since succeeded in persuading men that an object can be beautiful
without unity.

Since art is expression, its unity is, unavoidably, an image of the
unity of the things in nature and mind which it expresses. A lyric
poem reflects the unity of mood that binds together the thoughts and
images of the poet; the drama and novel, the unity of plan and purpose
in the acts of men and the fateful sequence of causes and effects in
their lives. The statue reflects the organic unity of the body; the
painting, the spatial unity of visible things. In beautiful artifacts,
the basal unity is the purpose or end embodied in the material
structure.

But the unity of works of art is not wholly derivative; for it occurs
in the free arts like music, where nothing is imitated, and even in
the representative arts, as we have observed, it is closer than in the
things which are imaged. Aesthetic unity is therefore unique and, if
we would understand it, we must seek its reason in the peculiar nature
and purpose of art. Since, moreover, art is a complex fact, the
explanation of its unity is not simple; the unity itself is very
intricate and depends upon many cooperating factors.

In the case of the imitative arts, taking the given unity of the objects
represented as a basis, the superior unity of the image is partly due
to the singleness of the artist's interest. For art, as we know, is
never the expression of mere things, but of things so far as they have
value. Out of the infinite fullness of nature and of life, the artist
selects those elements that have a unique significance for him.

Music, when soft voices die,