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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: INTRODUCTION I. THE HESIODIC EPOS I. ' Poetry is earlier than Prose' is a familiar dictum of historical literary criticism, and the dictum is a true one when rightly understood. It has been a difficulty with some that prose?proia oratio, or direct speech?the speech which, like Mark Antony, ' only speaks right on, ' should be later in literature than verse. But all that is meant is merely this: that before the invention of some form of writing, of a mechanical means in some shape or other of recording the spoken word, the only kind of literature that can exist is a memorial literature. And a memorial literature can only be developed with the help of metre. Aristotle finds the origin of poetry in two deep- seated human instincts: ' the instinct for Imitation and the instinct for Harmony and Rhythm, metres being clearly sections of rhythm. Persons, therefore, starting with this natural gift developed by degrees their special aptitudes, till their rude improvisations gave birth to Poetry ' (Poet. iv). What Aristotle says of Tragedy (Poet., 1. c.) is true of poetry in general, that ' it advanced by slow degrees; each new element that showed itself was in turn developed ', and everywhere ' Nature herself discovered the appropriate measure '. Poetry, then, for primitive man, was the only vehicle of literature, the only means by which the greatest experiences, the deepest feelings and aspirations of humanity could find an enduring record. ' In one way only, ' says Pindar, Nem. vii. 14 sq., ' know we a mirror for glorious deeds?if by grace of bright- crowned Mnemosyne a recompense of toils is found in glorious folds of verse.' What in Pindar is a claim and a vaunt is for the primitive man literally true. Not for nothing was Mnemosyne or Memory the mother of the Muses: and not f...
| ISBN-13 | 9780217220965 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10 | 0217220967 |
| Weight | 0.52 Pounds |
| Dimensions | 9.00 x 6.00 x 0.35 In |
| List Price | $19.99 |
| Format | Paperback |
|---|---|
| Pages | 152 pages |
| Publisher | |
| Published On | 2009-08-01 |
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