-Poverty as sharpener of sensibility. The poet's
age.-Vogue of the young poet.—Purity of youth-
ful emotions.-Early death.-Claims of the aged
poet.-Contemplation after active life.

III. THE POET AS LOVER

The classic conception.-Love as a disturbing
factor in composition.-The romantic conception.
-Love the source of inspiration.-Fusion of in-
tense passion with repose essential to poetry.-
Poetic love and Platonic love synonymous.-Sen-
sual love not suggestive.-The poet's ascent to
ideal love.-Analogy with ascent described in
Plato's Symposium.-Discontent with ephemeral-
ness of passion.-Poetry a means of rendering
passion eternal.-Insatiability of the poet's af-
fections.-Idealization of his mistress.-Ideal
beauty the real object of his love.-Fickleness.-
Its justification.-Advantage in seeing varied as-
pects of ideal beauty.-Remoteness as an essential
factor in ideal love.-Sluggishness resulting from
complete content.-Aspiration the poetic attitude.
-Abstract love-poetry, consciously addressed to
ideal beauty. Its merits and defects.-The sen-
suous as well as the ideal indispensable to poetry.

IV. THE SPARK FROM HEAVEN

Reticence of great geniuses regarding inspira-
tion. Mystery of inspiration.-The poet's curi-
osity as to his inspired moments.-Wild desire
preceding inspiration.-Sudden arrest rather than
satisfaction of desire.-Ecstasy.-Analogy with
intoxication.-Attitude of reverence during in-
spired moments.-Feeling that an outside power is
responsible.-Attempts to give a rational account
of inspiration.-The theory of the sub-conscious.
-Prenatal memory.-Reincarnation of dead
geniuses. Varied conceptions of the spirit inspir-
ing song as the Muse, nature, the spirit of the uni-

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verse. The poet's absolute surrender to this
power.-Madness.-Contempt for the limitations
of the human reason.-Belief in infallibility of
inspirations.-Limitations of inspiration.-Tran-
sience. Expression not given from without.-The
work of the poet's conscious intelligence.-Need
for making the vision intelligible.-Quarrel over
the value of hard work.

V. THE POET'S MORALITY

The poet's reliance upon feeling as sole moral

guide.-Attack upon his morals made by philoso-
phers, puritans, philistines.-Professedly wicked
poets. Their rarity.-Revolt against mass-feeling.
-The æsthetic appeal of sin.-The morally frail
poet, handicapped by susceptibility to passion.-
The typical poet's repudiation of immorality.-
Feeling that virtue and poetry are inseparable.-
Minor explanations for this conviction.-The
"poet a poem" theory.-Identity of the good and
the beautiful.-The poet's quarrel with the philis-
tine. The poet's horror of restraint.-The philis-
tine's unfairness to the poet's innocence.-The
poet's quarrel with the puritan.-The poet's horror
of asceticism. The poet's quarrel with the phi-
losopher.-Feeling upon which the poet relies
allied to Platonic intuition.

VI. THE POET'S RELIGION.

Threefold attack upon the poet's religion.-His

lack of theological temper.-His lack of rever-

ence. His lack of conformance.-The poet's de-

fense.-Materialistic belief deadening to poetry.—

His idealistic temper.-His pantheistic leanings.

-His reverence for beauty. His repudiation of

a religion that humbles him.-Compatibility of

pride and pantheism.-The poet's non-confor-

mance. His occasional perverseness.-Inspiring

nature of doubt.—The poet's thirst for God—-The

occasional orthodox poet.

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VII. THE PRAGMATIC ISSUE

The poet's alleged uselessness.-His effeminacy.
-His virility.-The poet warrior.-Incompatibility
of poets and materialists.-Plato's charge that
poetry is inferior to actual life.-The concurrence
of certain soldier poets in Plato's charge.-Poetry
as an amusement only.-The value of faithful
imitation. The realists-Poetry as a solace.—
Poetry a reflection of the ideal essence of things.
-Love of beauty the poet's guide in disentangling
ideality from the accidents of things.-Beauty as
truth. The poet as seer.-The quarrel with the
philosopher. The truth of beauty vs. cold facts.
-Proof of validity of the poet's truth.-His skill
as prophet-The poet's mission as reformer.-His
impatience with practical reforms.-Belief in
essential goodness of men, since beauty is the
essence of things.-Reform a matter of allowing
all things to express their essence.-Enthusiasm
for liberty.-Denial of the war-poet's charge.-
Poets the authors of liberty.-Poets the real rulers
of mankind.-The world's appreciation of their
importance. Their immortality.

VIII. A SOBER AFTERTHOUGHT

Denial that the views of poets on the poet are
heterogeneous.-Poets' identity of purpose in dis-
cussing poets.-Apparent contradictions in views.
-Apparent inconsistency in the thought of each
poet. The two-fold interests of poets.-The poet
as harmonizer of sensual and spiritual.-Balance
of sense and spirit in the poetic temperament.-
Injustice to one element or the other in most
literary criticism.-Limitations of the poet's prose
criticism.-Superiority of his critical expressions
in verse. The poet's importance.-Poetry as a
proof of the idealistic philosophy.

INDEX

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THE POET'S POET