I have
been in an uneasy chair above Caer Sidin, and the whirling round
without motion between three elements. Is it not the wonder of the
world that cannot be discovered?' And so he ends the poem. But here
is the Celtic, the essential part of the poem: it is here that the
'formative pressure' has been really in operation; and here surely is
paganism and mythology enough, which the Christian priest of the
thirteenth century can have had nothing to do with. It is
unscientific, no doubt, to interpret this part as Edward Davies and
Mr. Herbert do; but it is unscientific also to get rid of it as Mr.
Nash does. Wales and the Welsh genius are not to be known without
this part; and the true critic is he who can best disengage its real
significance.
I say, then, what we want is to KNOW the Celt and his genius; not to
exalt him or to abase him, but to know him. And for this a
disinterested, positive, and constructive criticism is needed.
Neither his friends nor his enemies have yet given us much of this.
His friends have given us materials for criticism, and for these we
ought to be grateful; his enemies have given us negative criticism,
and for this, too, up to a certain point, we may be grateful; but the
criticism we really want neither of them has yet given us.
Philology, however, that science which in our time has had so many
successes, has not been abandoned by her good fortune in touching the
Celt; philology has brought, almost for the first time in their
lives, the Celt and sound criticism together.
Pages:
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82