the interest of +his romances by painting sentiments in which no European of modern +times can possibly sympathize. There is no book which shows the +Greeks precisely as they were; they seem all written for children +with the caution that no practice or sentiment, highly inconsistent +with our present manners, should be mentioned, lest those manners +should receive outrage and violation. But there are many to whom +the Greek language is inaccessible, who ought not to be excluded by +this prudery from possessing an exact and comprehensive conception +of the history of man; for there is no knowledge concerning what man +has been and may be, from partaking of which a person can depart, +without becoming in some degree more philosophical, tolerant, and +just. + +One of the chief distinctions between the manners of ancient Greece +and modern Europe, consisted in the regulations and the sentiments +respecting sexual intercourse. Whether this difference arises from +some imperfect influence of the doctrines of Jesus, who alleges +the absolute and unconditional equality of all human beings, or +from the institutions of chivalry, or from a certain fundamental +difference of physical nature existing in the Celts, or from a +combination of all or any of these causes acting on each other, is +a question worthy of voluminous investigation. The fact is, that +the modern Europeans have in this circumstance, and in the abolition +of slavery, made an improvement the most decisive in the regulation +of human society; and all the virtue and the wisdom of the Periclean +age arose under other institutions, in spite of the diminution +which personal slavery and the inferiority of women, recognized by +law and opinion, must have produced in the delicacy, the strength, +the comprehensiveness, and the accuracy of their conceptions, in +moral, political, and metaphysical science, and perhaps in every +other art and science. + +The women, thus degraded, became such as it was expected they +would become. They possessed, except with extraordinary exceptions, +the habits and the qualities of slaves. They were probably not +extremely beautiful; at least there was no such disproportion in +the attractions of the external form between the female and male +sex among the Greeks, as exists among the modern Europeans. They +were certainly devoid of that moral and intellectual loveliness +with which the acquisition of knowledge and the cultivation of +sentiment animates, as with another life of overpowering grace, +the lineaments and the gestures of every form which they inhabit. +Their eyes could not have been deep and intricate from the workings +of the mind, and could have entangled no heart in soul-enwoven +labyrinths. + +Let it not be imagined that because the Greeks were deprived of +its legitimate object, they were incapable of sentimental love; and +that this passion is the mere child of chivalry and the literature of +modern times. This object or its archetype for ever exists in the +mind, which selects among those who resemble it that which most +resembles it; and instinctively fills up the interstices of the +imperfect image, in the same manner as the imagination moulds and +completes the shapes in clouds, or in the fire, into the resemblances +of whatever form, animal, building, &c., happens to be present to +it. Man is in his wildest state a social being: a certain degree +of civilization and refinement ever produces the want of sympathies +still more intimate and complete; and the gratification of the +senses is no longer all that is sought in sexual connexion. It +soon becomes a very small part of that profound and complicated +sentiment, which we call love, which is rather the universal thirst +for a communion not only of the senses, but of our whole nature, +intellectual, imaginative and sensitive, and which, when individualized, +becomes an imperious necessity, only to be satisfied by the complete +or partial, actual or supposed fulfilment of its claims. This want +grows more powerful in proportion to the development which our +nature receives from civilization, for man never ceases to be a +social being. The sexual impulse, which is only one, and often a +small part of those claims, serves, from its obvious and external +nature, as a kind of type or expression of the rest, a common basis, +an acknowledged and visible link. Still it is a claim which even +derives a strength not its own from the accessory circumstances +which surround it, and one which our nature thirsts to satisfy. To +estimate this, observe the degree of intensity and durability of +the love of the male towards the female in animals and savages and +acknowledge all the duration and intensity observable in the love +of civilized beings beyond that of savages to be produced from +other causes. In the susceptibility of the external senses there +is probably no important difference. + +Among the ancient Greeks the male sex, one half of the human race, +received the highest cultivation and refinement: whilst the other, +so far as intellect is concerned, were educated as slaves and were +raised but few degrees in all that related to moral of intellectual +excellence above the condition of savages. The gradations in the +society of man present us with slow improvement in this respect. +The Roman women held a higher consideration in society, and were +esteemed almost as the equal partners with their husbands in the +regulation of domestic economy and the education of their children. +The practices and customs of modern Europe are essentially different +from and incomparably less pernicious than either, however remote +from what an enlightened mind cannot fail to desire as the future +destiny of human beings. + +[1818; publ. 1840] + + + + +ON THE SYMPOSIUM, OR PREFACE TO THE BANQUET OF PLATO + +A FRAGMENT + +The dialogue entitled The Banquet was selected by the translator +as the most beautiful and perfect among all the works of Plato. +[Footnote: The Republic, though replete with considerable errors +of speculation, is, indeed, the greatest repository of important +truths of all the works of Plato. This, perhaps, is because it is +the longest. He first, and perhaps last, maintained that a state +ought to be governed, not by the wealthiest, or the most ambitious, +or the most cunning, but by the wisest; the method of selecting +such rulers, and the laws by which such a selection is made, must +correspond with and arise out of the moral freedom and refinement +of the people.] He despairs of having communicated to the English +language any portion of the surpassing graces of the composition, +or having done more than present an imperfect shadow of the language +and the sentiment of this astonishing production. + +Plato is eminently the greatest among the Greek philosophers, and +from, or, rather, perhaps through him, his master Socrates, have +proceeded those emanations of moral and metaphysical knowledge, +on which a long series and an incalculable variety of popular +superstitions have sheltered their absurdities from the slow contempt +of mankind. Plato exhibits the rare union of close and subtle logic +with the Pythian enthusiasm of poetry, melted by the splendour +and harmony of his periods into one irresistible stream of musical +impressions, which hurry the persuasions onward, as in a breathless +career. His language is that of an immortal spirit, rather than +a man. Lord Bacon is, perhaps, the only writer, who, in these +particulars, can be compared with him: his imitator, Cicero, sinks +in the comparison into an ape mocking the gestures of a man. His +views into the nature of mind and existence are often obscure, only +because they are profound; and though his theories respecting the +government of the world, and the elementary laws of moral action, +are not always correct, yet there is scarcely any of his treatises +which do not, however stained by puerile sophisms, contain the +most remarkable intuitions into all that can be the subject of the +human mind. His excellence consists especially in intuition, and +it is this faculty which raises him far above Aristotle, whose +genius, though vivid and various, is obscure in comparison with +that of Plato. + +The dialogue entitled the Banquet, is called [word in Greek], or +a Discussion upon Love, and is supposed to have taken place at the +house of Agathon, at one of a series of festivals given by that +poet, on the occasion of his gaining the prize of tragedy at the +Dionysiaca. The account of the debate on this occasion is supposed +to have been given by Apollodorus, a pupil of Socrates, many +years after it had taken place, to a companion who was curious to +hear it. This Apollodorus appears, both from the style in which +he is represented in this piece, as well as from a passage in the +Phaedon, to have been a person of an impassioned and enthusiastic +disposition; to borrow an image from the Italian painters, he seems +to have been the St. John of the Socratic group. The drama (for so +the lively distinction of character and the various and well-wrought +circumstances of the story almost entitle it to be called) begins +by Socrates persuading Aristodemus to sup at Agathon's, uninvited. +The whole of this introduction affords the most lively conception +of refined Athenian manners. + +[1818; publ. 1840] [UNFINISHED] + + + + +A DEFENCE OF POETRY + + +I + +According to one mode of regarding those two classes of mental +action, which are called reason and imagination, the former may be +considered as mind contemplating the relations borne by one thought +to another, however produced; and the latter, as mind acting upon +those thoughts so as to colour them with its own light, and composing +from them, as from elements, other thoughts, each containing within +itself the principle of its own integrity. The one is the [word +in Greek], or the principle of synthesis, and has for its objects +those forms which are common to universal nature and existence +itself; the other is the [word in Greek], or principle of analysis, +and its action regards the relations of things, simply as relations; +considering thoughts, not in their integral unity, but as the +algebraical representations which conduct to certain general results. +Reason is the enumeration of quantities already known; imagination +is the perception of the value of those quantities, both separately +and as a whole. Reason respects the differences, and imagination +the similitudes of things. Reason is to the imagination as the +instrument to the agent, as the body to the spirit, as the shadow +to the substance. + +Poetry, in a general sense, may be defined to be 'the expression +of the imagination': and poetry is connate with the origin of man. +Man is an instrument over which a series of external and internal +impressions are driven, like the alternations of an ever-changing +wind over an Aeolian lyre, which move it by their motion to +ever-changing melody. But there is a principle within the human +being, and perhaps within all sentient beings, which acts otherwise +than in the lyre, and produces not melody alone, but harmony, +by an internal adjustment of the sounds or motions thus excited +to the impressions which excite them. It is as if the lyre could +accommodate its chords to the motions of that which strikes them, +in a determined proportion of sound; even as the musician can +accommodate his voice to the sound of the lyre. A child at play +by itself will express its delight by its voice and motions; and +every inflexion of tone and every gesture will bear exact relation +to a corresponding antitype in the pleasurable impressions which +awakened it; it will be the reflected image of that impression; +and as the lyre trembles and sounds after the wind has died away, +so the child seeks, by prolonging in its voice and motions the +duration of the effect, to prolong also a consciousness of the +cause. In relation to the objects which delight a child, these +expressions are, what poetry is to higher objects. The savage (for +the savage is to ages what the child is to years) expresses the +emotions produced in him by surrounding objects in a similar manner; +and language and gesture, together with plastic or pictorial imitation, +become the image of the combined effect of those objects, and of +his apprehension of them. Man in society, with all his passions and +his pleasures, next becomes the object of the passions and pleasures +of man; an additional class of emotions produces an augmented +treasure of expressions; and language, gesture, and the imitative +arts, become at once the representation and the medium, the pencil +and the picture, the chisel and the statue, the chord and the +harmony. The social sympathies, or those laws from which, as from +its elements, society results, begin to develop themselves from +the moment that two human beings coexist; the future is contained +within the present, as the plant within the seed; and equality, +diversity, unity, contrast, mutual dependence, become the principles +alone capable of affording the motives according to which the +will of a social being is determined to action, inasmuch as he is +social; and constitute pleasure in sensation, virtue in sentiment, +beauty in art, truth in reasoning, and love in the intercourse of +kind. Hence men, even in the infancy of society, observe a certain +order in their words and actions, distinct from that of the objects +and the impressions represented by them, all expression being +subject to the laws of that from which it proceeds. But let us +dismiss those more general considerations which might involve an +inquiry into the principles of society itself, and restrict our +view to the manner in which the imagination is expressed upon its +forms. + +In the youth of the world, men dance and sing and imitate natural +objects, observing in these actions, as in all others, a certain +rhythm or order. And, although all men observe a similar, they +observe not the same order, in the motions of the dance, in the +melody of the song, in the combinations of language, in the series +of their imitations of natural objects. For there is a certain +order or rhythm belonging to each of these classes of mimetic +representation, from which the hearer and the spectator receive +an intenser and purer pleasure than from any other: the sense +of an approximation to this order has been called taste by modern +writers. Every man in the infancy of art observes an order which +approximates more or less closely to that from which this highest +delight results: but the diversity is not sufficiently marked, as +that its gradations should be sensible, except in those instances +where the predominance of this faculty of approximation to the +beautiful (for so we may be permitted to name the relation between +this highest pleasure and its cause) is very great. Those in whom +it exists in excess are poets, in the most universal sense of the +word; and the pleasure resulting from the manner in which they +express the influence of society or nature upon their own minds, +communicates itself to others, and gathers a sort or reduplication +from that community. Their language is vitally metaphorical; that +is, it marks the before unapprehended relations of things and +perpetuates their apprehension, until the words which represent +them become, through time, signs for portions or classes of thoughts +instead of pictures of integral thoughts; and then if no new poets +should arise to create afresh the associations which have been thus +disorganized, language will be dead to all the nobler purposes of +human intercourse. These similitudes or relations are finely said +by Lord Bacon to be 'the same footsteps of nature impressed upon +the various subjects of the world'; [Footnote: De Augment. Scient., +cap. i, lib. iii.] and he considers the faculty which perceives +them as the storehouse of axioms common to all knowledge. In the +infancy of society every author is necessarily a poet, because +language itself is poetry; and to be a poet is to apprehend the +true and the beautiful, in a word, the good which exists in the +relation, subsisting, first between existence and perception, and +secondly between perception and expression. Every original language +near to its source is in itself the chaos of a cyclic poem: the +copiousness of lexicography and the distinctions of grammar are the +works of a later age, and are merely the catalogue and the form of +the creations of poetry. + +But poets, or those who imagine and express this indestructible +order, are not only the authors of language and of music, of the +dance, and architecture, and statuary, and painting; they are the +institutors of laws, and the founders of civil society, and the +inventors of the arts of life, and the teachers, who draw into a +certain propinquity with the beautiful and the true, that partial +apprehension of the agencies of the invisible world which is +called religion. Hence all original religions are allegorical, or +susceptible of allegory, and, like Janus, have a double face of +false and true. Poets, according to the circumstances of the age and +nation in which they appeared, were called, in the earlier epochs +of the world, legislators, or prophets: a poet essentially comprises +and unites both these characters. For he not only beholds intensely +the present as it is, and discovers those laws according to which +present things ought to be ordered, but he beholds the future in +the present, and his thoughts are the germs of the flower and the +fruit of latest time. Not that I assert poets to be prophets in +the gross sense of the word, or that they can foretell the form as +surely as they foreknow the spirit of events: such is the pretence +of superstition, which would make poetry an attribute of prophecy, +rather than prophecy an attribute of poetry. A poet participates +in the eternal, the infinite, and the one; as far as relates to +his conceptions, time and place and number are not. The grammatical +forms which express the moods of time, and the difference of persons, +and the distinction of place, are convertible with respect to the +highest poetry without injuring it as poetry; and the choruses of +Aeschylus, and the book of Job, and Dante's Paradise, would afford, +more than any other writings, examples of this fact, if the limits +of this essay did not forbid citation. The creations of sculpture, +painting, and music, are illustrations still more decisive. + +Language, colour, form, and religious and civil habits of action, +are all the instruments and materials of poetry; they may be called +poetry by that figure of speech which considers the effect as a +synonym of the cause. But poetry in a more restricted sense expresses +those arrangements of language, and especially metrical language, +which are created by that imperial faculty; whose throne is curtained +within the invisible nature of man. And this springs from the nature +itself of language, which is a more direct representation of the +actions and passions of our internal being, and is susceptible +of more various and delicate combinations, than colour, form, or +motion, and is more plastic and obedient to the control of that +faculty of which it is the creation. For language is arbitrarily +produced by the imagination and has relation to thoughts alone; +but all other materials, instruments and conditions of art, have +relations among each other, which limit and interpose between +conception and expression The former is as a mirror which reflects, +the latter as a cloud which enfeebles, the light of which both are +mediums of communication. Hence the fame of sculptors, painters, +and musicians, although the intrinsic powers of the great masters +of these arts may yield in no degree to that of those who have +employed language as the hieroglyphic of their thoughts, has never +equalled that of poets in the restricted sense of the term, as +two performers of equal skill will produce unequal effects from a +guitar and a harp. The fame of legislators and founders of religions, +so long as their institutions last, alone seems to exceed that of +poets in the restricted sense; but it can scarcely be a question, +whether, if we deduct the celebrity which their flattery of the +gross opinions of the vulgar usually conciliates, together with +that which belonged to them in their higher character of poets, +any excess will remain. + +We have thus circumscribed the word poetry within the limits of that +art which is the most familiar and the most perfect expression of +the faculty itself. It is necessary, however, to make the circle +still narrower, and to determine the distinction between measured +and unmeasured language; for the popular division into prose and +verse is inadmissible in accurate philosophy. + +Sounds as well as thoughts have relation both between each other +and towards that which they represent, and a perception of the order +of those relations has always been found connected with a perception +of the order of the relations of thoughts. Hence the language of +poets has ever affected a certain uniform and harmonious recurrence +of sound, without which it were not poetry, and which is scarcely +less indispensable to the communication of its influence, than the +words themselves, without reference to that peculiar order. Hence +the vanity of translation; it were as wise to cast a violet into a +crucible that you might discover the formal principle of its colour +and odour, as seek to transfuse from one language into another the +creations of a poet. The plant must spring again from its seed, +or it will bear no flower--and this is the burthen of the curse of +Babel. + +An observation of the regular mode of the recurrence of harmony +in the language of poetical minds, together with its relation to +music, produced metre, or a certain system of traditional forms of +harmony and language. Yet it is by no means essential that a poet +should accommodate his language to this traditional form, so that the +harmony, which is its spirit, be observed. The practice is indeed +convenient and popular, and to be preferred, especially in such +composition as includes much action: but every great poet must +inevitably innovate upon the example of his predecessors in the +exact structure of his peculiar versification. The distinction +between poets and prose writers is a vulgar error. The distinction +between philosophers and poets has been anticipated. Plato was +essentially a poet--the truth and splendour of his imagery, and the +melody of his language, are the most intense that it is possible +to conceive. He rejected the measure of the epic, dramatic, and +lyrical forms, because he sought to kindle a harmony in thoughts +divested of shape and action, and he forbore to invent any regular +plan of rhythm which would include, under determinate forms, the +varied pauses of his style. Cicero sought to imitate the cadence +of his periods, but with little success. Lord Bacon was a poet. +[Footnote: See the Filum Labyrinthi, and the Essay on Death +particularly]. His language has a sweet and majestic rhythm, which +satisfies the sense, no less than the almost superhuman wisdom +of his philosophy satisfies the intellect; it is a strain which +distends, and then bursts the circumference of the reader's mind, +and pours itself forth together with it into the universal element +with which it has perpetual sympathy. All the authors of revolutions +in opinion are not only necessarily poets as they are inventors, +nor even as their words unveil the permanent analogy of things +by images which participate in the life of truth; but as their +periods are harmonious and rhythmical, and contain in themselves +the elements of verse; being the echo of the eternal music. Nor are +those supreme poets, who have employed traditional forms of rhythm +on account of the form and action of their subjects, less capable +of perceiving and teaching the truth of things, than those who +have omitted that form. Shakespeare, Dante, and Milton (to confine +ourselves to modern writers) are philosophers of the very loftiest +power. + +A poem is the very image of life expressed in its eternal truth. +There is this difference between a story and a poem, that a story +is a catalogue of detached facts, which have no other connexion +than time, place, circumstance, cause and effect; the other is the +creation of actions according to the unchangeable forms of human +nature, as existing in the mind of the Creator, which is itself +the image of all other minds. The one is partial, and applies only +to a definite period of time, and a certain combination of events +which can never again recur; the other is universal, and contains +within itself the germ of a relation to whatever motives or actions +have place in the possible varieties of human nature. Time, which +destroys the beauty and the use of the story of particular facts, +stripped of the poetry which should invest them, augments that of +poetry, and for ever develops new and wonderful applications of the +eternal truth which it contains. Hence epitomes have been called +the moths of just history; they eat out the poetry of it. A story +of particular facts is as a mirror which obscures and distorts that +which should be beautiful: poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful +that which is distorted. + +The parts of a composition may be poetical, without the composition +as a whole being a poem. A single sentence may be a considered as +a whole, though it may be found in the midst of a series of unassimilated +portions: a single word even may be a spark of inextinguishable +thought. And thus all the great historians, Herodotus, Plutarch, +Livy, were poets; and although, the plan of these writers, especially +that of Livy, restrained them; from developing this faculty in +its highest degree, they made copious and ample amends for their +subjection, by filling all the interstices of their subjects with +living images. + +Having determined what is poetry, and who are poets, let us proceed +to estimate its effects upon society. + +Poetry is ever accompanied with pleasure: all spirits on which it +falls open themselves to receive the wisdom which is mingled with +its delight. In the infancy of the world, neither poets themselves +nor their auditors are fully aware of the excellence of poetry: +for it acts in a divine and unapprehended manner, beyond and above +consciousness; and it is reserved for future generations to contemplate +and measure the mighty cause and effect in all the strength and +splendour of their union. Even in modern times, no living poet ever +arrived at the fullness of his fame; the jury which sits in judgement +upon a poet, belonging as he does to all time, must be composed +of his peers: it must be impanelled by Time from the selectest of +the wise of many generations. A poet is a nightingale, who sits +in darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds; +his auditors are as men entranced by the melody of an unseen +musician, who feel that they are moved and softened, yet know not +whence or why. The poems of Homer and his contemporaries were the +delight of infant Greece; they were the elements of that social +system which is the column upon which all succeeding civilization +has reposed. Homer embodied the ideal perfection of his age in +human character; nor can we doubt that those who read his verses +were awakened to an ambition of becoming like to Achilles, Hector, +and Ulysses the truth and beauty of friendship, patriotism, and +persevering devotion to an object, were unveiled to the depths in +these immortal creations: the sentiments of the auditors must have +been refined and enlarged by a sympathy with such great and lovely +impersonations, until from admiring they imitated, and from imitation +they identified themselves with the objects of their admiration. +Nor let it be objected, that these characters are remote from moral +perfection, and that they can by no means be considered as edifying +patterns for general imitation. Every epoch, under names more +or less specious, has deified its peculiar errors; Revenge is the +naked idol of the worship of a semi-barbarous age; and Self-deceit +is the veiled image of unknown evil, before which luxury and satiety +lie prostrate. But a poet considers the vices of his contemporaries +as a temporary dress in which his creations must be arrayed, and +which cover without concealing the eternal proportions of their +beauty. An epic or dramatic personage is understood to wear them +around his soul, as he may the ancient armour or the modern uniform +around his body; whilst it is easy to conceive a dress more graceful +than either. The beauty of the internal nature cannot be so far +concealed by its accidental vesture, but that the spirit of its +form shall communicate itself to the very disguise, and indicate +the shape it hides from the manner in which it is worn. A majestic +form and graceful motions will express themselves through the most +barbarous and tasteless costume. Few poets of the highest class +have chosen to exhibit the beauty of their conceptions in its +naked truth and splendour; and it is doubtful whether the alloy +of costume, habit, &c., be not necessary to temper this planetary +music for mortal ears. + +The whole objection, however, of the immorality of poetry rests +upon a misconception of the manner in which poetry acts to produce +the moral improvement of man. Ethical science arranges the elements +which poetry has created, and propounds schemes and proposes +examples of civil and domestic life: nor is it for want of admirable +doctrines that men hate, and despise, and censure, and deceive, +and subjugate one another. But poetry acts in another and diviner +manner. It awakens and enlarges the mind itself by rendering it +the receptacle of a thousand unapprehended combinations of thought. +Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes +familiar objects be as if they were not familiar; it reproduces all +that it represents, and the impersonations clothed in its Elysian +light stand thenceforward in the minds of those who have once +contemplated them as memorials of that gentle and exalted content +which extends itself over all thoughts and actions with which it +coexists. The great secret of morals is love; or a going out of our +own nature, and an identification of ourselves with the beautiful +which exists in thought, action, or person, not our own. A man, +to be greatly good, must imagine intensely and comprehensively; he +must put himself in the place of another and of many others; the +pains and pleasures of his species must become his own. The great +instrument of moral good is the imagination; and poetry administers +to the effect by acting upon the cause. Poetry enlarges the +circumference of the imagination by replenishing it with thought of +ever new delight, which have the power of attracting and assimilating +to their own nature all other thoughts, and which form new intervals +and interstices whose void for ever craves fresh food. Poetry +strengthens the faculty which is the organ of the moral nature +of man, in the same manner as exercise strengthens a limb. A poet +therefore would do ill to embody his own conceptions of right and +wrong, which are usually those of his place and time, in his poetical +creations, which participate in neither By this assumption of the +inferior office of interpreting the effect in which perhaps after +all he might acquit himself but imperfectly, he would resign a +glory in a participation in the cause. There was little danger that +Homer, or any of the eternal poets should have so far misunderstood +themselves as to have abdicated this throne of their widest dominion. +Those in whom the poetical faculty, though great, is less intense, +as Euripides, Lucan, Tasso, Spenser, have frequently affected a +moral aim, and the effect of their poetry is diminished in exact +proportion to the degree in which they compel us to advert to this +purpose. + + +Homer and the cyclic poets were followed at a certain interval +by the dramatic and lyrical poets of Athens, who flourished +contemporaneously with all that is most perfect in the kindred +expressions of the poetical faculty; architecture, painting, music +the dance, sculpture, philosophy, and, we may add, the forms of +civil life. For although the scheme of Athenian society was deformed +by many imperfections which the poetry existing in chivalry and +Christianity has erased from the habits and institutions of modern +Europe; yet never at any other period has so much energy, beauty, +and virtue, been developed; never was blind strength and stubborn +form so disciplined and rendered subject to the will of man, or +that will less repugnant to the dictates of the beautiful and the +true, as during the century which preceded the death of Socrates. +Of no other epoch in the history of our species have we records +and fragments stamped so visibly with the image of the divinity in +man. But it is poetry alone, in form, in action, or in language, +which has rendered this epoch memorable above all others, and the +storehouse of examples to everlasting time. For written poetry +existed at that epoch simultaneously with the other arts, and it is +an idle inquiry to demand which gave and which received the light, +which all, as from a common focus, have scattered over the darkest +periods of succeeding time. We know no more of cause and effect than +a constant conjunction of events: poetry is ever found to coexist +with whatever other arts contribute to the happiness and perfection +of man. I appeal to what has already been established to distinguish +between the cause and the effect. + +It was at the period here adverted to, that the drama had its birth; +and however a succeeding writer may have equalled or surpassed +those few great specimens of the Athenian drama which have been +preserved to us, it is indisputable that the art itself never was +understood or practised according to the true philosophy of it, +as at Athens. For the Athenians employed language, action, music, +painting, the dance, and religious institutions, to produce a common +effect in the representation of the highest idealisms of passion +and of power; each division in the art was made perfect in its kind +by artists of the most consummate skill, and was disciplined into +a beautiful proportion and unity one towards the other. On the modern +stage a few only of the elements capable of expressing the image +of the poet's conception are employed at once. We have tragedy +without music and dancing; and music and dancing without the highest +impersonations of which they are the fit accompaniment, and both +without religion and solemnity. Religious institution has indeed +been usually banished from the stage. Our system of divesting the +actor's face of a mask, on which the many expressions appropriated +to his dramatic character might be moulded into one permanent +and unchanging expression, is favourable only to a partial and +inharmonious effect; it is fit for nothing but a monologue, where +all the attention may be directed to some great master of ideal +mimicry. The modern practice of blending comedy with tragedy, +though liable to great abuse in point of practice, is undoubtedly +an extension of the dramatic circle; but the comedy should be +as in KING LEAR, universal, ideal, and sublime. It is perhaps the +intervention of this principle which determines the balance in +favour of KING LEAR against the OEDIPUS TYRANNUS or the AGAMEMNON, +or, if you will, the trilogies with which they are connected; unless +the intense power of the choral poetry, especially that of the +latter, should be considered as restoring the equilibrium. KING +LEAR, if it can sustain this comparison, may be judged to be the +most perfect specimen of the dramatic art existing in the world; +in spite of the narrow conditions to which the poet was subjected +by the ignorance of the philosophy of the drama which has prevailed +in modern Europe. Calderon, in his religious AUTOS, has attempted +to fulfil some of the high conditions of dramatic representation +neglected by Shakespeare; such as the establishing a relation +between the drama and religion and the accommodating them to music +and dancing; but he omits the observation of conditions still +more important, and more is lost than gained by the substitution +of the rigidly-defined and ever-repeated idealisms of a distorted +superstition for the living impersonations of the truth of human +passion. + +But I digress.