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of Macbeth, Hamlet, or Othello are virtual descriptions of their states of mind; and in many of the famous sayings of great men there is something which is more significant than in pages of ordinary explanation.

2. A great action has often this suggested meaning. The account of Leonidas at Sparta has a deep significance, involving a description of the Spartan character. The account of the death of Polycarp, by Eusebius, unfolds the whole state of mind of a Christian martyr.

3. The subjective thus intermingles with the objective. Yet there is a tendency to the one or the other, and writers who are famous for descriptive power will differ in this respect. A remarkable example is seen in the case of Scott and Byron. Both belonged to the same school of literature; both chose kindred themes, and wrote poems of the same class, often in the same metre, with versification and vocabularies that were in many cases alike, yet the difference between them in the character of their descriptions is very strongly marked. Scott was objective and Byron subjective; Scott detailed all his scenes down to the minutest point, and was content with the object itself, without seeking to go very far beneath the surface; Byron, on the other hand, loved to seize the striking features in his scenes, and, after mentioning these in a bold and graphic manner, to dwell upon their hidden meaning. The battle-scene in Marmion may be compared with that of Waterloo in Childe Harold. The former is full of action-the strife of men, their suffering, their wild excitement, or wilder despair; the latter is full of the poet's thoughts, and is profoundly meditative.

4. Sometimes subjective description is introduced by the law of association. This is the case in Macaulay's description of the trial of Warren Hastings.

CHAPTER II.

NARRATION.

§ 493. NARRATION.

In most cases narration is connected with description, which it so much resembles that it has been defined as "prolonged description," or a "series of descriptions." The difference between them is, however, a real one, and is plainly marked.

Description refers to the point of time at which the scene is observed.

Narration refers to a succession of events detailed in the order of time.

Narration includes within itself more departments of literature than any other kind of composition, and, like description, may be divided into objective and subjective.

$ 494. OBJECTIVE NARRATION.

This includes all narration of external events.

I. This is the essential character of history, which must give an account of the succession of events in the life of a nation. The ancient historians concerned themselves chiefly with external or objective occurrences. Nearly all of the great monumental histories are of this class; for example: Herodotus, Thucydides, Livy, in ancient times; and in modern times, Clarendon, Hume, Gibbon, Prescott.

2. Biography belongs to this class when the external life of the subject is narrated. Thus an ordinary biography of Alexander the Great would be a narrative of the objective kind, since it would have to do chiefly with his career as a conqueror and ruler.

3. At the present day prose fiction occupies an immense department of literature, the greater portion of which belongs to the division of the objective.

4. Epic poetry includes the classical epic, and also all

the longer narrative poems, such as ballads and metrical

romances.

5. Narration often enters into dramatic literature. It was a favorite device of Euripides to explain the situation to the audience by a narrative put into the mouth of the first speaker, after which the business of the piece went on as usual. As a general thing, it is made use of in order to acquaint the spectator with the course of events at a distance which have an important bearing upon the action.

6. Lyric poetry often consists of narrative; as Hohenlinden, the Burial of Sir John Moore, the Charge of the Light Brigade.

7. In scientific writings it occurs whenever it is found necessary to give an account, as in geology, of the past ages of the earth; in philology, of the progress of language; or in astronomy, of the past of the universe.

8. In exposition it appears whenever the writer deals with the record of events, either for the purpose of information, explanation, or illustration.

$495. SUBJECTIVE NARRATION.

Subjective narrative is the account of the progress of events which have to do chiefly with abstract qualities.

1. It appears in history when the writer deals with human character, human motives, or the display of moral qualities in action. Xenophon's Cyropædia may be considered as containing narrative of this sort, since it shows the moral development of one whom he means to represent as a model man. Plutarch exhibits the contrast of characters presented in parallels. Tacitus affords memorable examples. It was his habit to devote much space to the dissection of character; and even in his narrative of external events there is an undercurrent of meaning, as if he intends to convey a moral. His Germania may be taken as one chooses, either as a literal account of the Germans or as a satire on the Romans; his Agricola as a real biography or as the account of an ideal hero.

