Restoration of the Demon

Joshua Reynolds, The Death of Cardinal Beaufort. Note the demon.

This is the second installment in my occasional series “Seeing Things,” where I explore contemporary modes of human perception. The first installment considered the relationship between the aesthetic and the interpretive view. This one takes up the question of enchantment.

The land may vary more;
But wherever the truth may be—
The water comes ashore,
And the people look at the sea.
—Robert Frost

Contemporary man’s faith in reality, in an...