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
Proposition from Dr. Bache.--Exploration of Florida Reefs.--Letter
to Humboldt concerning Work in America.--Appointment to
Professorship of Medical College in Charleston, S.C.--Life at the
South.--Views concerning Races of Men.--Prix Cuvier.
CHAPTER 17.
1852-1855: AGE 45-48.
Return to Cambridge.--Anxiety about Collections.--Purchase of
Collections.--Second Winter in Charleston.--Illness.--Letter to
James D. Dana concerning Geographical Distribution and Geological
Succession of Animals.--Resignation of Charleston Professorship.
--Propositions from Zurich.--Letter to Oswald Heer.--Decision to
remain in Cambridge.--Letters to James D. Dana, S.S. Haldeman, and
Others respecting Collections illustrative of the Distribution of
Fishes, Shells, etc., in our Rivers.--Establishment of School for
Girls.
CHAPTER 18.
1855-1860: AGE 48-53.
"Contributions to Natural History of the United States."
--Remarkable Subscription.--Review of the Work.--Its Reception in
Europe and America.--Letters from Humboldt and Owen concerning it.
_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