The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-06-26
an

fusion % the Arts.' The saying that bear
the sams relation 10 the modern period
40 Honos's as In painting. 20 In
/ pOstry' Il that Of Friedrich Schlegsl:
Architecture Il frozen MUSIC There
are AZ least two other claimants for the
authorship Of this famous phrassO Schle-
gel. representing the romantioists. seeks
the common bond not In form but In
feeling. arguing that even architecture,
apparently the most formal Of the arts,
arose originally In response 10 rhythmic
thrill and u In short only cOngealed
emotion. Long before Walter Pater the
! Germans declared that music is the most
artistic 81 the avts because u 10 tho least
formal: that the other arts tend 10 per-
foction in proportion a. they approximate
10 music. A. the confusion Of poetry and
painting Ia only a corolhry 10 something
still more fundamental. namely. the doc
trine OF imitation. 20 the exaltation OF
music Is only a oorOllaTy n something still
more fundamental. namely. tho theory Of
spOntansity. The early eighteenth Gen.
tury had arrived at Nm excessively anAlyti-
cal dryness Of mind. The very natural
human instincts which were repressed
were not eliminated but merely forced
into the subconsciOus. and after aooumu-
lating there for a certain time they made
their way back 20 the surface. according
TO the best psychological theory. In a sort
OF -subllniinal rush This subliminal
uprush or overflow of emotion assumed
forms Ne different a. the German Storm
and Stress. the Wesleyan movement In
England and the French Revolution: and
the root Of the whole Storm and Stress
movement. as one German authority
declares. was ROusseau's gospel % ma
ture- Rousseau asserted that man
should not reason but feel. and that the
activity of the intellect. 10 Tar from being
a gain. IL a source q degensncy. The
man who thinks.' SAYS Rousseau. Is a
depIved animal: and Prof. Rabbits
comment on this IL 70 quote Gregory's
parallel saying: Ignorance 10 the mother
of DEVOTION The Rousseauists woud be
satisfied with nothing short of a frenzy
Of the Imagination. while the nsO-clas-
sicists were for combining tho poetical
faculties in a straitiacks,; 1T ia hard
to read certain romantic poets says
Prof Babbitt. Victor Hugo. for example.
without at times regretting the absence
Of the straitiacket-
AZ the very centre Of the right distinc-
don between classic and romantic art
lies the relation between the probable and
the wonderful Romanticism permits the
wonderful. and la Fontaine clsverly says
in regard 20 man's power TO enChant him
self with hia own dreams Man 10 as Ice
where truths are concerned. hut ire vhen
tbs a question u lies There lies the e.
sential difference Not many years after
voltairs had said that Imagination is not
10 be esteemed when divorced from ration
atty and judgment Novalis proclaimed
that fairy tales we're the highest form Of
art Just because they lacked logical coher-
ency and converted the wori1 irto "a
magic dream picture. a musical fantasy
But this craving for a reDascence of Won
der cannot he too closely scrutinlzed. for
instead Of being a sign Of real natuTalnesa
and simplicity Il often marks the last
stage Of exaggerated refinement. Walt
Whitman. for instance. 80 far from being
the poet Of natural and simple people. NJ
rather the poet Of the superlatively civil
ized In fact there is a tremendous gap
between the primitivism preached by the
Rousseauists and the genuinely primitive
traits that reveal themselves in the child
hood Of either the individual or the race.
and romantic prim.tiyisIn IL the source Of
our modern confusion Of the arts ~ well as
Of many other COMMISSIONS. After a keen
analysis Of the true and the false primitiv-
ism Prof Babbitt quotes A. W. Schlegei.
who scored both Aristotle and Lessing and
proclaimed Plato the true guide among
the ancient philosophers This theory in
wolves the consideration Of thu question
" neither the romantic writers we're true
PlatOnsts any more than the neo-clasaio
writer's were true AFistotelians
In the chapter which he devotes to
this discussion Prof Rabbit reaches the
general conclusion that the romanticists
took the name Of Plato in vain quite a.
~ did the Petrarchists Of
the Renaissance. He instances Words |
wortlIs famous ode on Immortality /
which contains. he says. touches Of true /
mystical insight along with passages that |
are more ROuaseauistic than PiAtonic. TO |
the belief that -our birth 10 but a sleep |
and a forgetting Plato would have as- !
sented; but the Rousseauistic assertion |
that children Of Q are mighty prophets !
ssers blessed would probably have |
seemed 10 him portentous nonsense. A |
nan becomes un-PlatOnic and pseudo |
mystical IN direct ratio 10 his contempt |
Tor nationality AZ compared with the un-
thespontaneous. the instructive
The speeches Of all the sages. says Master !
linck. are outWeighed by the unconscious
wisdom Of the passing child. Tho child |
who holds his peace Ia a thousand times I
wiser than Marcus Aurelius who speaks
This is the uttsrancs not 81 a genuine
Platonist but Of ROusseauist who pays |
10 what IL below the reason the homage
that IL due only 10 what In above IL: who
y ith all bis glorihcation Of the child does
not attain the truly Ohildlike Then \
again. Al regards love, Plato distinguishes
between an earthly and Uranian
Aphrodite, never actually confo,mding the
two; but in the romantic movement the
EOrd Ia used Unfortunately. Alfred de
Nusset. for example. does not draw any
clear line betW cen his love for God and his
love for a gTisetts. With the spOntaneity
II Rousseau Ne must also contrast q higher
where tho powers Of Illusion
- - a.. am-Tst.a - ~. - - - I