--The connexion of scenic exhibitions with the +improvement or corruption of the manners of men, has been universally +recognized: in other words, the presence or absence of poetry in +its most perfect and universal form, has been found to be connected +with good and evil in conduct or habit. The corruption which has +been imputed to the drama as an effect, begins when the poetry +employed in its constitution ends: I appeal to the history of manners +whether the periods of the growth of the one and the decline of the +other have not corresponded with an exactness equal to any example +of moral cause and effect. + +The drama at Athens, or wheresoever else it may have approached +to its perfection, ever co-existed with the moral and intellectual +greatness of the age. The tragedies of the Athenian poets are +as mirrors in which the spectator beholds himself, under a thin +disguise of circumstance, stript of all but that ideal perfection +and energy which every one feels to be the internal type of all that +he loves, admires, and would become. The imagination is enlarged +by a sympathy with pains and passions so mighty, that they distend +in their conception the capacity of that by which they are conceived; +the good affections are strengthened by pity, indignation, terror, +and sorrow; and an exalted calm is prolonged from the satiety of +this high exercise of them into the tumult of familiar life: even +crime is disarmed of half its horror and all its contagion by being +represented as the fatal consequence of the unfathomable agencies +of nature; error is thus divested of its wilfulness; men can no +longer cherish it as the creation of their choice. In a drama of +the highest order there is little food for censure or hatred; it +teaches rather self-knowledge and self-respect. Neither the eye +nor the mind can see itself, unless reflected upon that which it +resembles. The drama, so long as it continues to express poetry, is +as a prismatic and many-sided mirror, which collects the brightest +rays of human nature and divides and reproduces them from the +simplicity of these elementary forms, and touches them with majesty +and beauty, and multiplies all that it reflects, and endows it with +the power of propagating its like wherever it may fall. + +But in periods of the decay of social life, the drama sympathizes +with that decay. Tragedy becomes a cold imitation of the form of +the great masterpieces of antiquity, divested of all harmonious +accompaniment of the kindred arts; and often the very form +misunderstood, or a weak attempt to teach certain doctrines, which +the writer considers as moral truths; and which are usually no +more than specious flatteries of some gross vice or weakness, with +which the author, in common with his auditors, are infected. Hence +what has been called the classical and domestic drama. Addison's +CATO is a specimen of the one; and would it were not superfluous +to cite examples of the other! To such purposes poetry cannot be +made subservient. Poetry is a sword of lightning, ever unsheathed, +which consumes the scabbard that would contain it. And thus we +observe that all dramatic writings of this nature are unimaginative +in a singular degree; they affect sentiment and passion, which, +divested of imagination, are other names for caprice and appetite. +The period in our own history of the grossest degradation of the +drama is the reign of Charles II, when all forms in which poetry +had been accustomed to be expressed became hymns to the triumph of +kingly power over liberty and virtue. Milton stood alone illuminating +an age unworthy of him. At such periods the calculating principle +pervades all the forms of dramatic exhibition, and poetry ceases +to be expressed upon them. Comedy loses its ideal universality: +wit succeeds to humour; we laugh from self-complacency and triumph, +instead of pleasure; malignity, sarcasm, and contempt, succeed to +sympathetic merriment; we hardly laugh, but we Obscenity, which +is ever blasphemy against the divine beauty in life, becomes, from +the very veil which it assumes, more active if less disgusting: it +is a monster for which the corruption of society for ever brings +forth new food, which it devours in secret. + +The drama being that form under which a greater number of modes +of expression of poetry are susceptible of being combined than any +other, the connexion of poetry and social good is more observable +in the drama than in whatever other form. And it is indisputable +that the highest perfection of human society has ever corresponded +with the highest dramatic excellence; and that the corruption or the +extinction of the drama in a nation where it has once flourished, +is a mark of a corruption of manners and an extinction of the +energies which sustain the soul of social life. But, as Machiavelli +says of political institutions, that life may be preserved and +renewed, if men should arise capable of bringing back the drama +to its principles. And this is true with respect to poetry in its +most extended sense: all language, institution and form, require not +only to be produced but to be sustained: the office and character +of a poet participates in the divine nature as regards providence, +no less than as regards creation. + +Civil war, the spoils of Asia, and the fatal predominance first of +the Macedonian, and then of the Roman arms, were so many symbols +of the extinction or suspension of the creative faculty in Greece. +The bucolic writers, who found patronage under the lettered tyrants +of Sicily and Egypt, were the latest representatives of its most +glorious reign. Their poetry is intensely melodious, like the odour +of the tuberose, it overcomes and sickens the spirit with excess +of sweetness; whilst the poetry of the preceding age was as a +meadow-gale of June, which mingles the fragrance all the flowers +of the field, and adds a quickening and harmonizing spirit of its +own, which endows the sense with a power of sustaining its extreme +delight. The bucolic and erotic delicacy in written poetry is +correlative with that softness in statuary, music and the kindred +arts, and even in manners and institutions, which distinguished the +epoch to which I now refer. Nor is it the poetical faculty itself, +or any misapplication of it, to which this want of harmony is to +be imputed. An equal sensibility to the influence of the senses +and the affections is to be found in the writings of Homer and +Sophocles: the former, especially, has clothed sensual and pathetic +images with irresistible attractions. Their superiority over these +succeeding writers consists in the presence of those thoughts which +belong to the inner faculties of our nature, not in the absence +of those which are connected with the external: their incomparable +perfection consists in a harmony of the union of all. It is not +what the erotic poets have, but what they have not, in which their +imperfection consists. It is not inasmuch as they were poets, but +inasmuch as they were not poets, that they can be considered with +any plausibility as connected with the corruption of their age. Had +that corruption availed so as to extinguish in them the sensibility +to pleasure, passion, and natural scenery, which is imputed to them +as an imperfection, the last triumph of evil would have been achieved. +For the end of social corruption is to destroy all sensibility +to pleasure; and, therefore, it is corruption. It begins at the +imagination and the intellect as at the core, and distributes itself +thence as a paralysing venom, through the affections into the very +appetites, until all become a torpid mass in which hardly sense +survives. At the approach of such a period, poetry ever addresses +itself to those faculties which are the last to be destroyed, and +its voice is heard, like the footsteps of Astraea, departing from +the world. Poetry ever communicates all the pleasure which men +are capable of receiving: it is ever still the light of life; the +source of whatever of beautiful or generous or true can have place +in an evil time. It will readily be confessed that those among the +luxurious citizens of Syracuse and Alexandria, who were delighted +with the poems of Theocritus, were less cold, cruel, and sensual +than the remnant of their tribe. But corruption must utterly have +destroyed the fabric of human society before poetry can ever cease. +The sacred links of that chain have never been entirely disjoined, +which descending through the minds of many men is attached to those +great minds, whence as from a magnet the invisible effluence is +sent forth, which at once connects, animates, and sustains the life +of all. It is the faculty which contains within itself the seeds +at once of its own and of social renovation. And let us not +circumscribe the effects of the bucolic and erotic poetry within +the limits of the sensibility of those to whom it was addressed. +They may have perceived the beauty of those immortal compositions, +simply as fragments and isolated portions: those who are more +finely organized, or born in a happier age, may recognize them as +episodes to that great poem, which all poets, like the cooperating +thoughts of one great mind, have built up since the beginning of +the world. + +The same revolutions within a narrower sphere had place in ancient +Rome; but the actions and forms of its social life never seem to +have been perfectly saturated with the poetical element. The Romans +appear to have considered the Greeks as the selectest treasuries +of the selectest forms of manners and of nature, and to have +abstained from creating in measured language, sculpture, music, or +architecture, anything which might bear a particular relation to +their own condition, whilst it should bear a general one to the +universal constitution of the world. But we judge from partial +evidence, and we judge perhaps partially Ennius, Varro, Pacuvius, +and Accius, all great poets, have been lost. Lucretius is in the +highest, and Virgil in a very high sense, a creator. The chosen +delicacy of expressions of the latter, are as a mist of light which +conceal from us the intense and exceeding truth of his conceptions +of nature. Livy is instinct with poetry. Yet Horace, Catullus, +Ovid, and generally the other great writers of the Virgilian age, +saw man and nature in the mirror of Greece. The institutions also, +and the religion of Rome were less poetical than those of Greece, +as the shadow is less vivid than the substance. Hence poetry in +Rome, seemed to follow, rather than accompany, the perfection of +political and domestic society. The true poetry of Rome lived in +its institutions; for whatever of beautiful, true, and majestic, +they contained, could have sprung only from the faculty which creates +the order in which they consist. The life of Camillus, the death of +Regulus; the expectation of the senators, in their godlike state, +of the victorious Gauls: the refusal of the republic to make peace +with Hannibal, after the battle of Cannae, were not the consequences +of a refined calculation of the probable personal advantage to +result from such a rhythm and order in the shows of life, to those +who were at once the poets and the actors of these immortal dramas. +The imagination beholding the beauty of this order, created it out +of itself according to its own idea; the consequence was empire, +and the reward everliving fame. These things are not the less poetry +quid carent vate sacro. They are the episodes of that cyclic poem +written by Time upon the memories of men. The Past, like an inspired +rhapsodist, fills the theatre of everlasting generations with their +harmony. + +At length the ancient system of religion and manners had fulfilled +the circle of its revolutions. And the world would have fallen into +utter anarchy and darkness, but that there were found poets among +the authors of the Christian and chivalric systems of manners and +religion, who created forms of opinion and action never before +conceived; which, copied into the imaginations of men, become as +generals to the bewildered armies of their thoughts. It is foreign +to the present purpose to touch upon the evil produced by these +systems: except that we protest, on the ground of the principles +already established, that no portion of it can be attributed to +the poetry they contain. + +It is probable that the poetry of Moses, Job, David, Solomon, and +Isaiah, had produced a great effect upon the mind of Jesus and his +disciples. The scattered fragments preserved to us by the biographers +of this extraordinary person, are all instinct with the most vivid +poetry. But his doctrines seem to have been quickly distorted. +At a certain period after the prevalence of a system of opinions +founded upon those promulgated by him, the three forms into which +Plato had distributed the faculties of mind underwent a sort of +apotheosis, and became the object of the worship of the civilized +world. Here it is to be confessed that 'Light seems to thicken,' +and + + The crow makes wing to the rooky wood, + Good things of day begin to droop and drowse, + And night's black agents to their preys do rouze. + +But mark how beautiful an order has sprung from the dust and +blood of this fierce chaos! how the world, as from a resurrection, +balancing itself on the golden wings of knowledge and of hope, has +reassumed its yet unwearied flight into the heaven of time. Listen +to the music, unheard by outward ears, which is as a ceaseless and +invisible wind, nourishing its everlasting course with strength +and swiftness. + +The poetry in the doctrines of Jesus Christ, and the mythology and +institutions of the Celtic conquerors of the Roman empire, outlived +the darkness and the convulsions connected with their growth and +victory, and blended themselves in a new fabric of manners and +opinion. It is an error to impute the ignorance of the dark ages to +the Christian doctrines or the predominance of the Celtic nations. +Whatever of evil their agencies may have contained sprang from the +extinction of the poetical principle, connected with the progress +of despotism and superstition. Men, from causes too intricate to be +here discussed, had become insensible and selfish: their own will +had become feeble, and yet they were its slaves, and thence the +slaves of the will of others: lust, fear, avarice, cruelty, and +fraud, characterized a race amongst whom no one was to be found +capable of CREATING in form, language, or institution. The moral +anomalies of such a state of society are not justly to be charged +upon any class of events immediately connected with them, and those +events are most entitled to our approbation which could dissolve +it most expeditiously. It is unfortunate for those who cannot +distinguish words from thoughts, that many of these anomalies have +been incorporated into our popular religion. + +It was not until the eleventh century that the effects of the +poetry of the Christian and chivalric systems began to manifest +themselves. The principle of equality had been discovered and +applied by Plato in his Republic, as the theoretical rule of the +mode in which the materials of pleasure and of power, produced by +the common skill and labour of human beings, ought to be distributed +among them. The limitations of this rule were asserted by him +to be determined only by the sensibility of each, or the utility +to result to all. Plato, following the doctrines of Timaeus and +Pythagoras, taught also a moral and intellectual system of doctrine, +comprehending at once the past, the present, and the future condition +of man. Jesus Christ divulged the sacred and eternal truths contained +in these views to mankind, and Christianity, in its abstract purity, +became the exoteric expression of the esoteric doctrines of the +poetry and wisdom of antiquity. The incorporation of the Celtic +nations with the exhausted population of the south, impressed +upon it the figure of the poetry existing in their mythology and +institutions. The result was a sum of the action and reaction of +all the causes included in it; for it may be assumed as a maxim that +no nation or religion can supersede any other without incorporating +into itself a portion of that which it supersedes. The abolition of +personal and domestic slavery, and the emancipation of women from +a great part of the degrading restraints of antiquity, were among +the consequences of these events. + +The abolition of personal slavery is the basis of the highest +political hope that it can enter into the mind of man to conceive. +The freedom of women produced the poetry of sexual love. Love +became a religion, the idols of whose worship were ever present. +It was as if the statues of Apollo and the Muses had been endowed +with life and motion, and had walked forth among their worshippers; +so that earth became peopled by the inhabitants of a diviner world. +The familiar appearance and proceedings of life became wonderful +and heavenly, and a paradise was created as out of the wrecks of +Eden. And as this creation itself is poetry, so its creators were +poets; and language was the instrument of their art: 'Galeotto fu +il libro, e chi lo scrisse.' The Provencal Trouveurs, or inventors, +preceded Petrarch, whose verses are as spells, which unseal the +inmost enchanted fountains of the delight which is in the grief of +love. It is impossible to feel them without becoming a portion of +that beauty which we contemplate: it were superfluous to explain +how the gentleness and the elevation of mind connected with these +sacred emotions can render men more amiable, more generous and wise, +and lift them out of the dull vapours of the little world of self. +Dante understood the secret things of love even more than Petrarch. +His Vita Nuova is an inexhaustible fountain of purity of sentiment +and language: it is the idealized history of that period, and those +intervals of his life which were dedicated to love. His apotheosis +of Beatrice in Paradise, and the gradations of his own love and her +loveliness, by which as by steps he feigns himself to have ascended +to the throne of the Supreme Cause, is the most glorious imagination +of modern poetry. The acutest critics have justly reversed the +judgement of the vulgar, and the order of the great acts of the +'Divine Drama', in the measure of the admiration which they accord +to the Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. The latter is a perpetual +hymn of everlasting love. Love, which found a worthy poet in Plato +alone of all the ancients, has been celebrated by a chorus of the +greatest writers of the renovated world; and the music has penetrated +the caverns of society, and its echoes still drown the dissonance +of arms and superstition. At successive intervals, Ariosto, Tasso, +Shakespeare, Spenser, Calderon, Rousseau, and the great writers +of our own age, have celebrated the dominion of love, planting +as it were trophies in the human mind of that sublimest victory +over sensuality and force. The true relation borne to each other +by the sexes into which human kind is distributed, has become +less misunderstood; and if the error which confounded diversity +with inequality of the powers of the two sexes has been partially +recognized in the opinions and institutions of modern Europe, we +owe this great benefit to the worship of which chivalry was the +law, and poets the prophets. + +The poetry of Dante may be considered as the bridge thrown over +the stream of time, which unites the modern and ancient world. The +distorted notions of invisible things which Dante and his rival +Milton have idealized, are merely the mask and the mantle in which +these great poets walk through eternity enveloped and disguised. +It is a difficult question to determine how far they were conscious +of the distinction which must have subsisted in their minds between +their own creeds and that of the people. Dante at least appears to +wish to mark the full extent of it by placing Riphaeus, whom Virgil +calls justissimns unus, in Paradise, and observing a most heretical +caprice in his distribution of rewards and punishments. And Milton's +poem contains within itself a philosophical refutation of that +system, of which by a strange and natural antithesis, it has been +a chief popular support. Nothing can exceed the energy and magnificence +of the character of Satan as expressed in Paradise Lost. It is a +mistake to suppose that he could ever have been intended for the +popular personification of evil. Implacable hate, patient cunning, +and a sleepless refinement of device to inflict the extremest +anguish on an enemy, these things are evil; and, although venial +in a slave are not to be forgiven in a tyrant; although redeemed +by much that ennobles his defeat in one subdued, are marked by +all that dishonours his conquest in the victor. Milton's Devil as +a moral being is as far superior to his God, as one who perseveres +in some purpose which he has conceived to be excellent in spite of +adversity and torture, is to one who in the cold security of undoubted +triumph inflicts the most horrible revenge upon his enemy, not from +any mistaken notion of inducing him to repent of a perseverance in +enmity, but with the alleged design of exasperating him to deserve +new torments. Milton has so far violated the popular creed (if this +shall be judged to be a violation) as to have alleged no superiority +of moral virtue to his God over his Devil. And this bold neglect of +a direct moral purpose is the most decisive proof of the supremacy +of Milton's genius. He mingled as it were the elements of human +nature as colours upon a single pallet, and arranged them in the +composition of his great picture according to the laws of epic +truth; that is, according to the laws of that principle by which a +series of actions of the external universe and of intelligent and +ethical beings is calculated to excite the sympathy of succeeding +generations of mankind. The Divina Commedia and Paradise Lost have +conferred upon modern mythology a systematic form; and when change +and time shall have added one more superstition to the mass of +those which have arisen and decayed upon the earth, commentators +will be learnedly employed in elucidating the religion of ancestral +Europe, only not utterly forgotten because it will have been stamped +with the eternity of genius. + +Homer was the first and Dante the second epic poet: that is, +the second poet, the series of whose creations bore a defined and +intelligible relation to the knowledge and sentiment and religion +of the age in which he lived, and of the ages which followed it: +developing itself in correspondence with their development. For +Lucretius had limed the wings of his swift spirit in the dregs of +the sensible world; and Virgil, with a modesty that ill became his +genius, had affected the fame of an imitator, even whilst he created +anew all that he copied; and none among the flock of mock-birds, +though their notes were sweet, Apollonius Rhodius, Quintus Calaber, +Nonnus, Lucan, Statius, or Claudian, have sought even to fulfil +a single condition of epic truth. Milton was the third epic poet. +For if the title of epic in its highest sense be refused to the +Aeneid, still less can it be conceded to the Orlando Furioso, the +Gerusalemme Liberata, the Lusiad, or the Fairy Queen. + +Dante and Milton were both deeply penetrated with the ancient +religion of the civilized world; and its spirit exists in their +poetry probably in the same proportion as its forms survived in +the unreformed worship of modern Europe. The one preceded and the +other followed the Reformation at almost equal intervals. Dante +was the first religious reformer, and Luther surpassed him rather +in the rudeness and acrimony, than in the boldness of his censures +of papal usurpation. Dante was the first awakener of entranced +Europe; he created a language, in itself music and persuasion, out +of a chaos of inharmonious barbarisms. He was the congregator of +those great spirits who presided over the resurrection of learning; +the Lucifer of that starry flock which in the thirteenth century +shone forth from republican Italy, as from a heaven, into the +darkness of the benighted world. His very words are instinct with +spirit; each is as a spark, a burning atom of inextinguishable +thought; and many yet lie covered in the ashes of their birth, and +pregnant with a lightning which has yet found no conductor. All +high poetry is infinite; it is as the first acorn, which contained +all oaks potentially. Veil after veil may be undrawn, and the +inmost naked beauty of the meaning never exposed. A great poem +is a fountain for ever overflowing with the waters of wisdom and +delight; and after one person and one age has exhausted all its +divine effluence which their peculiar relations enable them to +share, another and yet another succeeds, and new relations are ever +developed, the source of an unforeseen and an unconceived delight. + +The age immediately succeeding to that of Dante, Petrarch, and +Boccaccio, was characterized by a revival of painting, sculpture, +and architecture. Chaucer caught the sacred inspiration, and the +superstructure of English literature is based upon the materials +of Italian invention. + +But let us not be betrayed from a defence into a critical history +of poetry and its influence on society. Be it enough to have pointed +out the effects of poets, in the large and true sense of the word, +upon their own and all succeeding times. + +But poets have been challenged to resign the civic crown to reasoners +and mechanists, on another plea. It is admitted that the exercise +of the imagination is most delightful, but it is alleged that that +of reason is more useful. Let us examine as the grounds of this +distinction, what is here meant by utility. Pleasure or good, in a +general sense, is that which the consciousness of a sensitive and +intelligent being seeks, and in which, when found, it acquiesces. +There are two kinds of pleasure, one durable, universal and +permanent; the other transitory and particular. Utility may either +express the means of producing the former or the latter. In the +former sense, whatever strengthens and purifies the affections, +enlarges the imagination, and adds spirit to sense, is useful. But +a narrower meaning may be assigned to the word utility, confining +it to express that which banishes the importunity of the wants of +our animal nature, the surrounding men with security of life, the +dispersing the grosser delusions of superstition, and the conciliating +such a degree of mutual forbearance among men as may consist with +the motives of personal advantage. + +Undoubtedly the promoters of utility, in this limited sense, have +their appointed office in society. They follow the footsteps of +poets, and copy the sketches of their creations into the book of +common life. They make space, and give time. Their exertions are +of the highest value, so long as they confine their administration +of the concerns of the inferior powers of our nature within the +limits due to the superior ones. But whilst the sceptic destroys +gross superstitions, let him spare to deface, as some of the +French writers have defaced, the eternal truths charactered upon +the imaginations of men. Whilst the mechanist abridges, and the +political economist