After the lapse of
half an hour, at the very utmost, it flags- fails- a revulsion ensues-
and then the poem is, in effect and in fact, no longer such.
There are, no doubt, many who have found difficulty in reconciling
the critical dictum that the "Paradise Lost" is to be devoutly admired
throughout, with the absolute impossibility of maintaining for it,
during perusal, the amount of enthusiasm which that critical dictum
would demand. This great work, in fact, is to be regarded as poetical,
only when, losing sight of that vital requisite in all works of Art,
Unity, we view it merely as a series of minor poems. If, to preserve
its Unity- its totality of effect or impression- we read it (as
would be necessary) at a single sitting, the result is but a
constant alteration of excitement and depression. After a passage of
what we feel to be true poetry, there follows, inevitably, a passage
of platitude which no critical prejudgment can force us to admire; but
if, upon completing the work, we read it again, omitting the first
book- that is to say, commencing with the second- we shall be
surprised at now finding that admirable which we before condemned-
that damnable which we had previously so much admired. It follows from
all this that the ultimate, aggregate, or absolute effect of even
the best epic under the sun, is a nullity:- and this is precisely
the fact.
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