48 CULTURE AND SOCIETY 1780-1950

allyreplaced

by an emphasis on

sensibility;

and

thisreplace

ment was

_supported

by

^theparallel

changes

^insuch

words

as creative (a

word which

could not

have been

_appliedto art until the idea of the _{'superior reality'}

was

forming), original (with^itsimportantimplications ofspontaneity

and

vitalism; a

word, we _remember,

that

Young

virtually

con

trasted

with

artinthe sense of_skill),

and

_{genius (which,}

because

ofits root association

with

the ideaof inspiration,

had changed from

'characteristic disposition* to 'exalted special^ability',

and

tookitstoneinthis

from

theother affec tive

words)

^.

From

artistinthe

new

sensethere

were formed

artistic

and

artistical,

and

these,

by

^the

^end

^ofthe nineteenth century,

had

certainly

more

reference to 'temperament*

than

toskillor practice. Aesthetics, ^itselfa

new word, and

a

product

^{of the} specialization, similarly stood parent ^to aesthete,

which

again indicated

a

_'special kind of person*.

The

claim thatthe artistrevealed

a

higher kind ^{of truth}

is, as

we have

seen, not

new

^{in the}

Romantic

_period, al

though

^itreceivedsignificant additionalemphasis.

The im

portantcorollary ofthe idea was, however, the conception oftheartist's

autonomy

^{in thiskind} of revelation; ^his sub stantiveelement, ^forexample,

was now

notfaith

but gen

ius. Inits opposition ^to the 'setofrales', the

autonomous

claim isofcourseattractive.Keats puts^itfinely;

The Genius

ofPoetry

must work

outits

own

^salvation

ina

man:

^It cannot

be matured by ^{law and}

precept,

but by

^sensation

^and

watchfulnessⁱⁿitself.

That which

is creative

must

createitself.19

Our sympathy with

^{this rests}

on

the

emphasis on

a personal discipline,

which

isvery^far

removed from

talkofthe'wild*

or lawless* genius.

The

differenceisthere, in Keats, inthe

emphasis on

^'the

Genius

of Poetry',

which

isimpersonal^as

compared with

the personal 'genius*. Coleridge

put

^the

same emphasis on

law,

with

the

same

corresponding

em

phasis

on autonomy:

No work

of true genius ^dares

want

its appropriate form,^neither indeedisthere

any danger

^ofthis.

As

it

must

_{not, so} genius cannot,

be

lawless; for ^{it is}

even

THE ROMANTIC

ARTIST

^g

this that constitutes it genius-the

power

of acting creatively

under

lawsofits

own

origination.20

Thisisat

once more

rational

and more

useful for the male- ing ^{of art}

than

the emphasis, atleast as

common

in

Ro mantic

pamphleteering,

on

an 'artless spontaneity'.

Of

the

Art

(sensibility)

which

claims thatitcan dispense withart (skill) the subsequent years hold

more

than

enough

^ex amples.

As

_{literarytheory,}the

emphases

ofKeats

and

_Coleridge are valuable.

The

_difficultyis that this kind of statement

became

entangled with other kinds of reactiontothe

prob lem

of the artist's relations

with

_society.

The

instance of Keats is

most

significant, in thatthe entanglement^{is less}

and

the concentration more. If

we

complete the sentence earlier

quoted from him we

find:

I

have

not the slightest feel of humility towards the public, or to anything in existence,-but the eternal Being, the Principle of Beauty,

and

the

Memory

^of

Great Men.

²¹

Thisischaracteristic, asisthe

famous

affirmation:

I

am

certain of nothing

but

of the holiness of the Heart'saffections,

and

the truth of Imagination.

What

the Imagination ^{seizes as}

Beauty must be

^truth

whether

itexistedbefore ornot forI

have

the

same

ideaofallourpassions as ofLove; they^areall,in their sublime,creative of essentialBeauty. ^{. . .}

The

_Imagi nation

may be compared

^to

Adam's dream he awoke and found

ittruth.22

But

theaccountoftheartist'spersonality

which

Keatsthen gives is,in his

famous

phrase, that of'NegativeCapability

. . .

when

a

man

is capable ^of being ⁱⁿ uncertainties, mysteries,doubts, without

any

^irritable reaching ^afterfact

and

reason*.²⁸

Or

_again:

Men

of

Genius

_{are great}ascertain etherealChemicals operating

on

the

Mass

of neutral intellect

but

_they

have

not

any

individuality,

any determined

^Character

5<5

CULTUBE AND SOCIETY

I

would

call the top

and head

ofthose

who have a proper

self,

Men

of

Power.

²⁴

Itiscertainly possible to see^this

emphasis on

passivity asa

compensatory

reaction,

but

this is lessimportant than the fact that Keats's

emphasis

^is

on

the _poetic process ^rather

than on

_{the poetic}personality.

The

theory^ofNegative

Ca

pabilitycould degenerate^intothe

wider and more

popular theory^of the poet as 'dreamer*,

but

Keats himself

worked

finely, in experience, to distinguish

between

'dreamer'

and

*poef,

and

ifinthe

second Hyperion

^his formal conclusion

is uncertain, ^{it is} at least clear that

what he means by

*dream'is

something

^as

hard and

positive as his

own

^skill.

Itis not

from

the fine discipline of a Keats that theloose conception^of theromanticartist

can be drawn.

Wordsworth,

ⁱⁿthe Preface^toLyricalBallads,

shows

us

most

_clearly

how

consideration of the _poetic process

be came

_entangled

with more

_general questions of the artist

and

_society. In _discussing his

own

theory of poetic lan guage,

he

is in fact discussing

communication. He

_asserts,

reasonably

and

moderately, the familiar attitude to the Public:

Such

faulty expressions,

were

I convinced they

were

faulty at present,

and

that they

must

necessarily

con

tinue to

be

_so, I

would

willingly take all reasonable pains ^{to correct.}

But

it is

dangerous

^to

make

these alterations

on

_{the simple}authority ofa

few

individuals, or

even

of certain classes of

men;

^for

where

the

un

derstanding^of

an Author

isnot convinced,or hisfeel ings altered,^this cannot

be done

withoutgreat injury to himself: for his

own

_feelings are his stay

and

support.²⁵

This hasto

be

said

on

the

one

side,whileatthe

same

time

Wordsworth

issaying:

The Poet

thinks

and

feelsinthe _spiritof

human

_pas

sions.

How,

then,

can

his

language

^differin

any ma

terial

degree from

^{that ofall other}

men who

feel viv idly

and

see clearly?²⁶