INTRODUCTION .
XV
vides
him
with
exquisite
sensations , or
even
that he
makes
an
inventory
of
these
in
exquisite
language.
The
old
business
of
the
poet
did
not
end
with
his
apprehending
this
or
that
of
universal
truth , or
with
his being
acutely
affected by it, or even
with
his coming
back and informing folks that he
had
fallen
in
love
or
had
lost
a
friend,
and
that
it was
a
tremendous
ex
perience .
On top of all this
he
had to
realise his
self
by losing
it, to
purge the personal out
of his
discovery,
to re-clothe
it, and
to bring
the universal back
in
a
new
embodiment which
all
men
could
recognise
.
To
this
the fine objective forms
of
the Drama
and
the Epic not
only
invited
but
compelled
him
.
However
difficult
the
task
,
he
had
to
build
,
and
to
build
solidly
.
The
gushing
‘
O,
that
'
twere possible
!'
had
to
be
captured
,
grasped
and
held
until
it
became
an
Orpheus
or
a
Hamlet
,
as
the
young
men
held
Proteus
until
from
running water
he
turned
into
a
man
again
.
To
my thinking
the
common
abnegation
,
in
one
day
,
of
this most
difficult part
of
the
poet
's
business
may well account
for
the
public
neglect
into
which
poetry
has
fallen
as
a
pretty
occupation
for
sensitive
souls
.
Until
we take the trouble
to
re
-
clothe
it
in
con
.
crete
forms
—
and the
old
forms
lie
ready
to
our hand
,
while
new
ones are well worth inventing
—
the virtuose
may applaud
,
but we shall
miss
the catholic appeal
of
great art
.
This
small
but
sufficient
volume
of
Cambridge
verse
,
written
between
1900
and
1913
,
proves
at
any
rate
that the poetic impulse abides
and
is
strong
in
the
University
which
,
so
justly
proud
of
her
poets
,
has
really
no
excuse
for
resigning
poetry
as
a
lost
glory
.