Meanwhile came thronging to the appointed place.

As swarming forth from cells within the rock,
Coming and coming still the tribe of bees
Fly in a cluster o'er the flowers of spring,
And some are darting out from right to left.
So from the ships and tents a multitude
Along the spacious beach in mighty throngs
Moved toward the assembly.

-Iliad, 2: Idem.

CHAPTER XXIII.

ALLOYED REPRESENTATION: ITS GENESIS.

Alloy introduces Unpoetic Elements into Verse-All Classic Representation Pure-Tendencies in Poetic Composition leading to Alloyed Representation-In Direct Representation-In Illustrative RepresentationLawful to enlarge by Illustrations an Idea Great and Complex or Small and Simple-Descriptions of a Meal-Sunset-Peasant-Sailor-How these Tendencies may introduce Alloy that does not represent-Exaggerations in Love-Scenes-In Descriptions of Natural Scenery, etc.— In Allegorical Poems and Sensational Plays.

WE

E will examine now the form of representation which, in contrast to pure, has been termed alloyed. This latter, as has been said, while following in the main the methods of picturing the thoughts that are used in pure representation, always introduces something into the picture in addition to what would naturally be perceived in connection with circumstances like those that are being detailed. At first thought, it might be supposed that these additions would not greatly impair the poetry in which we find them. But the fallacy of this supposition will appear, when we recall that poetry is an art, and that all art is representative. It follows from this that the purer the representation, the purer will be the art, and in the degree in which any thing is added to the representation,-any thing, that is, of such a nature that in like circumstances it could not presumably

have been perceived,—in that degree will the product be likely to lose its artistic qualities.

Some who may not recognize the truth of this statement, when viewed from a theoretical standpoint, may, when viewed from a practical. Let us look at it in this way then whatever is added to the representation must come, in the last analysis, from the artist; and from him, when not exercising his legitimate artistic functions; when, instead of giving us a picture of nature and man, as he finds them, he has begun to give us his own explanations and theories concerning them. Now all explanation and theories, as we know, are necessarily the outgrowth-if not of ignorance or superstition-at least of the intellectual or spiritual condition of the age in which one lives. For this reason, to a succeeding age they are not satisfactory, even if they do not prove to be wholly fallacious; and a work of science or philosophy that is made up of them usually dies, because men outgrow their need of it, and do not care to keep it alive. A work of artistic poetry, on the contrary, lives because its pages image the phenomena of nature, and of human life, which can really be perceived, and most of these remain from age to age unchanged. A writer who confines himself to these, which alone can be used legitimately in representation, is, as Jonson' said of Shakespear, " not of an age but for all time"; and this fact can be affirmed of men like him alone. Out of the thousands of poems written in the past, only those have come down to us, and are termed classic, which are characterized by an absence of explanations and theories, and a presence of that kind of representation which has here been termed pure. How important, then, it is for the poet of the present to under

'To the memory of my beloved master William Shakespear.

stand just what the nature and requirements of this pure representation are, and what are the methods of rendering it alloyed that should be avoided.

We shall start at the beginning of our subject, if we notice, first, certain influences tending to divert the poet from his legitimate work, and causing him to depart from the methods of pure representation. These will be considered in the present chapter.

Taking up first in order direct representation, it follows, from what has been said already, that composition in the plain language of this form can be nothing except prose, the moment the writer ceases to think in pictures; the moment, therefore, that, without using figurative language, he begins to be didactic or argumentative. Notice how easy it would be to glide into prose from a passage like the following. All that saves it, as it is, are the pictures of William, of the two women, and of the old man, which, as we read it, rise up irresistibly before the imagination.

"O Sir, when William died, he died at peace
With all men; for I asked him, and he said,
He could not ever rue his marrying me.
I had been a patient wife: but, Sir, he said
That he was wrong to cross his father thus:

'God bless him!' he said, ' and may he never know

The troubles I have gone through!' Then he turned
His face and passed-unhappy that I am!

But now, Sir, let me have my boy, for you

Will make him hard, and he will learn to slight

His father's memory; and take Dora back,

And let all this be as it was before."

So Mary said, and Dora hid her face

By Mary. There was silence in the room;

And all at once the old man burst in sobs :

"I have been to blame-to blame! I have killed my son!"

-Dora: Tennyson.

Following chapters will contain so many contrasted passages of pure and alloyed representation in the direct form, that it would be superfluous to introduce any more of them here. Besides this, whatever poetic principles their introduction would illustrate, can be brought out as well while we go on to consider what is a far more important part of our present discussion, namely, the influences tending to divert the poet from his legitimate work when composing in figurative language.

As all illegitimate tendencies are usually developed in some way from legitimate ones, perhaps the best method of approaching our present subject is to start by recalling what has been said before with reference to the necessity, in order to express certain phases of thought, of a poet's writing in figurative language. From this necessity it follows that he will be impelled to use figures whenever, for any reason, he feels that plain language will not serve his purpose. Two circumstances, inclusive, in a broad way, of many others, will justify him, as we can see, in having this feeling: first, where the impression to be conveyed is very great or complex in its nature. Very frequently, in these circumstances, plain direct representation might not only fail to do justice to the subject, but might positively misrepresent it. Milton wished to convey an impression of the size and power of Satan. It would scarcely have been possible for him to do this adequately without making his representation illustrative; and by taking this course he has furnished us with an example of a pure and legitimate use of this form.

Thus Satan talking to his nearest mate,
With head uplift above the wave, and eyes
That sparkling blazed; his other parts besides
Prone on the flood, extended long and large,