Read it through once

It will be observed that this theory excludes the narrative as a primary principle in the higher poetry. Narrative, being essentially allied to incident and to the mechanical succession of events, introduces elements foreign to pure beauty. Hence, in those poems that are chiefly narrative, the poetic principle is often subordinated to story-telling. Yet narrative may be employed subordinately to the poetic aim, as an instrument of the poetic effect, provided that the unity and the beauty of the whole are not sacrificed.