‘Also by Cleanth Brooks a MODERN POETRY AND THE TRADETION THE WELL WROUGHT URN THE HIDDEN coo STUDIES IN THE STRUCTURE OF POETRY WILLIAM FAULKWER: THE YORNAPATAWPHA COUNTRY BY CLEANTH BROOKS - AsnariNc jov ‘THE LANGUAGE OF THE AMERICAN SOUTHL e Tetris leary A HARVEST BOOK HARCOURT, ING.& CHAPTER ONE ‘THE LANGUAGE OF PARADOX @ Yew of us are prepared to accept he daterent that “The Jangonge of pony isthe language of pardon. aoe ie language of sophie, aa, bi Payee i harly the lnguage ofthe soul. We are Yay alow dat pardon is» pemisible wexpon Tine. Chater omy on occasion explo. We may wesc ie in epigram, 2 special subvarey of poetry: Pe ane, hich dough wel, we ate harly wil i In on ye poetry at al, us prejudices force fos td paradox at intellectual rater than emo- Hons clever rather than profound, rational rather than divinely rational a Yat Were wave in which paradox she language applopine and inevitable to poeoy. Its the went. ‘hose truth requires a language purged of every trace anne apbareiy tie th which the poet UH seepprenche only nts of paradOk. T Oe ipa net be sure ti posible that the We eri chaptr i vel tobe tented as merely para eect cere are reasons for dining thatthe ove er chic T propre may ight wp some eles tage hcare at poeuy which tend to be overtoked. the cae of Willan Wordsworth, for inance, trv on ths pom Hs poetry would not appear teres many example ofthe language of paradox. Wee"Galy peters the divct attack He ins om‘ 1m WELL, wRovGY URN simplicity, he distrasts whatever seems sophistial. And yet the typical Wordsworth poem is baved upon a [Paradoxical situation. Consider his celebrated It is a beauteous evening, calm and free, The holy time is quiet at ¢ Nun Breathless with adoration. ‘The poet is filled with worship, but the giel who walks beside him is not worshiping. The implication is that the should respond to the holy time, and become like the evening itelf, unlike; but she seems less worship: fal chan inanimate nature ivell. Yet 1 thou appear untouched by solemn thought, Thy mature is not therefore less ace Thos let in brent Sotm ll he years And worhipi atthe Temp inner in, God Being with thee vhen we hnow nol ‘The underlying paradox (of which he enthusaste reader may well be unconscious) is nevertheless thor ‘oughly necestary, even for that teader. Why does the Jnnocent girl worship more deeply than the slfcon- scious poet who walks beside her? Because she is filled with an unconscious sympathy for alf of nature, not merely the grandiose and solemn. One remembers the lines from Wordsworth’s fiend, Coleridge: He proyeth best, who loveth best AU! things both grest and smal Her unconscious sympathy is the unconscious worship. She is in communion with nature “all the year,” and Iher devotion is continual whereas that of the poet it sporadic and momentary. But we have not done with the paradox yet. It not only underlies the poem, but ‘tomething of the paradox informs the poem, though, since this is Wordsworth rather timidly, The compati- se a Oo toy ca ce Fe Soa re cer ee a scree en ees ea i eel ie eas A ee rae ce a et oe er ae eee ernie la oo ee ee Zee i a os oe i Te et te ee ae ae tea na tense br a ie ome no nar bt eae ae eee sa Ps i a a at ee ee oS ae, Taal pie te oe So Se ata eae Ae erie cee eee aries eps see ier mg Seer ie Sg ee cer ares curso Ga dp spre the Se ee eee6 sew eno mt tome tere of sed uprieIno the poem. Its {te pot ha ey soa te ae “wee yo the sang” ata, Mount Snowden hi ein ot Bint ari yn bt 0 ny ee London Ths te ot ‘of the almost shocked exclamation: poe ue iden mare boul te In hs fit sled alee ch Bl “The “emote at reve : eal acy which the poet did not tow eis mtn ate Lon a a a fare too, sighted by the sn of tue dd igh to as beautiful: ‘eect Canes The river glideth at his oun sweet will. A.siver bs he most “natural” thing hat one en tue thas the ct, the ced In o are hell The poet had never een able to regard his one asa eal sver=now, unclttered by barges, the river reves iuef as «natural ting ot at all dict plined tno angi and mean pater: feo Ike the dati, of he mown esky aes ‘whimsical, and “natural” as they. The poem cl ‘you will remember, as follows: , aon Dear God the very hows sem esr dnd