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Sense charm and order are also necessary; for they are the conditions
of a perfect sympathy and vision. We are indulgent towards the vigorous,
impatient passion that bubbles over into rough and careless music or
poetry, but are not satisfied with it. For art's task is not merely
to express, but to dominate through expression, to create out of
expression, beauty; and without order and charm of sense, there is no
beauty. Compose your passion, we say to the musician; pattern it forth,
we say to the poet; it will not lose its vigor; rather it will acquire
a new power; for thus it will achieve restraint, the sign of art's
dominion.
The recognition of the principles indicated presupposes, of course,
that art really has a purpose with reference to which it can be judged
as successful or unsuccessful. But I do not see how this can very well
be denied. Art is one of the oldest of human activities, one might
almost say institutions, and it is inconceivable that it should not
have been directed by some intention, conscious or unconscious. To be
sure, men have expressed this intention in varying, often in
inconsistent ways, but the same is true of all other human activities
and institutions. Few would deny, I suppose, that science and the state
have purposes; yet how various have been the definitions of them. These
variations have corresponded, without doubt, to adaptations to new
conditions, yet throughout some unique purpose in human life has been
subserved.
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