The National Evolution of Poetry 47mind; they may exceed them. The soul of the poet may be like
a star and dwell apart; even, his work may seem not merely a
variation from but a revolt against the limitations of the national
mind. But still the roots of his personality are there in its spirit
and even his variation and revolt are an attempt to bring out
something that is latent and suppressed or at least something
which is trying to surge up from the secret all-soul into the
soul-form of the nation. Therefore to appreciate this national
evolution of poetry and the relations of the poet and his work
with it cannot but be fruitful, if we observe them from the point
of view not so much of things external to poetry, but of its own
spirit and characteristic forms and motives.