Note 131 — Chapter II · RHYTHM AS THE ESSENTIAL FACT OF POETRY

Professor Masson in the North British Review, 1853, reviewed the Poetics of Dallas, printing the review later as fifth essay in Wordsworth, Shelley, and Keats, London, 1874; the sixth essay “On Prose and Verse,” repeats a discussion of De Quincey’s prose in the journal just named for 1854. Poets are led, Masson says, by the “flag” of imagery and the “flute” of verse; and while he inclines to the test of rhythm, he comes to no conclusion. Bain (On Teaching English, 1887; see Chap. VII. and pp. 249 ff.) also inclines to the test, but hedges after the manner of his brethren.