Within this limit, the extent of a poem may be made to bear
mathematical relation to its merit- in other words, to the
excitement or elevation-again, in other words, to the degree of the
true poetical effect which it is capable of inducing; for it is
clear that the brevity must be in direct ratio of the intensity of the
intended effect- this, with one proviso- that a certain degree of
duration is absolutely requisite for the production of any effect at
all.
Holding in view these considerations, as well as that degree of
excitement which I deemed not above the popular, while not below the
critical taste, I reached at once what I conceived the proper length
for my intended poem- a length of about one hundred lines. It is, in
fact, a hundred and eight.
My next thought concerned the choice of an impression, or effect, to
be conveyed: and here I may as well observe that throughout the
construction, I kept steadily in view the design of rendering the work
universally appreciable. I should be carried too far out of my
immediate topic were I to demonstrate a point upon which I have
repeatedly insisted, and which, with the poetical, stands not in the
slightest need of demonstration- the point, I mean, that Beauty is the
sole legitimate province of the poem. A few words, however, in
elucidation of my real meaning, which some of my friends have
evinced a disposition to misrepresent.
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