Excerpt from Rossetti the Poet: An Appreciation I shut myself in with my soul, \and the shapes come eddying forth. (fragment) Conception Fundamental Brainwork, that is what makes the difference in art. Work your metal as much as you like, but first take care that it is gold and worth work ing. So wrote Rossetti; and by brainwork he meant that content of lyrical thought or mood which is susceptible of being shaped into poetry. The laws of physics and architecture cannot in them selves make a building - there must also be the granite; and brainwork must be the structural stuff - the granite out of which poetry is to be wrought. We are forever talking of great art, great music, great poetry, not knowing quite what we mean by great, nor ever quite agreeing as to what is great. That we should not agree is both natural and fortunate, for what appeals to you may leave me unmoved; yet I suspect that what we most often mean, when we say that this or that work of art is great, is that we find it well laden with fundamental brainwork. It is this quality which will wear best and longest; and therefore as our taste and understanding de velop we gradually leave behind us those artists whose beauties were trivial and external, and take ultimate refuge there where Beauty is large and deep. In the end, it is spiritual elbow-room which we need and seek, and the poet who can give it to us is sure of a niche in our hearts. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.