all that mighiy beat ng a ia roe car oee Beta Ss re ne ety a oer ale oa i es rae hee a Soot SE ao they are “anleep” isto way that they are alive, that they ‘The Language of Poredox 7 parpate in the life of nature. Tn te se way, the Pind cid metaphor which sees a great city as a puliat- ing heart of empize becomes revived. It i only viean the poet sees the city under the semblance of Teeth thaeThe can see it an actually alive—quick, with the only Kile which he can accept, the organic life of nature.” Te not my Intention to exaggerate Wordsworth’s ‘own consciousness of the paradox involved. In this (Poem, he prefers, asi usual with him, the frontal wonton is paradoxical here as in 90 many of| “in his preface to the second edition Br tke Lyrical Ballads Wordsworth stated that his geD- ral purpose was “to choove incidents and situations ffomcommon life” but 10 to treat them that “ordinery things should be presented to the mind in an wnusual pect” Goleridge was to sate the purpove for Bim sree in terms which make even more evident Wordle North's exploitation of the paradoxical: “Mr. Words Wehth owas to propove to himse as bis object, 9 {ve the charm of novelty to things of every day, and wmexcite a feling analogous to the supernatural, by Rratening the mind's atention from the lethargy of ‘Siioun, and dizectng it to the lovelines and the wen Ger of the world before us..." Wordsworth, in Sieve. was consciously attempting to show his audience ‘hat the common was really uncommon, the prose ‘was really poetic. “Coleridge's terms “the charm of novelty to things of ‘every day," “awakening the mind,” suggest the Roman- {ie preoccupation with wonder—the surprise, che reve faciom which puts the tarnished familiar world in & How light. This may well be the razon dre of most Teentic paradoxee: and yet the neoclassc poets wae paradox for much the exe renon. Consider Pope's [ines from “The Essay on Man":8 ‘ace WELL WRovOHT URN, In doubt his Mind or Body to prefers ‘Bor but to de, ond reasning but to errs ‘Alike in ignorance, his Reaion such, Whether he thinks too litle, or too much « Created half to rit, and hal to fll Great Lord ofall things, yet « Prey to all; Sole Judge of Truth, in endless Eror hurd; The Glory, Jest, and Riddle of the world! ‘Here, itis rue, ce paradoxes init on the irony, rather than the wonder. Bur Pope too might have claimed that he wat treating the things of everyday, man bisa self, and awakening his mind so that he would view ‘himself in a new and blinding light. Thus, there is a ‘certain awed wonder in Pope just at thete is a certain face of irony implicit in the Wordsworth sonnets ‘There is, of course, no reason why they should not ‘occur together, and they do. Wonder and irony merge fn many of the lyrics of Blake; they merge in Cole. ridge’ Ancient Mariner. The variations in emphasis are mumerout. Gray's “Elegy” uses a typical Words: Worth “situation” with the rural scene and with peas: fants contemplated in the light of their “betes.” But in the “Elegy” the balance is heavily tiled in the dire tion of irony, the revelation an ironic rather than a starding one: an storied urn or animated bust Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? Gan Honow's voice provoke the silent dust? ~ Or klattry sooth the dull cold ear of Death? ‘But Tam not here interested in enumerating the por sible variations; Iam interested rather in ut seeing that the paradoxes spring from the very nature of the Poet language: it isa language in which the conmota [ Seo Ray meet Fart athe dso AMT do arene ut igs ething eX rn ‘The Language ha pepe ‘oc noe Sano ce creannot be kept out of 1 ed cond TI ise aie wr A oy nes ee re tem, mr ig “Fo take a very simple ar mn eins of We cates ‘eauteous, calm, frees holy, 4 sean tons ae hay warlg eae Jing is like a mun breat va ti te ening ae we thon, The ad he evening stat onl aut ‘aig Ti examen ee that Kind of eal 4 Cor ogee. Butte post has 0 sat yaren it he had @ role we at em ae pee in em ems He eit work UY “ ‘altoton se pce jem in this way: the POeE ch the probe er uae of nr = aoa ale Me nly moon hot fori expresion, THE ROR “a be rae ‘There is a con- wat by anne ey edge ol. The ee sae ng of the lanes RECeY Ov