ambrosies}.


XI

That the feeling for Nature is one of the new developments of the
modern spirit, is one of those commonplaces of criticism which express
vaguely and loosely a general impression gathered from the comparison
of ancient with modern poetry. Like most of such generalisations it is
not of much value unless defined more closely; and as the definition
of the rule becomes more accurate, the exceptions and limitations to
be made grow correspondingly numerous. The section which is here
placed under this heading is obviously different from any collection
which could be made of modern poems, professing to deal with Nature
and not imitated from the Greek. But when we try to analyse the
difference, we find that the word Nature is one of the most ambiguous
possible. Man's relation to Nature is variable not only from age to
age, and from race to race, but from individual to individual, and
from moment to moment. And the feeling for Nature, as expressed in
literature, varies not only with all these variations but with other
factors as well, notably with the prevalent mode of poetical
expression, and with the condition of the other arts. The outer world
lies before us all alike, with its visible facts, its demonstrable
laws, /Natura daedala rerum/; but with each of us the /species
ratioque naturae/, the picture presented by the outer world and the
meaning that underlies it, are created in our own minds, the one by
the apprehensions of our senses (and the eye sees what it brings the
power to see), the other by our emotions, our imagination, our
intellectual and moral qualities, as all these are affected by the
pageant of things, and affect it in turn. And in no case can we