Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-11-25

black masses, is poWerleee 10 repre-
sent the phantom ship. His prints
above C0leridpe's verses merely
spoil the lines, destroy the Illusion,
or rather throw II up into the real
world of bark'figged ships with
wooden masts and dglifeheads, solid
and displaciDg ~ many tons. "The
Ancient Mariner" IN the one poem
which can never be illustrated. Cole
ridge called Il painting "thc interme-
diaic something between u thought
and thing but this poem lies on
the other side of thought, IN the re-
gion oi the sub-conseious.
In thus stepping boldly outside the
world ol the senses, Coleridge was II
great poet, "A creator, an idealist.
No poet now attempts to do more
than describe what he has secn or
heard, perhaps 10 moralize on IL or to
invest IL with u certain relation to
the spiritual world, In word, mod
era poets are realistic, fancilul and
charming, perhaps, but always pur-
posive. Shelley, too, possesses this
power, but Coleridge made by far the
easier flight. Shelley has most need
OF artificial supports, deals in mega
tionsw shadowless, inessential figures,
floating in II dim vapor-the conven-
tionnl apparatus OF the ghostly world
The number of adieotives beginning
In Gun" and "dis" that Shelley uses
In remarkable. But Coleridge places
the scene squarely before you-no
dim ynporA pass across the fore
ground, The phantom ship drives
across the sun, you see that il is II
skeleton ahip-
And straight tho sun was tieeked with bars.
Hnayuhh mother send us grace
A. " through dungeon CRATE he peered,
With broad aud burning face
Tho poet seizes instinctiyely on the
striking pointa, as good narrator
dots IN describing what he has seen,
l'ut the sense ot an underlying, all
pefynsive, mysterious force is rs inn
minent In the real ocean, where the
mariners ship floats idly, as the vast.
iDlafHlelar spaces where Queen Nab
takes The spirit OF ianthe, More SO.
indeed, Golcfidgo places the superna-
luful world apart-he does not dis
pl0se It's relations to the natural, he
doeH mol depict the supernatural
f9feas embodied In the real, rs
shakespeare docs in "Macbeth;" nor
Gan hs paas from the supernatural to
ile real with the supreme case OF the
great master, for with Coleridge the
supernatural, for the time, closes in
Gb and shuts 6ut the ronl.
ije yoh say what Ii tho use OF these
"ialfY siefies," when To learn u little
NJ lle world III ihe senses Of life In all
loo sb0Hf can only any that, as an
educational influence, they Heom to
ms " have u inr wider function than
lhe modem realistic and scientific
literature, which Ii Addressed 10
sharpening tbs observation and tho
pefdepiiyn powers, which oaAe us In
ns With u shell aud nrs the master
gloom oi all our darkness, There IL
nothing more necessary 10 mental
hHaltli aud balance, ~ IN shown by
lhe eagernaaA or healthy children for
nuiriment 10 the imagination, than
| the cultivation oI tho moro ohacure
parts ot tho imagination. II may not
condnoe ~ hiieneaa IN buHlneHa, but II
uondunea 10 sanity, When thought
Ia held entirely within tho limitations
q the natural and positive, lmagIna'
llon takes u terrible revenge, a pe'
culiar and diatfaHHlng form ol inannlty
awaits tho poHterlty of tho mon and
women 10 whom the thlngs of thia
world ara the only subject of thought,
Fungi grow IN tho dark, unconscious
roeosaea of minds never illumined by
the weird light VI the underlying
world, When thu gods arc absent,
vllostu crowd II. rhe poisonous