368 LEISURE-TIME STUDIES. 



will he fancy nature stands related to himself and to the 

 world at large. The poets have, in fact taken 



" the earth whole for their toy. 



They played with it in every mood ; 

 A cell for prayer, a hall for joy ; 



They treated nature as they would." 



Were any further proof, I mean other than this plain 

 explanation of how and why different poets see nature with 

 different eyes, required, I might ask you to read the same 

 lesson in the varying interpretations of similar aspects of 

 nature, which various poets have left us as their contribution 

 to the imagery and beauty-culture of their day. In how 

 many different aspects have poets sung of the sea, for in- 

 stance; and even of one mood of the ocean, how many 

 varying poetic phases have been created ! To one poet it is 

 the emblem of security, to another of temptation and dis- 

 peace ; to one it is the image of serenity, to another it is 

 merciless and austere; one terms it "a parent;" another calls 

 it " a thief." Or inquire, briefly, in how many varying 

 aspects have the stars appeared to the poetic fancy, and you 

 will find that the incongruities are to be explained not by 

 mere differences in what was seen, but by the varying moods 

 of the poet-chroniclers themselves. The Hebrew poet 

 invests them with bellicose propensities when he declares 

 that " the stars in their courses fought against Sisera." Sir 

 Henry Wotton calls them 



" Meaner beauties of the night, 

 That poorly satisfie our eies ; " 



whilst Young termed them the " eyes " of Heaven. Accord- 

 ing to Heine they are " Golden lies in deep blue nothingness;" 

 and to Byron they were " unutterably bright." Contra- 

 dictory moods seem, in fact, the order of the day regarding 

 every phase of nature poets have described. And amidst the 

 shower of inconsistencies which meet us in our research 

 there is but one comfort, one explanatory consolation, 



