The Epic An Essay
_As this essay is disposed to consider epic poetry as a species of literature, and not as a department of sociology or archaeology or ethnology, the reader will not find it anything material to the discussion which may be typified in those very interesting works, Gilbert Murray's "The Rise of the Greek Epic" and Andrew Lang's "The World of Homer." The distinction between a literary and a scientific attitude to Homer (and all other "authentic" epic) is, I think, finally summed up in Mr. Mackail's "Lectures on Greek Poetry"; the following pages, at any rate, assume that this is so. Theories about epic origins were therefore indifferent to my purpose. Besides, I do not see the need for any theories; I think it need only be said, of any epic poem whatever, that it was composed by a man and transmitted by men. But this is not to say that investigation of the "authentic" epic poet's_ milieu _may not be extremely profitable; and for settling the preliminaries of this essay, I owe a great deal to Mr. Chadwick's profoundly interesting study, "The Heroic Age"; though I daresay Mr. Chadwick would repudiate some of my conclusions. I must also acknowledge suggestions taken from Mr. Macneile Dixon's learned and vigorous "English Epic and Heroic Poetry"; and especially the assistance of Mr. John Clark's "History of Epic Poetry." Mr. Clark's book is so thorough and so adequate that my own would certainly have been superfluous, were it not
The Doctor laughed, poured her out with his own hands a
sleeping-draught, and sat patiently beside her till she slept, then
stole away, leaving injunctions with the nurse, established in his
absence, to telephone if there came a crisis--"even," after a moment's
hesitation, "in the night."
"Home!"--he gave the order briefly. There were black circles beneath
his eyes, making him look thinner than when he left the house that
morning; he had no distinct reminiscence of lunch, and he was very
tired; but his shoulders no longer ached, his headache was gone, and
his hands were perfectly steady.
Odd bits of music hummed perversely through his head, mixing
themselves up with all things and rippling the air about him into
their own large waves, bearing now and then upon them, like the
insistent iteration of an oratorio chorus, fantastic fragments--"If
Thou hadst been here!--If Thou hadst been here!" His fingers ached
towards the responsive strings, and pulling out his watch, he made a
hasty calculation. There should be good fifteen minutes, he
decided--toilet allowed for--and he hurried the coachman again and
leaned forward, looking with bright, eager eyes into the night, and
humming to himself.
One liveried servant opened the house door, another the carriage door,
and a third relieved him of his hat and coat. Out of the warmth and
brightness his wife advanced to meet him, a child in either hand,
_As this essay is disposed to consider epic poetry as a species of literature, and not as a department of sociology or archaeology or ethnology, the reader will not find it anything material to the discussion which may be typified in those very interesting works, Gilbert Murray's "The Rise of the Greek Epic" and Andrew Lang's "The World of Homer." The distinction between a literary and a scientific attitude to Homer (and all other "authentic" epic) is, I think, finally summed up in Mr. Mackail's "Lectures on Greek Poetry"; the following pages, at any rate, assume that this is so. Theories about epic origins were therefore indifferent to my purpose. Besides, I do not see the need for any theories; I think it need only be said, of any epic poem whatever, that it was composed by a man and transmitted by men. But this is not to say that investigation of the "authentic" epic poet's_ milieu _may not be extremely profitable; and for settling the preliminaries of this essay, I owe a great deal to Mr. Chadwick's profoundly interesting study, "The Heroic Age"; though I daresay Mr. Chadwick would repudiate some of my conclusions. I must also acknowledge suggestions taken from Mr. Macneile Dixon's learned and vigorous "English Epic and Heroic Poetry"; and especially the assistance of Mr. John Clark's "History of Epic Poetry." Mr. Clark's book is so thorough and so adequate that my own would certainly have been superfluous, were it not