THROUGH LIBRARY WINDOWS 237 



spirit, and is ever dominant as an inspirer. A 

 glance at the leading poets will deeply impress 

 two thoughts, the most vital in all their pages — 

 the constant recognition of God and Nature. 

 All truth carries ever the emotional element in 

 it, and it is the province of poetry to find it and 

 turn it on the heart, and so ever is the poet 

 trained to be a 



"Watcher of those still reports 

 Which Nature utters from her rural springs." 



The deeper tones that lie in the silences of 

 Nature will be all but inaudible unless there is 

 heard the responsive music of the heart. 

 Herein is the poet's power — the inward thrill- 

 ing and melody. Hence poets are in many re- 

 spects our best naturalists. They are alert, im- 

 pressionable and sympathetic. They see and 

 feel and voice their feelings. We call it inspi- 

 ration, and so it is. It appeals to us as from 

 another world and reveals things hidden, and 

 interprets its deeper thoughts. When Shelley 

 interpreted the song of the skylark and Keats 

 that of the nightingale, and embodied them in 

 matchless verse, it was but the sublimer feel- 

 ings of the living poets. They heard and saw 

 and felt and wrote their thrills as best they 



