ABSTRACT
Those to whom poetry means nothing but metrical or rhymed language will have a special difficulty in accepting the term poetic humor. Metrical and rhymed language, although not the essence of poetry, are deeply appropriate to it because their effect upon sensitive natures is hypnotic. They tend to produce a trance in which we realize the qualities of absent things almost with the sharpness of hallucination. The union of serious poetry, therefore, with versification is both natural and immortal.
