THROUGH LIBRARY WINDOWS 239 



a master, and yet the vision of each is true, and 

 the poems and paintings are right and in pro- 

 foundest sympathy with Nature at her best, 

 but right and beautiful from individual stand- 

 points. 



Poetic study will always arouse the feelings 

 and fire the emotions, awaken memories and in- 

 tensify longings. All such study widens and 

 beautifies one's outlook, compels more careful 

 attention, vivifies the law of association and 

 puts a richer vocabulary at the disposal of high- 

 wrought passions. A true poetic passion is 

 noble strength on fire; this is the passion of 

 great natures^ — and it is to this that Nature ever 

 appeals, for Nature herself is one perpetuated 

 struggle toward form and rhythm and beauty. 

 The poetic spirit senses it and is charmed with 

 it, speaks as if it were perfect in rhythmic tones 

 and color. Wordsworth felt this wondrous 

 passion and populated his worlds with imagin- 

 ary beings and conditions — and yet they were 

 all real! 



The poets are not infallible, they often trip 

 in the details. A prominent New England poet 

 speaks of plucking the apple from the pine as 

 if a pineapple grew on a pine. One speaks of 

 Humming-birds' eggs as blue, evidently for the 

 sake of rhyme. Another finds in our State 



