| CHAPTER I | |
| Purpose and Method | |
| PAGE | |
| Object of the book. Historical and comparative treatment. Sources of help. Modern scientific aids. Limitations to their value. The evidence of poetry itself. The curve of evolution | 1 |
| CHAPTER II | |
| Rhythm as the Essential Fact of Poetry | |
| Definitions of poetry. The line between poetry and prose. Summary of the dispute. Rhythm fundamental and essential in poetry. Proofs from ethnology, psychology, and the history of poetry itself | 30 |
| CHAPTER III | |
| The Two Elements in Poetry | |
| The dualism in its various forms. Poetry of nature and of art. Poetry of the people. Romantic and rationalistic theories. The real dualism | 116 |
| CHAPTER IV | |
| The Differencing Elements of the Poetry of Art | |
| Communal and individual. Mediæval and modern conditions. Evolution of sentimental lyric. Influence of Christianity. Reactions. Modern objective poetry. Humour | 139 |
| CHAPTER V | |
| The Differencing Elements of Communal Poetry | |
| The making of communal poetry a closed account. Elements of the European ballad. Who made it. The “I” of ballads. Style of ballads. Incremental repetition. Variation. Siberian songs. Bridal songs. The vocero and kindred songs of mourning. The refrain. Refrains and songs of labour. Harvest-home. Processions. Flytings. Festal refrains. The dance | 163 |
| CHAPTER VI | |
| Science and Communal Poetry | |
| Science and theories of poetic origins. Invention and imitation. Comparative literature and the art of borrowing. The war against instinct. Instinct not set aside. The dualism in poetry. Greek drama. Homogeneity of savages and of primitive men | 347 |
| CHAPTER VII | |
| The Earliest Differentiations of Poetry | |
| The poet. Improvisation in a throng. A study of the schnaderhüpfl. Stanzas and poems. Differentiation of poetry. Lyric, drama, and epic. Myths. Poetic style | 390 |
| CHAPTER VIII | |
| The Triumph of the Artist | |
| Improvisation revived. Its fate. The two forces in poetry. Past and present | 453 |