The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-06-04
THE VISION OF THE POETS"
Prof. Edwin Minis Excellent Lecture
Before Edenton Street Epwortn
League Last Evening.

.sThe Vision of the Poets" was the
subject from which Prof. Edwin Minis
spoke to the Epworth League of Eden
ton Street church last night. Many
students who know the letter OF liter
allure have never been touched by the
living flame of its spirit. Mr.. Minis has
communed with the nobler spirits of
the world of letters, and is in living
sympathy with those master minds,
His lecture was conceived in the atmos-
phere of inspiration, and the thought
found for itself the fitting words.
The necessarily abbreviated synopsis
can only give a glimpse or two OF the
lecture:
where there is no vision the people
perish" There has been much con-
fusion in the popular mind on the sub
iect of visions. For the extreme Wis
ionarv man we rightly have no use,
the nam who lives in the realms of
air and feeds upon the ambrosia Of
clouds but 10 the visions of the moth
er. the statesman. the prophet, the
poet. the world owes its development
and its glory.
Visions are incarnated in different
for1ns-the greatest of all being those
which incarnate themselves in human
life; he is the greatest artist who opIns
one side of his nature TO the spi t
ual reservoirs of God and the other
to the world of humanity where his
visions may be wrought out. Visions
are also incarnated in forms of be;uu-
ty-sculpture, architecture, painting,
music, poetry all of these arts are
the media for the expression of man $
loftiest visions, and all of them con-
tribute to life. Coming from the soul
of man they find a response III the
soul of man.
Poetry is something that can not he
defined; like the rose it defies CONF
plete analysis. Still we may state
some things that may clarity our IDEAS
and avoid COMMISSIONS that have arisen
in the popular mind. To the average
man poetry has a background in the
world of dreamland, it is full of moon
shine and mist" its characters are
shadowy beings of romance: to the
devoted student of poetry it is one of
the highest incentives TO right living,
one of the most inspiring forces in
the spiritual life of man. o
The poet has the power of magma
power. Imagination is not fancy, it
is the power of insight into the heart
of things, of realization OF the essen
tial life, of reality to see every thing
in the light of the universal spirit that
peryades all life, but OF this imagina-
ton comes the glow of soul. the thrill
of being, the rapture, the ecstasy of the
poet.S In his moments of inspiration
Hthe poet suffers 1.-The ethereal tides
to roll and circulate through him." he
is caught up into the life of the uni
verse. Out of such rapture comes his
ability to express in melodious speech
the thoughts of mankind. What other
men have dimly felt and yearned for
the poet gives expression to. As Jerome
Taylor said: Poetry is the language
of heaven. Her seat is the bosom of
God, her voice, the harmony of the
world"
Poetry is the outcome of the poets
personality, and of the life of the peo-
Pile and the age. Personality is one of
the great powers of the world, and
the poets personality is in all his
verse. In reading poetry we become the
contemporaries of all ages, and all ma
tions speak to us their methods of life.
The lecturer then Illustrated his
points on poetry by referring to the
characteristic visions of Shakespeare,
Milton, Wordsworth and Tennyson.
Poets do not give us dreams, they lead
us into the living reality of things.
They speak to us of freedom, love, sor
row, nature, man, God--the eternal
realities of life. "A materialistic and
scientific age has looked upon reIi-
gion and poetry as superstitious and
unreal and christianity has sometimes
turned its back on poetry and
poetry on christianity, but they are the
two great allies of the human soul in
its struggle for divine life
7 After the lecture Prof. Minis held an
informal reception. The lecture was
delivered in the Sunday School rooms
of Edenton street church. The League
choir rendered appropriate selections
w. c.. Norman Introduced the speaker,
and at the close in warmest terms
thanked him for his address.
After the lecture DR.. and Mrs. VIII.
Bobbitt gave a pleasant reception to
Prof. Minis, to which small party of
friends were invited.
Prof. Minis returns this morning to
Trinity College. In the autumn he
will go to Crowell, he having been
awarded a fellowship in that univer-
sity. He has been granted years
leave of absence from Trinity.
CLOSING EXERCISES OF THE d. d.
AND r.. INSTITUTION.