No matter what further purposes artistic expressions may serve, they
are produced and valued for themselves; we linger in them; we neither
merely execute them mechanically, as we do automatic expressions, nor
hasten through them, our minds fixed upon some future end to be gained
by them, as is the case with practical expressions. Both for the artist
and the appreciator, they are ends in themselves. Compare, for example,
a love poem with a declaration of love.[Footnote: Contrast Croce's use
of the same illustration: Esthetic, p. 22, English translation.] The
poem is esteemed for the rhythmic emotional experience it gives the
writer or reader; the declaration, even when enjoyed by the suitor,
has its prime value in its consequences, and the quicker it is over
and done with and its end attained the better. The one, since it has
its purpose within itself, is returned to and repeated; the other,
being chiefly a means to an end, would be senseless if repeated, once
the end that called it forth is accomplished. The value of the love
poem, although written to persuade a lady, cannot be measured in terms
of its mere success; for if beautiful, it remains of worth after the
lady has yielded, nay, even if it fails to win her. Any sort of
practical purpose may be one motive in the creation of a work of art,
but its significance is broader than the success or failure of that
motive. The Russian novel is still significant, even now, alter the
revolution. As beautiful, it is of perennial worth and stands out by
itself.
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