demand each other and constitute a whole. Organization _is_
understanding. Every work of art, every beautiful thing, is organized,
and, as we have observed, organized not merely in the thought or other
meaning expressed, but throughout, in the sensuous medium as well.

So far the value which we have discovered in artistic expression has
been that of delightful and orderly sympathetic vision. This is
supplemented from still another source of value. Through artistic
expression pent-up emotions find a welcome release. No matter how
poignant be the experience expressed, the weight, the sting of it
disappears through expression. For through expression, as we have seen,
the experience is drawn from the dark depths of the self to the clear
and orderly surface of the work of art; the emotions that weighed are
lifted out and up into color and line and sound, where the mind can
view and master them. Mere life gives place to the contemplation of
life; and contemplation imposes on life some of the calm that is its
own. The most violent and unruly passions may be the material of art,
but once they are put into artistic form they are mastered and refined.
"There is an art of passion, but no passionate art" (Schiller). Through
expression, the repression, the obstruction of feeling is broken down;
the mere effort to find and elaborate a fitting artistic form for the
material diverts the attention and provides other occupation for the
mind; an opportunity is given to reflect upon and understand the
experience, bringing it somehow into harmony with one's total
life,--through all these means procuring relief. It is impossible to
cite the famous passage from Goethe's "Poetry and Truth" too often:--

And thus began that bent of mind from which I could not
deviate my whole life through; namely, that of turning into
an image, into a poem, everything that delighted or troubled