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III. GROTESQUE RENAISSANCE. 147
rately describes the movements of the mind, and therefore
leaves himself at liberty to make the form heroic; but that
form is never distinct enough to be painted. Dante, who will
not le'ave even external forms obscure, degrades them before
he can feel them to be demoniacal; so also John Bunyan : both
of them, I think, having firmer faith than Milton's in their
own creations, and deeper insight into the nature of sin. Milton makes his fiends too noble, and misses the foulness, inconstancy, and fury of wickedness. His Satan possesses some virtues, not the less virtues for being applied to evil purpose.
Courage, resolution, patience, deliberation in council, this latter being eminently a wise and holy character, as opposed to
the "Insania" of excessive sin: and all this, if not a shallow
and false, is a smooth and artistical, conception. On the other
hand, I have always felt that there was a peculiar grandeur in
the indescribable, ungovernable fury of Dante's fiends, ever
shortening its own powers, and disappointing its own purposes;
the deaf, blind, speechless, unspeakable rage, fierce as the lightning, but erring from its mark or turning senselessly against
itself, and still further debased by foulness of form and action.
Something is indeed to be allowed for the rude feelings of the
time, but I believe all such men as Dante are sent into the
world at the time when they can do their work best; and that,
it being appointed for him to give to mankind the most vigorous realization possible both of Hell and Heaven, he was born
both in the country and at the time which furnished the most
stern opposition of Horror and Beauty, and permitted it to be
written in the clearest terms. And, therefore, though there
are passages in the " Inferno" which it would be impossible for
any poet now to write, I look upon it as all the more perfect
for them. For there can be no question but that one characteristic of excessive vice is indecency, a general baseness in
its thoughts and acts concerning the body,* and that the full
portraiture of it cannot be given without marking, and that in
the strongest lines, this tendency to corporeal degradation ;
* Let the reader examine, with special reference to this subject, the general character of the language of Iago.
| Title | The stones of Venice - 3 |
| Creator | Ruskin, John |
| Publisher | J. Wiley |
| Place of Publication | New York |
| Date | 1889 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000163 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | III. GROTESQUE RENAISSANCE. 147 rately describes the movements of the mind, and therefore leaves himself at liberty to make the form heroic; but that form is never distinct enough to be painted. Dante, who will not le'ave even external forms obscure, degrades them before he can feel them to be demoniacal; so also John Bunyan : both of them, I think, having firmer faith than Milton's in their own creations, and deeper insight into the nature of sin. Milton makes his fiends too noble, and misses the foulness, inconstancy, and fury of wickedness. His Satan possesses some virtues, not the less virtues for being applied to evil purpose. Courage, resolution, patience, deliberation in council, this latter being eminently a wise and holy character, as opposed to the "Insania" of excessive sin: and all this, if not a shallow and false, is a smooth and artistical, conception. On the other hand, I have always felt that there was a peculiar grandeur in the indescribable, ungovernable fury of Dante's fiends, ever shortening its own powers, and disappointing its own purposes; the deaf, blind, speechless, unspeakable rage, fierce as the lightning, but erring from its mark or turning senselessly against itself, and still further debased by foulness of form and action. Something is indeed to be allowed for the rude feelings of the time, but I believe all such men as Dante are sent into the world at the time when they can do their work best; and that, it being appointed for him to give to mankind the most vigorous realization possible both of Hell and Heaven, he was born both in the country and at the time which furnished the most stern opposition of Horror and Beauty, and permitted it to be written in the clearest terms. And, therefore, though there are passages in the " Inferno" which it would be impossible for any poet now to write, I look upon it as all the more perfect for them. For there can be no question but that one characteristic of excessive vice is indecency, a general baseness in its thoughts and acts concerning the body,* and that the full portraiture of it cannot be given without marking, and that in the strongest lines, this tendency to corporeal degradation ; * Let the reader examine, with special reference to this subject, the general character of the language of Iago. |
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