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Article THE POETIC INTERPRETATION OF NATURE.* ← Page 3 of 6 →
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The Poetic Interpretation Of Nature.*
The Author , then , of " The Poetic Interpretation of Nature , speaks to us primarily of that " Book , who runs , may read , " told us of , long ago , by one of our best and truest poets ; a Book whose page is open to the man who by neglect of education can dwell but uselessly on the printed page ;
open to the man AVIIO in the turmoil of life can have leisure for no Avritten story , but must gather his lessons of life and love , from the grasses that he crushes beneath his tread , or the thing of life that flutters by his hasty world-bound path ; open to the man Avhose brain is reeling , and Avhose sight is dim , with poring over the metaphysician ' s page , and Avho turns to Nature for relief from toil , and who finds that Avhilst his Aveary eye finds restand his troubled brain relieffrom the abstruse perplexities of human lore
, , , his mind grows bright , and his heart groAVS glad , whilst drinking in a knowledge , which is , beside that of earth , past compare , for it speaks to his inner and his better self , his soul , and it draAvs him away from the contemplation of the things of Time to the realization of the things of Eternity .
It is Avith the practical adaptation of this teaching to human needs that Principal Shairp seems mainly to have to do in his little volume . He recognises the fact that it is not to all that it is given to read the great World-book ' s lessons aright , far less to all is it allotted to be able to impart this knowledge to others Avhen so gained . The position , then , that he seems to assume is : that there is a teaching in Nature Avhich can only be realised by a poet ; and Avhich , when it has found vent hi words , constitutes
true poetry—in fact , that the Poet is the Priest of Nature ' s mysteries . When , then , the author grants , that not alone is he a poet that can giA'e his learning words , but a man that can appreciate true Beauty that not alone is that poetry which can strike on the outward ear of man , but the drinking it into the soul , the incorporating it into himself by any man that can thus spiritually feed on Beauty , we can quite agree with him in tbe position that he unhesitatingly takes that Poetry is the only exponent of the living Beauty of Nature . But with his definition of Beauty itself Ave are not quite in accord , nor are we with the illustrations by which he Avould enforce his argument . He says : —
Light , as physicists inform us , is not something which exists in itself apart from any sentient being . The external reality is not light , but the motion of certain particles , Avhich , when they impinge on the eye , and have been conveyed along the visual nerve to the brain , are felt by the mind as light , —result in a perception of light . Light , therefore , is not a purely objective thing , but is something produced by the meeting of certain outward motions with a perceiving mind . Again , certain vibrations of the air striking on the drum of the ear , and communicated by the nerve of hearing to the brain , result in the perception of sound . Sound , therefore , is not a purely objective entitybut is a result that requires to its production the meeting of an
, outward vibration with a hearing mind ; it is the result of the joint action of these two elements . In a similar way , certain qualities of outward objects , certaiu combinations of laws in the material world , when apprehended by the soul through its esthetic and imaginative faculties , result in the perception of what we call Beauty . Therefore , Beauty , neither wholly without us nor wholly within us , is a product resulting from the meeting of certain qualities of the outward Avorld Avith a sensitive and imaginative soul . The combination of both these elements is necessary to its existence . "
This we cannot accept any more than Ave can what Principal Shairp here tells us , the Ph ysicists teach us of Light and Sound . God created Light , before there Avas a soul upon this earth to aid ( as the Physicists would say , in Avhat , according to them , would be its creation ) by observing it . Besides , « t us put this theory into practise and Ave shall soon see the fallacy : —A . and B . are standing side bsideA . can see and hearbut B . is blind and deafa certain
y ; , ; oratory motion of certain particles starts and takes effect upon A ' s optic nerve , therefore there is Light ! The same thing at identically the same time and place goes ° round B . but does not effect his optic nerve . Therefore , there is not Light ! There' M'e , at the same time and place there both is and is not Light ! This we cannot but
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Poetic Interpretation Of Nature.*
The Author , then , of " The Poetic Interpretation of Nature , speaks to us primarily of that " Book , who runs , may read , " told us of , long ago , by one of our best and truest poets ; a Book whose page is open to the man who by neglect of education can dwell but uselessly on the printed page ;
open to the man AVIIO in the turmoil of life can have leisure for no Avritten story , but must gather his lessons of life and love , from the grasses that he crushes beneath his tread , or the thing of life that flutters by his hasty world-bound path ; open to the man Avhose brain is reeling , and Avhose sight is dim , with poring over the metaphysician ' s page , and Avho turns to Nature for relief from toil , and who finds that Avhilst his Aveary eye finds restand his troubled brain relieffrom the abstruse perplexities of human lore
, , , his mind grows bright , and his heart groAVS glad , whilst drinking in a knowledge , which is , beside that of earth , past compare , for it speaks to his inner and his better self , his soul , and it draAvs him away from the contemplation of the things of Time to the realization of the things of Eternity .
It is Avith the practical adaptation of this teaching to human needs that Principal Shairp seems mainly to have to do in his little volume . He recognises the fact that it is not to all that it is given to read the great World-book ' s lessons aright , far less to all is it allotted to be able to impart this knowledge to others Avhen so gained . The position , then , that he seems to assume is : that there is a teaching in Nature Avhich can only be realised by a poet ; and Avhich , when it has found vent hi words , constitutes
true poetry—in fact , that the Poet is the Priest of Nature ' s mysteries . When , then , the author grants , that not alone is he a poet that can giA'e his learning words , but a man that can appreciate true Beauty that not alone is that poetry which can strike on the outward ear of man , but the drinking it into the soul , the incorporating it into himself by any man that can thus spiritually feed on Beauty , we can quite agree with him in tbe position that he unhesitatingly takes that Poetry is the only exponent of the living Beauty of Nature . But with his definition of Beauty itself Ave are not quite in accord , nor are we with the illustrations by which he Avould enforce his argument . He says : —
Light , as physicists inform us , is not something which exists in itself apart from any sentient being . The external reality is not light , but the motion of certain particles , Avhich , when they impinge on the eye , and have been conveyed along the visual nerve to the brain , are felt by the mind as light , —result in a perception of light . Light , therefore , is not a purely objective thing , but is something produced by the meeting of certain outward motions with a perceiving mind . Again , certain vibrations of the air striking on the drum of the ear , and communicated by the nerve of hearing to the brain , result in the perception of sound . Sound , therefore , is not a purely objective entitybut is a result that requires to its production the meeting of an
, outward vibration with a hearing mind ; it is the result of the joint action of these two elements . In a similar way , certain qualities of outward objects , certaiu combinations of laws in the material world , when apprehended by the soul through its esthetic and imaginative faculties , result in the perception of what we call Beauty . Therefore , Beauty , neither wholly without us nor wholly within us , is a product resulting from the meeting of certain qualities of the outward Avorld Avith a sensitive and imaginative soul . The combination of both these elements is necessary to its existence . "
This we cannot accept any more than Ave can what Principal Shairp here tells us , the Ph ysicists teach us of Light and Sound . God created Light , before there Avas a soul upon this earth to aid ( as the Physicists would say , in Avhat , according to them , would be its creation ) by observing it . Besides , « t us put this theory into practise and Ave shall soon see the fallacy : —A . and B . are standing side bsideA . can see and hearbut B . is blind and deafa certain
y ; , ; oratory motion of certain particles starts and takes effect upon A ' s optic nerve , therefore there is Light ! The same thing at identically the same time and place goes ° round B . but does not effect his optic nerve . Therefore , there is not Light ! There' M'e , at the same time and place there both is and is not Light ! This we cannot but