The spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1840-1844, 1842-03-11
MtSceIIaiycoua.
USEFULNESS or POETRY.

The following extrac. from the most beautiful Of
Shelley prose compositions, entitled "A Defence
Of Poetry" is the conplelest answer that we have
ever seen TO the common objection urged against
poets ard their labors by coarse-mnded people,
namely, that they are of no immediate use. The
whole Defence is worthy the study of all lovers
of the beautiful as it clothes the lolticst ideas in
style which Is rs ricii rs it Il pure and onyncing
the very "iucarnatiOn oflhoughl.'-
'l}ut let us not bo betrayed from defence into
a critical history Of poetry add It's influence on So
clety. he II enough To have pointed out the el
fecls Of poets, in the large un true sense of the
word, upon their own ana all succeeding times.
But poets have been challenged to resign the
civic crown 10 reasouers and nechaniis, on anotl-
or plea. Il is admitted th4t.the exercise Of the ihl-
ugnatiOn Is most delightful, bat It Is aedgcd that
that OF reason Is more useful. Let US examine, as
the grounds OF this Distinction, what is here meant
by utility. Pleasure or good IN general sense, Is
that which the consciousness Of Il sensitive and III
telligent being secEs, and IN which, when found
nacquIcsces There are two kinds of pleasure,
one durable, universal and prominent Tie other
transtory aud particular Guilty may either ex-
press the means OF producing the former or the lat
ter. In the fOrIGcr sense, Whatever strengthens
aud purilics tho affections, enlJrscs the iuaginal on
and adds spirit TO sense, Is useful. But Il narrow
er meaning may be assigned to the word utility,
coninlng 1t to express lily, which banshes the I'M
poriuny Of the wants oil our animal mature, the
surrounding men with security Of life the dlspers-
Ing the grossGr decisions OF superstition, aud the
cOncIihlng such degree of mutual iOrbelrlnce
among men u- my consist with tue motives Of per-
sona advantage
Undoubtedly the promoters Of utility, in this linn
tied sense, have their appointed OIce IN society.
They follow the footsteps Of poets, and copy the
sketches Of their creations into the book ofcommon
life. They make space aud give time Their ca
ertions Of the highest value, 50. long Us they
coniine their administration of the concerns of the
inferior power of our nature within the limits due To
the superior ones. But while the sceplic destroys
gross snperstlons, lei hun spare 10 defence some
Of the French writers have deilced, the eternal
truths characterized upon the imaginatons of men,
Whilst the inechanist abddges, aud the political
economist combines, labor, let them beware that
their specuIitlons, Tor wait OF correspondence with
those hrst principles which belong to the imagina-
iion do not tend, as they have in modern England,
TO cxasperdte at once the extremes, of luxury and
cont. They have exemplliicd the saying, "'ro
hn ilIlt hath, more shall b. given; and from him
That hath not, the little that Ia hath shall be taken
AWAY" The ri;iI have become richer and the
poor have become poorer; and the vessel Of the
state is driven between the Scylia and Chary bids
of anarchy and despotlsn. such are the effects
which must ever How from an unmiliglted exer.
rise Of the calculating faculty.
II is difficult 10 define pleasure in its highest
sense, the definition involving a number of appa-
rent paradoxes For, from an ineAplcablc defect
Of harmony ia the constitution Of human nature.
the pain Of the Inferior is frequently connected
with the pleasures Of the superior portions of our
being. Sorrow, Terror .angus, despair itself are Of
ten the chosen expressions Of an approximation 10
the highest good. Our sympathy ia tragic fiction
depends this principle; tragedy delights BY az
fording shadow Of that pleasure which exists in
pain This is the source also of the melancholy
which is inseparable from the sweetest melody
The pleasure that Il IN sorrow il sweeer than the
pleasure Of pleasure itself. And hence The saying,
''li is better TO 90 to the house of mourning than
to The house Of mIrth.'' Not that this highest spe-
rics Of pleasure is necessarily linked win pain
The delight of love and friendship, the exslacy of