and of what his life means; and it is
this deep truth, or set of truths, at
the heart of these works which we
are always striving to reach and
make clear to ourselves.

In the case of neither poem did the
writer content himself with an exposi-
tion of his own experience; in both
cases there is an attempt to embody
and put in concrete form an immense
section of universal experience. Nei-
ther poem could have been written if
there had not been a long antecedent
history, rich in every kind and quality
of human contact with the world, and
of the working out of the forces which
are in every human soul. These two
forms of activity represent in a gene-
ral way what men have learned about
themselves and their surroundings;
and, taken together, they constitute
the material out of which interpreta-

[[87]]

p086 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p087w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p088

v?