CHAPTER VIII.

ATMOSPHERE.

THERE is one more element to be discussed under the heads of Principality and Subordination that, perhaps more than any other, manifests the artistic nature of the reader. This element is called by different names, but perhaps none is more significant than Atmosphere. This effect is not easy to describe, and yet it is as real as rhythm or inflection or any other of the elements discussed in this book. Atmosphere is that sympathetic quality of personality that manifests the spirit of literature. Who can fail to notice the tender motherly sympathy that pervades every word of the lyric Sweet and Low. Now compare this with the knights' chorus from The Coming of Arthur. It is permeated throughout with the spirit of the Round Table. The spirit of motherly love in the former, and of knightly courage and the clang of arms in the latter, completely envelop these poems, and permeate every letter. Therefore, in the rendition the reader must exercise the greatest care not to dissipate this atmosphere. The least misstep, one false note, and the atmosphere is disturbed.

In longer selections there may be variety of atmosphere in the different stanzas or paragraphs, provided always that the variety enhances the poem as a whole. Mere variety is not art, but chaos, says Professor Corson. The following lines from Matthew Arnold's Sohrab

and Rustum illustrate the principle of variety in unity. The poem purports to be an extract from the epic of Rustum, the Persian Achilles, and is especially marked by a dignity truly Homeric. This atmosphere of dignity envelops every line. Hence pathos and joy, patriotism and defiance, scorn and contempt, and all the other emotions, are always dignified. The Tartars' champion, Sohrab, challenges the bravest Persian champion to meet in single combat; and the Tartar leader, "Peran-Wisa," announces the challenge. The Tartars love their hero, and the thrill that pervades their army is significant of that love. But the Persian champion, Achilles-like, sulks in his tent; and this knowledge, when the announcement of the challenge is heard by the Persians, fills them with awe and dismay. Let the student read the following lines, bringing out the significant atmosphere of the two parts of the contrast, but being careful not to lose sight of the general atmosphere of dignity:

And the old Tartar came upon the sand

Betwixt the silent hosts, and spake, and said :-
"Ferood, and ye, Persians and Tartars hear!
Let there be truce between the hosts to-day.
But choose a champion from the Persian lords
To fight our champion Sohrab, man to man."
As, in the country, on a morn in June,
When the dew glistens on the pearled ears,
A shiver runs through the deep corn for joy —
So, when they heard what Peran-Wisa said,
A thrill through all the Tartar squadrons ran
Of pride and hope for Sohrab, whom they loved.
But as a troop of peddlers from Cabool,
Cross underneath the Indian Caucasus,
The vast sky-neighboring mountain of milk snow;
Crossing so high, that, as they mount, they pass
Long flocks of traveling birds dead on the snow,

Choked by the air, and scarce can they themselves
Slake their parch'd throats with sugar'd mulberries
In single file they move and stop their breath,

For fear they should dislodge the o'erhanging snows-
So the pale Persians held their breath with fear.

The reader must also bear in mind that from the very beginning of each picture the atmosphere of joy and fear respectively must be in the mind, and must never be lost sight of under any circumstances.

Sometimes the atmosphere is modified by the fact that the speaker is quoting the words of another person, and then it is often a matter of the most subtle analysis to determine the extent to which the quoted words will modify the atmosphere of the reader, whether speaking in his own person or in the person of another.

There are two kinds of literature that must be considered in this connection. First: That class in which the reader tells the story in his own person. Second: When the reading is a personation throughout. An example of the first class is The Idylls of the King; and of the second, the "Instigation" speech of Cassius, in Julius Cæsar. The principle governing atmosphere applies equally and in the same way to both kinds of selections. The knowledge of this fact will often be valuable to the reader.

In the "Instigation" speech we get a good example, where Cassius tells Brutus that Cæsar, when he had a fever, cried, "Give me some drink, Titinius,' like a sick girl." It seems to me that the whole matter of atmosphere, as far as quoted words are concerned, will be made clear to the student by a study of this simple passage. Cassius is so exercised over the success of Cæsar, and his

own consequent humiliation, that his scorn and rage arè well-nigh boundless. As the torrent of his emotion rushes forth, is it not entirely inconsistent with our knowledge of human nature to suppose that that torrent would be so impeded or arrested when Cassius came to the above words, that he would stop to reproduce the actual manner and tones of Cæsar? What Cassius probably does is to suggest something of the effeminate manner of Cæsar enveloped in Cassius' own atmosphere of bitterest loathing and contempt. The student will be helped in work of this kind by asking himself the question, What is the atmosphere of the speaker? And this applies to all forms of literature, — dramatic, epic, and so forth. Then having determined this, he must next make up his mind, through his knowledge of human nature, to what extent this atmosphere is modified by the quoted words that are introduced into the body of the story. He may be assisted in determining this by putting the question to himself, Is what the quoted words convey, or the manner in which they are conveyed, of the greater importance? This is well illustrated in King Robert of Sicily. It makes no difference in this particular poem how the sexton uttered the words, "Who is there?" and, consequently, it would be a mistake to give them any very significant atmosphere. As a matter of fact, the words are really equivalent to indirect discourse; the expression would convey exactly the same meaning to the listener if read, Asking who was within. The following from King Lear is full of suggestiveness in this connection. The student will remember that Kent has sent a gentleman to Cordelia to tell her of the condition of her father. Later in the drama, Kent meets the gentleman, and from him gets the story of

the manner in which Cordelia received the sad news of her
father's suffering. How truly ridiculous it would be for
the gentleman to imitate the manner of Cordelia. The
psychological explanation of what happens is probably.
this: As he relates the story to Kent, the tearful face and
voice of Cordelia come into his mind, and, since there is
always in human nature a tendency to become that which
one describes, something of the manner of Cordelia will be
suggested in the voice of the speaker; but let us bear in
mind that the imitation is not conscious, but sympathetic.
I do not mean that the reader is not conscious of what he
is doing, but that the gentleman (to use a concrete illus-
tration) was not consciously imitating Cordelia. The
artistic reader in reproducing this scene is conscious of
what he is doing, but consciously sympathetic, not imi-
tative.

KENT. Did your letters pierce the queen to any demonstration of
grief?

GENTLEMAN. Ay, sir; she took them, read them in my presence;
And now and then an ample tear trilled down

Her delicate cheek: it seemed, she was a queen
Over her passion, who, most rebel-like,

Sought to be king o'er her.

KENT.

O, then it moved her.

GENTLEMAN. Not to a rage: patience and sorrow strove
Who should express her goodliest. You have seen
Sunshine and rain at once; her smiles and tears

Were like a better May: those happy smilets

That played on her ripe lip, seemed not to know
What guests were in her eyes, which parted thence
As pearls from diamonds dropped. - In brief,

Sorrow would be a rarity most beloved,

If all could so become it.

KENT.

Made she no verbal question?

GENTLEMAN. 'Faith, once, or twice, she heav'd the name of