Illusion and Reality: A Study of the Sources of Poetry

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Christopher Caudwell. Illusion and Reality: A Study of the Sources of Poetry

ILLUSION AND. REALITY

CONTENTS

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

INTRODUCTION

I THE BIRTH OF POETRY. 1

2

3

4

II THE DEATH OF MYTHOLOGY. 1

2

3

4

III THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN POETRY. 1

2

3

4

IV ENGLISH POETS (I. THE PERIOD OF PRIMITIVE ACCUMULATION) 1

2

3

4

5

V ENGLISH POETS (II. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION) 1

2

VI ENGLISH POETS (III. THE DECLINE OF CAPITALISM) 1

2

3

4

VII THE CHARACTERISTICS OF POETRY

VIII THE WORLD AND THE “I”

2

3

4

IX THE PSYCHE AND PHANTASY. 1

2

3

4

5

X. POETRY’S DREAM-WORK. 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

XI THE ORGANISATION OF THE ARTS. 1

2

3

4

5

XII THE FUTURE OF POETRY. 1

2

3

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

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A STUDY OF THE

SOURCES OF POETRY

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The primitive would defend in this way his lack of interest in the “photographic” scientific statement. It is a late abstraction in the history of thought, a limit to which all sciences work, but only fully achieve in their mathematic content, perhaps not even then, except in so far as it is translated into the logistic of Principia Mathematica.

This colourless statement is alien to a mind shaped by primitive culture, and the primitive does not understand language without a purpose. The purpose of rhythmical language is obvious—to give him that feeling of internal strength, of communication with the gods, that keeps him in good heart. The purpose of non-rhythmical language is equally obvious. There is no question of finding a function for it. The function itself, as in all biological development, created the organ and was shaped by it. The need to extend his personality, to bring it to bear on his neighbours, to bend their volitions into harmony with his, whether in flight, immobility or attack, would have given birth to the gestures and then the grunts which finally became articulate speech. Indeed Sir Richard Paget’s plausible theory of the origin of human speech is based on the assumption that man, with tongue and other movable portions of his vocal organs, attempted to imitate in gesture the images he wished to impose on his fellows’ minds.

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