318 The Future Poetry
into close relation. There was, first, the problem of the natu-
ralisation of classical metres in English poetry, and there was,
mixed up with it, the problem of the free creation of quantitative
English verse in its own right, on its own basis, with its own
natural laws, not necessarily identical with those laid down in
the ancient tongues. The main attempt then made was not to
discover a true English principle of quantitative metre, — what
was done was to bring in classical metres built according to the
laws of quantity proper to a classical tongue but of doubtful
validity in a modern language. Chaucer, influenced by medi-
aeval French and Italian poetry, had naturalised their metrical
inventions by making accentual pitch and inflexion the basis of
English metre. This revolution succeeded because he had called
to his aid one of the most important elements in the natural
rhythm of the language and it was easy for him by that happy
choice to establish a perfect harmony between this rhythm and
his new art of metrical building. The metrical movement he
perfected — for others before him had attempted it — passed
easily into the language, because he caught and lifted its native
rhythm into a perfect beauty of sound captivating to the ear and
moving to the inner witness and listener silent within us — the
soul, to whom all art and all life should appeal and minister.
This great victory was essential for the free flowering of poetry
in the English tongue; the absence of any suchcoup d’œilof
genius was one chief reason of its failure to flower as freely in
so many human languages, — no creative genius found for them
the route which leads to the discovery of a perfect plasticity
of word and sound, a perfect expressiveness, a perfect beauty
of rhythm. But with the Renaissance came a new impulse, a
new influence; an enthusiasm was vividly felt by many for the
greatness of structure and achievement of the Greek and Latin
tongues — an achievement far surpassing anything done in the
mediaeval Romance languages — and a desire arose to bring this
greatness of structure and achievement into English poetry. As
Chaucer by the success of the accentual structure in verse and
his discovery of its true and natural rhythm was able to bring
in the grace and fluidity of the Romance tongues, so they too