The sun., 1916-04-16
Shakespeare and English
History
By GEORGE MCLEAN HARPER,
lSslmss Professor Of Bellies Lsttres and
English Language and Literature.
Princeton University.

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toms and standards Of the place.
30 in life we individuals are unable or
unwilling to stand alone. We look about
in human society to learn the rules Of the
game: We observe who are the heroes OF
the school and try to form ourselves ac-
cordingly.
But actual life Is too close at hand and
confused to furnish perspective and
sense OF Wilderness. except TO q few extra
ordinarily clear sighted observers. and per
haps even they are deceived more often
than not BY false appearances OF SYM
metry and purpose. The self-made man
intellectually is liable to strange illusions.
because he must depend chiefly on his own
experience. His independence. which
strengthens his character. limits the scope
Of his vision and the soundncss of his
Judgment when he comes to make broad
cancellations
From this narrowness and incapacity a
man Of literary culture even though pos
0essing only mediocre natural powers. has
Q chance to free himself. History teaches
by examples. philosophy by precept: but,
As Sir Philip Sidney said. the poet does
both: "He giveth a perfect picture of some
one by whom he supposeth it was done:
20 as he couplcth the general notion
with the particular example" Prof.
Richard G. Moulton expressed the same
idea when he declared. Poetry and fic-
tion are an experimental side to the phi
Iosophy OF human life" Thus it is that
the poet creates: thus it is that he in
Otructs.
To do justice to this conception We
must realize what poetry is. IL is not
verse. 1t Is not merely entertainments
It is the most complete and profound en-
ra;. 20 Ill
capable. 1t is thought and feeling uttered
by something more than a man who
writes. by a spirit within him. not him
self. which speaks in musical language.
In a large sense We can hardly think
Of poetry as, in its true inwardness. differ
ent from painting. sculpture. music, ar
chitecture elocution or dancing, which are
all expressions OF human thought, espe-
cia1ly emotional or temperamental thought.
And there is real distinction between
these arts on the one hand and the crafts
and sports on the other. The difference
i3 not so much a matter of utility. as has
been sometimes urged, as Of personality
and liberty
Mechanical structures neither awaken
curiosity as to the characters and tempera-
ments Of their makers nor reveal much
concerning them, except that they were
more or less skilful and persistent and
honest. A well built engine or q straight
furrow do not greatly interest us in the
personality of the mechanician or the
ploughman: but we learn to recognize
Beethoven in his symphonies and Raphael
In his line. For Burns as a ploughman
We have not much concern; for Burns as
q poet we care immensely In this mat
ter OF personality the sportsman stands
half way between the artifiCer and the ar
tist; his individuality does interest the pub
lie, as any one can assure himself by read
Ing the sporting page OF newspaper.
Among all the arts and far more than
all the sports and trades poetry is pre-
eminent as a mode of thought, an express
sion of character and temperament. It
employs the most plastic, resourceful and
universal medium. since language is n
means Of communication superior To color.
to tone and to material substances.
Imaginative literary art, that is. chiefly,
poetry and prose fiction, furnishes more
impressive examples of the philosophy OF
life than crude life itself can furnish. Rob
tnson Crusoe" is more memorable than
any story of an actual shipwrecked man,
the Prodigal Son than any newspaper ac-
count Of q youth fallen into evil courses.
And there Is good deal OF fiction. and
very effective fiction that passes as his
tory: for example. the Cyrus and the So
crates Of xenophon, and the Jesus of
Johns gospel. Almost all speeches"
recorded in history are inventions, as,
for example the famous funeral Grafton OF
Pericles in Thucydides; Inventions | mean,
20 far as their exact form Is concerned, for
We cannot suppose that there were any
shorthand reporters present when they
were uttered.
It Is = mistake 10 suppose thai fiction
owes its advantage as a teacher merely 10
the attractiveness of its subjects WHY
should 1t be--or indeed is it--morc attrac
tive than biography? Its advantage lies in
the fact that the author is free to selec,
and arrange his material in such a way as
TO express his own thought and feeling
more freely than the bographer can do
The drama possesses an advantage over
narrative fiction because the function OF
drama Is to represent human beings IN
action. There Is least chance Of deception
regarding character when We see il In ac.
ton. Character Is made by action and fol
action and can be understood in actor
alooo.