5 DECEMBER 1925, Page 36

• It is a pleasing discussion of the " absoluteness

" of creative writing. Too much stress, Mr. Forster thinks, is laid upon

the " personality " of works of art. The Ancient Mariner is not -primarily a poem by S. T. Coleridge : it is primarily a

poem. The virtue of the lyric is its impersonality. There is much to quarrel with in the essay, and it never displays any profundity of thought. It comes, however, as a welcome protest in this age of individualism.