THE UPLIFT 31 



ically to magnify the looming of the moun- 

 tain. For the eye the Jungfrau now filled 

 the sky; for the imagination verily she 

 occupied universal space! 



It is this uplift of the mountains, or, in 

 precise detail, it is the upthrust and loom- 

 ing together, as related to the ever-chang- 

 ing sky, which creates the so-called "mys- 

 tery of the mountains." Like all the larger 

 poetic conceptions, this "mystery" is eva- 

 sive, not easily defined in terms of practi- 

 cal speech. But something more or less 

 helpful can be said. As I understand the 

 nature-poets, they believe that the moun- 

 tains, especially the loftier and more rug- 

 ged peaks, do sometimes give to perfectly 

 responsive souls a richly open and sensi- 

 tive mood. And to such souls, in such a 

 mood, the splendid summits, now lifted 

 into space-dominion, are intimating sym- 

 bols of spiritual verities away beyond their 

 powerful bulk. 



The real worth of this poetic phase 

 of transcendental philosophy I may find, 



