No true Utilitarian, however, would feel this doubt,
since the greatest happiness of the greatest number is the rule of his
philosophy.
"We must not estimate the works of genius merely with reference to the
pleasure they afford, even when pleasure was their principal object. We
must also regard the intelligence which they presuppose and exercise." [9]
Thoroughly to enjoy Poetry we must not so limit ourselves, but must rise
to a higher ideal.
"Yes; constantly in reading poetry, a sense for the best, the really
excellent, and of the strength and joy to be drawn from it, should be
present in our minds, and should govern our estimate of what we
read." [10]
Cicero, in his oration for Archias, well asked, "Has not this man then a
right to my love, to my admiration, to all the means which I can employ in
his defence? For we are instructed by all the greatest and most learned of
mankind, that education, precepts, and practice, can in every other branch
of learning produce excellence. But a poet is formed by the hand of
nature; he is aroused by mental vigor, and inspired by what we may call
the spirit of divinity itself.
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