PROLEtJOiMENA. CI. 



seasons and to the festivals of the circling year. 

 Poetry results from a particular turn of mind 

 born in some measure with us, but capable of 

 being; much improved and modified by education. 

 The word comes from IloJejv, Jingere, and signi- 

 fies a disposition to feign circumstances, or to 

 build castles in the air, as it is called. The 

 poet seeks the perfection of things, and loves to 

 leave the world real, and dwell in the world ideal. 

 Hence this faculty can be employed in ex- 

 aggerating as well as in depicting true events. 

 It must, therefore, be used with great caution* 

 As depictive of the human sentiments, poetry is 

 capable of affording a sure clue to the turn of 

 mind of the composer ; and hence we learn as 

 much of the leading characteristics of an indi- 

 vidual or of a nation by their poetry, as we do 

 by their music, their paintings, their sculptures, 

 or their architecture. If we compare the poetry 

 of any catholic with that of any protestant 

 people, we shall find a striking illustration of this 

 truth. The catholic hymns of Prudentius and 

 the early writers are noble and animating, and 

 elevate the soul to high conceptions. But the 

 poetry of even the best classic heathen writers 

 has something of melancholy attached to it, which 

 arises from the absence of well founded hope in 

 futurity. The same may be said of the popular 

 poetry of protestant writers. Gbthe, Schiller, 



