THROUGH LIBRARY WINDOWS 235 



and courage. He was justified in his use of all 

 the resources of form and diction and license 

 because his message was great and noble and 

 must embody itself somehow. Deep and strong 

 emotions demand corresponding words and 

 thoughts. 



The mission of poetry is to invigorate the 

 imagination, to cherish ideals and purify the 

 fountain of emotions. Imagination is as vital 

 to the mental being as blood to the physical, 

 the intellect feeds upon it and is nourished by 

 it. The intellect accumulates, the emotions as- 

 similate and the imagination clarifies and in- 

 tensifies. It is the beginning of wisdom to 

 know, the culmination of wisdom to feel. What 

 we learn we possess, what we feel we are. To 

 cultivate the imagination is an essential means 

 of progress and just here is the great office of 

 all art, especially poetry. Nature herself is one 

 perpetual struggle toward form and rhythm 

 and beauty. The true poetic spirit senses this 

 and seeks its expression. Hence the poet is 

 the truest interpreter of Nature as it appeals to 

 us ; and he alone kindles into whitest flame this 

 wonderful power of imagination. He speaks 

 what many have felt but only he could say. 

 He opens the great secrecies and lays bare un- 

 recognized experiences and unrealized capaci- 



