Wabash express. [volume] (Terre-Haute, Vigo Co[unty], Ind.) 1841-186?, 1858-11-17
For The Wabash kspress
A Word about Poets and Poetry.

The mind which cannot comprehend poetry
Is wanting in = sense. Yet. such are precisely
the minds. which eritiei>e poetry the most sar-
rowly They ny j, blythe prssaic law which
they DO understand. aud base their qualsfica
lions. a. judges. upon their very detects "Ol
that could write for nation Of postsl' poor
Byron once exclaimed. Alas for every gen
Jus, nature makes ten SQUAD men and hence the
opposition Is pretty strong. Ard while gsn-
ius. ever restless. ever ecceatr,e ever impal.
sise, ever aspiring. struggles To attain those
gidiy heights for which its nature constantly
yearn,. these Ten strong men resolve them
.else- into philosophers. satiris,s. critics.
malhemaiieians. aud political economists. aud
proceed at once. to pull poor genius inglori
ously down.
have seen pretty fair, correct. orderly rsen.
Of meat sound Judgments, take foe diseur-
lire. suggestive hne Of poetry. over which the
Imagination would bound like lightning ever
wrs--and undertake to disseet IT, They
grayels ak why Is thi,l aud where - the
reason for that. And when one reads those
beautiful liues
"fos sweet she mooulishs sIeeps upon she bank
They say that moonlight cannot sleep
Aud when a mighty poet says. that
"Joeuni day
st.nds .ip,oe on the misty moan'ain ioPs'
they cry out fudge aud one. who Is really
poeiical. feels like tearing one's hair. aud cry
ing aloud with vexalioa. Aud must We poets.
n say xe pOefs. Mr.. Editor. because. away IN
The drowsy corners OF soporltic old ne~spa
pers are now sleeping some Of my If ris ia
that line. which. | once fondly hoped would
have made me immorisl) And repeat H.
must we poets be called to account for our do
ings. when We arc ia our fine phrenzies roll
ingi Must We come before them, aud sna
lyre. dissect. and otherwise mutllate our most
magnificent conceits Who can Judge poetry
according 10 ruls Who can explain. or dem.
oustrate the stately images "hieh The poets
mysterious power suggestsg whp, afr the
poet has given 10 AIRY nothing, local hab'-
tation and name" can disenchant the fairy
like pavilion he has reared. aud resolve 1t IN
to airy nothing again Who can tell how.
he. with his wondrous power, manages to
brckon on some grand unuttsrable thought
Or, with what wizard art, he invites a dis
tant light to play around some stern, and IN.
Ill then. repulsvo truth Or, how he sends
his Imagination forth. to gamboi ia great un'
cultured fedsl Or how he calls from the
Vastly deep Of his unfa,homed mind. myriads
OF fantastic shapes, which obey the strokes oil
his magic penn Or. by what happy con,ri-
vance he throws line after line, from one great
thought to juttng thought beyond. over which
imagination skips like elm sprite, and
laughs at the heavy burden of mortality,
which cannot follow in her wake ? All this is
rs my sterious as life or death.
s.Soi empire to tho rising sun
b, valor, conduct, fortune won,
Not grcatcst " rsdon in debates
Or framing laws for ruling States
Such heavenly Influences require
Ashow 10 strike the MUSES. Tyre
Poetry, like religion. requires that We should
be as little children. Poets are indeed. bu'
children in their guilessncss. their credulity
and not unfsequently. in their sweet sinpliei
ty Thi. has made them. and unless he WORLD
very much improves. will continue to make
them the duprs of designing men, and thu
foot balls of fate. Still, had rather he TIT
poet in his attic with his great soul up heav
ing. and the eye of his mind fixed upon th'
wor ders which are invisible to him Of CROSSE
material. than to be Napoleon at the head o
his legions--or Alexander uish his Russias :
or Louis Napoleon with AL France at his feet
To the poor poet is given tina; better par
which cannot be taken away. And amid a.
the folles aud scceutricites OF his genius
| there is a halo of glory around it, which pro
claims TO men its divinity. and which. Toe j
ever SO w, shines out amid the surrounding
darkness. and ia unquenchable. until finally j
is rslighted by the torches al kindred spirits
above, and the poe, is returned To those crlcs
i ii.l hsbsia ions. and emPyrean haunts. from
which. like an erring child. he has strayed.
STAR.