Page:Chaos, a vision of eternity.djvu/17

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A FEW words as to the form in which this work is presented, would seem to be appropriate. Though in the nature of an epic in conception and scope, its movement is inherently dramatic. Its theme is the creation, the culmination and disintegration of the material universe. The primitive simplicity of the plot and the vastness of its range seemed to call for a revival of the simpler methods of the ancient Greek drama. For this reason, the chorus has been introduced as it existed prior to the time of Æschylus. Thus the skeptic narrates his experience and the chorus makes appropriate observations from time to time expressive of the feelings which the stage pictures presented might arouse in an intelligent audience.

According to Eschenburg, "the chorus is charged with the exposition of the fable" (plot), "it praised the Gods and justified them against the complaints of the suffering and unhappy; it sought to soothe the excited passions and to impart lessons of wisdom and experience, and in general to suggest useful practical reflections." The chorus is a convenient medium by which to express the author's opinions. As Professor Gilbert Murray says, in the introduction to his translation of Euripides (p. lviii, Vol. III, The Athenian Drama), the chorus "is a method wonderfully contrived for expressing those vaguer faiths and