THE POETICAL 

 GARDEN 



THE POETICAL GARDEN 



We read of "poems in stone." Why not 

 poems in plant and flower? We hear "songs 

 without words." If wordless sounds may be 

 made to express sentiment, why not form and 

 color? Nature transferred to canvas is made 

 to appeal with the power of an ideal. Why not 

 nature in its own living beauty and power? 

 As there may be, to use Mendelssohn's fancy, 

 "music without harping," so there may be 

 poems without words. 



It is neither sentimental nor inaccurate to 

 speak of the "poetical garden," for all the 

 elements of poetry, or such as correspond to 

 the elements of poetry, are to be found in a 

 garden, and it needs only the soul of the poet, 

 with technical skill to express himself, to make 

 the garden poetical. 



Not every garden is a poem, any more than 

 all verse is poetry, but given the poet in the 

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