The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1891-01-11
PhiIoiogy and Literature.

IL il very noticeable fact that the sci
| enre OF philolOgy, great as have been its adj
! vances in this century, mas less and less
made itself felt upon Literature. In the
United States there is not single powerful
writer who knows ANYTHING about philology
or. to put il better, there is not a single phil
ologian who is a powerful writer. Ana this
| is the case the world over. One can think
I of men who have become intellectual forces
| I'm the modern world because of their knOwl'
edge Of biology, Of chemistry, OF history. OF
political economy, Of philosophy; but OF mo-
one with the apparent exception OF Renan)
who has become so by his knowledge Of phi
| lOOgy. Indeed, it is n curious fact that
| modern philOl0gy, which nov rejects As I'M
scientific every thing saNorlng oil the bellies
leitres. owes its own original impulse u lit
crature, and not 10 its own Inherent force.
Thus the founder Of romance philOlogy.
D.ez, was a deyOtee OF Byron, and did his
first literary work as translator Of BNrOn's
verse. Thus the founders Of Germanic phi
lology were in the first place men under the
influence of Goethe and his friends. and in
the second place the rOmanticists. To these
men, lab0ring primarily because Of lite
rary impulse, we really owe the foundation
OF modern philOlogy.
But now this same phil0lOgy affects To
cast of literature, and one finds AT every
turn invectiyes against what the German
philologists love 10 call The "BelletIisten."
Every day phlOlOgy becomes more and
more separated from lterature-that Is,
from life. 1t has already ceased 10 have
any real influence upon the opinions Of man.
kind. We cannot hope, then, that phil0lOgy
will give us in education material for the
formation Of writers. Ii has now fallen into
the hands of men who have ends Of their
own, apart from the intellectual needs or
desires of the world at large. They cfiti-
else according 10 their own standards, and
he who ventures to work apart from those
standards finds himself overwhelmed with
ridicule and abuse. There is no way. then,
but TO cut loose from them, leave them to
follow their own course, and for ones own
part simply to use what OF their results has
practical value.
But whittier shall we turn for that new
conception acknowledge, that new sdapta-
ton Of science 10 life, 10 the needs Of men in
neral, which NAV be expected 10 yield
some fruit in practicey The first necessity
10 10 return to life, which philology has
abandoned. To return 10 life il 10 turn 10 lit
erature rs the expression Of life, 10 search
In literature for The conceptions which have
proved themselves really vital, and TO study
the expires sion. given 10 these concept Ous,
wherever they have assumed final and ade-
quate form. 1t is 10 follow in peoples the
growth OF perceptions needing expression,
and to endeavor 10 make out that quOd sem
per, quod Unique, quod alb omnibus, which
in lite, in literature, in religion, constitutes
the Catholic faith. Ii is 10 study that paral-
lelism which Wordsworth remarked be-
tween true literature and life, that mysteri-
Gus power that the forms of art. possess OF
working in harmony with the eternal forces
Of the universe, 80 that, apparently, men
cannot help adopting as their own, ia the
long run, all that is both founded on fact
and adequately expressed in literature. In
short, it is 10 study literary expression, H.
tellec,ual impulses, artistic and splritu Il
as all having fdndameut Il
laws, ineligible to men, if only they can
be properly set iorth.-The Century.