Advancement of Learning
The Second Book.
CHAPTER XIII.
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The division of Poesy which is aptest and most
according to the propriety thereof, besides those divisions which it
has in common with History (for there are feigned Chronicles,
feigned Lives, and feigned Relations), is into Poesy Narrative,
Dramatic, and Parabolical. Narrative Poesy is a mere imitation of
History, such as might pass for real, only that it commonly
exaggerates things beyond probability. Dramatic Poesy is as History
made visible; for it represents actions as if they were present,
whereas History represents them as past. Parabolical Poesy is
typical History, by which ideas that are objects of the intellect
are represented in forms that are objects of the sense. As for Narrative Poesy, -- or Heroical, if you like so to call it (understanding it of the matter, not of the verse) -- the foundation of it is truly noble, and has a special relation to the dignity of human nature. For as the sensible world is inferior in dignity to the rational soul, Poesy seems to bestow upon human nature those things which history denies to it; and to satisfy the mind with the shadows of things when the substance cannot be obtained. For if the matter be attentively considered, a sound argument may be drawn from Poesy, to show that there is agreeable to the spirit of man a more ample greatness, a more perfect order, and a more beautiful variety than it can anywhere (since the Fall) find in nature. And therefore, since the acts and events which are the subjects of real history are not of sufficient grandeur to satisfy the human mind, Poesy is at hand to feign acts more heroical; since the successes and issues of actions as related in true history are far from being agreeable to the merits of virtue and vice, Poesy corrects it, exhibiting events and fortunes as according to merit and the law of providence; since true history wearies the mind with satiety of ordinary events, one like another, Poesy refreshes it, by reciting things unexpected and various and full of vicissitudes. So that this Poesy conduces not only to delight but also to magnanimity and morality. Whence it may be fairly thought to partake somewhat of a divine nature; because it raises the mind and carries it aloft, accommodating the shows of things to the desires of the mind, not (like reason and history) buckling and bowing down the mind to the nature of things. And by these charms, and that agreeable congruity which it has with man's nature, accompanied also with music, to gain more sweet access, it has so won its way as to have been held in honour even in the rudest ages and among barbarous peoples, when other kinds of learning were utterly excluded. |
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Dramatic Poesy, which has
the theatre for its world, would be of excellent use if well
directed. For the stage is capable of no small influence both of
discipline and of corruption. Now of corruptions in this kind we
have enough; but the discipline has in our times been plainly
neglected. And though in modern states play-acting is esteemed but
as a toy, except when it is too satirical and biting; yet among the
ancients it was used as a means of educating men's minds to virtue.
Nay, it has been regarded by learned men and great philosophers as a
kind of musician's bow by which men's minds may be played upon. And
certainly it is most true, and one of the great secrets of nature,
that the minds of men are more open to impressions and affections
when many are gathered together than when they are alone. But Parabolical Poesy is of a higher character than the others, and appears to be something sacred and venerable; especially as religion itself commonly uses its aid as a means of communication between divinity and humanity. But this too is corrupted by the levity and idleness of wits in dealing with allegory. It is of double use and serves for contrary purposes; for it serves for an infoldment; and it likewise serves for illustration. In the latter case the object is a certain method of teaching, in the former an artifice for concealment. Now this method of teaching, used for illustration, was very much in use in the ancient times. For the inventions and conclusions of human reason (even those that are now common and trite) being then new and strange, the minds of men were hardly subtle enough to conceive them, unless they were brought nearer to the sense by this kind of resemblances and examples. And hence the ancient times are full of all kinds of fables, parables, enigmas, and similitudes; as may appear by the numbers of Pythagoras, the enigmas of the Sphinx, the fables of Aesop, and the like. The Apophthegms too of the ancient sages commonly explained the matter by similitudes. Thus Menenius Agrippa among the Romans (a nation at that time by no means learned) quelled a sedition by a fable. In a word, as hieroglyphics were before letters, so parables were before arguments. And even now, and at all times, the force of parables is and has been excellent; because arguments cannot be made so perspicuous nor true examples so apt. |
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But there remains yet another use of Poesy
Parabolical, opposite to the former; wherein it serves (as I said)
for an infoldment; for such things, I mean, the dignity whereof
requires that they should be seen as it were through a veil: that is
when the secrets and mysteries of religion, policy, and philosophy
are involved in fables or parables. Now whether any mystic meaning
be concealed beneath the fables of the ancient poets is a matter of
some doubt. For my own part I must confess that I am inclined to
think that a mystery is involved in no small number of them. Nor
does the fact that they are left commonly to boys and grammarians,
and held in slight repute, make me despise them; but rather, since
it is evident that the writings in which these fables are related
are, next to sacred story, the most ancient of human writings, and
the fables themselves still more ancient (for they are related not
as being invented by the writers, but as things believed and
received from of old), I take them to be a kind of breath from the
traditions of more ancient nations, which fell into the pipes of the
Greeks. But since that which has hitherto been done in the
interpretation of these parables, being the work of unskilful men,
not learned beyond common places, does not by any means satisfy me,
I think fit to set down Philosophy according to the Ancient Parables
among the desiderata. Of which work I will subjoin one or two
examples; not so much perhaps for the value of the thing as for the
sake of carrying out my principle; which is this; whenever I set
down a work among the desiderata (if there be anything obscure about
it), I intend always to set forth either instructions for the
execution of it, or an example of the thing; else it might be
thought that it was merely some light notion that had glanced
through my mind; or that I am like an augur measuring countries in
thought, without knowing the way to enter them. I can report no other deficiency in Poesy; for being
as a plant which comes from the lust of the earth without a formal
seed, it has sprung up and spread abroad more than any other kind of
learning. But I will now propound the examples, only three in
number; one taken from things Natural, one from things Political,
and one from things Moral. [@ Bacon, Works IV, 314-8] |
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