Abstract

The Testament of Beauty

The article presents an overview of the book "The Testament of Beauty," by Robert Bridges. The book is not a protest; it is an argumerit and, to Mr. Bridges, a proof that Beauty will prevail, that all forces work toward a greater spirituality in men and toward a consequent greater Art; it is indeed a survey of the past with intent to force the conclusion that man's moral and aesthetic progress is one and the same, and that this progress points necessarily toward a conventional morality and religion. "The Testament of Beauty" is divided into an Introduction announcing that the poem is to be a Vision, and. then into three parts, Selihood,- Breed, and Ethick. The Vision becomes in the second part much less allegorical and much more argumentative than the Introduction leads everyone to expect.