Now it is easy for a doubter to object that many of the poems on the
subject show the poet, not arraying evidence for a trial, but leaning
over the brink of introspection in the attitude of Narcissus. One need
seek no farther than self-love, it may be suggested, to find the motive
for the poet's absorption in his reflection. Yet it is incontrovertible
that the self-infatuation of our Narcissus has its origin in the
conviction that no one else understands him, and that this conviction is
founded upon a very real attitude of hostility on the part of his
companions. The lack of sympathy between the English poet and the public
is so notorious that Edmund Gosse is able to state as a truism:
While in France poetry has been accustomed to reflect the
general tongue of the people, the great poets of England have
almost always had to struggle against a complete dissonance
between their own aims and interests and those of the nation.
The result has been that England, the most inartistic of the
modern races, has produced the largest number of exquisite
literary artists.
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