POETRY OF THE FUTURE 129 



of new interest which the landscape derives from a 

 knowledge of the history of its several parts. But 

 Tennyson only entered a little way into this enlarged 

 conception of nature. There remains a boundless field 

 for some future poetic seer, who letting his vision 

 pierce into the past, will set before the eyes of men 

 the inner meaning of mountain and glen. 



And thus, while we recognise the potent influence 

 which the scenery of the country has exerted on the 

 progress of our literature, we can look forward to a 

 fresh extension of this influence as the outcome of 

 geological investigation. Already the result of this 

 widening of the outlook has made itself felt alike in 

 prose and verse. The terrestrial revolutions of which 

 each hill and dale is a witness ; the contrasts presented 

 between the present aspect and past history of every 

 crag and peak ; the slow, silent sculpturing that has 

 carved out all this marvellous array of mountain-forms 

 — appeal vividly to the imagination, and furnish themes 

 that well deserve poetic treatment. That they will be 

 seized upon by some Wordsworth of the future, I 

 cannot doubt. The bond between landscape and 

 literature will thus be drawn closer than ever. Men 

 will be taught that beneath and behind all the out- 

 ward beauty of our lowlands, our uplands, and our 

 highlands there lies an inner history which, when 

 revealed, will give to that beauty a fuller significance 

 and an added charm. 