combines labour, let them beware that their +speculations, for want of correspondence with those first principles +which belong to the imagination, do not tend, as they have in +modern England, to exasperate at once the extremes of luxury and +want. They have exemplified the saying, 'To him that hath, more +shall be given; and from him that hath not, the little that he hath +shall be taken away.' The rich have become richer, and the poor +have become poorer; and the vessel of the state is driven between +the Scylla and Charybdis of anarchy and despotism. Such are the +effects which must ever flow from an unmitigated exercise of the +calculating faculty. + +It is difficult to define pleasure in its highest sense; the +definition involving a number of apparent paradoxes. For, from an +inexplicable defect of harmony in the constitution of human nature, +the pain of the inferior is frequently connected with the pleasures +of the superior portions of our being. Sorrow, terror, anguish, +despair itself, are often the chosen expressions of an approximation +to the highest good. Our sympathy in tragic fiction depends on this +principle; tragedy delights by affording a shadow of the pleasure +which exists in pain. This is the source also of the melancholy +which is inseparable from the sweetest melody. The pleasure that +is in sorrow is sweeter than the pleasure of pleasure itself. And +hence the saying, 'It is better to go to the house of mourning, than +to the house of mirth.' Not that this highest species of pleasure +is necessarily linked with pain. The delight of love and friendship, +the ecstasy of the admiration of nature, the joy of the perception +and still more of the creation of poetry, is often wholly unalloyed. + +The production and assurance of pleasure in this highest sense +is true utility. Those who produce and preserve this pleasure are +poets or poetical philosophers. + +The exertions of Locke, Hume, Gibbon, Voltaire, Rousseau, [Footnote: +Although Rousseau has been thus classed, he was essentially a +poet. The others, even Voltaire, were mere reasoners.] and their +disciples, in favour of oppressed and deluded humanity, are entitled +to the gratitude of mankind. Yet it is easy to calculate the degree +of moral and intellectual improvement which the world would have +exhibited, had they never lived. A little more nonsense would have +been talked for a century or two; and perhaps a few more men, women, +and children, burnt as heretics. We might not at this moment have +been congratulating each other on the abolition of the Inquisition +in Spain. But it exceeds all imagination to conceive what would have +been the moral condition of the world if neither Dante, Petrarch, +Boccaccio, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Calderon, Lord Bacon, nor Milton, +had ever existed; if Raphael and Michael Angelo had never been +born; if the Hebrew poetry had never been translated; if a revival +of the study of Greek literature had never taken place; if no +monuments of ancient sculpture had been handed down to us; and if +the poetry of the religion of the ancient world had been extinguished +together with its belief. The human mind could never, except by +the intervention of these excitements, have been awakened to the +invention of the grosser sciences, and that application of analytical +reasoning to the aberrations of society, which it is now attempted +to exalt over the direct expression of the inventive and creative +faculty itself. + +We have more moral, political and historical wisdom, than we know +how to reduce into practice; we have more scientific and economical +knowledge than can be accommodated to the just distribution of the +produce which it multiplies. The poetry in these systems of thought, +is concealed by the accumulation of facts and calculating processes. +There is no want of knowledge respecting what is wisest and best +in morals, government, and political economy, or at least, what +is wiser and better than what men now practise and endure. But we +let '_I_ DARE NOT wait upon I WOULD, like the poor cat in the adage.' +We want the creative faculty to imagine that which we know; we +want the generous impulse to act that which we imagine; we want the +poetry of life: our calculations have outrun conception; we have +eaten more than we can digest. The cultivation of those sciences +which have enlarged the limits of the empire of man over the +external world, has, for want of the poetical faculty, proportionally +circumscribed those of the internal world; and man, having enslaved +the elements, remains himself a slave. To what but a cultivation +of the mechanical arts in a degree disproportioned to the presence +of the creative faculty, which is the basis of all knowledge, +is to be attributed the abuse of all invention for abridging and +combining labour, to the exasperation of the inequality of mankind? +From what other cause has it arisen that the discoveries which should +have lightened, have added a weight to the curse imposed on Adam? +Poetry, and the principle of Self, of which money is the visible, +incarnation, are the God and Mammon of the world. + +The functions of the poetical faculty are two-fold; by one it +creates new materials of knowledge and power and pleasure; by the +other it engenders in the mind a desire to reproduce and arrange +them according to a certain rhythm and order which may be called +the beautiful and the good. The cultivation of poetry is never more +to be desired than at periods when, from an excess of the selfish +and calculating principle, the accumulation of the materials of +external life exceed the quantity of the power of assimilating them +to the internal laws of human nature. The body has then become too +unwieldy for that which animates it. + +Poetry is indeed something divine. It is at once the centre and +circumference of knowledge; it is that which comprehends all science, +and that to which all science must be referred. It is at the same +time the root and blossom of all other systems of thought; it is +that from which all spring, and that which adorns all; and that +which, if blighted, denies the fruit and the seed, and withholds +from the barren world the nourishment and the succession of the +scions of the tree of life. It is the perfect and consummate surface +and bloom of all things; it is as the odour and the colour of the +rose to the texture of the elements which compose it, as the form +and splendour of unfaded beauty to the secrets of anatomy and +corruption. What were virtue, love, patriotism, friendship--what +were the scenery of this beautiful universe which we inhabit; what +were our consolations on this side of the grave--and what were our +aspirations beyond it, if poetry did not ascend to bring light and +fire from those eternal regions where the owl-winged faculty of +calculation dare not ever soar? Poetry is not like reasoning, a +power to be exerted according to the determination of the will. A +man cannot say, 'I will compose poetry.' The greatest poet even cannot +say it; for the mind in creation is as a fading coal, which some +invisible influence, like an inconstant wind, awakens to transitory +brightness; this power arises from within, like the colour of a +flower which fades and changes as it is developed, and the conscious +portions of our natures are unprophetic either of its approach or +its departure. Could this influence be durable in its original +purity and force, it is impossible to predict the greatness of the +results; but when composition begins, inspiration is already on the +decline, and the most glorious poetry that has ever been communicated +to the world is probably a feeble shadow of the original conceptions +of the poet. I appeal to the greatest poets of the present day, +whether it is not an error to assert that the finest passages of +poetry are produced by labour and study. The toil and the delay +recommended by critics, can be justly interpreted to mean no more +than a careful observation of the inspired moments, and an artificial +connexion of the spaces between their suggestions by the intertexture +of conventional expressions; a necessity only imposed by the +limitedness of the poetical faculty itself; for Milton conceived +the Paradise Lost as a whole before he executed it in portions; We +have his own authority also for the muse having 'dictated' to him +the 'unpremeditated song'. And let this be an answer to those who +would allege the fifty-six various readings of the first line of +the Orlando Furioso. Compositions so produced are to poetry what +mosaic is to painting. This instinct and intuition of the poetical +faculty, is still more observable in the plastic and pictorial arts; +a great statue or picture grows under the power of the artist as +a child in the mother's womb; and the very mind which directs the +hands in formation is incapable of accounting to itself for the +origin, the gradations, or the media of the process. + +Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest +and best minds. We are aware of evanescent visitations of thought +and feeling sometimes associated with place or person, sometimes +regarding our own mind alone, and always arising unforeseen +and departing unbidden, but elevating and delightful beyond all +expression; so that even in the desire and regret they leave, there +cannot but be pleasure, participating as it does in the nature +of its object. It is as it were the interpenetration of a diviner +nature through our own; but its footsteps are like those of a wind +over the sea, which the coming calm erases, and whose traces remain +only, as on the wrinkled sand which paves it. These and corresponding +conditions of being are experienced principally by those of the +most delicate sensibility and the most enlarged imagination; and the +state of mind produced by them is at war with every base desire. +The enthusiasm of virtue, love, patriotism, and friendship, +is essentially linked with such emotions; and whilst they last, +self appears as what it is, an atom to a universe. Poets are not +only subject to these experiences as spirits of the most refined +organization, but they can colour all that they combine with the +evanescent hues of this ethereal world; a word, a trait in the +representation of a scene or a passion, will touch the enchanted +chord, and reanimate, in those who have ever experienced these +emotions, the sleeping, the cold, the buried image of the past. +Poetry thus makes immortal all that is best and most beautiful in +the world; it arrests the vanishing apparitions which haunt the +interlunations of life, and veiling them, or in language or in form, +sends them forth among mankind, bearing sweet news of kindred joy +to those with whom their sisters abide--abide, because there is +no portal of expression from the caverns of the spirit which they +inhabit into the universe of things. Poetry redeems from decay the +visitations of the divinity in man. + +Poetry turns all things to loveliness; it exalts the beauty of that +which is most beautiful, and it adds beauty to that which is most +deformed; it marries exultation and horror, grief and pleasure, +eternity and change; it subdues to union under its light yoke, +all irreconcilable things. It transmutes all that it touches, and +every form moving within the radiance of its presence is changed +by wondrous sympathy to an incarnation of the spirit which it +breathes: its secret alchemy turns to potable gold the poisonous +waters which flow from death through life; it strips the veil of +familiarity from the world, and lays bare the naked and sleeping +beauty, which is the spirit of its forms. + +All things exist as they are perceived; at least in relation to +the percipient. 'The mind is its own place, and of itself can make +a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.' But poetry defeats the curse +which binds us to be subjected to the accident of surrounding +impressions. And whether it spreads its own figured curtain, +or withdraws life's dark veil from before the scene of things, it +equally creates for us a being within our being. It makes us the +inhabitants of a world to which the familiar world is a chaos. +It reproduces the common universe of which we are portions and +percipients, and it purges from our inward sight the film of familiarity +which obscures from us the wonder of our being. It compels us to +feel that which we perceive, and to imagine that which we know. It +creates anew the universe, after it has been annihilated in our +minds by the recurrence of impressions blunted by reiteration. +It justifies the bold and true words of Tasso: Non merita nome di +creatore, se non Iddio ed il Poeta. + +A poet, as he is the author to others of the highest wisdom, pleasure, +virtue and glory, so he ought personally to be the happiest, the +best, the wisest, and the most illustrious of men. As to his glory, +let time be challenged to declare whether the fame of any other +institutor of human life be comparable to that of a poet. That +he is the wisest, the happiest, and the best, inasmuch as he is +a poet, is equally incontrovertible: the greatest poets have been +men of the most spotless virtue, of the most consummate prudence, +and, if we would look into the interior of their lives, the most +fortunate of men: and the exceptions, as they regard those who +possessed the poetic faculty in a high yet inferior degree, will +be found on consideration to confine rather than destroy the rule. +Let us for a moment stoop to the arbitration of popular breath, and +usurping and uniting in our own persons the incompatible characters +of accuser, witness, judge, and executioner, let us decide without +trial, testimony, or form, that certain motives of those who are +'there sitting where we dare not soar', are reprehensible. Let +us assume that Homer was a drunkard, that Virgil was a flatterer, +that Horace was a coward, that Tasso a madman, that Lord Bacon was +a peculator, that Raphael was a libertine, that Spenser was a poet +laureate. It is inconsistent with this division of our subject +to cite living poets, but posterity has done ample justice to the +great names now referred to. Their errors have been weighed and found +to have been dust in the balance; if their sins 'were as scarlet, +they are now white as snow'; they have been washed in the blood of +the mediator and redeemer, Time. Observe in what a ludicrous chaos +the imputation of real or fictitious crime have been confused in +the contemporary calumnies against poetry and poets; consider how +little is, as it appears--or appears, as it is; look to your own +motives, and judge not, lest ye be judged. + +Poetry, as has been said, differs in this respect from logic, that +it is not subject to the control of the active powers of the mind, +and that its birth and recurrence have no necessary connexion with +the consciousness or will. It is presumptuous to determine that +these are the necessary conditions of all mental causation, when +mental effects are experienced unsusceptible of being referred to +them. The frequent recurrence of the poetical power, it is obvious +to suppose, may produce in the mind a habit of order and harmony +correlative with its own nature and its effects upon other minds. +But in the intervals of inspiration, and they may be frequent +without being durable, a poet becomes a man, and is abandoned to +the sudden reflux of the influences under which others habitually +live. But as he is more delicately organized than other men, and +sensible to pain and pleasure, both his own and that of others, in +a degree unknown to them, he will avoid the one and pursue the other +with an ardour proportioned to this difference. And he renders +himself obnoxious to calumny, when he neglects to observe the +circumstances under which these objects of universal pursuit and +flight have disguised themselves in one another's garments. + +But there is nothing necessarily evil in this error, and thus +cruelty, envy, revenge, avarice, and the passions purely evil, have +never formed any portion of the popular imputations on the lives +of poets. + +I have thought it most favourable to the cause of truth to set down +these remarks according to the order in which they were suggested +to my mind, by a consideration of the subject itself, instead of +observing the formality of a polemical reply; but if the view which +they contain be just, they will be found to involve a refutation +of the arguers against poetry, so far at least as regards the first +division of the subject. I can readily conjecture what should have +moved the gall of some learned and intelligent writers who quarrel +with certain versifiers; I confess myself, like them, unwilling +to be stunned, by the Theseids of the hoarse Codri of the day. +Bavius and Maevius undoubtedly are, as they ever were, insufferable +persons. But it belongs to a philosophical critic to distinguish +rather than confound. + +The first part of these remarks has related to poetry in its +elements and principles; and it has been shown, as well as the narrow +limits assigned them would permit, that what is called poetry, in +a restricted sense, has a common source with all other forms of order +and of beauty, according to which the materials of human life are +susceptible of being arranged, and which is poetry in a universal +sense. + +The second part will have for its object an application of these +principles to the present state of the cultivation of poetry, and +a defence of the attempt to idealize the modern forms of manners and +opinions, and compel them into a subordination to the imaginative +and creative faculty. For the literature of England, an energetic +development of which has ever preceded or accompanied a great and +free development of the national will, has arisen as it were from a +new birth. In spite of the low-thoughted envy which would undervalue +contemporary merit, our own will be a memorable age in intellectual +achievements, and we live among such philosophers and poets +as surpass beyond comparison any who have appeared since the last +national struggle for civil and religious liberty. The most unfailing +herald, companion, and follower of the awakening of a great people +to work a beneficial change in opinion or institution, is poetry. +At such periods there is an accumulation of the power of communicating +and receiving intense and impassioned conceptions respecting man +and nature. The persons in whom this power resides may often, as far +as regards many portions of their nature, have little apparent +correspondence with that spirit of good of which they are +the ministers. But even whilst they deny and abjure, they are yet +compelled to serve, the power which is seated on the throne of +their own soul. It is impossible to read the compositions of the +most celebrated writers of the present day without being startled +with the electric life which burns within their words. They measure +the circumference and sound the depths of human nature with a +comprehensive and all-penetrating spirit, and they are themselves +perhaps the most sincerely astonished at its manifestations; for +it is less their spirit than the spirit of the age. Poets are the +hierophants of an unapprehended inspiration; the mirrors of the +gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the present; the words +which express what they understand not; the trumpets which sing +to battle, and feel not what they inspire; the influence which is +moved not, but moves. Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of +the world. + +THE END + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Defence of Poetry and Other Essays, by +Percy Bysshe Shelley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DEFENCE OF POETRY *** + +***** This file should be named 5428.txt or 5428.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/4/2/5428/ + +Produced by Steve Harris, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: A Defence of Poetry and Other Essays + +Author: Percy Bysshe Shelley + +Release Date: April, 2004 [EBook #5428] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on July 18, 2002] +[Date last updated: August 28, 2005] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, A DEFENCE OF POETRY AND OTHER ESSAYS *** + + + + +Steve Harris, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + +A DEFENCE OF POETRY AND OTHER ESSAYS + +By Percy Bysshe Shelley + + + + +ON LOVE +ON LIFE IN A FUTURE STATE +ON THE PUNISHMENT OF DEATH SPECULATIONS +ON METAPHYSICS SPECULATIONS +ON MORALS ON THE LITERATURE, THE ARTS AND THE MANNERS OF THE ATHENIANS +ON THE SYMPOSIUM, OR PREFACE TO THE BANQUET OF PLATO +A DEFENCE OF POETRY + + + + + +ON LOVE + +What is love? Ask him who lives, what is life? ask him who adores, +what is God? + +I know not the internal constitution of other men, nor even thine, +whom I now address. I see that in some external attributes they +resemble me, but when, misled by that appearance, I have thought +to appeal to something in common, and unburthen my inmost soul to +them, I have found my language misunderstood, like one in a distant +and savage land. The more opportunities they have afforded me for +experience, the wider has appeared the interval between us, and +to a greater distance have the points of sympathy been withdrawn. +With a spirit ill fitted to sustain such proof, trembling and feeble +through its tenderness, I have everywhere sought sympathy and have +found only repulse and disappointment. + +Thou demandest what is love? It is that powerful attraction towards +all that we conceive, or fear, or hope beyond ourselves, when we +find within our own thoughts the chasm of an insufficient void, +and seek to awaken in all things that are, a community with what we +experience within ourselves. If we reason, we would be understood; +if we imagine, we would that the airy children of our brain were +born anew within another's; if we feel, we would that another's +nerves should vibrate to our own, that the beams of their eyes +should kindle at once and mix and melt into our own, that lips of +motionless ice should not reply to lips quivering and burning with +the heart's best blood. This is Love. This is the bond and the +sanction which connects not only man with man, but with everything +which exists. We are born into the world, and there is something +within us which, from the instant that we live, more and more +thirsts after its likeness. It is probably in correspondence with +this law that the infant drains milk from the bosom of its mother; +this propensity develops itself with the development of our nature. +We dimly see within our intellectual nature a miniature as it were +of our entire self, yet deprived of all that we condemn or despise, +the ideal prototype of everything excellent or lovely that we are +capable of conceiving as belonging to the nature of man. Not only +the portrait of our external being, but an assemblage of the minutest +particles of which our nature is composed;[Footnote: These words +are ineffectual and metaphorical. Most words are so--No help!] a +mirror whose surface reflects only the forms of purity and brightness; +a soul within our soul that describes a circle around its proper +paradise, which pain, and sorrow, and evil dare not overleap. To +this we eagerly refer all sensations, thirsting that they should +resemble or correspond with it. The discovery of its antitype; the +meeting with an understanding capable of clearly estimating our own; +an imagination which should enter into and seize upon the subtle +and delicate peculiarities which we have delighted to cherish and +unfold in secret; with a frame whose nerves, like the chords of +two exquisite lyres, strung to the accompaniment of one delightful +voice, vibrate with the vibrations of our own; and of a combination +of all these in such proportion as the type within demands; this +is the invisible and unattainable point to which Love tends; and +to attain which, it urges forth the powers of man to arrest the +faintest shadow of that, without the possession of which there +is no rest nor respite to the heart over which it rules. Hence in +solitude, or in that deserted state when we are surrounded by human +beings, and yet they sympathize not with us, we love the flowers, +the grass, and the waters, and the sky. In the motion of the very +leaves of spring, in the blue air, there is then found a secret +correspondence with our heart. There is eloquence in the tongueless +wind, and a melody in the flowing brooks and the rustling of the +reeds beside them, which by their inconceivable relation to something +within the soul, awaken the spirits to a dance of breathless +rapture, and bring tears of mysterious tenderness to the eyes, like +the enthusiasm of patriotic success, or the voice of one beloved +singing to you alone. Sterne says that, if he were in a desert, +he would love some cypress. So soon as this want or power is dead, +man becomes the living sepulchre of himself, and what yet survives +is the mere husk of what once he was. + +[1815; publ. 1840] + + + +ON LIFE + +Life and the world, or whatever we call that which we are and feel, +is an astonishing thing. The mist of familiarity obscures from us +the wonder of our being. We are struck with admiration at some of +its transient modifications, but it is itself the great miracle. +What are changes of empires, the wreck of dynasties, with the +opinions which supported them; what is the birth and the extinction +of religious and of political systems to life? What are the revolutions +of the globe which we inhabit, and the operations of the elements +of which it is composed, compared with life? What is the universe +of stars, and suns, of which this inhabited earth is one, and their +motions, and their destiny, compared with life? Life, the great +miracle, we admire not, because it is so miraculous. It is well +that we are thus shielded by the familiarity of what is at once +so certain and so unfathomable, from an astonishment which would +otherwise absorb and overawe the functions of that which is its +object. + +If any artist, I do not say had executed, but had merely conceived +in his mind the system of the sun, and the stars, and planets, they +not existing, and had painted to us in words, or upon canvas, the +spectacle now afforded by the nightly cope of heaven, and illustrated it +by the wisdom of astronomy, great would be our admiration. Or had +he imagined the scenery of this earth, the mountains, the seas, +and the rivers; the grass, and the flowers, and the variety of +the forms and masses of the leaves of the woods, and the colours +which attend the setting and the rising sun, and the hues of the +atmosphere, turbid or serene, these things not before existing, +truly we should have been astonished, and it would not have been a +vain boast to have said of such a man, 'Non merita nome di creatore, +se non Iddio ed il Poeta.' But now these things are looked on with +little wonder, and to be conscious of them with intense delight is +esteemed to be the distinguishing mark of a refined and extraordinary +person. The multitude of men care not for them. It is thus with +Life--that which includes all. + +What is life? Thoughts and feelings arise, with or without our will, +and we employ words to express them. We are born, and our birth is +unremembered, and our infancy remembered but in fragments; we live +on, and in living we lose the apprehension of life. How vain is it +to think that words can penetrate the mystery of our being! Rightly +used they may make evident our ignorance to ourselves, and this is +much. For what are we? Whence do we come? and whither do we go? Is +birth the commencement, is death the conclusion of our being? What +is birth and death? + +The most refined abstractions of logic conduct to a view of life, +which, though startling to the apprehension, is, in fact, that which +the habitual sense of its repeated combinations has extinguished +in us. It strips, as it were, the painted curtain from this scene +of things. I confess that I am one of those who are unable to refuse +my assent to the conclusions of those philosophers who assert that +nothing exists but as it is perceived. + +It is a decision against which all our persuasions struggle, and we +must be long convicted before we can be convinced that the solid +universe of external things is 'such stuff as dreams are made +of.' The shocking absurdities of the popular philosophy of mind +and matter, its fatal consequences in morals, and their violent +dogmatism concerning the source of all things, had early conducted +me to materialism. This materialism is a seducing system to young and +superficial minds. It allows its disciples to talk, and dispenses +them from thinking. But I was discontented with such a view of +things as it afforded; man is a being of high aspirations, 'looking +both before and after,' whose 'thoughts wander through eternity,' +disclaiming alliance with transience and decay; incapable of +imagining to himself annihilation; existing but in the future and +the past; being, not what he is, but what he has been and shall be. +Whatever may be his true and final destination, there is a spirit +within him at enmity with nothingness and dissolution. This is the +character of all life and being. Each is at once the centre and +the circumference; the point to which all things are referred, and +the line in which all things are contained. Such contemplations as +these, materialism and the popular philosophy of mind and matter +alike forbid; they are only consistent with the intellectual system. + +It is absurd to enter into a long recapitulation of arguments +sufficiently familiar to those inquiring minds, whom alone a writer +on abstruse subjects can be conceived to address. Perhaps the most +clear and vigorous statement of the intellectual system is to be +found in Sir William Drummond's Academical Questions. + +After such an exposition, it would be idle to translate into other +words what could only lose its energy and fitness by the change. +Examined point by point, and word by word, the most discriminating +intellects have been able to discern no train of thoughts in the +process of reasoning, which does not conduct inevitably to the +conclusion which has been stated. + +What follows from the admission? It establishes no new truth, it +gives us no additional insight into our hidden nature, neither its +action nor itself. Philosophy, impatient as it may be to build, +has much work yet remaining, as pioneer for the overgrowth of ages. +It makes one step towards this object; it destroys error, and the +roots of error. It leaves, what it is too often the duty of the +reformer in political and ethical questions to leave, a vacancy. +It reduces the mind to that freedom in which it would have acted, +but for the misuse of words and signs, the instruments of its own +creation. By signs, I would be understood in a wide sense, including +what is properly meant by that term, and what I peculiarly mean. In +this latter sense, almost all familiar objects are signs, standing, +not for themselves, but for others, in their capacity of suggesting +one thought which shall lead to a train of thoughts. Our whole life +is thus an education of error. + +Let us recollect our sensations as children. What a distinct and +intense apprehension had we of the world and of ourselves! Many of +the circumstances of social life were then important to us which +are now no longer so. But that is not the point of comparison on +which I mean to insist. We less habitually distinguished all that +we saw and felt, from ourselves. They seemed as it were to constitute +one mass. There are some persons who, in this respect, are always +children. Those who are subject to the state called reverie, feel +as if their nature were dissolved into the surrounding universe, +or as if the surrounding universe were absorbed into their being. +They are conscious of no distinction. And