Hence even narrative and dramatic poetry have a lyrical
tone; we ourselves are implicated in the actions and events portrayed.
The demands made by the form of poetry upon its substance are similar
to those made by music upon the words in a song, only less stringent.
The content must be emotional and significant; it cannot be trite and
cold. The meaning of words would permit the poet to bring before the
mind all possible objects, events, and ideas, but the music of words
would be incongruous with most of them. Events narrated must be
stirring, thoughts uttered must be emotionally toned, things described
must be related to human life and action. Poetry may desert the royal
themes of long ago--_arma virumque cano, maenin aeide thea_--and
relate the lowly life of common folk, even the sordid life of the poor
and miserable, but when doing so throws over it the musical glamour
of verse and arouses the heat of sympathy and passion. Although, since
it makes use of words, poetry should always have a meaning, it need
not have the definiteness of meaning of logical thought; it may suggest
rather than explicate; its music is compatible with vagueness. But
vagueness is not obscurity; the poet should always make us feel that
we understand him; he should not seek to mystify us, or keep us guessing
at his meaning. Yet, since the poet operates with words and not with
mere sounds, great subtlety and precision of thought are possible in
poetry, although not argument and dialectic.
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