Love, on the
contrary- Love- the true, the divine Eros- the Uranian as
distinguished from the Dionnan Venus- is unquestionably the purest and
truest of all poetical themes. And in regard to Truth, if, to be sure,
through the attainment of a truth we are led to perceive a harmony
where none was apparent before, we experience at once the true
poetical effect; but this effect is referable to the harmony alone,
and not in the least degree to the truth which merely served to render
the harmony manifest.
We shall reach, however, more immediately a distinct conception of
what the true Poetry is, by mere reference to a few of the simple
elements which induce in the Poet himself the true poetical effect. He
recognises the ambrosia which nourishes his soul in the bright orbs
that shine in Heaven- in the volutes of the flower- in the
clustering of low shrubberies- in the waving of the grain-fields- in
the slanting of tall eastern trees- in the blue distance of mountains-
in the grouping of clouds- in the twinkling of half-hidden brooks-
in the gleaming of silver rivers- in the repose of sequestered
lakes- in the star-mirroring depths of lonely wells. He perceives it
in the songs of birds- in the harp of Aeolus- in the sighing of the
night-wind- in the repining voice of the forest- in the surf that
complains to the shore- in the fresh breath of the woods- in the scent
of the violet- in the voluptuous perfume of the hyacinth- in the
suggestive odour that comes to him at eventide from far-distant
undiscovered islands, over dim oceans, illimitable and unexplored.
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