13/50 When Dr.Johnson was asked, "What is _poetry_ ?" he replied, "Why, sir, it is easier to tell what it is not. We all know what _light_ is: but it is not easy _to tell what it is_."-- _Boswell's Life of Johnson_, Vol. iii, p.402.This was thought by the biographer to have been well and ingeniously said. But whenever we encounter difficulties of this sort, it may be worth while to seek for their _cause_. If we find it, the understanding is no longer puzzled. |