characteristic of the right poetic diction, whether it draw its
vocabulary from near at hand, or avail itself of the far-fetched
inheritance preserved by the poets, is its matchless sincerity.
Something of extravagance there may be in those brilliant clusters
of romantic words that are everywhere found in the work of
Shakespeare, or Spenser, or Keats, but they are the natural leafage
and fruitage of a luxuriant imagination, which, lacking these,
could not attain to its full height. Only by the energy of the
arts can a voice be given to the subtleties and raptures of
emotional experience; ordinary social intercourse affords neither
opportunity nor means for this fervour of self-revelation. And if
the highest reach of poetry is often to be found in the use of
common colloquialisms, charged with the intensity of restrained
passion, this is not due to a greater sincerity of expression, but
to the strength derived from dramatic situation. Where speech
spends itself on its subject, drama stands idle; but where the
dramatic stress is at its greatest, three or four words may
enshrine all the passion of the moment. Romeo's apostrophe from
under the balcony -


O, speak again, bright Angel! for thou art
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head,
As is a winged messenger of heaven
Unto the white-upturned wond'ring eyes
Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him,
When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds,
And sails upon the bosom of the air -