Epic Poetry Exhibits Life In Some Great

It Seems Difficult, Sometimes, To Believe That There Was A Time When Sentiments Now Become Habitual, Sentiments That Imply Not Only The Original Imperative Of Conduct, But The Original Metaphysic Of Living, Were By No Means Altogether Habitual.

The Border Ballads, For Instance, And The Robin Hood Ballads, Clearly Suppose A State Of Society Which Is Nothing But A Very Circumscribed And Not Very Important Heroic Age.

The Reason Can Only Be This: Heroic Poetry Depends On An Heroic Age, And An Age Is Heroic Because Of What It Is, Not Because Of What It Does.

For The Stage Displays The First Vigorous Expression, As The Natural Thing And Without Conspicuous Restraint, Of Private Individuality.

No Poet Will Ever Take The Written Word As A Substitute For The Spoken Word; He Knows That It Is On The Spoken Word, And The Spoken Word Only, That His Art Is Founded.