Nature Mysticism by John Edward Mercer
page 51 of 231 (22%)
page 51 of 231 (22%)
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terms)" has no moods, they belong to man alone." Tennyson
gives expression to this view (not on his own behalf!): "all the phantom, Nature, stands, With all the music in her tone A hollow echo of my own-- A hollow form with empty hands." But surely all this negation of moods in nature, this determination to empty natural phenomena of all definite human significance, is invalidated by one very simple consideration. There must be _some_ correspondence between cause and effect. When certain moods are stimulated by certain physical phenomena, there must be _some_ sort of real causation. It is not _any_ scene that can harmonise with or foster _any_ mood. The range of variety in the effects produced by mountains, rivers, sunsets, and the rest, is admittedly great, but it is not chaotic. The nature-mystic admits variety, nay, rejoices in it, but he postulates an equivalent variety of influences immanent in the phenomena. Of course Auerbach is right if by mood in nature he means an experience similar to that of the human observer: but he is wrong if he implies that the mood is wholly a subjective creation, and that the object, or group of objects, which stimulates the mood has no quality or power which corresponds to, or is essentially connected with, the mood. Turner's famous "Fighting Téméraire" combines into an exquisite whole a group of human moods and natural phenomena. Was his choice of phenomena determined by purely subjective |
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