the Poet himself, whereas the vision of the
lyrist is "relative," conditioned by his own
situation and mood. The pure lyrist, says
Watts-Dunton, has one voice and sings one
tune; the epic Poets and quasi-dramatists
have one voice but can sing several tunes,
while the true dramatists, with their objec-
tive, "absolute" vision of the world, have
many tongues and can sing in all tunes.

Passing over the question of the historical
origins of those various species of Poetry, such
as the relation of early hymnic songs and
hero-songs to the epic, and the relation of
narrative material and method to the drama,
let us try to arrange in some sort of order the
kinds of Poetry with which we are familiar.
Suppose we follow Watts-Dunton's hint, and
start, as if it were from a central point, with
the Pure Lyric, the expression of the Ego in
song. Shelley's "Stanzas Written in Dejec-
tion near Naples," Coleridge's "Ode to De-
jection," Wordsworth's "She dwelt among
the untrodden ways," Tennyson's "Break --
Break" will serve for illustrations. These
are subjective, personal Poems. Their vision

-228-