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XXI.—Psychological Reasons for Lessing's Attitude Toward Descriptive Poetry
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Extract
In his discussion in Laokoon of the limits of poetry Lessing declares that detailed description of bodies in space is unpoetical. He justifies his contention that progressive actions are the peculiar subject of poetry by reference (1) to the means of poetry and (2) to the practice of Homer, all of whose descriptions he affirms are progressive. Many critics have not been satisfied with Lessing's limitation of poetry to progressive actions, and have attacked his conclusions by showing (1) that his conception of the means of poetry is inadequate, (2) that Homer contains a number of descriptions of objects in space. Taking as a starting point Lessing's position in regard to these descriptions, I think it possible to explain on a psychological basis the reason for Lessing's assertion that the poet would better not attempt to describe objects in space, except by the Homeric device of substituting progression for co-existence.
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- Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1911
References
page 593 note 1 Kap. xvii, ed. Howard, New York, 1910, p. 110.
page 593 note 2 Kap. xvi, ed. cit., p. 101.
page 593 note 3 Ibid., p. 102.
page 593 note 4 Kap. xviii, p. 113.
page 593 note 5 Laokoon, ed. Blümner, Berl., 1880, Nachlass A, 5, xli, p. 401.
page 594 note 1 Odyssey, transi. Palmer, Boston, 1900, vii, p. 102.
page 594 note 2 On the Limits of Descriptive Writing, Ann Arbor, 1906, p. 38.
page 595 note 1 James, Principles of Psychology, New York, 1892, p. 304.
page 595 note 2 F. E. Bryant, op. cit.
page 596 note 1 Inquiries into the Human Faculty, New York, 1883, pp. 83 ff.
page 596 note 2 Laokoon, Kap. xx, ed. cit., p. 127.
page 597 note 1 Laokoon, Kap. xx, p. 130.
page 597 note 2 Ibid., Kap. xi, p. 86.
page 597 note 3 Ibid., Kap. xvii, p. 108.
page 597 note 4 Kap. xiii, p. 95.
page 598 note 1 Kap. xvii, p. 110.
page 599 note 1 Outlines of Psychology, New York, 1903, p. 156.
page 599 note 2 James, Psychology, p. 306.
page 599 note 3 Laokoon, Kap. xiii, p. 95.
page 599 note 4 Titchener, Primer of Psychology, New York, 1900, p. 127.
page 599 note 5 Laokoon, Kap. xiv, p. 98.
page 599 note 6 Ibid., Kap. xvii, p. 107.
page 600 note 1 Salomon Stricker, Studien über die Bewegungsvorstellungen, Wien, 1882, pp. 14–17.
page 600 note 2 Op. cit., p. 106.
page 600 note 3 Laokoon, Kap. xxi, p. 134.
page 601 note 1 Laokoon, Kap. xvii, p. 107.
page 601 note 2 Op. cit., p. 18.
page 602 note 1 Laokoon, Kap. xv, op. cit., p. 100.
page 602 note 2 “Reiz ist Schönheit in Bewegung,” ibid., Kap. xxi, p. 133.
page 602 note 3 Ibid., Kap. xxi, p. 134.
page 603 note 1 Ibid., Kap. xviii, p. 114.
page 603 note 2 Erstes Wäldchen, Kap. xi, in Laokoon, ed. cit., p. 242.