II

It  has  been  necessary  to  touch  upon  these  some-
what abstract  considerations  in  order  to  clear  the  way
for  what  is  to  follow.  We  may  now  pass  directly  to
matters  of  more  immediate  importance  to  the  student,
whose  business  is  not  with  the  theory  of  literature,  but
with  literature  itself

If  literature  be  at  bottom  an  expression  of  life,  and
if  it  be  by  virtue  of  the  life  which  it  expresses
^*®^**^®  that  it  makes  its  special  appeal,  then  the
pressicn  of  ultimate  secret  of  its  interest  must  be  sought
Person-  j^  j^^  essentially  personal  character.  Litera-
ture, according  to  Matthew  Arnold's  much-
discussed  definition,  is  a  criticism  of  life  ;  but  this  can


WAYS  OF  STUDYING  LITERATUKE  17

mean  only  that  it  is  an  interpretation  of  life  as  life
shapes  itself  in  the  mind  of  the  interpreter.  It  is  with
the  critic  or  interpreter,  therefore,  that  we  have  first  to
do.  The  French  epigram  hits  the  mark — "  Art  is
life  seen  through  a  temperament,"  for  the  mirror  which
the  artist  holds  up  to  the  world  about  him  is  of
necessity  the  mirror  of  his  own  personality.  The
practical  bearings  of  this  fundamental  truth  must  be
carefully  noted.
