The one is social, the other personal: in the
appreciation of the lyric, the reader is just himself; in the
appreciation of dramatic poetry, he is a whole society, becoming now
this man and now that. The unity of the one is the unity of a single
mood; the unity of the other is the interaction of the dramatis person
as it works itself out in the mind of the reader. And this difference,
as we have seen, is imaged in the form. Being self-contained, the lyric
is a harmonious whole, in which the parts may be repeated for emphasis;
looking backward and forward, the dramatic utterance is a progressive
and incomplete whole, which cannot stay for iteration. Lyric poetry
is like a communication from friend to friend, intimate and meditative;
dramatic poetry is like a passionate conversation which one overhears.
The life portrayed in the epic poem is even less direct than that which
is portrayed in the drama; for there the poet does not impersonate the
agents in the story, but describes them. His description is the first
thing which we get; we get the action only indirectly through that.
Hence the story-teller himself--his manner of telling, his reactions
to what he tells, his sympathy, humor, and intelligence--are part of
what he expresses. He himself is partly theme. No matter how hard he
may try to do so, he cannot exclude himself; through his choice of
words, through his illustrations, through his style, "which is the
man," he will reveal himself. [Footnote: See Lipps: _Aesthetik_,
Bd.
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