Threefold attack upon the poet's religion.--His lack of theological temper.--His lack of reverence.--His lack of conformance.--The poet's defense.--Materialistic belief deadening to poetry.--His idealistic temper.--His pantheistic leanings.--His reverence for beauty.--His repudiation of a religion that humbles him.--Compatibility of pride and pantheism.--The poet's nonconformance.--His occasional perverseness.-- Inspiring nature of doubt.--The poet's thirst for God.--The occasional orthodox poet. VII. THE PRAGMATIC ISSUE The poet's alleged uselessness,--His effeminacy.--His virility.--The poet warrior.--Incompatibility of poets and materialists.--Plato'scharge that poetry is inferior to actual life.--The concurrence of certain soldier poets in Plato's charge.--Poetry as an amusement only.--The value of faithful imitation.--The realists.--Poetry as a solace.--Poetry a reflection of the ideal essence of things.--Love of beauty the poet's guide in disentangling ideality from the accidents of things.--Beauty as truth.--The poet as seer.--The quarrel with the philosopher.--The truth of beauty vs. cold facts.--Proof of validity of the poet's truth.--His skill as prophet.--The poet's mission as reformer.--His impatience with practical reforms.--Belief in essential goodness of men, since beauty is the essence of things.--Reform a matter of allowing all things to express their essence.--Enthusiasm for liberty.--Denial of the war-poet's charge.--Poets the authors of liberty.--Poets the real rulers of mankind.--The world's appreciation of their importance.--Their immortality. VIII. A SOBER AFTERTHOUGHT Denial that the views of poets on the poet are heterogeneous.--Poets' identity of purpose in discussing poets.--Apparent contradictions in views.-Apparent inconsistency in the thought of each poet.--The two-fold interests of poets.--The poet as harmonizer of sensual and spiritual.-- Balance of sense and spirit in the poetic temperament.--Injustice to one element or the other in most literary criticism.--Limitations of the poet's prose criticism.--Superiority of his critical expressions in verse.--The poet's importance.--Poetry as a proof of the idealistic philosophy. INDEX CHAPTER I. THE EGOCENTRIC CIRCLE