xxviii ON THE POSITION AND

out reflection must be ignoble or purposeless. If Poetry
is to be a true and full representation of life, it must
represent both reflection and action ; and the poet, if he
is to fulfil the highest purposes of his mission, must be
a man like another. Ceasing to be a man like another,
and dedicating himself overmuch to unchallenged and
untempered reflection, he is tempted to fancy himself a
High Priest, and Sacerdotalism in Poetry is as mischievous
in Poetry as in Religion, for it ends by cramping what it
aspires to exalt, arrogating to a restricted and exclusive
class what is the general inheritance, and should be the
common consolation, of mankind.'

Narrative Poems, therefore, let us hope, prose fiction
notwithstanding, there will always be ; sometimes brief,
sometimes what is called long; now reciting a simple
story of personal or domestic interest, now unfolding a
tale of more pith and moment, in which the aifections
and passions of individuals necessarily play a consider-
able part, but where larger issues likewise pass across
the stage. In these. Reflective Poetry, Descriptive
Poetry, and Lyrical Poetry as well, will find ample space
and opportunity, and even the lower forms of satiric and
didactic verse may occupy a subordinate place. Let the
story or the purpose be what it may, prose even at its



PROSPECTS OF POETRY xxix

best can never have the charm of poetry at its best;
nor can the noblest novels compete with the noblest
poems in purifying the passions ajid in reconciling the
understanding with the heart.
