on in order to constitute music. And, on the other hand, as
splashes of color without artistic feeling which they interpret are not
art, as musical, sounds without musical feeling which they interpret are
not music, so poetical forms without poetical feeling are not poetry.
Poetical feeling in unpoetical forms may be poetical prose, but it is
still prose. And on the other hand, rhymes, however musical they may be
to the ear, are only rhymes, not poetry, unless they express a true
poetical life.

But these two elements are separable only in thought, not in reality.
Poetry is not common thought expressed in an uncommon manner; it is not
an artificial phrasing of even the higher emotions. The higher emotions
have a phrasing of their own; they fall naturally--whether as the result
of instinct or of habit need not here be considered--into fitting forms.
The form may be rhyme; it may be blank verse; it may be the old Hebrew
parallelism; it may even be the indescribable form which Walt Whitman
has adopted. What is noticeable is the fact that poetical thought, if it
is at its best, always takes on, by a kind of necessity, some poetical
form. To illustrate if not to demonstrate this, it is only necessary to
select from literature any fine piece of poetical expression of a higher
and nobler emotion, or of clear and inspiring vision, and attempt to put
it into prose form. The reader will find, if he be dealing with the
highest poetry, that translating it into prose impairs its power to
express the feeling, and makes the expression not less but more
artificial. If he doubt this statement, let him turn to any of the finer
specimens of verse in this volume and see whether he can express the
life in prose as truly, as naturally, as effectively, as it is there
expressed in rhythmical form.

These various considerations may help to explain why in all ages of the
world the arts have been the handmaidens of religion. Not to amplify
too much, I have confined these considerations to the three arts of
music, painting, and poetry; but they are also applicable to sculpture
and architecture. All are attempts by men of vision to interpret to the
men who are not equally endowed with vision, what the invisible world
about us and within us has for the enrichment of our lives. This is
exactly the function of religion: to enrich human lives by making them
acquainted with the infinite. It is true that at times the arts have
been sensualized, the emph