The Psychology of Beauty | Page 4

the secret of his emotion, to discover
what it is, and why, that has so stung him--to defend and to justify his
transport to himself and to others. He seeks a reason for the faith that is
in him. And so have arisen the speculative theories of the nature of
beauty, on the one hand, and the studies of concrete beauty and our
feelings about it, on the other. Speculative theory has taken its own way,
however, as a part of philosophy, in relating the Beautiful to the other
great concepts of the True and the Good; building up an architectonic
of abstract ideas, far from the immediate facts and problems of the
enjoyment of beauty. There has grown up, on the other hand, in the last
years, a great literature of special studies in the facts of aesthetic
production and enjoyment. Experiments with the aesthetic elements;
investigations into the physiological psychology of aesthetic reactions;
studies in the genesis and development of art forms, have multiplied
apace. But these are still mere groups of facts for psychology; they
have not been taken up into a single authoritative principle. Psychology
cannot do justice to the imperative of beauty, by virtue of which, when
we say "this is beautiful," we have a right to imply that the universe
must agree with us. A synthesis of these tendencies in the study of
beauty is needed, in which the results of modern psychology shall help

to make intelligible a philosophical theory of beauty. The chief purpose
of this book is to seek to effect such a union.
A way of defining Beauty which grounds it in general principles, while
allowing it to reach the concrete case, is set forth in the essay on the
Nature of Beauty. The following chapters aim to expand, to test, and to
confirm this central theory, by showing, partly by the aid of the
aforesaid special studies, how it accounts for our pleasure in pictures,
music, and literature.
The whole field of beauty is thus brought under discussion; and
therefore, though it nowhere seeks to be exhaustive in treatment, the
book may fairly claim to be a more or less consistent and complete
aesthetic theory, and hence to address itself to the student of aesthetics
as well as to the general reader. The chapter on the Nature of Beauty,
indeed, will doubtless be found by the latter somewhat technical, and
should be omitted by all who definitely object to professional
phraseology. The general conclusions of the book are sufficiently stated
in the less abstract papers.
Of the essays which compose the following volume, the first, third, and
last are reprinted, in more or less revised form, from the "Atlantic
Monthly" and the "International Monthly." Although written as
independent papers, it is thought that they do not unduly repeat each
other, but that they serve to verify, in each of the several realms of
beauty, the truth of the central theory of the book.
The various influences which have served to shape a work of this kind
become evident in the reading; but I cannot refrain from a word of
thanks to the teachers whose inspiration and encouragement first made
it possible. I owe much gratitude to Professor Mary A. Jordan and
Professor H. Norman Gardiner of Smith College, who in literature and
in philosophy first set me in the way of aesthetic interest and inquiry,
and to Professor Hugo Munsterberg of Harvard University, whose
philosophical theories and scientific guidance have largely influenced
my thought.
WELLESLEY COLLEGE, April 24, 1905.

CONTENTS PAGE I. CRITICISM AND
AESTHETICS.............................1 II. THE NATURE OF
BEAUTY................................27 III. THE AESTHETIC
REPOSE................................57 IV. THE BEAUTY OF FINE
ART..............................89 A. THE BEAUTY OF VISUAL
FORM.....................91 B. SPACE COMPOSITION AMONG THE
OLD MASTERS......128 V. THE BEAUTY OF
MUSIC................................149 VI. THE BEAUTY OF
LITERATURE...........................203 VII. THE NATURE OF THE
EMOTIONS OF THE DRAMA............229 VIII. THE BEAUTY OF
IDEAS................................263

I CRITICISM AND AESTHETICS

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEAUTY
I CRITICISM AND AESTHETICS
IT is not so long ago that the field of literary criticism was divided into
two opposing camps. France being the only country in the world where
criticism is a serious matter, the battle waged most fiercely there, and
doubtless greatly served to bring about the present general interest and
understanding of the theoretical questions at issue. The combatants
were, of course, the impressionistic and scientific schools of criticism,
and particularly enlightening were the more or less recent controversies
between MM. Anatole France and Jules Lemaitre as representatives of
the first, and M. Brunetiere as the chief exponent of the second. They
have planted their standards; and we see that they stand for tendencies
in the critical activity of every nation. The ideal of the impressionist is
to bring a new piece of literature into being in some exquisitely happy