In modern times the whole purpose and scope of history have undergone a change. The historian now writes with a moral purpose; and, not content with the narrative of external events, he seeks to show the progress of principles, of some one of which he considers himself bound to be the advocate. The

"drum and trumpet history," as it is called, has passed out of fashion; the modern historian seeks not so much to "tell a story," as to advocate some view, or deal with the philosophy of history. In general, those histories may be said to exhibit subjective narration which aim to unfold the growth and development of principles, rather than to relate the story of wars and exploits. Guizot's History of Civilization gives an account of the rise and progress of principles which go towards the elevation of modern society. The constitutional histories of Hallam and Stubbs are records of the rise and progress of the elements of civil and religious liberty. In political histories, like those of Macaulay, Froude, Freeman, Motley, and others, the progress of principles is noted side by side with the march of events.

2. Examples may be found in those biographies which dwell upon the character, as well as the action of the subject, particularly where it is regarded in its progress and development. This is especially visible in autobiographies, like the Confessions of St. Augustine; Bunyan's Grace Abounding; the too candid Confessions of Rousseau; in De Quincey's Opium Eater; Newman's Apologia; the Eclipse of Faith; and the autobiography of John Stuart Mill.

3. Works of the imagination may be divided into two classes, according as they refer to the progress of incident or the development of character. Of these two, the latter affords examples of subjective narration. This class is at the present day an increasing one, and the greatest novelists are those who love to exhibit the workings of the human mind, and display the emotions of the human heart. Lord Lytton in his later novels gives frequent examples. Dickens, especially in his semi-autobiographical David Copperfield, deals more with the course of feeling than with the progress of incident. Thackeray is always turning aside from the narrative of things to show, with Horatian worldly wisdom mingled with mild cynicism, the undercurrent of selfishness, craft, folly, or simplicity that bears his story onward. George Eliot frequently allows events to drag, from her love of searching out the hidden springs of human action, and is greatest when she lays bare motives and dissects character.

4. All this is seen more strikingly in poetry. If the great ancient epics are objective, the great modern ones are sub

jective. Chief among these is Dante's Divine Comedy. It is not the place here to discuss how far narrative in allegory is subjective; yet certainly when the meaning is manifestly figurative, it is proper to regard it in that light. The whole scope of Dante's poem is figurative. It is an allegory, where the characters have names of well-known persons, yet represent qualities. Spenser's Faërie Queene is of the same order. Milton's Paradise Lost, on the contrary, is not at all allegorical; but is a work of the imagination, representing what is conceivably an actual occurrence, from which a conclusion is to be drawn, as from any other story. Tennyson's Idyls of the King are largely subjective. They belong to a quasi-allegorical order of literature. They unfold the Arthurian legends, where the knights of the Arthurian epopoeia are endowed with modern modes of thought, and teach the high gospel of chivalry to the men of the nineteenth century. The key-note to them all was struck in the Sir Galahad, which is an allegory in itself.

5. Narrative passages occur in dramatic literature, and when the play is of a subjective character, as Hamlet or Faust, there are corresponding portions of narration. Shelley's Prometheus Unbound is entirely subjective, and the passages of narrative that occur are of the same character.

6. Lyric poetry is highly diversified in its themes, and exhibits subjective narrative as much as other kinds of literature. Wherever the poet holds communion with his own heart, or relates his personal experience, this is to be found. Tennyson's In Memoriam is a series of lyrical poems of this kind.

Religious hymns are conspicuous for this. The Psalms of David are full of narratives of the experience of the soul, and these have been imitated in all ages.

7. Subjective narration may be found in exposition where it is necessary to give an account of the progress of principles. A writer on political economy may narrate the effect of freetrade doctrines. A writer on metaphysics may relate the course of any given system of philosophy. In a history of philosophy we have narration combined with exposition, as in the works of Tennemann, Cousin, Lewes, and others. In Church Histories the same thing occurs.

The most remarkable example of the difference between the subjective and the objective in narration is seen in the Gospels.

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