But Truth is often, and in very great degree,
the aim of the tale. Some of the finest tales are tales of
ratiocination. Thus the field of this species of composition, if not
in so elevated a region on the mountain of Mind, is a table- land of
far vaster extent than the domain of the mere poem. Its products are
never so rich, but infinitely more numerous, and more appreciable by
the mass of mankind. The writer of the prose tale, in short, may bring
to his theme a vast variety of modes or inflections of thought and
expression- (the ratiocinative, for example, the sarcastic or the
humorous) which are not only antagonistical to the nature of the poem,
but absolutely forbidden by one of its most peculiar and indispensable
adjuncts; we allude, of course, to rhythm. It may be added, here,
par parenthese, that the author who aims at the purely beautiful in
a prose tale is laboring at great disadvantage. For Beauty can be
better treated in the poem. Not so with terror, or passion, or horror,
or a multitude of such other points. And here it will be seen how full
of prejudice are the usual animadversions against those tales of
effect, many fine examples of which were found in the earlier
numbers of Blackwood. The impressions produced were wrought in a
legitimate sphere of action, and constituted a legitimate although
sometimes an exaggerated interest.
Pages:
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183