these are states which +precede, or accompany, or follow an unusually intense and vivid +apprehension of life. As men grow up this power commonly decays, +and they become mechanical and habitual agents. Thus feelings and +then reasonings are the combined result of a multitude of entangled +thoughts, and of a series of what are called impressions, planted +by reiteration. + +The view of life presented by the most refined deductions of the +intellectual philosophy, is that of unity. Nothing exists but as +it is perceived. The difference is merely nominal between those two +classes of thought, which are vulgarly distinguished by the names +of ideas and of external objects. Pursuing the same thread of +reasoning, the existence of distinct individual minds, similar to +that which is employed in now questioning its own nature, is likewise +found to be a delusion. The words _I_, YOU, THEY, are not signs of +any actual difference subsisting between the assemblage of thoughts +thus indicated, but are merely marks employed to denote the different +modifications of the one mind. + +Let it not be supposed that this doctrine conducts to the monstrous +presumption that I, the person who now write and think, am that one +mind. I am but a portion of it. The words _I_, and YOU, and THEY, +are grammatical devices invented simply for arrangement, and totally +devoid of the intense and exclusive sense usually attached to +them. It is difficult to find terms adequate to express so subtle +a conception as that to which the Intellectual Philosophy has +conducted us. We are on that verge where words abandon us, and what +wonder if we grow dizzy to look down the dark abyss of how little +we know. The relations of THINGS remain unchanged, by whatever system. +By the word THINGS is to be understood any object of thought, that +is any thought upon which any other thought is employed, with an +apprehension of distinction. + +The relations of these remain unchanged; and such is the material +of our knowledge. What is the cause of life? that is, how was it +produced, or what agencies distinct from life have acted or act +upon life? All recorded generations of mankind have weariedly busied +themselves in inventing answers to this question; and the result +has been,--Religion. Yet, that the basis of all things cannot be, +as the popular philosophy alleges, mind, is sufficiently evident. +Mind, as far as we have any experience of its properties, and beyond +that experience how vain is argument! cannot create, it can only +perceive. It is said also to be the cause. But cause is only a +word expressing a certain state of the human mind with regard to +the manner in which two thoughts are apprehended to be related to +each other. If any one desires to know how unsatisfactorily the +popular philosophy employs itself upon this great question, they +need only impartially reflect upon the manner in which thoughts +develop themselves in their minds. It is infinitely improbable that +the cause of mind, that is, of existence, is similar to mind. + +[1815; publ. 1840] + + + +ON A FUTURE STATE + +It has been the persuasion of an immense majority of human beings +in all ages and nations that we continue to live after death,--that +apparent termination of all the functions of sensitive and intellectual +existence. Nor has mankind been contented with supposing that +species of existence which some philosophers have asserted; namely, +the resolution of the component parts of the mechanism of a living +being into its elements, and the impossibility of the minutest +particle of these sustaining the smallest diminution. They have +clung to the idea that sensibility and thought, which they have +distinguished from the objects of it, under the several names +of spirit and matter, is, in its own nature, less susceptible of +division and decay, and that, when the body is resolved into its +elements, the principle which animated it will remain perpetual +and unchanged. Some philosophers-and those to whom we are indebted +for the most stupendous discoveries in physical science, suppose, +on the other hand, that intelligence is the mere result of certain +combinations among the particles of its objects; and those among +them who believe that we live after death, recur to the interposition +of a supernatural power, which shall overcome the tendency inherent +in all material combinations, to dissipate and be absorbed into +other forms. + +Let us trace the reasonings which in one and the other have conducted +to these two opinions, and endeavour to discover what we ought to +think on a question of such momentous interest. Let us analyse the +ideas and feelings which constitute the contending beliefs, and +watchfully establish a discrimination between words and thoughts. +Let us bring the question to the test of experience and fact; and +ask ourselves, considering our nature in its entire extent, what +light we derive from a sustained and comprehensive view of its +component parts, which may enable, us to assert, with certainty, +that we do or do not live after death. + +The examination of this subject requires that it should be stript +of all those accessory topics which adhere to it in the common opinion +of men. The existence of a God, and a future state of rewards and +punishments, are totally foreign to the subject. If it be proved +that the world is ruled by a Divine Power, no inference necessarily +can be drawn from that circumstance in favour of a future state. +It has been asserted, indeed, that as goodness and justice are to +be numbered among the attributes of the Deity, He will undoubtedly +compensate the virtuous who suffer during life, and that He will +make every sensitive being who does not deserve punishment, happy +for ever. But this view of the subject, which it would be tedious +as well as superfluous to develop and expose, satisfies no person, +and cuts the knot which we now seek to untie. Moreover, should it +be proved, on the other hand, that the mysterious principle which +regulates the proceedings of the universe, is neither intelligent +nor sensitive, yet it is not an inconsistency to suppose at the +same time, that the animating power survives the body which it +has animated, by laws as independent of any supernatural agent as +those through which it first became united with it. Nor, if a future +state be clearly proved, does it follow that it will be a state of +punishment or reward. + +By the word death, we express that condition in which natures +resembling ourselves apparently cease to be that which they were. +We no longer hear them speak, nor see them move. If they have +sensations and apprehensions, we no longer participate in them. +We know no more than that those external organs, and all that fine +texture of material frame, without which we have no experience that +life or thought can subsist, are dissolved and scattered abroad. +The body is placed under the earth, and after a certain period there +remains no vestige even of its form. This is that contemplation +of inexhaustible melancholy, whose shadow eclipses the brightness +of the world. The common observer is struck with dejection at the +spectacle. He contends in vain against the persuasion of the grave, +that the dead indeed cease to be. The corpse at his feet is prophetic +of his own destiny. Those who have preceded him, and whose voice +was delightful to his ear; whose touch met his like sweet and subtle +fire; whose aspect spread a visionary light upon his path--these +he cannot meet again. The organs of sense are destroyed, and the +intellectual operations dependent on them have perished with their +sources. How can a corpse see or feel? its eyes are eaten out, and +its heart is black and without motion. What intercourse can two +heaps of putrid clay and crumbling bones hold together? When you +can discover where the fresh colours of the faded flower abide, +or the music of the broken lyre, seek life among the dead. Such +are the anxious and fearful contemplations of the common observer, +though the popular religion often prevents him from confessing them +even to himself. + +The natural philosopher, in addition to the sensations common +to all men inspired by the event of death, believes that he sees +with more certainty that it is attended with the annihilation of +sentiment and thought. He observes the mental powers increase and +fade with those of the body, and even accommodate themselves to +the most transitory changes of our physical nature. Sleep suspends +many of the faculties of the vital and intellectual principle; +drunkenness and disease will either temporarily or permanently +derange them. Madness or idiotcy may utterly extinguish the most +excellent and delicate of those powers. In old age the mind gradually +withers; and as it grew and was strengthened with the body, so does +it together with the body sink into decrepitude. Assuredly these +are convincing evidences that so soon as the organs of the body +are subjected to the laws of inanimate matter, sensation, and +perception, and apprehension, are at an end. It is probable that +what we call thought is not an actual being, but no more than the +relation between certain parts of that infinitely varied mass, +of which the rest of the universe is composed, and which ceases +to exist so soon as those parts change their position with regard +to each other. Thus colour, and sound, and taste, and odour exist +only relatively. But let thought be considered as some peculiar +substance, which permeates, and is the cause of, the animation of +living beings. Why should that substance be assumed to be something +essentially distinct from all others, and exempt from subjection +to those laws from which no other substance is exempt? It differs, +indeed, from all other substances, as electricity, and light, and +magnetism, and the constituent parts of air and earth, severally +differ from all others. Each of these is subject to change and +to decay, and to conversion into other forms. Yet the difference +between light and earth is scarcely greater than that which exists +between life, or thought, and fire. The difference between the two +former was never alleged as an argument for the eternal permanence +of either, in that form under which they first might offer themselves +to our notice. Why should the difference between the two latter +substances be an argument for the prolongation of the existence +of one and not the other, when the existence of both has arrived +at their apparent termination? To say that fire exists without +manifesting any of the properties of fire, such as light, heat, +etc., or that the principle of life exists without consciousness, +or memory, or desire, or motive, is to resign, by an awkward +distortion of language, the affirmative of the dispute. To say +that the principle of life MAY exist in distribution among various +forms, is to assert what cannot be proved to be either true or +false, but which, were it true, annihilates all hope of existence +after death, in any sense in which that event can belong to the +hopes and fears of men. Suppose, however, that the intellectual +and vital principle differs in the most marked and essential manner +from all other known substances; that they have all some resemblance +between themselves which it in no degree participates. In what manner +can this concession be made an argument for its imperishability? +All that we see or know perishes and is changed. Life and thought +differ indeed from everything else. But that it survives that +period, beyond which we have no experience of its existence, such +distinction and dissimilarity affords no shadow of proof, and nothing +but our own desires could have led us to conjecture or imagine. +Have we existed before birth? It is difficult to conceive the +possibility of this. There is, in the generative principle of each +animal and plant, a power which converts the substances by which +it is surrounded into a substance homogeneous with itself. That +is, the relations between certain elementary particles of matter +undergo a change, and submit to new combinations. For when we use +the words PRINCIPLE, POWER, CAUSE, we mean to express no real being, +but only to class under those terms a certain series of co-existing +phenomena; but let it be supposed that this principle is a certain +substance which escapes the observation of the chemist and anatomist. +It certainly MAY BE; though it is sufficiently unphilosophical +to allege the possibility of an opinion as a proof of its truth. +Does it see, hear, feel, before its combination with those organs +on which sensation depends? Does it reason, imagine, apprehend, +without those ideas which sensation alone can communicate? If we +have not existed before birth; if, at the period when the parts +of our nature on which thought and life depend, seem to be woven +together; if there are no reasons to suppose that we have existed +before that period at which our existence apparently commences, +then there are no grounds for supposition that we shall continue +to exist after our existence has apparently ceased. So far as +thought is concerned, the same will take place with regard to use, +individually considered, after death, as had place before our birth. + +It is said that it, is possible that we should continue to exist +in some mode totally inconceivable to us at present. This is a most +unreasonable presumption. It casts on the adherents of annihilation +the burthen of proving the negative of a question, the affirmative +of which is not supported by a single argument, and which, by its +very nature, lies beyond the experience of the human understanding. +It is sufficiently easy, indeed, to form any proposition, concerning +which we are ignorant, just not so absurd as not to be contradictory +in itself, and defy refutation. The possibility of whatever enters +into the wildest imagination to conceive is thus triumphantly +vindicated. But it is enough that such assertions should be either +contradictory to the known laws of nature, or exceed the limits of our +experience, that their fallacy or irrelevancy to our consideration +should be demonstrated. They persuade, indeed, only those who +desire to be persuaded. This desire to be for ever as we are; the +reluctance to a violent and unexperienced change, which is common +to all the animated and inanimate combinations of the universe, is, +indeed, the secret persuasion which has given birth to the opinions +of a future state. + +[1815; publ. 1840] + + + + +ON THE PUNISHMENT OF DEATH + +A FRAGMENT + +The first law which it becomes a Reformer to propose and support, +at the approach of a period of great political change, is the +abolition of the punishment of death. + +It is sufficiently clear that revenge, retaliation, atonement, +expiation, are rules and motives, so far from deserving a place in +any enlightened system of political life, that they are the chief +sources of a prodigious class of miseries in the domestic circles +of society. It is clear that however the spirit of legislation may +appear to frame institutions upon more philosophical maxims, it +has hitherto, in those cases which are termed criminal, done little +more than palliate the spirit, by gratifying a portion of it; and +afforded a compromise between that which is bests--the inflicting +of no evil upon a sensitive being, without a decisively beneficial +result in which he should at least participates--and that which is +worst; that he should be put to torture for the amusement of those +whom he may have injured, or may seem to have injured. + +Omitting these remoter considerations, let us inquire what, DEATH +is; that punishment which is applied as a measure of transgressions +of indefinite shades of distinction, so soon as they shall have +passed that degree and colour of enormity, with which it is supposed +no, inferior infliction is commensurate. + +And first, whether death is good or evil, a punishment or a reward, +or whether it be wholly indifferent, no man can take upon himself +to assert. That that within us which thinks and feels, continues +to think and feel after the dissolution of the body, has been the +almost universal opinion of mankind, and the accurate philosophy +of what I may be permitted to term the modern Academy, by showing +the prodigious depth and extent of our ignorance respecting the +causes and nature of sensation, renders probable the affirmative +of a proposition, the negative of which it is so difficult to +conceive, and the popular arguments against which, derived from +what is called the atomic system, are proved to be applicable only +to the relation which one object bears to another, as apprehended +by the mind, and not to existence itself, or the nature of that +essence which is the medium and receptacle of objects. + +The popular system of religion suggests the idea that the mind, +after death, will be painfully or pleasurably affected according to +its determinations during life. However ridiculous and pernicious +we must admit the vulgar accessories of this creed to be, there +is a certain analogy, not wholly absurd, between the consequences +resulting to an individual during life from the virtuous or vicious, +prudent or imprudent, conduct of his external actions, to those +consequences which are conjectured to ensue from the discipline +and order of his internal thoughts, as affecting his condition in +a future state. They omit, indeed, to calculate upon the accidents +of disease, and temperament, and organization, and circumstance, +together with the multitude of independent agencies which affect +the opinions, the conduct, and the happiness of individuals, and +produce determinations of the will, and modify the judgement, so +as to produce effects the most opposite in natures considerably +similar. These are those operations in the order of the whole of +nature, tending, we are prone to believe, to some definite mighty +end, to which the agencies of our peculiar nature are subordinate; +nor is there any reason to suppose, that in a future state they should +become suddenly exempt from that subordination. The philosopher is +unable to determine whether our existence in a previous state has +affected our present condition, and abstains from deciding whether +our present condition will affect us in that which may be future. +That, if we continue to exist, the manner of our existence will be +such as no inferences nor conjectures, afforded by a consideration +of our earthly experience, can elucidate, is sufficiently obvious. +The opinion that the vital principle within us, in whatever mode +it may continue to exist, must lose that consciousness of definite +and individual being which now characterizes it, and become a unit +in the vast sum of action and of thought which disposes and animates +the universe, and is called God, seems to belong to that class of +opinion which has been designated as indifferent. + +To compel a person to know all that can be known by the dead +concerning that which the living fear, hope, or forget; to plunge +him into the pleasure or pain which there awaits him; to punish or +reward him in a manner and in a degree incalculable and incomprehensible +by us; to disrobe him at once from all that intertexture of good +and evil with which Nature seems to have clothed every form of +individual existence, is to inflict on him the doom of death. + +A certain degree of pain and terror usually accompany the infliction +of death. This degree is infinitely varied by the infinite variety +in the temperament and opinions of the sufferers. As a measure of +punishment, strictly so considered, and as an exhibition, which, by +its known effects on the sensibility of the sufferer, is intended +to intimidate the spectators from incurring a similar liability, +it is singularly inadequate. + +Firstly, Persons of energetic character, in whom, as in men who +suffer for political crimes, there is a large mixture of enterprise, +and fortitude, and disinterestedness, and the elements, though +misguided and disarranged, by which the strength and happiness of a +nation might have been cemented, die in such a manner, as to make +death appear not evil, but good. The death of what is called a +traitor, that is, a person who, from whatever motive, would abolish +the government of the day, is as often a triumphant exhibition +of suffering virtue, as the warning of a culprit. The multitude, +instead of departing with a panic-stricken approbation of the laws +which exhibited such a spectacle, are inspired with pity, admiration +and sympathy; and the most generous among them feel an emulation +to be the authors of such flattering emotions, as they experience +stirring in their bosoms. Impressed by what they see and feel, +they make no distinctive between the motives which incited the +criminals to the action for which they suffer, or the heroic courage +with which they turned into good that which their judges awarded +to them as evil or the purpose itself of those actions, though that +purpose may happen to be eminently pernicious. The laws in this +case lose their sympathy, which it ought to be their chief object +to secure, and in a participation of which consists their chief +strength in maintaining those sanctions by which the parts of the +social union are bound together, so as to produce, as nearly as +possible, the ends for which it is instituted. + +Secondly,--Persons of energetic character, in communities not +modelled with philosophical skill to turn all the energies which +they contain to the purposes of common good, are prone also to fall +into the temptation of undertaking, and are peculiarly fitted for +despising the perils attendant upon consummating, the most enormous +crimes. Murder, rapes, extensive schemes of plunder are the actions +of persons belonging to this class; and death is the penalty of +conviction. But the coarseness of organization, peculiar to men +capable of committing acts wholly selfish, is usually found to +be associated with a proportionate insensibility to fear or pain. +Their sufferings communicate to those of the spectators, who may be +liable to the commission of similar crimes a sense of the lightness +of that event, when closely examined which, at a distance, as +uneducated persons are accustomed to do, probably they regarded with +horror. But a great majority of the spectators are so bound up in +the interests and the habits of social union that no temptation +would be sufficiently strong to induce them to a commission of the +enormities to which this penalty is assigned. The more powerful, and +the richer among them,--and a numerous class of little tradesmen are +richer and more powerful than those who are employed by them, and +the employer, in general, bears this relation to the employed,--regard +their own wrongs as, in some degree, avenged, and their own rights +secured by this punishment, inflicted as the penalty of whatever +crime. In cases of murder or mutilation, this feeling is almost +universal. In those, therefore, whom this exhibition does not +awaken to the sympathy which extenuates crime and discredits the +law which restrains it, it produces feelings more directly at war +with the genuine purposes of political society. It excites those +emotions which it is the chief object of civilization to extinguish +for ever, and in the extinction of which alone there can be any +hope of better institutions than those under which men now misgovern +one another. Men feel that their revenge is gratified, and that +their security is established by the extinction and the sufferings +of beings, in most respects resembling themselves; and their daily +occupations constraining them to a precise form in all their thoughts, +they come to connect inseparably the idea of their own advantage +with that of the death and torture of others. It is manifest that +the object of sane polity is directly the reverse; and that laws +founded upon reason, should accustom the gross vulgar to associate +their ideas of security and of interest with the reformation, and +the strict restraint, for that purpose alone, of those who might +invade it. + +The passion of revenge is originally nothing more than an habitual +perception of the ideas of the sufferings of the person who inflicts +an injury, as connected, as they are in a savage state, or in such +portions of society as are yet undisciplined to civilization, with +security that that injury will not be repeated in future. This +feeling, engrafted upon superstition and confirmed by habit, at +last loses sight of the only object for which it may be supposed +to have been implanted, and becomes a passion and a duty to be +pursued and fulfilled, even to the destruction of those ends to +which it originally tended. The other passions, both good and evil. +Avarice, Remorse, Love, Patriotism, present a similar appearance; +and to this principle of the mind over-shooting the mark at which +it aims, we owe all that is eminently base or excellent in human +nature; in providing for the nutriment or the extinction of which, +consists the true art of the legislator. [Footnote: The savage and +the illiterate are but faintly aware of the distinction between +the future and the past; they make actions belonging to periods so +distinct, the subjects of similar feelings; they live only in the +present, or in the past, as it is present. It is in this that the +philosopher excels one of the many; it is this which distinguishes +the doctrine of philosophic necessity from fatalism; and that +determination of the will, by which it is the active source of future +events, from that liberty or indifference, to which the abstract +liability of irremediable actions is attached, according to the +notions of the vulgar. + +This is the source of the erroneous excesses of Remorse and Revenge; +the one extending itself over the future, and the other over the +past; provinces in which their suggestions can only be the sources +of evil. The purpose of a resolution to act more wisely and virtuously +in future, and the sense of a necessity of caution in repressing +an enemy, are the sources from which the enormous superstitions +implied in the words cited have arisen.] + +Nothing is more clear than that the infliction of punishment in +general, in a degree which the reformation and the restraint of +those who transgress the laws does not render indispensable, and +none more than death, confirms all the inhuman and unsocial impulses +of men. It is almost a proverbial remark, that those nations in which +the penal code has been particularly mild, have been distinguished +from all others by the rarity of crime. But the example is to be +admitted to be equivocal. A more decisive argument is afforded by +a consideration of the universal connexion of ferocity of manners, +and a contempt of social ties, with the contempt of human life. +Governments which derive their institutions from the existence of +circumstances of barbarism and violence, with some rare exceptions +perhaps, are bloody in proportion as they are despotic, and form +the manners of their subjects to a sympathy with their own spirit. + +The spectators who feel no abhorrence at a public execution, but +rather a self-applauding superiority, and a sense of gratified +indignation, are surely excited to the most inauspicious emotions. The +first reflection of such a one is the sense of his own internal and +actual worth, as preferable to that of the victim, whom circumstances +have led to destruction. The meanest wretch is impressed with a +sense of his own comparative merit. He is one of those on whom the +tower of Siloam fell not--he is such a one as Jesus Christ found +not in all Samaria, who, in his own soul, throws the first stone at +the woman taken in adultery. The popular religion of the country +takes its designation from that illustrious person whose beautiful +sentiment I have quoted. Any one who has stript from the doctrines +of this person the veil of familiarity, will perceive how adverse +their spirit is to feelings of this nature. + + + + + +SPECULATIONS ON METAPHYSICS + +I--THE MIND + +It is an axiom in mental philosophy, that we can think of nothing +which we have not perceived. When I say that we can think of nothing, +I mean, we can imagine nothing, we can reason of nothing, we can +remember nothing, we can foresee nothing. The most astonishing +combinations of poetry, the subtlest deductions of logic and +mathematics, are no other than combinations which the intellect +makes of sensations according to its own laws. A catalogue of all +the thoughts of the mind, and of all their possible modifications, +is a cyclopedic history of the universe. + +But, it will be objected, the inhabitants of the various planets of +this and other solar systems; and the existence of a Power bearing +the same relation to all that we perceive and are, as what we +call a cause does to what we call effect, were never subjects of +sensation, and yet the laws of mind almost universally suggest, +according to the various disposition of each, a conjecture, +a persuasion, or a conviction of their existence. The reply is +simple; these thoughts are also to be included in the catalogue +of existence; they are modes in which thoughts are combined; the +objection only adds force to the conclusion, that beyond the limits +of perception and thought nothing can exist. + +Thoughts, or ideas, or notions, call them what you will, differ +from each other, not in kind, but in force. It has commonly been +supposed that those distinct thoughts which affect a number of +persons, at regular intervals, during the passage of a multitude +of other thoughts, which are called REAL or EXTERNAL OBJECTS, +are totally different in kind from those which affect only a few +persons, and which recur at irregular intervals, and are usually +more obscure and indistinct, such as hallucinations, dreams, and the +ideas of madness. No essential distinction between any one of these +ideas, or any class of them, is founded on a correct observation of +the nature of things, but merely on a consideration of what thoughts +are most invariably subservient to the security and happiness of +life; and if nothing more were expressed by the distinction, the +philosopher might safely accommodate his language to that of the +vulgar. But they pretend to assert an essential difference, which +has no foundation in truth, and which suggests a narrow and false +conception of universal nature, the parent of the most fatal errors +in speculation. A specific difference between every thought of the +mind, is, indeed, a necessary consequence of that law by which it +perceives diversity and number; but a generic and essential difference +is wholly arbitrary. The principle of the agreement and similarity +of all thoughts, is, that they are all thoughts; the principle +of their disagreement consists in the variety and irregularity of +the occasions on which they arise in the mind. That in which they +agree, to that in which they differ, is as everything to nothing. +Important distinctions, of various degrees of force, indeed, are to +be established between them, if they were, as they may be, subjects +of ethical and economical discussion; but that is a question +altogether distinct. By considering all knowledge as bounded by +perception, whose operations may be indefinitely combined, we arrive +at a conception of Nature inexpressibly more magnificent, simple +and true, than accords with the ordinary systems of complicated and +partial consideration. Nor does a contemplation of the universe, +in this comprehensive and synthetical view, exclude the subtlest +analysis of its modifications and parts. + +A scale might be formed, graduated according to the degrees +of a combined ratio of intensity, duration, connexion, periods of +recurrence, and utility, which would be the standard, according to +which all ideas might be measured, and an uninterrupted chain of +nicely shadowed distinctions would be observed, from