PREFACE

To write a book, it seems to me, is sometimes a less difficult task than to hit upon the right title by which the book may be announced. The difficulty is aggravated by the author's consciousness that out of the unlimited number of readers who, conceivably, might be interested in the book, the vast majority will never get any farther than the title. In the present case, what I most desire my book to accomplish is that which is expressed by the sub-title-I desire it to be an introduction to literary theory and interpretation. But if I think so to

announce it, I am met by the reflection that in the present generation of readers only a very small number-quite a negligible quantity-have any interest whatever in literary theory, nor do they think of literature in general as a thing to which interpretation applies. There is perhaps more of appeal in the suggestion of a wide disparity between the traditional study of literature and the high standard set by other modern studies. But if I elect to lay emphasis upon this, I am in danger of giving to what I say a polemic color, which is the last thing I should desire. And if as I have done I seek to unite the two suggestions, I forego at once the brevity which is the soul of more things than wit; and I place myself in the predicament of those who try to sit upon two stools, with a disconcerting prospect of falling between them.

For a period now of over forty years my life has been wholly occupied with the teaching of literature; partly in university classes, partly in the attractive sphere of university extension, where one encounters students who are both receptive and mature. It has always been my ambition to make some contribution toward the shaping of this study of literature, which by tradition is so miscellaneous and unorganized. Previous works of mine have been preliminary studies; discussion of

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particular principles in application to special literary fields. The most obvious defect of the study is the absence of any instinct for inductive observation, such as must be the basis for criticism of any other kind. My first book was an attempt to illustrate such scientific criticism in the most delightful of all literary provinces, the plays of Shakespeare. This Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist was, at a later period, supplemented by Shakespeare as a Dramatic Thinker, which discussed the philosophy of life underlying the dramatic stories, and illustrated the general principle that fiction is the experimental side of human philosophy. Again: the traditional study, while rightly recognizing the Greek and Latin classics as a foundation for literary culture, has in practice sacrificed the literary for the linguistic element in these classics. My second book sought to introduce The Ancient Classical Drama to the English reader, and to use this as a study of literary evolution. But there is another defect in our traditional study of literature which is appalling in its gravity-the omission of the Bible. It is not only the spiritual loss to academic education; the literary forms of the Hebrew classics, rich in themselves, and the natural corrective to the purely Greek criticism founded by Aristotle, have been entirely effaced under the mediaeval arrangement of the Bible in chapters and verses which is still retained in current versions. My third work was on The Literary Study of the Bible: An Account of the Literary Forms Represented in the Sacred Writings; and, following this, twelve years of my life were occupied with editing The Modern Reader's Bible, and the investigation of literary structure which this involved. My last work was an attempt to grasp the whole field of literature, not as an aggregation of particular literatures, but in the conception of World Literature as seen in perspective from the English point of view. In succession to these separate studies the present book seeks to arrive at a synthetic view of the theory and interpretation of literature.

I have gone into these details in order to make clear the design and use of the book which follows. An eminent teacher of literature was accustomed to impress upon his students that "a general principle is as gas in the mouth of him that knows not the particulars." This touches what is the perpetual problem for the art of exposition-the question exactly how far to go in discussion of individual literary works, which have an interest of their own, in offering these as elucidation of literary theory. It would be possible to write a work which would be wholly theoretic; but this would not only make a dull book, it would further be a sin against the foundation principle that our first duty to literature is to love it. On the other hand, if in so large a field one surrenders freely to disquisition on literary masterpieces, the connected thread of philosophical theory is lost in the particulars. For philosophy is only a fine word for seeing things in their true perspective. The natural solution seems to be the plan here adopted: a single work devoted to literary theory, discussion of particular works being reduced to what is essential, supplemented by other works in which special portions of literature are followed out in detail. In the footnotes to this book I make references to other works of mine by which study of particular points can be carried farther. Very occasionally I have incorporated in this work tabular or other matter from my other books; for, while it may seem questionable taste for an author to quote from himself, yet it seems a pity to seek out a second best illustration when a better is available.

It is natural to ask, for what readers this book is intended. The choice is usually between academic circles and the general reader. But in the case of literature I doubt if this distinction applies. The machinery of scholastic teaching seems favorable to method and thoroughness, but this is countervailed by the academic bias toward specialization; the general reader retains his breadth of view, and, while voluntary study is under

temptation to be discursive, it is open to each individual to correct this by self-direction. Our universities seem to be tending more and more to become professional schools. On the other hand, there are many signs of the times which are favorable to general culture. It is an age of Public Libraries: and every library is a university in posse. The enterprise of leading publishers is doing excellent service in making the whole world's literature accessible; and it is a special note of the present time that the highest scholarship will devote itself to transplanting literary masterpieces from one language to another in translations which are themselves literature. In writing this book I have steadily kept before me the purpose of making it serviceable in university and school classrooms. I have also tried to make it interesting to the general reader. And the readers I should most wish to serve are those who have recognized their college graduation, not as the goal, but the starting-point of a culture with which the leisure time of their whole lives may be filled.

July, 1915

RICHARD GREEN MOULTON