Those figures,
scenes, events, that form part of the subject called the Fall of Man,
are not the substance of Paradise Lost; but in Paradise Lost there are
figures, scenes, and events resembling them in some degree. These, with
much more of the same kind, may be described as its substance, and may
then be contrasted with the measured language of the poem, which will
be called its form. Subject is the opposite not of form but of the whole
poem. Substance is within the poem, and its opposite, form, is also
within the poem. I am not criticizing this antithesis at present, but
evidently it is quite different from the other. It is practically the
distinction used in the old-fashioned criticism of epic and drama, and
it flows down, not unsullied, from Aristotle. Addison, for example, in
examining _Paradise Lost_ considers in order the fable, the characters,
and the sentiments; these will be the substance: then he considers the
language, that is, the style and numbers; this will be the form. In like
manner, the substance or meaning of a lyric may be distinguished from
the form.
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