the faintest +impression on the senses, to the most distinct combination of those +impressions; from the simplest of those combinations, to that mass +of knowledge which, including our own nature, constitutes what we +call the universe. + +We are intuitively conscious of our own existence, and of that +connexion in the train of our successive ideas, which we term our +identity. We are conscious also of the existence of other minds; +but not intuitively. Our evidence, with respect to the existence of +other minds, is founded upon a very complicated relation of ideas, +which it is foreign to the purpose of this treatise to anatomize. +The basis of this relation is, undoubtedly, a periodical recurrence +of masses of ideas, which our voluntary determinations have, in +one peculiar direction, no power to circumscribe or to arrest, and +against the recurrence of which they can only imperfectly provide. +The irresistible laws of thought constrain us to believe that the +precise limits of our actual ideas are not the actual limits of +possible ideas; the law, according to which these deductions are +drawn, is called analogy; and this is the foundation of all our +inferences, from one idea to another, inasmuch as they resemble +each other. + +We see trees, houses, fields, living beings in our own shape, and +in shapes more or less analogous to our own. These are perpetually +changing the mode of their existence relatively to us. To express +the varieties of these modes, we say, WE MOVE, THEY MOVE; and as this +motion is continual, though not uniform, we express our conception +of the diversities of its course by--IT HAS BEEN, IT IS, IT SHALL +BE. These diversities are events or objects, and are essential, +considered relatively to human identity, for the existence of the +human mind. For if the inequalities, produced by what has been +termed the operations of the external universe, were levelled by the +perception of our being, uniting and filling up their interstices, +motion and mensuration, and time, and space; the elements of the +human mind being thus abstracted, sensation and imagination cease. +Mind cannot be considered pure. + +II--WHAT METAPHYSICS ARE. ERRORS IN THE USUAL METHODS OF CONSIDERING +THEM + +We do not attend sufficiently to what passes within ourselves. We +combine words, combined a thousand times before. In our minds we +assume entire opinions; and in the expression of those opinions, +entire phrases, when we would philosophize. Our whole style of +expression and sentiment is infected with the tritest plagiarisms. +Our words are dead, our thoughts are cold and borrowed. + +Let us contemplate facts; let us, in the great study of ourselves, +resolutely compel the mind to a rigid consideration of itself. We +are not content with conjecture, and inductions, and syllogisms, +in sciences regarding external objects. As in these, let us also, +in considering the phenomena of mind, severely collect those +facts which cannot be disputed. Metaphysics will thus possess this +conspicuous advantage over every other science, that each student, +by attentively referring to his own mind, may ascertain the +authorities upon which any assertions regarding it are supported. +There can thus be no deception, we ourselves being the depositaries +of the evidence of the subject which we consider. + +Metaphysics may be defined as an inquiry concerning those things +belonging to, or connected with, the internal nature of man. + +It is said that mind produces motion; and it might as well have +been said, that motion produces mind. + +III--DIFFICULTY OF ANALYSING THE HUMAN MIND + +If it were possible that a person should give a faithful history of +his being, from the earliest epochs of his recollection, a picture +would be presented such as the world has never contemplated before. +A mirror would be held up to all men in which they might behold +their own recollections, and, in dim perspective, their shadowy hopes +and fears,--all that they dare not, or that, daring and desiring, +they could not expose to the open eyes of day. But thought can +with difficulty visit the intricate and winding chambers which it +inhabits. It is like a river whose rapid and perpetual stream flows +outwards;--like one in dread who speeds through the recesses of +some haunted pile, and dares not look behind. The caverns of the +mind are obscure, and shadowy; or pervaded with a lustre, beautifully +bright indeed, but shining not beyond their portals. If it were +possible to be where we have been, vitally and indeed--if, at the +moment of our presence there, we could define the results of our +experience,--if the passage from sensation to reflection--from a +state of passive perception to voluntary contemplation, were not +so dizzying and so tumultuous, this attempt would be less difficult. + +IV--HOW THE ANALYSIS SHOULD BE CARRIED ON + +Most of the errors of philosophers have arisen from considering +the human being in a point of view too detailed and circumscribed +He is not a moral, and an intellectual,--but also, and pre-eminently, +an imaginative being. His own mind is his law; his own mind is all +things to him. If we would arrive at any knowledge which should be +serviceable from the practical conclusions to which it leads, we +ought to consider the mind of man and the universe as the great +whole on which to exercise our speculations. Here, above all, +verbal disputes ought to be laid aside, though this has long been +their chosen field of battle. It imports little to inquire whether +thought be distinct from the objects of thought. The use of the +words EXTERNAL and INTERNAL, as applied to the establishment of this +distinction, has been the symbol and the source of much dispute. +This is merely an affair of words, and as the dispute deserves, to +say, that when speaking of the objects of thought, we indeed only +describe one of the forms of thought--or that, speaking of thought, +we only apprehend one of the operations of the universal system of +beings. + +V--CATALOGUE OF THE PHENOMENA OF DREAMS, AS CONNECTING SLEEPING +AND WAKING + +1. Let us reflect on our infancy, and give as faithfully as possible +a relation of the events of sleep. + +And first I am bound to present a faithful picture of my own peculiar +nature relatively to sleep. I do not doubt that were every individual +to imitate me, it would be found that among many circumstances +peculiar to their individual nature, a sufficiently general +resemblance would be found to prove the connexion existing between +those peculiarities and the most universal phenomena. I shall employ +caution, indeed, as to the facts which I state, that they contain +nothing false or exaggerated. But they contain no more than certain +elucidations of my own nature; concerning the degree in which +it resembles, or differs from, that of others, I am by no means +accurately aware. It is sufficient, however, to caution the reader +against drawing general inferences from particular instances. + +I omit the general instances of delusion in fever or delirium, as +well as mere dreams considered in themselves. A delineation of this +subject, however inexhaustible and interesting, is to be passed +over. What is the connexion of sleeping and of waking? + +2. I distinctly remember dreaming three several times, between +intervals of two or more years, the same precise dream. It was +not so much what is ordinarily called a dream; the single image, +unconnected with all other images, of a youth who was educated at +the same school with myself, presented itself in sleep. Even now, +after the lapse of many years, I can never hear the name of this +youth, without the three places where I dreamed of him presenting +themselves distinctly to my mind. + +3. In dreams, images acquire associations peculiar to dreaming; so +that the idea of a particular house, when it recurs a second time +in dreams, will have relation with the idea of the same house, in +the first time, of a nature entirely different from that which the +house excites, when seen or thought of in relation to waking ideas. + +4. I have beheld scenes, with the intimate and unaccountable +connexion of which with the obscure parts of my own nature, I +have been irresistibly impressed. I have beheld a scene which has +produced no unusual effect on my thoughts. After the lapse of many +years I have dreamed of this scene. It has hung on my memory, it +has haunted my thoughts, at intervals, with the pertinacity of an +object connected with human affections. I have visited this scene +again. Neither the dream could be dissociated from the landscape, +nor the landscape from the dream, nor feelings, such as neither +singly could have awakened, from both. + +But the most remarkable event of this nature, which ever occurred +to me, happened five years ago at Oxford. I was walking with +a friend, in the neighbourhood of that city, engaged in earnest +and interesting conversation. We suddenly turned the corner of a +lane, and the view, which its high banks and hedges had concealed, +presented itself. The view consisted of a wind-mill, standing +in one among many plashy meadows, inclosed with stone walls; the +irregular and broken ground, between the wall and the road on which +we stood; a long low hill behind the windmill, and a grey covering +of uniform cloud spread over the evening sky. It was that season +when the last leaf had just fallen from the scant and stunted ash. +The scene surely was a common scene; the season and the hour little +calculated to kindle lawless thought; it was a tame uninteresting +assemblage of objects, such as would drive the imagination for +refuge in serious and sober talk, to the evening fireside, and the +dessert of winter fruits and wine. The effect which it produced on +me was not such as could have been expected. I suddenly remembered +to have seen that exact scene in some dream of long--. [Footnote: +Here I was obliged to leave off, overcome by thrilling horror.] + +[1815; publ. 1840] + + + + +SPECULATIONS ON MORALS + +I--PLAN OF A TREATISE ON MORALS + +That great science which regards nature and the operations of +the human mind, is popularly divided into Morals and Metaphysics. +The latter relates to a just classification, and the assignment +of distinct names to its ideas; the former regards simply the +determination of that arrangement of them which produces the greatest +and most solid happiness. It is admitted that a virtuous or moral +action, is that action which, when considered in all its accessories +and consequences, is fitted to produce the highest pleasure to the +greatest number of sensitive beings. The laws according to which +all pleasure, since it cannot be equally felt by all sensitive +beings, ought to be distributed by a voluntary agent, are reserved +for a separate chapter. + +The design of this little treatise is restricted to the development +of the elementary principles of morals. As far as regards that +purpose, metaphysical science will be treated merely so far as a +source of negative truth; whilst morality will be considered as a +science, respecting which we can arrive at positive conclusions. + +The misguided imaginations of men have rendered the ascertaining of +what IS NOT TRUE, the principal direct service which metaphysical +science can bestow upon moral science. Moral science itself is the +doctrine of the voluntary actions of man, as a sentient and social +being. These actions depend on the thoughts in his mind. But there +is a mass of popular opinion, from which the most enlightened persons +are seldom wholly free, into the truth or falsehood of which it +is incumbent on us to inquire, before we can arrive at any firm +conclusions as to the conduct which we ought to pursue in the +regulation of our own minds, or towards our fellow beings; or before +we can ascertain the elementary laws, according to which these +thoughts, from which these actions flow, are originally combined. + +The object of the forms according to which human society is administered, +is the happiness of the individuals composing the communities which +they regard, and these forms are perfect or imperfect in proportion +to the degree in which they promote this end. + +This object is not merely the quantity of happiness enjoyed by +individuals as sensitive beings, but the mode in which it should +be distributed among them as social beings. It is not enough, if +such a coincidence can be conceived as possible, that one person +or class of persons should enjoy the highest happiness, whilst +another is suffering a disproportionate degree of misery. It is +necessary that the happiness produced by the common efforts, and +preserved by the common care, should be distributed according to +the just claims of each individual; if not, although the quantity +produced should be the same, the end of society would remain +unfulfilled. The object is in a compound proportion to the quantity +of happiness produced, and the correspondence of the mode in which +it is distributed, to the elementary feelings of man as a social +being. + +The disposition in an individual to promote this object is called +virtue; and the two constituent parts of virtue, benevolence and +justice, are correlative with these two great portions of the only +true object of all voluntary actions of a human being. Benevolence +is the desire to be the author of good, and justice the apprehension +of the manner in which good ought to be done. + +Justice and benevolence result from the elementary laws of the +human mind. + +CHAPTER I ON THE NATURE OF VIRTUE + +SECT. 1. General View of the Nature and Objects of Virtue.--2. The +Origin and Basis of Virtue, as founded on the Elementary Principles +of Mind.--3. The Laws which flow from the nature of Mind regulating +the application of those principles to human actions;--4. Virtue, +a possible attribute of man. + +We exist in the midst of a multitude of beings like ourselves, upon +whose happiness most of our actions exert some obvious and decisive +influence. + +The regulation of this influence is the object of moral science. +We know that we are susceptible of receiving painful or pleasurable +impressions of greater or less intensity and duration. That is called +good which produces pleasure; that is called evil which produces +pain. These are general names, applicable to every class of causes, +from which an overbalance of pain or pleasure may result. But when +a human being is the active instrument of generating or diffusing +happiness, the principle through which it is most effectually +instrumental to that purpose, is called virtue. And benevolence, +or the desire to be the author of good, united with justice, or +an apprehension of the manner in which that good is to be done, +constitutes virtue. + +But wherefore should a man be benevolent and just? The immediate +emotions of his nature, especially in its most inartificial state, +prompt him to inflict pain, and to arrogate dominion. He desires +to heap superfluities to his own store, although others perish with +famine. He is propelled to guard against the smallest invasion of +his own liberty, though he reduces others to a condition of the most +pitiless servitude. He is revengeful, proud and selfish. Wherefore +should he curb these propensities? + +It is inquired, for what reason a human being should engage +in procuring the happiness, or refrain from producing the pain of +another? When a reason is required to prove the necessity of adopting +any system of conduct, what is it that the objector demands? He +requires proof of that system of conduct being such as will most +effectually promote the happiness of mankind. To demonstrate this, +is to render a moral reason. Such is the object of virtue. + +A common sophism, which, like many others, depends on the abuse of +a metaphorical expression to a literal purpose, has produced much +of the confusion which has involved the theory of morals. It is said +that no person is bound to be just or kind, if, on his neglect, he +should fail to incur some penalty. Duty is obligation. There can +be no obligation without an obliger. Virtue is a law, to which it +is the will of the lawgiver that we should conform; which will we +should in no manner be bound to obey, unless some dreadful punishment +were attached to disobedience. This is the philosophy of slavery +and superstition. + +In fact, no person can be BOUND or OBLIGED, without some power +preceding to bind and oblige. If I observe a man bound hand and +foot, I know that some one bound him. But if I observe him returning +self-satisfied from the performance of some action, by which he has +been the willing author of extensive benefit, I do not infer that +the anticipation of hellish agonies, or the hope of heavenly reward, +has constrained him to such an act. + + . . . . . . . + +It remains to be stated in what manner the sensations which +constitute the basis of virtue originate in the human mind; what +are the laws which it receives there; how far the principles of +mind allow it to be an attribute of a human being; and, lastly, +what is the probability of persuading mankind to adopt it as a +universal and systematic motive of conduct. + +BENEVOLENCE + +There is a class of emotions which we instinctively avoid. A human +being, such as is man considered in his origin, a child a month +old, has a very imperfect consciousness of the existence of other +natures resembling itself. All the energies of its being are +directed to the extinction of the pains with which it is perpetually +assailed. At length it discovers that it is surrounded by natures +susceptible of sensations similar to its own. It is very late before +children attain to this knowledge. If a child observes, without +emotion, its nurse or its mother suffering acute pain, it is +attributable rather to ignorance than insensibility. So soon as +the accents and gestures, significant of pain, are referred to the +feelings which they express, they awaken in the mind of the beholder +a desire that they should cease. Pain is thus apprehended to be evil +for its own sake, without any other necessary reference to the mind +by which its existence is perceived, than such as is indispensable +to its perception. The tendencies of our original sensations, indeed, +all have for their object the preservation of our individual being. +But these are passive and unconscious. In proportion as the mind +acquires an active power, the empire of these tendencies becomes +limited. Thus an infant, a savage, and a solitary beast, is selfish, +because its mind is incapable of receiving an accurate intimation +of the nature of pain as existing in beings resembling itself. +The inhabitant of a highly civilized community will more acutely +sympathize with the sufferings and enjoyments of others, than +the inhabitant of a society of a less degree of civilization. He +who shall have cultivated his intellectual powers by familiarity +with the highest specimens of poetry and philosophy, will usually +sympathize more than one engaged in the less refined functions +of manual labour. Every one has experience of the fact, that to +sympathize with the sufferings of another, is to enjoy a transitory +oblivion of his own. + +The mind thus acquires, by exercise, a habit, as it were, of +perceiving and abhorring evil, however remote from the immediate +sphere of sensations with which that individual mind is conversant. +Imagination or mind employed in prophetically imaging forth its +objects, is that faculty of human nature on which every gradation +of its progress, nay, every, the minutest, change, depends. Pain +or pleasure, if subtly analysed, will be found to consist entirely +in prospect. The only distinction between the selfish man and the +virtuous man is, that the imagination of the former is confined within +a narrow limit, whilst that of the latter embraces a comprehensive +circumference. In this sense, wisdom and virtue may be said to be +inseparable, and criteria of each other. Selfishness is the offspring +of ignorance and mistake; it is the portion of unreflecting infancy, +and savage solitude, or of those whom toil or evil occupations +have blunted or rendered torpid; disinterested benevolence is the +product of a cultivated imagination, and has an intimate connexion +with all the arts which add ornament, or dignity, or power, +or stability to the social state of man. Virtue is thus entirely +a refinement of civilized life; a creation of the human mind; or, +rather, a combination which it has made, according to elementary +rules contained within itself, of the feelings suggested by the +relations established between man and man. + +All the theories which have refined and exalted humanity, or those +which have been devised as alleviations of its mistakes and evils, +have been based upon the elementary emotions of disinterestedness, +which we feel to constitute the majesty of our nature. Patriotism, +as it existed in the ancient republics, was never, as has been +supposed, a calculation of personal advantages. When Mutius Scaevola +thrust his hand into the burning coals, and Regulus returned +to Carthage, and Epicharis sustained the rack silently, in the +torments of which she knew that she would speedily perish, rather +than betray the conspirators to the tyrant [Footnote: Tacitus.]; +these illustrious persons certainly made a small estimate of their +private interest. If it be said that they sought posthumous fame; +instances are not wanting in history which prove that men have even +defied infamy for the sake of good. But there is a great error in +the world with respect to the selfishness of fame. It is certainly +possible that a person should seek distinction as a medium of +personal gratification. But the love of fame is frequently no more +than a desire that the feelings of others should confirm, illustrate, +and sympathize with, our own. In this respect it is allied with all +that draws us out of ourselves. It is the 'last infirmity of noble +minds'. Chivalry was likewise founded on the theory of self-sacrifice. +Love possesses so extraordinary a power over the human heart, only +because disinterestedness is united with the natural propensities. +These propensities themselves are comparatively impotent in cases +where the imagination of pleasure to be given, as well as to be +received, does not enter into the account. Let it not be objected +that patriotism, and chivalry, and sentimental love, have been the +fountains of enormous mischief. They are cited only to establish the +proposition that, according to the elementary principles of mind, +man is capable of desiring and pursuing good for its own sake. + + +JUSTICE + +The benevolent propensities are thus inherent in the human mind. +We are impelled to seek the happiness of others. We experience +a satisfaction in being the authors of that happiness. Everything +that lives is open to impressions or pleasure and pain. We are +led by our benevolent propensities to regard every human being +indifferently with whom we come in contact. They have preference +only with respect to those who offer themselves most obviously +to our notice. Human beings are indiscriminating and blind; they +will avoid inflicting pain, though that pain should be attended +with eventual benefit; they will seek to confer pleasure without +calculating the mischief that may result. They benefit one at the +expense of many. + +There is a sentiment in the human mind that regulates benevolence +in its application as a principle of action. This is the sense of +justice. Justice, as well as benevolence, is an elementary law of +human nature. It is through this principle that men are impelled +to distribute any means of pleasure which benevolence may suggest +the communication of to others, in equal portions among an equal +number of applicants. If ten men are shipwrecked on a desert island, +they distribute whatever subsistence may remain to them, into equal +portions among themselves. If six of them conspire to deprive the +remaining four of their share, their conduct is termed unjust. + +The existence of pain has been shown to be a circumstance which the +human mind regards with dissatisfaction, and of which it desires +the cessation. It is equally according to its nature to desire that +the advantages to be enjoyed by a limited number of persons should +be enjoyed equally by all. This proposition is supported by the +evidence of indisputable facts. Tell some ungarbled tale of a number +of persons being made the victims of the enjoyments of one, and he +who would appeal in favour of any system which might produce such +an evil to the primary emotions of our nature, would have nothing +to reply. Let two persons, equally strangers, make application for +some benefit in the possession of a third to bestow, and to which +he feels that they have an equal claim. They are both sensitive +beings; pleasure and pain affect them alike. + +CHAPTER II + +It is foreign to the general scope of this little treatise to encumber +a simple argument by controverting any of the trite objections of +habit or fanaticism. But there are two; the first, the basis of all +political mistake, and the second, the prolific cause and effect +of religious error, which it seems useful to refute. + +First, it is inquired, 'Wherefore should a man be benevolent and +just?' The answer has been given in the preceding chapter. + +If a man persists to inquire why he ought to promote the happiness +of mankind, he demands a mathematical or metaphysical reason for +a moral action. The absurdity of this scepticism is more apparent, +but not less real than the exacting a moral reason for a mathematical +or metaphysical fact. If any person should refuse to admit that all +the radii of a circle are of equal length, or that human actions +are necessarily determined by motives, until it could be proved that +these radii and these actions uniformly tended to the production of +the greatest general good, who would not wonder at the unreasonable +and capricious association of his ideas? + +The writer of a philosophical treatise may, I imagine, at this +advanced era of human intellect, be held excused from entering into +a controversy with those reasoners, if such there are, who would +claim an exemption from its decrees in favour of any one among those +diversified systems of obscure opinion respecting morals, which, +under the name of religions, have in various ages and countries +prevailed among mankind. Besides that if, as these reasoners have +pretended, eternal torture or happiness will ensue as the consequence +of certain actions, we should be no nearer the possession of a +standard to determine what actions were right and wrong, even if this +pretended revelation, which is by no means the case, had furnished +us with a complete catalogue of them. The character of actions as +virtuous or vicious would by no means be determined alone by the +personal advantage or disadvantage of each moral agent individually +considered. Indeed, an action is often virtuous in proportion to +the greatness of the personal calamity which the author willingly +draws upon himself by daring to perform it. It is because an +action produces an overbalance of pleasure or pain to the greatest +number of sentient beings, and not merely because its consequences +are beneficial or injurious to the author of that action, that it +is good or evil. Nay, this latter consideration has a tendency to +pollute the purity of virtue, inasmuch as it consists in the motive +rather than in the consequences of an action. A person who should +labour for the happiness of mankind lest he should be tormented +eternally in Hell, would, with reference to that motive, possess as +little claim to the epithet of virtuous, as he who should torture, +imprison, and burn them alive, a more usual and natural consequence +of such principles, for the sake of the enjoyments of Heaven. + +My neighbour, presuming on his strength, may direct me to perform +or to refrain from a particular action; indicating a certain arbitrary +penalty in the event of disobedience within power to inflict. +My action, if modified by his menaces, can no degree participate +in virtue. He has afforded me no criterion as to what is right or +wrong. A king, or an assembly of men, may publish a proclamation +affixing any penalty to any particular action, but that is not +immoral because such penalty is affixed. Nothing is more evident +than that the epithet of virtue is inapplicable to the refraining +from that action on account of the evil arbitrarily attached to it. +If the action is in itself beneficial, virtue would rather consist +in not refraining from it, but in firmly defying the personal +consequences attached to its performance. + +Some usurper of supernatural energy might subdue the whole globe +to his power; he might possess new and unheard-of resources for +enduing his punishments with the most terrible attributes or pain. +The torments of his victims might be intense in their degree, +and protracted to an infinite duration. Still the 'will of the +lawgiver' would afford no surer criterion as to what actions were +right or wrong. It would only increase the possible virtue of those +who refuse to become the instruments of his tyranny. + +II--MORAL SCIENCE CONSISTS IN CONSIDERING THE DIFFERENCE, NOT THE +RESEMBLANCE, OF PERSONS + +The internal influence, derived from the constitution of the mind +from which they flow, produces that peculiar modification of actions, +which makes them intrinsically good or evil. + +To attain an apprehension of the importance of this distinction, +let us visit, in imagination, the proceedings of some metropolis. +Consider the multitude of human beings who inhabit it, and survey, +in thought, the actions of the several classes into which they are +divided. Their obvious actions are apparently uniform: the stability +of human society seems to be maintained sufficiently by the uniformity +of the conduct of its members, both with regard to themselves, +and with regard to others. The labourer arises at a certain hour, +and applies himself to the task enjoined him. The functionaries +of government and law are regularly employed in their offices and +courts. The trader holds a train of conduct from which he never +deviates. The ministers of religion employ an accustomed language, +and maintain a decent and equable regard. The army is drawn forth, +the motions of every soldier are such as they were expected to be; +the general commands, and his words are echoed from troop to troop. +The domestic actions of men are, for the most part, undistinguishable +one from the other, at a superficial glance. The actions which +are classed under the general appellation of marriage, education, +friendship, &c., are perpetually going on, and to a superficial +glance, are similar one to the other. + +But, if we would see the truth of things, they must be stripped of +this fallacious appearance of uniformity. In truth, no one action +has, when considered in its whole extent, any essential resemblance +with any other. Each individual, who composes the vast multitude +which we have been contemplating, has a peculiar frame of mind, +which, whilst the features of the great mass of his actions remain +uniform, impresses the minuter lineaments with its peculiar hues. +Thus, whilst his life, as a whole, is like the lives of other men, +in detail, it is most unlike; and the more subdivided the actions +become; that is, the more they enter into that class which have +a vital influence on the happiness of others and his own, so much +the more are they distinct from those of other men. + + Those little, nameless, unremembered acts + Of kindness and of love, + +as well as those deadly outrages which are inflicted by a look, +a word--or less--the very refraining from some faint and most +evanescent expression of countenance; these flow from a profounder +source than the series of our habitual conduct, which, it has +been already said, derives its origin from