WRIT IN WATER 



Old Testament felt and made use of this 

 poetic and spiritual quality of water, and 

 the New Testament, in a heightened degree, 

 continues in the sayings of Christ and his 

 followers the beautiful imagery which it in- 

 spired. Although the number and the 

 strength of the metaphors from this source 

 have perceptibly diminished in the centuries 

 succeeding biblical times, there are still 

 numerous illustrations in every generation 

 which show that the poets have continued to 

 draw some of their finest and strongest 

 figures from water in all its varied forms. 

 "And joy shall overtake us as a flood," 

 wrote Milton; and Shakespeare: 



"There is a tide in the affairs of men, 

 Which, taken at its flood, leads on to fortune; 

 Omitted, all the voyage of their life 

 Is bound in shallows and in miseries." 



Equally happy in the line of metaphorical 

 inspiration was Wordsworth in his poems 

 which have the most spacious atmosphere: 



". . . . though inland far we be 

 Our souls have sight of that immortal sea 

 Which brought us hither." 

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