Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1904-03-25


acter OF Ruth any the less beautiful
because the result Of her choice was
final happiness on earth and honor In
heaven? in each case we have u
great personality, sane and responsible,
making a choice and thereby revealing
a character, each lled IN these in
stances with the beauties Of holiness
like the dews Of the morning." yet
there Is no tragedy here. This con-
ception Of literary art appears 20 cor.
respond With the history OF the arts
of sculpture and painting. The build
crs OF the tower OF Babel or OF the
pyramids seem to be trying TO reach
the infinite by adding the finite to the
finite; while the Assyrlans strove by
the mysterious sphynx to utter the
secret which nature everywhere hints
at but nowhere reveals. The Greeks
found that man solves the riddle OF
the unlverse--that he is himself the
infinite, the measure OF all things.
ART FALLS SHORT.
Hence. Greek art bent TO the portrayal
of man. not only as body, but as
spirit, even In painting and sculp-
ture. When these arts. however,
had done their utmost, 1t was
seen that man was not yet fully re-
vealed, and that II was In the drama
that further revelation of the most
favored child OF nature must be sought
But there Is a gloom, fate. a despair,
In the Greek drama I'VE must wait"
said Plato. tin some one comes, who
can teach us the truth" When lie came
and revealed once for all the divine pat
tern OF true manhood, 1t became posi-.
BILE for men TO approach the true ideal
OF beauty with fTeer hand and less Ia
Dor. And TO reveal In some degree that
true ideal Is the task Of literature.
THE TRUE IDEAL,
Those Of US who read, not for the pur.
pose or even with the thought OF dra-
matte criticism. but for the sake OF the
pure pleasure or instruction which II
AFFORDS, perhaps approach the subject
from different standpoint than that
of the literary analyst. our purpose
Is different our point Of view is not
merely that of the artist; what we see
Is something even more vital than art
itself.
Literary writers are not primarily
seeking TO show us how the great and
noble meet their fate; they are trying
merely TO show us the great and noble
characters In and OF themselves, II Is
not the tragedy but the man or the wo-
man that they are trying 10 make mani
fest unto us, The tragedy is the means;
but the man Is the end. When Shake
speare shows US Brutus his ideal char
aoter. "Nhose life was gentle and the
elements 50 mixed IN him that nature
might stand up and say to all ne
world, This was a man, lis the pur-
pose Of this portrayal to show that Bru.
tus was practical failure and by Inn
plicatlon therefore spiritual SUGGEST
or was II to show that Brutus was a
man." j take the poets own words for
IT, The practical success or failure OF
such character was merely an incl
dent. DO great characters even In
tragedy always fail, as Brutus did, In
practical affairs? Not necessarily,
THE SONS OF GOD.
When We = .Jproach literature from the
standpoint OF life rather than that OF
art, we ~ all find, as Emerson says, that
all the great writer's seem TO be saying
the same thing. a are telling the same
story, with dlf' srent words and incl
dents, but the ., ne theme nevertheless,
What is that theme? Emerson does not
say. Neither dpes any other writer
In so many words answer the question
for us. But the answer Is not wanting.
| The great writer's are revealing their
own highest ideals Of NE and charac-
| ter That seems 20 be the secret they
| are expressing Just as PLATE uncon-
sciously summed up that prophecy OF
| the Christ which runs throughout the
| Scriptures, when he said, Behold the
man." so do all the writer's exhibit the
| man. For the earnest expectation OF
the creature" says the Apostle In Ro-
mans 8. 49, "waiteth for the manifesta-
ton OF the sons Of God" This fallen
being, of whom the apostle Is speaking
was made subject to vanity, but shall
l.. delivered from the bondage OF cor
| ruption into the glorious liberty OF the
sons of God" For we know" he
says, that the whole creation groan
eth and trayaieth In pain" and "ever
we ourselves groan within ourselves
waiting for the adoption" In other
words. not man alone but the whole
creation il In travail seeking to bring
| forth creatures that may truly be en-
titled TO the name OF the children OF
God. This ideal has only once beer
manifested, but II appears TO be TN
heart of every drama. And II Is SAID
that each author writes himself only
that it takes great man To write
great character. II took snake
speare TO write a Brutus; George
Eliot to picture an Armgart; a So
phocles, to represent an Antlgone, etc
HEROES AND HERolNEs.
But the truly ideal man was only once
depicted, and then by four plain men
the eyangelists. Other writers II the,
have tried TO construct an Ideally per
feet character, have not succeeded TIM
may be because a man can wtlle N
greater than he IL. Yet It Is said tina
the great male writer's have herolne'
without plemlsh May not this be GU
10 tho fact that only woman cal
truly know the feminine character
Men have written OF women as II some
AT least, Of their herolnes were actually
perfect. Either wolIen are bette
than men, or men do not correctly ue
lneate their herolnes. But be That an u
may, Is not the main object OF literary
art, of painting, and OF sculpture, III
portrayal OF the noble man or woman
Tho "son OF God" Of whom the Apostle
speaksY Is any other object In creation
worth the pains Of true art? After all
IL 1t not man, IL It not mind, that glve'
to the material world whatever Of beau
~ and interest II possesses Al othe
things are valuable only In relation Y
him, Nature too. has a meaning an
worth. 1t Is seeking to perfect ltsell
Each flower seeks to realize It's Idea
form and harmony, but fails to do so
The perfect plant or animal Is an ldea
TO which each member OF the species
seems TO approach, rather than ina
any particular specimen IL perfect, Ant
even as all nature seems TO be strlyinl
to produce the perfect form and patter'
80 man IL seeking to rise to the meas
ure and stature OF Him, who alone ]
ideally perfect This Ia what the writ
ers are saying to us. Behold the mani
Is the final word OF literary art,
SPRING CLEANING.