Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1886-02-26
CHAPTER y.


"Wherever went, found that poetry
was considered as the highest learning,
and regarded with veneration somewhat
approaching to that which man would
pay to the Angelic Nature. And yet it
| fills me with wonder, that, in almost all
countries. the most ancient poets are con-
sidered as the best; whether it be that
every other kind of knowledge is an ac-
QUESTION gradually attained, and poetry is
gift conferred at once: or that the first
poetry of every nation surprised them as
a novelty. and retained the credit by con-
sent. which it received by accident at
first: or whether, as the province of poet
nv is to describe nature and passion,
which are always the same. the first
writer's took possession of the most strik-
ing objects for description. and the most
probable occurrences for fiction. and left
nothing to those that followed them, but
transcription of the same events. and
new combinations of the same images.
Whatever be the reason. it is commonly
observed that the early writers are in
possession of nature. and their followers
of art that the first excel in strength and
invention. and the later in elegance and
refinement.
IL was DESTROYS to add my name to this
ilustrious fraternity. read all the poets
of Persia and Arabia. and was able to re-
peat by memory the volumes that are
suspended in the mosque of Mecca. But
soon found that no man was great by
imitation. NV desire of excellence i'm
PEELED me to transfer my attention to ma
'turr and to life. Nature was to be my
subject and men to be my auditors: |
could never describe what had not seen :
could not hope to move those with de
light or terror. whose interests and opin-
ions did not understand.
Being now resolved to be a poet saw
every thing with new purpose my
sphere of attention was suddenly magni-
fed no kind of knowledge was to be
overlooked. | ranged mountains and
, deserts for images and resemblances, and
, pictured upon my mind every tree of the
t forest and flower of the valley. observ-
t ed with equal care the crags of the rock
and the pinnacleS of the palace. Some
= times wandered along the mazcS of the
: rivulct. and sometimes watched the chan
f geS of the summer clouds. TO a poet
nothing can be useless. Whatever i:
: beautiful and whatever is dreadful mus
, . l.. L. no
o be conversant with all that is awfully vas
] or elegantly little. The plants of the
r garden. the animals of the wood. the min
/. erals of the earth. and meteors of tn,
p, sky. must all concur to store his mine
d with ineXhaustible variety: for every
h idea is useful for the enforcement or dec
V Grafton of moral or religious truth; ant
V he who knows most will have most pow
err of dversifying his scenes, and of graf
p. flying his reader with remote allusion
/ and unexpected instruction.
II "All the appearances of nature | wa
d therefore careful to study; and ever
e country which have surveyed has con
k tributed something to my poetical pow
e ers."
in so wide a survey" said the prince
IT ''you must surely have left much unof
l. served have lived, till now, With
n the circuit of these mountains, and ye
cannot walk abroad without the sight o
r something which had never beheld be
l., fore or never needed"
l. "The business of "A poet" said ImlaC
e sis to examine, not the individual. bu
W the species; to remark general propertie
Ie and large appearances he does not nun
ID Der the streaks of the tulip, or deScrih
V the different shades in the Verdure of I'll
/ forest. lie is to exhibit in his portraits {
II nature such prominent and striking fea
ne ures as recall the original to every mind
as and must neglect the minuter discrimini
tionS. which one may have remarked, an
| another have neglected, for those chara(
Is teristics which are alike obvious to Wig
IL lance and carelessness.
ID But the knowledge of nature is onl
H. half the task of IA poet; he must be az
4 quainted likewise with all the modes {
/ lllt' lllS lNIhii'T 'ii"A Nv NSi
he mate the happiness and misery of ever
II, condition; observe the power of all I'll
passions in all their combinations, an
he trace the changes of the human mind 1
Ii they are modified by various institution
L. and accidental influences of climate {
ir custom, from the sprightliness of infanc
e. to the dependence of decrepitude. II
he must divest himself of the predjudices {
r his age or country; he must considC
or right and wrong in their distracted an
invariable state; he must disregard pre-
he ent laws and opinions, and rise to gene
10 al and transcendental truths, which wi
Y, always be the same; he must therefor
adj content himself with the slow progre
IL of his name; contemn the applause of h
Nv own time, and commit his claims to Il