without. These are the +actions, and such as these, which make human life what it is, and +are the fountains of all the good and evil with which its entire +surface is so widely and impartially overspread; and though they are +called minute, they are called so in compliance with the blindness +of those who cannot estimate their importance. It is in the due +appreciating the general effects of their peculiarities, and in +cultivating the habit of acquiring decisive knowledge respecting +the tendencies arising out of them in particular cases, that the +most important part of moral science consists. The deepest abyss +of these vast and multitudinous caverns, it is necessary that we +should visit. + +This is the difference between social and individual man. Not that +this distinction is to be considered definite, or characteristic +of one human being as compared with another; it denotes rather two +classes of agency, common in a degree to every human being. None +is exempt, indeed, from that species of influence which affects, as +it were, the surface of his being, and gives the specific outline +to his conduct. Almost all that is ostensible submits to that +legislature created by the general representation of the past +feelings of mankind--imperfect as it is from a variety of causes, +as it exists in the government, the religion, and domestic habits. +Those who do not nominally, yet actually, submit to the same power. +The external features of their conduct, indeed, can no more escape +it, than the clouds can escape from the stream of the wind; and +his opinion, which he often hopes he has dispassionately secured +from all contagion of prejudice and vulgarity, would be found, on +examination, to be the inevitable excrescence of the very usages +from which he vehemently dissents. Internally all is conducted +otherwise; the efficiency, the essence, the vitality of actions, +derives its colour from what is no ways contributed to from any +external source. Like the plant which while it derives the accident +of its size and shape from the soil in which it springs, and is +cankered, or distorted, or inflated, yet retains those qualities +which essentially divide it from all others; so that hemlock +continues to be poison, and the violet does not cease to emit its +odour in whatever soil it may grow. + +We consider our own nature too superficially. We look on all that +in ourselves with which we can discover a resemblance in others; +and consider those resemblances as the materials of moral knowledge. +It is in the differences that it actually consists. + +[1815; publ. 1840] + + + + +ESSAY ON THE LITERATURE, THE ARTS, AND THE MANNERS OF THE ATHENIANS + +A FRAGMENT + +The period which intervened between the birth of Pericles and the +death of Aristotle, is undoubtedly, whether considered in itself, +or with reference to the effects which it has produced upon +the subsequent destinies of civilized man, the most memorable in +the history of the world. What was the combination of moral and +political circumstances which produced so unparalleled a progress +during that period in literature and the arts;--why that progress, +so rapid and so sustained, so soon received a check, and became +retrograde,--are problems left to the wonder and conjecture of +posterity. The wrecks and fragments of those subtle and profound +minds, like the ruins of a fine statue, obscurely suggest to us the +grandeur and perfection of the whole. Their very language--a type +of the understandings of which it was the creation and the image--in +variety, in simplicity, in flexibility, and in copiousness, excels +every other language of the western world. Their sculptures are +such as we, in our presumption, assume to be the models of ideal +truth and beauty, and to which no artist of modern times can +produce forms in any degree comparable. Their paintings, according +to Pliny and Pausanias, were full of delicacy and harmony; and some +even were powerfully pathetic, so as to awaken, like tender music +or tragic poetry, the most overwhelming emotions. We are accustomed +to conceive the painters of the sixteenth century, as those who +have brought their art to the highest perfection, probably because +none of the ancient paintings have been preserved. For all the +inventive arts maintain, as it were, a sympathetic connexion between +each other, being no more than various expressions of one internal +power, modified by different circumstances, either of an individual, +or of society; and the paintings of that period would probably bear +the same relation as is confessedly borne by the sculptures to all +succeeding ones. Of their music we know little; but the effects +which it is said to have produced, whether they be attributed to +the skill of the composer, or the sensibility of his audience, are +far more powerful than any which we experience from the music of +our own times; and if, indeed, the melody of their compositions +were more tender and delicate, and inspiring, than the melodies of +some modern European nations, their superiority in this art must +have been something wonderful, and wholly beyond conception. + +Their poetry seems to maintain a very high, though not so +disproportionate a rank, in the comparison. Perhaps Shakespeare, from +the variety and comprehension of his genius, is to be considered, +on the whole, as the greatest individual mind, of which we have +specimens remaining. Perhaps Dante created imaginations of greater +loveliness and energy than any that are to be found in the ancient +literature of Greece. Perhaps nothing has been discovered in the +fragments of the Greek lyric poets equivalent to the sublime and +chivalric sensibility of Petrarch.--But, as a poet. Homer must be +acknowledged to excel Shakespeare in the truth, the harmony, the +sustained grandeur, the satisfying completeness of his images, their +exact fitness to the illustration, and to that to which they belong. +Nor could Dante, deficient in conduct, plan, nature, variety, and +temperance, have been brought into comparison with these men, but +for those fortunate isles laden with golden fruit, which alone +could tempt any one to embark in the misty ocean of his dark and +extravagant fiction. + +But, omitting the comparison of individual minds, which can afford +no general inference, how superior was the spirit and system of +their poetry to that of any other period! So that had any other +genius equal in other respects to the greatest that ever enlightened +the world, arisen in that age, he would have been superior to all, +from this circumstance alone--that had conceptions would have assumed +a more harmonious and perfect form. For it is worthy of observation, +that whatever the poet of that age produced is as harmonious and +perfect as possible. In a drama, for instance, were the composition +of a person of inferior talent, it was still homogeneous and free +from inequalities it was a whole, consistent with itself. The +compositions of great minds bore throughout the sustained stamp of +their greatness. In the poetry of succeeding ages the expectations +are often exalted on Icarian wings, and fall, too much disappointed +to give a memory and a name to the oblivious pool in which they +fell. + +In physical knowledge Aristotle and Theophrastus had already--no +doubt assisted by the labours of those of their predecessor whom +they criticize--made advances worthy of the maturity of science. +The astonishing invention of geometry, that series of discoveries +which have enabled man to command the element and foresee future +events, before the subjects of his ignorant wonder, and which have +opened as it were the doors of the mysteries of nature, had already +been brought to great perfection. Metaphysics, the science of man's +intimate nature, and logic, or the grammar and elementary principles +of that science received from the latter philosophers of the Periclean +age a firm basis. All our more exact philosophy is built upon the +labours of these great men, and many of the words which we employ +in metaphysical distinctions were invented by them to give accuracy +and system to their reasonings. The science of morals, or the +voluntary conduct of men in relation to themselves or others, dates +from this epoch. How inexpressibly bolder and more pure were the +doctrines of those great men, in comparison with the timid maxims +which prevail in the writings of the most esteemed modern moralists! +They were such as Phocion, and Epaminondas, and Timoleon, who formed +themselves on their influence, were to the wretched heroes of our +own age. + +Their political and religious institutions are more difficult to +bring into comparison with those of other times. A summary idea +may be formed of the worth of any political and religious system, +by observing the comparative degree of happiness and of intellect +produced under its influence. And whilst many institution and +opinions, which in ancient Greece were obstacles to the improvement +of the human race, have been abolished among modern nations, how +many pernicious superstitions and new contrivances of misrule, and +unheard-of complications of public mischief, have not been invented +among them by the ever-watchful spirit of avarice and tyranny! + +The modern nations of the civilized world owe the progress which +they have made--as well in those physical sciences in which they +have already excelled their masters, as in the moral and intellectual +inquiries, in which, with all the advantage of the experience of +the latter, it can scarcely be said that they have yet equalled +them,--to what is called the revival of learning; that is, the study +of the writers of the age which preceded and immediately followed +the government of Pericles, or of subsequent writers, who were, +so to speak, the rivers flowing from those immortal fountains. +And though there seems to be a principle in the modern world, +which, should circumstances analogous to those which modelled +the intellectual resources of the age to which we refer, into so +harmonious a proportion, again arise, would arrest and perpetuate +them, and consign their results to a more equal, extensive, and +lasting improvement of the condition of man--though justice and +the true meaning of human society are, if not more accurately, more +generally understood; though perhaps men know more, and therefore +are more, as a mass, yet this principle has never been called into +action, and requires indeed a universal and an almost appalling change +in the system of existing things. The study of modern history is +the study of kings, financiers, statesmen, and priests. The history +of ancient Greece is the study of legislators, philosophers, +and poets; it is the history of men, compared with the history of +titles. What the Greeks were, was a reality, not a promise. And what +we are and hope to be, is derived, as it were, from the influence +and inspiration of these glorious generations. + +Whatever tends to afford a further illustration of the manners and +opinions of those to whom we owe so much, and who were perhaps, on +the whole, the most perfect specimens of humanity of whom we have +authentic record, were infinitely valuable. Let us see their errors, +their weaknesses, their daily actions, their familiar conversation, +and catch the tone of their society. When we discover how far the +most admirable community ever framed was removed from that perfection +to which human society is impelled by some active power within each +bosom to aspire, how great ought to be our hopes, how resolute our +struggles! For the Greeks of the Periclean age were widely different +from us. It is to be lamented that no modern writer has hitherto +dared to show them precisely as they were. Barthelemi cannot +be denied the praise of industry and system; but he never forgets +that he is a Christian and a Frenchman. Wieland, in his delightful +novels, makes indeed a very tolerable Pagan, but cherishes too many +political prejudices, and refrains from diminishing the interest of +his romances by painting sentiments in which no European of modern +times can possibly sympathize. There is no book which shows the +Greeks precisely as they were; they seem all written for children +with the caution that no practice or sentiment, highly inconsistent +with our present manners, should be mentioned, lest those manners +should receive outrage and violation. But there are many to whom +the Greek language is inaccessible, who ought not to be excluded by +this prudery from possessing an exact and comprehensive conception +of the history of man; for there is no knowledge concerning what man +has been and may be, from partaking of which a person can depart, +without becoming in some degree more philosophical, tolerant, and +just. + +One of the chief distinctions between the manners of ancient Greece +and modern Europe, consisted in the regulations and the sentiments +respecting sexual intercourse. Whether this difference arises from +some imperfect influence of the doctrines of Jesus, who alleges +the absolute and unconditional equality of all human beings, or +from the institutions of chivalry, or from a certain fundamental +difference of physical nature existing in the Celts, or from a +combination of all or any of these causes acting on each other, is +a question worthy of voluminous investigation. The fact is, that +the modern Europeans have in this circumstance, and in the abolition +of slavery, made an improvement the most decisive in the regulation +of human society; and all the virtue and the wisdom of the Periclean +age arose under other institutions, in spite of the diminution +which personal slavery and the inferiority of women, recognized by +law and opinion, must have produced in the delicacy, the strength, +the comprehensiveness, and the accuracy of their conceptions, in +moral, political, and metaphysical science, and perhaps in every +other art and science. + +The women, thus degraded, became such as it was expected they +would become. They possessed, except with extraordinary exceptions, +the habits and the qualities of slaves. They were probably not +extremely beautiful; at least there was no such disproportion in +the attractions of the external form between the female and male +sex among the Greeks, as exists among the modern Europeans. They +were certainly devoid of that moral and intellectual loveliness +with which the acquisition of knowledge and the cultivation of +sentiment animates, as with another life of overpowering grace, +the lineaments and the gestures of every form which they inhabit. +Their eyes could not have been deep and intricate from the workings +of the mind, and could have entangled no heart in soul-enwoven +labyrinths. + +Let it not be imagined that because the Greeks were deprived of +its legitimate object, they were incapable of sentimental love; and +that this passion is the mere child of chivalry and the literature of +modern times. This object or its archetype for ever exists in the +mind, which selects among those who resemble it that which most +resembles it; and instinctively fills up the interstices of the +imperfect image, in the same manner as the imagination moulds and +completes the shapes in clouds, or in the fire, into the resemblances +of whatever form, animal, building, &c., happens to be present to +it. Man is in his wildest state a social being: a certain degree +of civilization and refinement ever produces the want of sympathies +still more intimate and complete; and the gratification of the +senses is no longer all that is sought in sexual connexion. It +soon becomes a very small part of that profound and complicated +sentiment, which we call love, which is rather the universal thirst +for a communion not only of the senses, but of our whole nature, +intellectual, imaginative and sensitive, and which, when individualized, +becomes an imperious necessity, only to be satisfied by the complete +or partial, actual or supposed fulfilment of its claims. This want +grows more powerful in proportion to the development which our +nature receives from civilization, for man never ceases to be a +social being. The sexual impulse, which is only one, and often a +small part of those claims, serves, from its obvious and external +nature, as a kind of type or expression of the rest, a common basis, +an acknowledged and visible link. Still it is a claim which even +derives a strength not its own from the accessory circumstances +which surround it, and one which our nature thirsts to satisfy. To +estimate this, observe the degree of intensity and durability of +the love of the male towards the female in animals and savages and +acknowledge all the duration and intensity observable in the love +of civilized beings beyond that of savages to be produced from +other causes. In the susceptibility of the external senses there +is probably no important difference. + +Among the ancient Greeks the male sex, one half of the human race, +received the highest cultivation and refinement: whilst the other, +so far as intellect is concerned, were educated as slaves and were +raised but few degrees in all that related to moral of intellectual +excellence above the condition of savages. The gradations in the +society of man present us with slow improvement in this respect. +The Roman women held a higher consideration in society, and were +esteemed almost as the equal partners with their husbands in the +regulation of domestic economy and the education of their children. +The practices and customs of modern Europe are essentially different +from and incomparably less pernicious than either, however remote +from what an enlightened mind cannot fail to desire as the future +destiny of human beings. + +[1818; publ. 1840] + + + +ON THE SYMPOSIUM, OR PREFACE TO THE BANQUET OF PLATO + +A FRAGMENT + +The dialogue entitled The Banquet was selected by the translator +as the most beautiful and perfect among all the works of Plato. +[Footnote: The Republic, though replete with considerable errors +of speculation, is, indeed, the greatest repository of important +truths of all the works of Plato. This, perhaps, is because it is +the longest. He first, and perhaps last, maintained that a state +ought to be governed, not by the wealthiest, or the most ambitious, +or the most cunning, but by the wisest; the method of selecting +such rulers, and the laws by which such a selection is made, must +correspond with and arise out of the moral freedom and refinement +of the people.] He despairs of having communicated to the English +language any portion of the surpassing graces of the composition, +or having done more than present an imperfect shadow of the language +and the sentiment of this astonishing production. + +Plato is eminently the greatest among the Greek philosophers, and +from, or, rather, perhaps through him, his master Socrates, have +proceeded those emanations of moral and metaphysical knowledge, +on which a long series and an incalculable variety of popular +superstitions have sheltered their absurdities from the slow contempt +of mankind. Plato exhibits the rare union of close and subtle logic +with the Pythian enthusiasm of poetry, melted by the splendour +and harmony of his periods into one irresistible stream of musical +impressions, which hurry the persuasions onward, as in a breathless +career. His language is that of an immortal spirit, rather than +a man. Lord Bacon is, perhaps, the only writer, who, in these +particulars, can be compared with him: his imitator, Cicero, sinks +in the comparison into an ape mocking the gestures of a man. His +views into the nature of mind and existence are often obscure, only +because they are profound; and though his theories respecting the +government of the world, and the elementary laws of moral action, +are not always correct, yet there is scarcely any of his treatises +which do not, however stained by puerile sophisms, contain the +most remarkable intuitions into all that can be the subject of the +human mind. His excellence consists especially in intuition, and +it is this faculty which raises him far above Aristotle, whose +genius, though vivid and various, is obscure in comparison with +that of Plato. + +The dialogue entitled the Banquet, is called [word in Greek], or +a Discussion upon Love, and is supposed to have taken place at the +house of Agathon, at one of a series of festivals given by that +poet, on the occasion of his gaining the prize of tragedy at the +Dionysiaca. The account of the debate on this occasion is supposed +to have been given by Apollodorus, a pupil of Socrates, many +years after it had taken place, to a companion who was curious to +hear it. This Apollodorus appears, both from the style in which +he is represented in this piece, as well as from a passage in the +Phaedon, to have been a person of an impassioned and enthusiastic +disposition; to borrow an image from the Italian painters, he seems +to have been the St. John of the Socratic group. The drama (for so +the lively distinction of character and the various and well-wrought +circumstances of the story almost entitle it to be called) begins +by Socrates persuading Aristodemus to sup at Agathon's, uninvited. +The whole of this introduction affords the most lively conception +of refined Athenian manners. + +[1818; publ. 1840] [UNFINISHED] + + + + +A DEFENCE OF POETRY + +PART I + +According to one mode of regarding those two classes of mental +action, which are called reason and imagination, the former may be +considered as mind contemplating the relations borne by one thought +to another, however produced; and the latter, as mind acting upon +those thoughts so as to colour them with its own light, and composing +from them, as from elements, other thoughts, each containing within +itself the principle of its own integrity. The one is the [word +in Greek], or the principle of synthesis, and has for its objects +those forms which are common to universal nature and existence +itself; the other is the [word in Greek], or principle of analysis, +and its action regards the relations of things, simply as relations; +considering thoughts, not in their integral unity, but as the +algebraical representations which conduct to certain general results. +Reason is the enumeration of quantities already known; imagination +is the perception of the value of those quantities, both separately +and as a whole. Reason respects the differences, and imagination +the similitudes of things. Reason is to the imagination as the +instrument to the agent, as the body to the spirit, as the shadow +to the substance. + +Poetry, in a general sense, may be defined to be 'the expression +of the imagination': and poetry is connate with the origin of man. +Man is an instrument over which a series of external and internal +impressions are driven, like the alternations of an ever-changing +wind over an Aeolian lyre, which move it by their motion to +ever-changing melody. But there is a principle within the human +being, and perhaps within all sentient beings, which acts otherwise +than in the lyre, and produces not melody alone, but harmony, +by an internal adjustment of the sounds or motions thus excited +to the impressions which excite them. It is as if the lyre could +accommodate its chords to the motions of that which strikes them, +in a determined proportion of sound; even as the musician can +accommodate his voice to the sound of the lyre. A child at play +by itself will express its delight by its voice and motions; and +every inflexion of tone and every gesture will bear exact relation +to a corresponding antitype in the pleasurable impressions which +awakened it; it will be the reflected image of that impression; +and as the lyre trembles and sounds after the wind has died away, +so the child seeks, by prolonging in its voice and motions the +duration of the effect, to prolong also a consciousness of the +cause. In relation to the objects which delight a child, these +expressions are, what poetry is to higher objects. The savage (for +the savage is to ages what the child is to years) expresses the +emotions produced in him by surrounding objects in a similar manner; +and language and gesture, together with plastic or pictorial imitation, +become the image of the combined effect of those objects, and of +his apprehension of them. Man in society, with all his passions and +his pleasures, next becomes the object of the passions and pleasures +of man; an additional class of emotions produces an augmented +treasure of expressions; and language, gesture, and the imitative +arts, become at once the representation and the medium, the pencil +and the picture, the chisel and the statue, the chord and the +harmony. The social sympathies, or those laws from which, as from +its elements, society results, begin to develop themselves from +the moment that two human beings coexist; the future is contained +within the present, as the plant within the seed; and equality, +diversity, unity, contrast, mutual dependence, become the principles +alone capable of affording the motives according to which the +will of a social being is determined to action, inasmuch as he is +social; and constitute pleasure in sensation, virtue in sentiment, +beauty in art, truth in reasoning, and love in the intercourse of +kind. Hence men, even in the infancy of society, observe a certain +order in their words and actions, distinct from that of the objects +and the impressions represented by them, all expression being +subject to the laws of that from which it proceeds. But let us +dismiss those more general considerations which might involve an +inquiry into the principles of society itself, and restrict our +view to the manner in which the imagination is expressed upon its +forms. + +In the youth of the world, men dance and sing and imitate natural +objects, observing in these actions, as in all others, a certain +rhythm or order. And, although all men observe a similar, they +observe not the same order, in the motions of the dance, in the +melody of the song, in the combinations of language, in the series +of their imitations of natural objects. For there is a certain +order or rhythm belonging to each of these classes of mimetic +representation, from which the hearer and the spectator receive +an intenser and purer pleasure than from any other: the sense +of an approximation to this order has been called taste by modern +writers. Every man in the infancy of art observes an order which +approximates more or less closely to that from which this highest +delight results: but the diversity is not sufficiently marked, as +that its gradations should be sensible, except in those instances +where the predominance of this faculty of approximation to the +beautiful (for so we may be permitted to name the relation between +this highest pleasure and its cause) is very great. Those in whom +it exists in excess are poets, in the most universal sense of the +word; and the pleasure resulting from the manner in which they +express the influence of society or nature upon their own minds, +communicates itself to others, and gathers a sort or reduplication +from that community. Their language is vitally metaphorical; that +is, it marks the before unapprehended relations of things and +perpetuates their apprehension, until the words which represent +them become, through time, signs for portions or classes of thoughts +instead of pictures of integral thoughts; and then if no new poets +should arise to create afresh the associations which have been thus +disorganized, language will be dead to all the nobler purposes of +human intercourse. These similitudes or relations are finely said +by Lord Bacon to be 'the same footsteps of nature impressed upon +the various subjects of the world'; [Footnote: De Augment. Scient., +cap. i, lib. iii.] and he considers the faculty which perceives +them as the storehouse of axioms common to all knowledge. In the +infancy of society every author is necessarily a poet, because +language itself is poetry; and to be a poet is to apprehend the +true and the beautiful, in a word, the good which exists in the +relation, subsisting, first between existence and perception, and +secondly between perception and expression. Every original language +near to its source is in itself the chaos of a cyclic poem: the +copiousness of lexicography and the distinctions of grammar are the +works of a later age, and are merely the catalogue and the form of +the creations of poetry. + +But poets, or those who imagine and express this indestructible +order, are not only the authors of language and of music, of the +dance, and architecture, and statuary, and painting; they are the +institutors of laws, and the founders of civil society, and the +inventors of the arts of life, and the teachers, who draw into a +certain propinquity with the beautiful and the true, that partial +apprehension of the agencies of the invisible world which is +called religion. Hence all original religions are allegorical, or +susceptible of allegory, and, like Janus, have a double face of +false and true. Poets, according to the circumstances of the age and +nation in which they appeared, were called, in the earlier epochs +of the world, legislators, or prophets: a poet essentially comprises +and unites both these characters. For he not only beholds intensely +the present as it is, and discovers those laws according to which +present things ought to be ordered, but he beholds the future in +the present, and his thoughts are the germs of the flower and the +fruit of latest time. Not that I assert poets to be prophets in +the gross sense of the word, or that they can foretell the form as +surely as they foreknow the spirit of events: such is the pretence +of superstition, which would make poetry an attribute of prophecy, +rather than prophecy an attribute of poetry. A poet participates +in the eternal, the infinite, and the one; as far as relates to +his conceptions, time and place and number are not. The grammatical +forms which express the moods of time, and the difference of persons, +and the distinction of place, are convertible with respect to the +highest poetry without injuring it as poetry; and the choruses of +Aeschylus, and the book of Job, and Dante's Paradise, would afford, +more than any other writings, examples of this fact, if the limits +of this essay did not forbid citation. The creations of sculpture, +painting, and music, are illustrations still more decisive. + +Language, colour, form, and religious and civil habits of action, +are all the instruments and materials of poetry; they may be called +poetry by that figure of speech which considers the effect as a +synonym of the cause. But poetry in a more restricted sense expresses +those arrangements of language, and especially metrical language, +which are created by that imperial faculty; whose throne is curtained +within the invisible nature of man. And this springs from the nature +itself of language, which is a more direct representation of the +actions and passions of our internal being, and is susceptible +of more various and delicate combinations, than colour, form, or +motion, and is more plastic and obedient to the control of that +faculty of which it is the creation. For language is arbitrarily +produced by the imagination and has relation to thoughts alone; +but all other materials, instruments and conditions of art, have +relations among each other, which limit and interpose between +conception and expression The former is as a mirror which reflects, +the latter as a cloud which enfeebles, the light of which both are +mediums of communication. Hence the fame of sculptors, painters, +and musicians, although the intrinsic powers of the great masters +of these arts may yield in no degree to that of those who have +employed language as the hieroglyphic of their thoughts, has never +equalled that of poets in the restricted sense of the term, as +two performers of equal skill will produce unequal effects