Its spirit or the aspirations of its Spirit lay in the roalms
of tno absolute... in sthe twilight of the eternal. All -that the
Classicist aspires to is tho direct negation of the temporal,
the transiont, the flux of life which Js governed by the prin-
ciples of conception, growth, decay and ultimatcly and inevit-
AO. Oe tie

define Classicism. We can observe how Romanticism operates ag
we.con clectrigity,. but asi the physicist what Clectricity. La
and from him you draw no answer-<so with Romanticism. Emil
Ludwig once said that The Romantic is fated to become bored if
he eznnot lose himself. He must laugh and sing, brood over the
complex of creation (complex means Something in tcchnical lang-
uage peculiar to Romanticism) inspire revolutions, be moved to
tcars, become a wave or inhabit the region of the cloud. The
states ho invokcs can range from the light and gay to the
frivolous evon, to the frenziod and NOrei rie. thom the mystical
to. tho mocabre.. This is a doneitde DOG thes. Bowevor, it da-
fines tho SCOPE of Romanticism ana does mot tell us what it is.
One might as woll try to cmbrace the morning mists or trace with
Pencil the ir ever-changing contours as try to define Romanticism,

Romanticism cannot bo dcfined, not in the sense that Woe can

Having sketched in the differences between these two quite antith-
etical modes of expression, lect us now scok their dictionary def-
initions. The following I have sclocted from Webstor's New
Collogiate Dictionary:

ChASSLOLSM 2: ~ In criticism, the principles and characteristics of
a literature or art establishod as a formal standard, originally
those of Groek and Roman litcrature and art, embodying lucidity,
Simplicity, dignity, and correctness of stylo; likewise in
music, formal beauty or tho qualities of clearness, symmetry,
finish and repose. As contrestod with homenticism, Classicism
typifics pure taste, sobricty, and proportion, and in a less
favourable sensc, the restraints of conventional formality.

ROMANTICISM: ‘Romantic principles or cheractoristics Berner a! Ly
conformity to, or practice Of, tho romantic gtylo, Aa 8 crits
ical torm ROMANTICTs: genorally denotes the DEingiples, coon.
acteristics, or spirit of tho movement, the ROMANTIC MOVEMCNT
primarily in literature, for asserting imagination and sentiment
and emphasizing individualism in thought and expression as
against the restrictive formality of Classicism.

I admire Webster for preserving a fundamental distinction bctweon
the two definitions, also the suktlety of means by which this was
achieved; that is, in his actual modc of defining the two terms.
In cssonce the distinction drawn is a fundemental one. The

di¢etionary statoss "OLAssToT ay ao~r-slist of Gunlities" Romi.
JJCISM ----what it docs--I)TERPRETATION oF--." Classicism docs

deal with the cxistenec, the ISNESS of things. This vory stato