From the
eyesight proceeds another eyesight, and from the hearing proceeds
another hearing, and from the voice proceeds another voice, eternally
curious of the harmony of things with man. These understand the law
of perfection in masses and floods--that it is profuse and
impartial--that there is not a minute of the light or dark, nor an
acre of the earth and sea, without it--nor any direction of the sky,
nor any trade or employment, nor any turn of events. This is the
reason that about the proper expression of beauty there is precision
and balance. One part does not need to be thrust above another. The
best singer is not the one who has the most lithe and powerful organ.
The pleasure of poems is not in them that take the handsomest measure
and sound.
Without effort, and without exposing in the least how it is done, the
greatest poet brings the spirit of any or all events and passions
and scenes and persons, some more and some less, to bear on your
individual character as you hear or read. To do this well is to
compete with the laws that pursue and follow Time. What is the purpose
must surely be there, and the clue of it must be there--and the
faintest indication is the indication of the best, and then becomes
the clearest indication. Past and present and future are not disjoin'd
but join'd. The greatest poet forms the consistence of what is to be,
from what has been and is. He drags the dead out of their coffins and
stands them again on their feet.
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