from a +guitar and a harp. The fame of legislators and founders of religions, +so long as their institutions last, alone seems to exceed that of +poets in the restricted sense; but it can scarcely be a question, +whether, if we deduct the celebrity which their flattery of the +gross opinions of the vulgar usually conciliates, together with +that which belonged to them in their higher character of poets, +any excess will remain. + +We have thus circumscribed the word poetry within the limits of that +art which is the most familiar and the most perfect expression of +the faculty itself. It is necessary, however, to make the circle +still narrower, and to determine the distinction between measured +and unmeasured language; for the popular division into prose and +verse is inadmissible in accurate philosophy. + +Sounds as well as thoughts have relation both between each other +and towards that which they represent, and a perception of the order +of those relations has always been found connected with a perception +of the order of the relations of thoughts. Hence the language of +poets has ever affected a certain uniform and harmonious recurrence +of sound, without which it were not poetry, and which is scarcely +less indispensable to the communication of its influence, than the +words themselves, without reference to that peculiar order. Hence +the vanity of translation; it were as wise to cast a violet into a +crucible that you might discover the formal principle of its colour +and odour, as seek to transfuse from one language into another the +creations of a poet. The plant must spring again from its seed, +or it will bear no flower--and this is the burthen of the curse of +Babel. + +An observation of the regular mode of the recurrence of harmony +in the language of poetical minds, together with its relation to +music, produced metre, or a certain system of traditional forms of +harmony and language. Yet it is by no means essential that a poet +should accommodate his language to this traditional form, so that the +harmony, which is its spirit, be observed. The practice is indeed +convenient and popular, and to be preferred, especially in such +composition as includes much action: but every great poet must +inevitably innovate upon the example of his predecessors in the +exact structure of his peculiar versification. The distinction +between poets and prose writers is a vulgar error. The distinction +between philosophers and poets has been anticipated. Plato was +essentially a poet--the truth and splendour of his imagery, and the +melody of his language, are the most intense that it is possible +to conceive. He rejected the measure of the epic, dramatic, and +lyrical forms, because he sought to kindle a harmony in thoughts +divested of shape and action, and he forbore to invent any regular +plan of rhythm which would include, under determinate forms, the +varied pauses of his style. Cicero sought to imitate the cadence +of his periods, but with little success. Lord Bacon was a poet. +[Footnote: See the Filum Labyrinthi, and the Essay on Death +particularly]. His language has a sweet and majestic rhythm, which +satisfies the sense, no less than the almost superhuman wisdom +of his philosophy satisfies the intellect; it is a strain which +distends, and then bursts the circumference of the reader's mind, +and pours itself forth together with it into the universal element +with which it has perpetual sympathy. All the authors of revolutions +in opinion are not only necessarily poets as they are inventors, +nor even as their words unveil the permanent analogy of things +by images which participate in the life of truth; but as their +periods are harmonious and rhythmical, and contain in themselves +the elements of verse; being the echo of the eternal music. Nor are +those supreme poets, who have employed traditional forms of rhythm +on account of the form and action of their subjects, less capable +of perceiving and teaching the truth of things, than those who +have omitted that form. Shakespeare, Dante, and Milton (to confine +ourselves to modern writers) are philosophers of the very loftiest +power. + +A poem is the very image of life expressed in its eternal truth. +There is this difference between a story and a poem, that a story +is a catalogue of detached facts, which have no other connexion +than time, place, circumstance, cause and effect; the other is the +creation of actions according to the unchangeable forms of human +nature, as existing in the mind of the Creator, which is itself +the image of all other minds. The one is partial, and applies only +to a definite period of time, and a certain combination of events +which can never again recur; the other is universal, and contains +within itself the germ of a relation to whatever motives or actions +have place in the possible varieties of human nature. Time, which +destroys the beauty and the use of the story of particular facts, +stripped of the poetry which should invest them, augments that of +poetry, and for ever develops new and wonderful applications of the +eternal truth which it contains. Hence epitomes have been called +the moths of just history; they eat out the poetry of it. A story +of particular facts is as a mirror which obscures and distorts that +which should be beautiful: poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful +that which is distorted. + +The parts of a composition may be poetical, without the composition +as a whole being a poem. A single sentence may be a considered as +a whole, though it may be found in the midst of a series of unassimilated +portions: a single word even may be a spark of inextinguishable +thought. And thus all the great historians, Herodotus, Plutarch, +Livy, were poets; and although, the plan of these writers, especially +that of Livy, restrained them; from developing this faculty in +its highest degree, they made copious and ample amends for their +subjection, by filling all the interstices of their subjects with +living images. + +Having determined what is poetry, and who are poets, let us proceed +to estimate its effects upon society. + +Poetry is ever accompanied with pleasure: all spirits on which it +falls open themselves to receive the wisdom which is mingled with +its delight. In the infancy of the world, neither poets themselves +nor their auditors are fully aware of the excellence of poetry: +for it acts in a divine and unapprehended manner, beyond and above +consciousness; and it is reserved for future generations to contemplate +and measure the mighty cause and effect in all the strength and +splendour of their union. Even in modern times, no living poet ever +arrived at the fullness of his fame; the jury which sits in judgement +upon a poet, belonging as he does to all time, must be composed +of his peers: it must be impanelled by Time from the selectest of +the wise of many generations. A poet is a nightingale, who sits +in darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds; +his auditors are as men entranced by the melody of an unseen +musician, who feel that they are moved and softened, yet know not +whence or why. The poems of Homer and his contemporaries were the +delight of infant Greece; they were the elements of that social +system which is the column upon which all succeeding civilization +has reposed. Homer embodied the ideal perfection of his age in +human character; nor can we doubt that those who read his verses +were awakened to an ambition of becoming like to Achilles, Hector, +and Ulysses the truth and beauty of friendship, patriotism, and +persevering devotion to an object, were unveiled to the depths in +these immortal creations: the sentiments of the auditors must have +been refined and enlarged by a sympathy with such great and lovely +impersonations, until from admiring they imitated, and from imitation +they identified themselves with the objects of their admiration. +Nor let it be objected, that these characters are remote from moral +perfection, and that they can by no means be considered as edifying +patterns for general imitation. Every epoch, under names more +or less specious, has deified its peculiar errors; Revenge is the +naked idol of the worship of a semi-barbarous age; and Self-deceit +is the veiled image of unknown evil, before which luxury and satiety +lie prostrate. But a poet considers the vices of his contemporaries +as a temporary dress in which his creations must be arrayed, and +which cover without concealing the eternal proportions of their +beauty. An epic or dramatic personage is understood to wear them +around his soul, as he may the ancient armour or the modern uniform +around his body; whilst it is easy to conceive a dress more graceful +than either. The beauty of the internal nature cannot be so far +concealed by its accidental vesture, but that the spirit of its +form shall communicate itself to the very disguise, and indicate +the shape it hides from the manner in which it is worn. A majestic +form and graceful motions will express themselves through the most +barbarous and tasteless costume. Few poets of the highest class +have chosen to exhibit the beauty of their conceptions in its +naked truth and splendour; and it is doubtful whether the alloy +of costume, habit, &c., be not necessary to temper this planetary +music for mortal ears. + +The whole objection, however, of the immorality of poetry rests +upon a misconception of the manner in which poetry acts to produce +the moral improvement of man. Ethical science arranges the elements +which poetry has created, and propounds schemes and proposes +examples of civil and domestic life: nor is it for want of admirable +doctrines that men hate, and despise, and censure, and deceive, +and subjugate one another. But poetry acts in another and diviner +manner. It awakens and enlarges the mind itself by rendering it +the receptacle of a thousand unapprehended combinations of thought. +Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes +familiar objects be as if they were not familiar; it reproduces all +that it represents, and the impersonations clothed in its Elysian +light stand thenceforward in the minds of those who have once +contemplated them as memorials of that gentle and exalted content +which extends itself over all thoughts and actions with which it +coexists. The great secret of morals is love; or a going out of our +own nature, and an identification of ourselves with the beautiful +which exists in thought, action, or person, not our own. A man, +to be greatly good, must imagine intensely and comprehensively; he +must put himself in the place of another and of many others; the +pains and pleasures of his species must become his own. The great +instrument of moral good is the imagination; and poetry administers +to the effect by acting upon the cause. Poetry enlarges the +circumference of the imagination by replenishing it with thought of +ever new delight, which have the power of attracting and assimilating +to their own nature all other thoughts, and which form new intervals +and interstices whose void for ever craves fresh food. Poetry +strengthens the faculty which is the organ of the moral nature +of man, in the same manner as exercise strengthens a limb. A poet +therefore would do ill to embody his own conceptions of right and +wrong, which are usually those of his place and time, in his poetical +creations, which participate in neither By this assumption of the +inferior office of interpreting the effect in which perhaps after +all he might acquit himself but imperfectly, he would resign a +glory in a participation in the cause. There was little danger that +Homer, or any of the eternal poets should have so far misunderstood +themselves as to have abdicated this throne of their widest dominion. +Those in whom the poetical faculty, though great, is less intense, +as Euripides, Lucan, Tasso, Spenser, have frequently affected a +moral aim, and the effect of their poetry is diminished in exact +proportion to the degree in which they compel us to advert to this +purpose. + + + +Homer and the cyclic poets were followed at a certain interval +by the dramatic and lyrical poets of Athens, who flourished +contemporaneously with all that is most perfect in the kindred +expressions of the poetical faculty; architecture, painting, music +the dance, sculpture, philosophy, and, we may add, the forms of +civil life. For although the scheme of Athenian society was deformed +by many imperfections which the poetry existing in chivalry and +Christianity has erased from the habits and institutions of modern +Europe; yet never at any other period has so much energy, beauty, +and virtue, been developed; never was blind strength and stubborn +form so disciplined and rendered subject to the will of man, or +that will less repugnant to the dictates of the beautiful and the +true, as during the century which preceded the death of Socrates. +Of no other epoch in the history of our species have we records +and fragments stamped so visibly with the image of the divinity in +man. But it is poetry alone, in form, in action, or in language, +which has rendered this epoch memorable above all others, and the +storehouse of examples to everlasting time. For written poetry +existed at that epoch simultaneously with the other arts, and it is +an idle inquiry to demand which gave and which received the light, +which all, as from a common focus, have scattered over the darkest +periods of succeeding time. We know no more of cause and effect than +a constant conjunction of events: poetry is ever found to coexist +with whatever other arts contribute to the happiness and perfection +of man. I appeal to what has already been established to distinguish +between the cause and the effect. + +It was at the period here adverted to, that the drama had its birth; +and however a succeeding writer may have equalled or surpassed +those few great specimens of the Athenian drama which have been +preserved to us, it is indisputable that the art itself never was +understood or practised according to the true philosophy of it, +as at Athens. For the Athenians employed language, action, music, +painting, the dance, and religious institutions, to produce a common +effect in the representation of the highest idealisms of passion +and of power; each division in the art was made perfect in its kind +by artists of the most consummate skill, and was disciplined into +a beautiful proportion and unity one towards the other. On the modern +stage a few only of the elements capable of expressing the image +of the poet's conception are employed at once. We have tragedy +without music and dancing; and music and dancing without the highest +impersonations of which they are the fit accompaniment, and both +without religion and solemnity. Religious institution has indeed +been usually banished from the stage. Our system of divesting the +actor's face of a mask, on which the many expressions appropriated +to his dramatic character might be moulded into one permanent +and unchanging expression, is favourable only to a partial and +inharmonious effect; it is fit for nothing but a monologue, where +all the attention may be directed to some great master of ideal +mimicry. The modern practice of blending comedy with tragedy, +though liable to great abuse in point of practice, is undoubtedly +an extension of the dramatic circle; but the comedy should be +as in KING LEAR, universal, ideal, and sublime. It is perhaps the +intervention of this principle which determines the balance in +favour of KING LEAR against the OEDIPUS TYRANNUS or the AGAMEMNON, +or, if you will, the trilogies with which they are connected; unless +the intense power of the choral poetry, especially that of the +latter, should be considered as restoring the equilibrium. KING +LEAR, if it can sustain this comparison, may be judged to be the +most perfect specimen of the dramatic art existing in the world; +in spite of the narrow conditions to which the poet was subjected +by the ignorance of the philosophy of the drama which has prevailed +in modern Europe. Calderon, in his religious AUTOS, has attempted +to fulfil some of the high conditions of dramatic representation +neglected by Shakespeare; such as the establishing a relation +between the drama and religion and the accommodating them to music +and dancing; but he omits the observation of conditions still +more important, and more is lost than gained by the substitution +of the rigidly-defined and ever-repeated idealisms of a distorted +superstition for the living impersonations of the truth of human +passion. + +But I digress.--The connexion of scenic exhibitions with the +improvement or corruption of the manners of men, has been universally +recognized: in other words, the presence or absence of poetry in +its most perfect and universal form, has been found to be connected +with good and evil in conduct or habit. The corruption which has +been imputed to the drama as an effect, begins when the poetry +employed in its constitution ends: I appeal to the history of manners +whether the periods of the growth of the one and the decline of the +other have not corresponded with an exactness equal to any example +of moral cause and effect. + +The drama at Athens, or wheresoever else it may have approached +to its perfection, ever co-existed with the moral and intellectual +greatness of the age. The tragedies of the Athenian poets are +as mirrors in which the spectator beholds himself, under a thin +disguise of circumstance, stript of all but that ideal perfection +and energy which every one feels to be the internal type of all that +he loves, admires, and would become. The imagination is enlarged +by a sympathy with pains and passions so mighty, that they distend +in their conception the capacity of that by which they are conceived; +the good affections are strengthened by pity, indignation, terror, +and sorrow; and an exalted calm is prolonged from the satiety of +this high exercise of them into the tumult of familiar life: even +crime is disarmed of half its horror and all its contagion by being +represented as the fatal consequence of the unfathomable agencies +of nature; error is thus divested of its wilfulness; men can no +longer cherish it as the creation of their choice. In a drama of +the highest order there is little food for censure or hatred; it +teaches rather self-knowledge and self-respect. Neither the eye +nor the mind can see itself, unless reflected upon that which it +resembles. The drama, so long as it continues to express poetry, is +as a prismatic and many-sided mirror, which collects the brightest +rays of human nature and divides and reproduces them from the +simplicity of these elementary forms, and touches them with majesty +and beauty, and multiplies all that it reflects, and endows it with +the power of propagating its like wherever it may fall. + +But in periods of the decay of social life, the drama sympathizes +with that decay. Tragedy becomes a cold imitation of the form of +the great masterpieces of antiquity, divested of all harmonious +accompaniment of the kindred arts; and often the very form +misunderstood, or a weak attempt to teach certain doctrines, which +the writer considers as moral truths; and which are usually no +more than specious flatteries of some gross vice or weakness, with +which the author, in common with his auditors, are infected. Hence +what has been called the classical and domestic drama. Addison's +CATO is a specimen of the one; and would it were not superfluous +to cite examples of the other! To such purposes poetry cannot be +made subservient. Poetry is a sword of lightning, ever unsheathed, +which consumes the scabbard that would contain it. And thus we +observe that all dramatic writings of this nature are unimaginative +in a singular degree; they affect sentiment and passion, which, +divested of imagination, are other names for caprice and appetite. +The period in our own history of the grossest degradation of the +drama is the reign of Charles II, when all forms in which poetry +had been accustomed to be expressed became hymns to the triumph of +kingly power over liberty and virtue. Milton stood alone illuminating +an age unworthy of him. At such periods the calculating principle +pervades all the forms of dramatic exhibition, and poetry ceases +to be expressed upon them. Comedy loses its ideal universality: +wit succeeds to humour; we laugh from self-complacency and triumph, +instead of pleasure; malignity, sarcasm, and contempt, succeed to +sympathetic merriment; we hardly laugh, but we Obscenity, which +is ever blasphemy against the divine beauty in life, becomes, from +the very veil which it assumes, more active if less disgusting: it +is a monster for which the corruption of society for ever brings +forth new food, which it devours in secret. + +The drama being that form under which a greater number of modes +of expression of poetry are susceptible of being combined than any +other, the connexion of poetry and social good is more observable +in the drama than in whatever other form. And it is indisputable +that the highest perfection of human society has ever corresponded +with the highest dramatic excellence; and that the corruption or the +extinction of the drama in a nation where it has once flourished, +is a mark of a corruption of manners and an extinction of the +energies which sustain the soul of social life. But, as Machiavelli +says of political institutions, that life may be preserved and +renewed, if men should arise capable of bringing back the drama +to its principles. And this is true with respect to poetry in its +most extended sense: all language, institution and form, require not +only to be produced but to be sustained: the office and character +of a poet participates in the divine nature as regards providence, +no less than as regards creation. + +Civil war, the spoils of Asia, and the fatal predominance first of +the Macedonian, and then of the Roman arms, were so many symbols +of the extinction or suspension of the creative faculty in Greece. +The bucolic writers, who found patronage under the lettered tyrants +of Sicily and Egypt, were the latest representatives of its most +glorious reign. Their poetry is intensely melodious, like the odour +of the tuberose, it overcomes and sickens the spirit with excess +of sweetness; whilst the poetry of the preceding age was as a +meadow-gale of June, which mingles the fragrance all the flowers +of the field, and adds a quickening and harmonizing spirit of its +own, which endows the sense with a power of sustaining its extreme +delight. The bucolic and erotic delicacy in written poetry is +correlative with that softness in statuary, music and the kindred +arts, and even in manners and institutions, which distinguished the +epoch to which I now refer. Nor is it the poetical faculty itself, +or any misapplication of it, to which this want of harmony is to +be imputed. An equal sensibility to the influence of the senses +and the affections is to be found in the writings of Homer and +Sophocles: the former, especially, has clothed sensual and pathetic +images with irresistible attractions. Their superiority over these +succeeding writers consists in the presence of those thoughts which +belong to the inner faculties of our nature, not in the absence +of those which are connected with the external: their incomparable +perfection consists in a harmony of the union of all. It is not +what the erotic poets have, but what they have not, in which their +imperfection consists. It is not inasmuch as they were poets, but +inasmuch as they were not poets, that they can be considered with +any plausibility as connected with the corruption of their age. Had +that corruption availed so as to extinguish in them the sensibility +to pleasure, passion, and natural scenery, which is imputed to them +as an imperfection, the last triumph of evil would have been achieved. +For the end of social corruption is to destroy all sensibility +to pleasure; and, therefore, it is corruption. It begins at the +imagination and the intellect as at the core, and distributes itself +thence as a paralysing venom, through the affections into the very +appetites, until all become a torpid mass in which hardly sense +survives. At the approach of such a period, poetry ever addresses +itself to those faculties which are the last to be destroyed, and +its voice is heard, like the footsteps of Astraea, departing from +the world. Poetry ever communicates all the pleasure which men +are capable of receiving: it is ever still the light of life; the +source of whatever of beautiful or generous or true can have place +in an evil time. It will readily be confessed that those among the +luxurious citizens of Syracuse and Alexandria, who were delighted +with the poems of Theocritus, were less cold, cruel, and sensual +than the remnant of their tribe. But corruption must utterly have +destroyed the fabric of human society before poetry can ever cease. +The sacred links of that chain have never been entirely disjoined, +which descending through the minds of many men is attached to those +great minds, whence as from a magnet the invisible effluence is +sent forth, which at once connects, animates, and sustains the life +of all. It is the faculty which contains within itself the seeds +at once of its own and of social renovation. And let us not +circumscribe the effects of the bucolic and erotic poetry within +the limits of the sensibility of those to whom it was addressed. +They may have perceived the beauty of those immortal compositions, +simply as fragments and isolated portions: those who are more +finely organized, or born in a happier age, may recognize them as +episodes to that great poem, which all poets, like the cooperating +thoughts of one great mind, have built up since the beginning of +the world. + +The same revolutions within a narrower sphere had place in ancient +Rome; but the actions and forms of its social life never seem to +have been perfectly saturated with the poetical element. The Romans +appear to have considered the Greeks as the selectest treasuries +of the selectest forms of manners and of nature, and to have +abstained from creating in measured language, sculpture, music, or +architecture, anything which might bear a particular relation to +their own condition, whilst it should bear a general one to the +universal constitution of the world. But we judge from partial +evidence, and we judge perhaps partially Ennius, Varro, Pacuvius, +and Accius, all great poets, have been lost. Lucretius is in the +highest, and Virgil in a very high sense, a creator. The chosen +delicacy of expressions of the latter, are as a mist of light which +conceal from us the intense and exceeding truth of his conceptions +of nature. Livy is instinct with poetry. Yet Horace, Catullus, +Ovid, and generally the other great writers of the Virgilian age, +saw man and nature in the mirror of Greece. The institutions also, +and the religion of Rome were less poetical than those of Greece, +as the shadow is less vivid than the substance. Hence poetry in +Rome, seemed to follow, rather than accompany, the perfection of +political and domestic society. The true poetry of Rome lived in +its institutions; for whatever of beautiful, true, and majestic, +they contained, could have sprung only from the faculty which creates +the order in which they consist. The life of Camillus, the death of +Regulus; the expectation of the senators, in their godlike state, +of the victorious Gauls: the refusal of the republic to make peace +with Hannibal, after the battle of Cannae, were not the consequences +of a refined calculation of the probable personal advantage to +result from such a rhythm and order in the shows of life, to those +who were at once the poets and the actors of these immortal dramas. +The imagination beholding the beauty of this order, created it out +of itself according to its own idea; the consequence was empire, +and the reward everliving fame. These things are not the less poetry +quid carent vate sacro. They are the episodes of that cyclic poem +written by Time upon the memories of men. The Past, like an inspired +rhapsodist, fills the theatre of everlasting generations with their +harmony. + +At length the ancient system of religion and manners had fulfilled +the circle of its revolutions. And the world would have fallen into +utter anarchy and darkness, but that there were found poets among +the authors of the Christian and chivalric systems of manners and +religion, who created forms of opinion and action never before +conceived; which, copied into the imaginations of men, become as +generals to the bewildered armies of their thoughts. It is foreign +to the present purpose to touch upon the evil produced by these +systems: except that we protest, on the ground of the principles +already established, that no portion of it can be attributed to +the poetry they contain. + +It is probable that the poetry of Moses, Job, David, Solomon, and +Isaiah, had produced a great effect upon the mind of Jesus and his +disciples. The scattered fragments preserved to us by the biographers +of this extraordinary person, are all instinct with the most vivid +poetry. But his doctrines seem to have been quickly distorted. +At a certain period after the prevalence of a system of opinions +founded upon those promulgated by him, the three forms into which +Plato had distributed the faculties of mind underwent a sort of +apotheosis, and became the object of the worship of the civilized +world. Here it is to be confessed that 'Light seems to thicken,' +and + + The crow makes wing to the rooky wood, + Good things of day begin to droop and drowse, + And night's black agents to their preys do rouze. + +But mark how beautiful an order has sprung from the dust and +blood of this fierce chaos! how the world, as from a resurrection, +balancing itself on the golden wings of knowledge and of hope, has +reassumed its yet unwearied flight into the heaven of time. Listen +to the music, unheard by outward ears, which is as a ceaseless and +invisible wind, nourishing its everlasting course with strength +and swiftness. + +The poetry in the doctrines of Jesus Christ, and the mythology and +institutions of the Celtic conquerors of the Roman empire, outlived +the darkness and the convulsions connected with their growth and +victory, and blended themselves in a new fabric of manners and +opinion. It is an error to impute the ignorance of the dark ages to +the Christian doctrines or the predominance of the Celtic nations. +Whatever of evil their agencies may have contained sprang from the +extinction of the poetical principle, connected with the progress +of despotism and superstition. Men, from causes too intricate to be +here discussed, had become insensible and selfish: their own will +had become feeble, and yet they were its slaves, and thence the +slaves of the will of others: lust, fear, avarice, cruelty, and +fraud, characterized a race amongst whom no one was to be found +capable of CREATING in form, language, or institution. The moral +anomalies of such a state of society are not justly to be charged +upon any class of events immediately connected with them, and those +events are most entitled to our approbation which could dissolve +it most expeditiously. It is unfortunate for those who cannot +distinguish words from thoughts, that many of these anomalies have +been incorporated into our popular religion. + +It was not until the eleventh century that the effects of the +poetry of the Christian and chivalric systems began to manifest +themselves. The principle of equality had been discovered and +applied by Plato in his Republic, as the theoretical rule of the +mode in which the materials of pleasure and of power, produced by +the common skill and labour of human beings, ought to be distributed +among them. The limitations of this rule were asserted by him +to be determined only by the sensibility