Greek Influence on English Poetry Book

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Excerpt from book:
LECTURE V Influence Of Greek Philosophy In directing your attention—for that is all that the time at my disposal allows—to the way in which English poetry has been affected by the influence of Greek metaphysics and ethics, it is not difficult to point out what particular aspects of these subjects have chiefly attracted our poets. But what is difficult is to bring the subject we are to consider within bounds, to present it simply, or, in other words, to distinguish between what is directly referable to Greek influence and what is to be attributed to other sources, and, lastly, to make what I have to explain intelligible. It is difficult to bring the subject within bounds, for in metaphysics and ethics, where poetry has dealt with them, the embryo always, the development often, is to be traced to the Greek philosophers ; and to treat the subject exhaustively we should have to include commentaries on such works as Wordsworth's ' Excursion ' and Pope's ' Essay on Man.' It is necessary to present the subject very simply, for, were we to take into account poems or portions of poems where Greek metaphysical and ethical thought have come in indirectly and undergone in various degrees modification, our task would be endless. Lastly, it is no easy matter to make the subjectunder discussion intelligible, for I cannot assume that all of you are acquainted with the outlines, still less with the technicalities of the Platonic, Aristotelean and Stoic philosophy. I think, therefore, it will be well for me so to deal with this subject as to find space, as I go along, for a brief general explanation of the philosophical theories to which reference will be made. And if I do this at the cost of contracting my illustration of the nature and extent of the influence exercised by Greek philosophy ...