alone outweighs a critic's volume. Yet criticism
and creation do go hand in hand, and even the
harmless, necessary expositor may sometimes
have a place. And so, without a line of verse to
bless myself withal, I still venture, most undog-
matically, a few observations on the versifier's
art.

Let me say at once, however, that I have no
intention of going into the technicalities of verse.
For one thing, that is something on which only
the specialist has a right to speak, and I have no
claim to expert knowledge in the intricate and
baffling field of metrical technique. For another
thing, the phase of the subject which concerns us
here is independent of technical niceties. It is the
bearing of certain broad and general considera-
tions upon present problems that I wish to dis-
cuss. The view is vigorously urged to-day that
rhyme and metre hamper the poet's free expres-
sion. It is that contention which I should like to
examine, and the one object of this chapter is to
attempt some answer to these questions: How
far do rhyme and metre restrict the poet's free-
dom; and, as a corollary, wherein consists the
peculiar freedom of free verse? That is really the
central point at issue: the balance between re-
straint and liberty in art.

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