of each, or the utility +to result to all. Plato, following the doctrines of Timaeus and +Pythagoras, taught also a moral and intellectual system of doctrine, +comprehending at once the past, the present, and the future condition +of man. Jesus Christ divulged the sacred and eternal truths contained +in these views to mankind, and Christianity, in its abstract purity, +became the exoteric expression of the esoteric doctrines of the +poetry and wisdom of antiquity. The incorporation of the Celtic +nations with the exhausted population of the south, impressed +upon it the figure of the poetry existing in their mythology and +institutions. The result was a sum of the action and reaction of +all the causes included in it; for it may be assumed as a maxim that +no nation or religion can supersede any other without incorporating +into itself a portion of that which it supersedes. The abolition of +personal and domestic slavery, and the emancipation of women from +a great part of the degrading restraints of antiquity, were among +the consequences of these events. + +The abolition of personal slavery is the basis of the highest +political hope that it can enter into the mind of man to conceive. +The freedom of women produced the poetry of sexual love. Love +became a religion, the idols of whose worship were ever present. +It was as if the statues of Apollo and the Muses had been endowed +with life and motion, and had walked forth among their worshippers; +so that earth became peopled by the inhabitants of a diviner world. +The familiar appearance and proceedings of life became wonderful +and heavenly, and a paradise was created as out of the wrecks of +Eden. And as this creation itself is poetry, so its creators were +poets; and language was the instrument of their art: 'Galeotto fu +il libro, e chi lo scrisse.' The Provencal Trouveurs, or inventors, +preceded Petrarch, whose verses are as spells, which unseal the +inmost enchanted fountains of the delight which is in the grief of +love. It is impossible to feel them without becoming a portion of +that beauty which we contemplate: it were superfluous to explain +how the gentleness and the elevation of mind connected with these +sacred emotions can render men more amiable, more generous and wise, +and lift them out of the dull vapours of the little world of self. +Dante understood the secret things of love even more than Petrarch. +His Vita Nuova is an inexhaustible fountain of purity of sentiment +and language: it is the idealized history of that period, and those +intervals of his life which were dedicated to love. His apotheosis +of Beatrice in Paradise, and the gradations of his own love and her +loveliness, by which as by steps he feigns himself to have ascended +to the throne of the Supreme Cause, is the most glorious imagination +of modern poetry. The acutest critics have justly reversed the +judgement of the vulgar, and the order of the great acts of the +'Divine Drama', in the measure of the admiration which they accord +to the Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. The latter is a perpetual +hymn of everlasting love. Love, which found a worthy poet in Plato +alone of all the ancients, has been celebrated by a chorus of the +greatest writers of the renovated world; and the music has penetrated +the caverns of society, and its echoes still drown the dissonance +of arms and superstition. At successive intervals, Ariosto, Tasso, +Shakespeare, Spenser, Calderon, Rousseau, and the great writers +of our own age, have celebrated the dominion of love, planting +as it were trophies in the human mind of that sublimest victory +over sensuality and force. The true relation borne to each other +by the sexes into which human kind is distributed, has become +less misunderstood; and if the error which confounded diversity +with inequality of the powers of the two sexes has been partially +recognized in the opinions and institutions of modern Europe, we +owe this great benefit to the worship of which chivalry was the +law, and poets the prophets. + +The poetry of Dante may be considered as the bridge thrown over +the stream of time, which unites the modern and ancient world. The +distorted notions of invisible things which Dante and his rival +Milton have idealized, are merely the mask and the mantle in which +these great poets walk through eternity enveloped and disguised. +It is a difficult question to determine how far they were conscious +of the distinction which must have subsisted in their minds between +their own creeds and that of the people. Dante at least appears to +wish to mark the full extent of it by placing Riphaeus, whom Virgil +calls justissimns unus, in Paradise, and observing a most heretical +caprice in his distribution of rewards and punishments. And Milton's +poem contains within itself a philosophical refutation of that +system, of which by a strange and natural antithesis, it has been +a chief popular support. Nothing can exceed the energy and magnificence +of the character of Satan as expressed in Paradise Lost. It is a +mistake to suppose that he could ever have been intended for the +popular personification of evil. Implacable hate, patient cunning, +and a sleepless refinement of device to inflict the extremest +anguish on an enemy, these things are evil; and, although venial +in a slave are not to be forgiven in a tyrant; although redeemed +by much that ennobles his defeat in one subdued, are marked by +all that dishonours his conquest in the victor. Milton's Devil as +a moral being is as far superior to his God, as one who perseveres +in some purpose which he has conceived to be excellent in spite of +adversity and torture, is to one who in the cold security of undoubted +triumph inflicts the most horrible revenge upon his enemy, not from +any mistaken notion of inducing him to repent of a perseverance in +enmity, but with the alleged design of exasperating him to deserve +new torments. Milton has so far violated the popular creed (if this +shall be judged to be a violation) as to have alleged no superiority +of moral virtue to his God over his Devil. And this bold neglect of +a direct moral purpose is the most decisive proof of the supremacy +of Milton's genius. He mingled as it were the elements of human +nature as colours upon a single pallet, and arranged them in the +composition of his great picture according to the laws of epic +truth; that is, according to the laws of that principle by which a +series of actions of the external universe and of intelligent and +ethical beings is calculated to excite the sympathy of succeeding +generations of mankind. The Divina Commedia and Paradise Lost have +conferred upon modern mythology a systematic form; and when change +and time shall have added one more superstition to the mass of +those which have arisen and decayed upon the earth, commentators +will be learnedly employed in elucidating the religion of ancestral +Europe, only not utterly forgotten because it will have been stamped +with the eternity of genius. + +Homer was the first and Dante the second epic poet: that is, +the second poet, the series of whose creations bore a defined and +intelligible relation to the knowledge and sentiment and religion +of the age in which he lived, and of the ages which followed it: +developing itself in correspondence with their development. For +Lucretius had limed the wings of his swift spirit in the dregs of +the sensible world; and Virgil, with a modesty that ill became his +genius, had affected the fame of an imitator, even whilst he created +anew all that he copied; and none among the flock of mock-birds, +though their notes were sweet, Apollonius Rhodius, Quintus Calaber, +Nonnus, Lucan, Statius, or Claudian, have sought even to fulfil +a single condition of epic truth. Milton was the third epic poet. +For if the title of epic in its highest sense be refused to the +Aeneid, still less can it be conceded to the Orlando Furioso, the +Gerusalemme Liberata, the Lusiad, or the Fairy Queen. + +Dante and Milton were both deeply penetrated with the ancient +religion of the civilized world; and its spirit exists in their +poetry probably in the same proportion as its forms survived in +the unreformed worship of modern Europe. The one preceded and the +other followed the Reformation at almost equal intervals. Dante +was the first religious reformer, and Luther surpassed him rather +in the rudeness and acrimony, than in the boldness of his censures +of papal usurpation. Dante was the first awakener of entranced +Europe; he created a language, in itself music and persuasion, out +of a chaos of inharmonious barbarisms. He was the congregator of +those great spirits who presided over the resurrection of learning; +the Lucifer of that starry flock which in the thirteenth century +shone forth from republican Italy, as from a heaven, into the +darkness of the benighted world. His very words are instinct with +spirit; each is as a spark, a burning atom of inextinguishable +thought; and many yet lie covered in the ashes of their birth, and +pregnant with a lightning which has yet found no conductor. All +high poetry is infinite; it is as the first acorn, which contained +all oaks potentially. Veil after veil may be undrawn, and the +inmost naked beauty of the meaning never exposed. A great poem +is a fountain for ever overflowing with the waters of wisdom and +delight; and after one person and one age has exhausted all its +divine effluence which their peculiar relations enable them to +share, another and yet another succeeds, and new relations are ever +developed, the source of an unforeseen and an unconceived delight. + +The age immediately succeeding to that of Dante, Petrarch, and +Boccaccio, was characterized by a revival of painting, sculpture, +and architecture. Chaucer caught the sacred inspiration, and the +superstructure of English literature is based upon the materials +of Italian invention. + +But let us not be betrayed from a defence into a critical history +of poetry and its influence on society. Be it enough to have pointed +out the effects of poets, in the large and true sense of the word, +upon their own and all succeeding times. + +But poets have been challenged to resign the civic crown to reasoners +and mechanists, on another plea. It is admitted that the exercise +of the imagination is most delightful, but it is alleged that that +of reason is more useful. Let us examine as the grounds of this +distinction, what is here meant by utility. Pleasure or good, in a +general sense, is that which the consciousness of a sensitive and +intelligent being seeks, and in which, when found, it acquiesces. +There are two kinds of pleasure, one durable, universal and +permanent; the other transitory and particular. Utility may either +express the means of producing the former or the latter. In the +former sense, whatever strengthens and purifies the affections, +enlarges the imagination, and adds spirit to sense, is useful. But +a narrower meaning may be assigned to the word utility, confining +it to express that which banishes the importunity of the wants of +our animal nature, the surrounding men with security of life, the +dispersing the grosser delusions of superstition, and the conciliating +such a degree of mutual forbearance among men as may consist with +the motives of personal advantage. + +Undoubtedly the promoters of utility, in this limited sense, have +their appointed office in society. They follow the footsteps of +poets, and copy the sketches of their creations into the book of +common life. They make space, and give time. Their exertions are +of the highest value, so long as they confine their administration +of the concerns of the inferior powers of our nature within the +limits due to the superior ones. But whilst the sceptic destroys +gross superstitions, let him spare to deface, as some of the +French writers have defaced, the eternal truths charactered upon +the imaginations of men. Whilst the mechanist abridges, and the +political economist combines labour, let them beware that their +speculations, for want of correspondence with those first principles +which belong to the imagination, do not tend, as they have in +modern England, to exasperate at once the extremes of luxury and +want. They have exemplified the saying, 'To him that hath, more +shall be given; and from him that hath not, the little that he hath +shall be taken away.' The rich have become richer, and the poor +have become poorer; and the vessel of the state is driven between +the Scylla and Charybdis of anarchy and despotism. Such are the +effects which must ever flow from an unmitigated exercise of the +calculating faculty. + +It is difficult to define pleasure in its highest sense; the +definition involving a number of apparent paradoxes. For, from an +inexplicable defect of harmony in the constitution of human nature, +the pain of the inferior is frequently connected with the pleasures +of the superior portions of our being. Sorrow, terror, anguish, +despair itself, are often the chosen expressions of an approximation +to the highest good. Our sympathy in tragic fiction depends on this +principle; tragedy delights by affording a shadow of the pleasure +which exists in pain. This is the source also of the melancholy +which is inseparable from the sweetest melody. The pleasure that +is in sorrow is sweeter than the pleasure of pleasure itself. And +hence the saying, 'It is better to go to the house of mourning, than +to the house of mirth.' Not that this highest species of pleasure +is necessarily linked with pain. The delight of love and friendship, +the ecstasy of the admiration of nature, the joy of the perception +and still more of the creation of poetry, is often wholly unalloyed. + +The production and assurance of pleasure in this highest sense +is true utility. Those who produce and preserve this pleasure are +poets or poetical philosophers. + +The exertions of Locke, Hume, Gibbon, Voltaire, Rousseau, [Footnote: +Although Rousseau has been thus classed, he was essentially a +poet. The others, even Voltaire, were mere reasoners.] and their +disciples, in favour of oppressed and deluded humanity, are entitled +to the gratitude of mankind. Yet it is easy to calculate the degree +of moral and intellectual improvement which the world would have +exhibited, had they never lived. A little more nonsense would have +been talked for a century or two; and perhaps a few more men, women, +and children, burnt as heretics. We might not at this moment have +been congratulating each other on the abolition of the Inquisition +in Spain. But it exceeds all imagination to conceive what would have +been the moral condition of the world if neither Dante, Petrarch, +Boccaccio, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Calderon, Lord Bacon, nor Milton, +had ever existed; if Raphael and Michael Angelo had never been +born; if the Hebrew poetry had never been translated; if a revival +of the study of Greek literature had never taken place; if no +monuments of ancient sculpture had been handed down to us; and if +the poetry of the religion of the ancient world had been extinguished +together with its belief. The human mind could never, except by +the intervention of these excitements, have been awakened to the +invention of the grosser sciences, and that application of analytical +reasoning to the aberrations of society, which it is now attempted +to exalt over the direct expression of the inventive and creative +faculty itself. + +We have more moral, political and historical wisdom, than we know +how to reduce into practice; we have more scientific and economical +knowledge than can be accommodated to the just distribution of the +produce which it multiplies. The poetry in these systems of thought, +is concealed by the accumulation of facts and calculating processes. +There is no want of knowledge respecting what is wisest and best +in morals, government, and political economy, or at least, what +is wiser and better than what men now practise and endure. But we +let '_I_ DARE NOT wait upon I WOULD, like the poor cat in the adage.' +We want the creative faculty to imagine that which we know; we +want the generous impulse to act that which we imagine; we want the +poetry of life: our calculations have outrun conception; we have +eaten more than we can digest. The cultivation of those sciences +which have enlarged the limits of the empire of man over the +external world, has, for want of the poetical faculty, proportionally +circumscribed those of the internal world; and man, having enslaved +the elements, remains himself a slave. To what but a cultivation +of the mechanical arts in a degree disproportioned to the presence +of the creative faculty, which is the basis of all knowledge, +is to be attributed the abuse of all invention for abridging and +combining labour, to the exasperation of the inequality of mankind? +From what other cause has it arisen that the discoveries which should +have lightened, have added a weight to the curse imposed on Adam? +Poetry, and the principle of Self, of which money is the visible, +incarnation, are the God and Mammon of the world. + +The functions of the poetical faculty are two-fold; by one it +creates new materials of knowledge and power and pleasure; by the +other it engenders in the mind a desire to reproduce and arrange +them according to a certain rhythm and order which may be called +the beautiful and the good. The cultivation of poetry is never more +to be desired than at periods when, from an excess of the selfish +and calculating principle, the accumulation of the materials of +external life exceed the quantity of the power of assimilating them +to the internal laws of human nature. The body has then become too +unwieldy for that which animates it. + +Poetry is indeed something divine. It is at once the centre and +circumference of knowledge; it is that which comprehends all science, +and that to which all science must be referred. It is at the same +time the root and blossom of all other systems of thought; it is +that from which all spring, and that which adorns all; and that +which, if blighted, denies the fruit and the seed, and withholds +from the barren world the nourishment and the succession of the +scions of the tree of life. It is the perfect and consummate surface +and bloom of all things; it is as the odour and the colour of the +rose to the texture of the elements which compose it, as the form +and splendour of unfaded beauty to the secrets of anatomy and +corruption. What were virtue, love, patriotism, friendship--what +were the scenery of this beautiful universe which we inhabit; what +were our consolations on this side of the grave--and what were our +aspirations beyond it, if poetry did not ascend to bring light and +fire from those eternal regions where the owl-winged faculty of +calculation dare not ever soar? Poetry is not like reasoning, a +power to be exerted according to the determination of the will. A +man cannot say, 'I will compose poetry.' The greatest poet even cannot +say it; for the mind in creation is as a fading coal, which some +invisible influence, like an inconstant wind, awakens to transitory +brightness; this power arises from within, like the colour of a +flower which fades and changes as it is developed, and the conscious +portions of our natures are unprophetic either of its approach or +its departure. Could this influence be durable in its original +purity and force, it is impossible to predict the greatness of the +results; but when composition begins, inspiration is already on the +decline, and the most glorious poetry that has ever been communicated +to the world is probably a feeble shadow of the original conceptions +of the poet. I appeal to the greatest poets of the present day, +whether it is not an error to assert that the finest passages of +poetry are produced by labour and study. The toil and the delay +recommended by critics, can be justly interpreted to mean no more +than a careful observation of the inspired moments, and an artificial +connexion of the spaces between their suggestions by the intertexture +of conventional expressions; a necessity only imposed by the +limitedness of the poetical faculty itself; for Milton conceived +the Paradise Lost as a whole before he executed it in portions; We +have his own authority also for the muse having 'dictated' to him +the 'unpremeditated song'. And let this be an answer to those who +would allege the fifty-six various readings of the first line of +the Orlando Furioso. Compositions so produced are to poetry what +mosaic is to painting. This instinct and intuition of the poetical +faculty, is still more observable in the plastic and pictorial arts; +a great statue or picture grows under the power of the artist as +a child in the mother's womb; and the very mind which directs the +hands in formation is incapable of accounting to itself for the +origin, the gradations, or the media of the process. + +Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest +and best minds. We are aware of evanescent visitations of thought +and feeling sometimes associated with place or person, sometimes +regarding our own mind alone, and always arising unforeseen +and departing unbidden, but elevating and delightful beyond all +expression; so that even in the desire and regret they leave, there +cannot but be pleasure, participating as it does in the nature +of its object. It is as it were the interpenetration of a diviner +nature through our own; but its footsteps are like those of a wind +over the sea, which the coming calm erases, and whose traces remain +only, as on the wrinkled sand which paves it. These and corresponding +conditions of being are experienced principally by those of the +most delicate sensibility and the most enlarged imagination; and the +state of mind produced by them is at war with every base desire. +The enthusiasm of virtue, love, patriotism, and friendship, +is essentially linked with such emotions; and whilst they last, +self appears as what it is, an atom to a universe. Poets are not +only subject to these experiences as spirits of the most refined +organization, but they can colour all that they combine with the +evanescent hues of this ethereal world; a word, a trait in the +representation of a scene or a passion, will touch the enchanted +chord, and reanimate, in those who have ever experienced these +emotions, the sleeping, the cold, the buried image of the past. +Poetry thus makes immortal all that is best and most beautiful in +the world; it arrests the vanishing apparitions which haunt the +interlunations of life, and veiling them, or in language or in form, +sends them forth among mankind, bearing sweet news of kindred joy +to those with whom their sisters abide--abide, because there is +no portal of expression from the caverns of the spirit which they +inhabit into the universe of things. Poetry redeems from decay the +visitations of the divinity in man. + +Poetry turns all things to loveliness; it exalts the beauty of that +which is most beautiful, and it adds beauty to that which is most +deformed; it marries exultation and horror, grief and pleasure, +eternity and change; it subdues to union under its light yoke, +all irreconcilable things. It transmutes all that it touches, and +every form moving within the radiance of its presence is changed +by wondrous sympathy to an incarnation of the spirit which it +breathes: its secret alchemy turns to potable gold the poisonous +waters which flow from death through life; it strips the veil of +familiarity from the world, and lays bare the naked and sleeping +beauty, which is the spirit of its forms. + +All things exist as they are perceived; at least in relation to +the percipient. 'The mind is its own place, and of itself can make +a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.' But poetry defeats the curse +which binds us to be subjected to the accident of surrounding +impressions. And whether it spreads its own figured curtain, +or withdraws life's dark veil from before the scene of things, it +equally creates for us a being within our being. It makes us the +inhabitants of a world to which the familiar world is a chaos. +It reproduces the common universe of which we are portions and +percipients, and it purges from our inward sight the film of familiarity +which obscures from us the wonder of our being. It compels us to +feel that which we perceive, and to imagine that which we know. It +creates anew the universe, after it has been annihilated in our +minds by the recurrence of impressions blunted by reiteration. +It justifies the bold and true words of Tasso: Non merita nome di +creatore, se non Iddio ed il Poeta. + +A poet, as he is the author to others of the highest wisdom, pleasure, +virtue and glory, so he ought personally to be the happiest, the +best, the wisest, and the most illustrious of men. As to his glory, +let time be challenged to declare whether the fame of any other +institutor of human life be comparable to that of a poet. That +he is the wisest, the happiest, and the best, inasmuch as he is +a poet, is equally incontrovertible: the greatest poets have been +men of the most spotless virtue, of the most consummate prudence, +and, if we would look into the interior of their lives, the most +fortunate of men: and the exceptions, as they regard those who +possessed the poetic faculty in a high yet inferior degree, will +be found on consideration to confine rather than destroy the rule. +Let us for a moment stoop to the arbitration of popular breath, and +usurping and uniting in our own persons the incompatible characters +of accuser, witness, judge, and executioner, let us decide without +trial, testimony, or form, that certain motives of those who are +'there sitting where we dare not soar', are reprehensible. Let +us assume that Homer was a drunkard, that Virgil was a flatterer, +that Horace was a coward, that Tasso a madman, that Lord Bacon was +a peculator, that Raphael was a libertine, that Spenser was a poet +laureate. It is inconsistent with this division of our subject +to cite living poets, but posterity has done ample justice to the +great names now referred to. Their errors have been weighed and found +to have been dust in the balance; if their sins 'were as scarlet, +they are now white as snow'; they have been washed in the blood of +the mediator and redeemer, Time. Observe in what a ludicrous chaos +the imputation of real or fictitious crime have been confused in +the contemporary calumnies against poetry and poets; consider how +little is, as it appears--or appears, as it is; look to your own +motives, and judge not, lest ye be judged. + +Poetry, as has been said, differs in this respect from logic, that +it is not subject to the control of the active powers of the mind, +and that its birth and recurrence have no necessary connexion with +the consciousness or will. It is presumptuous to determine that +these are the necessary conditions of all mental causation, when +mental effects are experienced unsusceptible of being referred to +them. The frequent recurrence of the poetical power, it is obvious +to suppose, may produce in the mind a habit of order and harmony +correlative with its own nature and its effects upon other minds. +But in the intervals of inspiration, and they may be frequent +without being durable, a poet becomes a man, and is abandoned to +the sudden reflux of the influences under which others habitually +live. But as he is more delicately organized than other men, and +sensible to pain and pleasure, both his own and that of others, in +a degree unknown to them, he will avoid the one and pursue the other +with an ardour proportioned to this difference. And he renders +himself obnoxious to calumny, when he neglects to observe the +circumstances under which these objects of universal pursuit and +flight have disguised themselves in one another's garments. + +But there is nothing necessarily evil in this error, and thus +cruelty, envy, revenge, avarice, and the passions purely evil, have +never formed any portion of the popular imputations on the lives +of poets. + +I have thought it most favourable to the cause of truth to set down +these remarks according to the order in which they were suggested +to my mind, by a consideration of the subject itself, instead of +observing the formality of a polemical reply; but if the view which +they contain be just, they will be found to involve a refutation +of the arguers against poetry, so far at least as regards the first +division of the subject. I can readily conjecture what should have +moved the gall of some learned and intelligent writers who quarrel +with certain versifiers; I confess myself, like them, unwilling +to be stunned, by the Theseids of the hoarse Codri of the day. +Bavius and Maevius undoubtedly are, as they ever were, insufferable +persons. But it belongs to a philosophical critic to distinguish +rather than confound. + +The first part of these remarks has related to poetry in its +elements and principles; and it has been shown, as well as the narrow +limits assigned them would permit, that what is called poetry, in +a restricted sense, has a common source with all other forms of order +and of beauty, according to which the materials of human life are +susceptible of being arranged, and which is poetry in a universal +sense. + +The second part will have for its object an application of these +principles to the present state of the cultivation of poetry, and +a defence of the attempt to idealize the modern forms of manners and +opinions, and compel them into a subordination to the imaginative +and creative faculty. For the literature of England, an energetic +development of which has ever preceded or accompanied a great and +free development of the national will, has arisen as it were from a +new birth. In spite of the low-thoughted envy which would undervalue +contemporary merit, our own will be a memorable age in intellectual +achievements, and we live among such philosophers and poets +as surpass beyond comparison any who have appeared since the last +national struggle for civil and religious liberty. The most unfailing +herald, companion, and follower of the awakening of a great people +to work a beneficial change in opinion or institution, is poetry. +At such periods there is an accumulation of the power of communicating +and receiving intense and impassioned conceptions respecting man +and nature. The persons in whom this power resides may often, as far +as regards many portions of their nature, have little apparent +correspondence with that spirit of good of which they are +the ministers. But even whilst they deny and abjure, they are yet +compelled to serve, the power which is seated on the throne of +their own soul. It is impossible to read the compositions of the +most celebrated writers of the present day without being startled +with the electric life which burns within their words. They measure +the circumference and sound the depths of human nature with a +comprehensive and all-penetrating spirit, and they are themselves +perhaps the most sincerely astonished at its manifestations; for +it is less their spirit than the spirit of the age. Poets are the +hierophants of an unapprehended inspiration; the mirrors of the +gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the present; the words +which express what they understand not; the trumpets which sing +to battle, and feel not what they inspire; the influence which is +moved not, but moves. Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of +the world. + +THE END + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, A DEFENCE OF POETRY AND OTHER ESSAYS *** + +This file should be named adpoe10.txt or adpoe10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, adpoe11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, adpoe10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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