CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION Connection with author’s _Art of Interesting_—Need of principles of an art amidst violent experimentation in art and education—Aristotle’s principles valid except where the basis of his deductions has been modified—With Greek literature leaving our schools, Greek taste is needed against excessive modernism—Recent art discussions— Croce’s _Æsthetic_; Puffer’s _Psychology of Beauty_; De Wulf’s _L’Œuvre d’Art et la Beauté_ v ART PRINCIPLES IN LITERATURE PART FIRST ART IN THE APPRECIATION OF LITERATURE I ART AND THE INDIVIDUAL 1. INDIVIDUALISM AND RESPONSIBILITY 1 Talking to oneself in art—Chaos in religion, morals and art from unchecked individualism—Altruism a better principle—Responsibility inevitable—Responsibility a help, no hindrance to the artist—Greek drama; Italian Madonnas; Horace. II ART AND THE INDIVIDUAL 2. VAGARIES OF INDIVIDUALISM 8 Modern literature and art and a sense of humor—Fiction, biographical and pathological—New poetry shallow—Riot of emotionalism—Novel of satire, European continental type originating in low comedy—Novel of Scott, epic in origin—Nature, experience, wisdom, the remedies of individualism. III ART AND HUMAN NATURE 1. THE UNIVERSAL ELEMENT 14 Art movements begin in nature—Art is social—Permanence of literature due to universal appeal—The camera and the canvas—Personality and individuality—Shock of nerves not the mental thrill of art. IV ART AND HUMAN NATURE 2. REALISM AND REALITY 20 Real cake of soap on a painted wave—Art a distinct world from reality—Motivation, not through logical discussion but through probable incident—Painting in the cake of soap—Realism depressing because of cynic moralizing—Evil in Shakespeare and Homer, relieved by pathos and humor, not depressing. V ART AND THE DIVINE 1. RELIGIOUS ORIGIN OF ART 26