Voices, and Mr. Lowes Convention and Re-
volt. I wish rather to remind the reader, first,
of the long-standing case against the lyric, a
case which has been under trial in the court
of critical opinion from Plato's day to our
own; and then to indicate, even more briefly,
the lines of defence. It will be clear, as we
proceed, that contemporary verse in America
and England is illustrating certain general
tendencies which not only sharpen the point
of the old attack, but also hearten the spirit
of the defenders of lyric poetry.

Nothing could be more timely, as a con-
tribution to a critical battle which is just now
being waged, ¹ than the passage from Plato
Republic which furnishes the motto for the
present chapter. It expresses one of those
eternal verities which each generation must
face as best it may: "Poetry feeds and waters
the passions instead of withering and starving
them; she lets them rule instead of ruling
them." "Did we not imply," asks the
Athenian Stranger in Plato Laws, "that

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