540 
vivid pictures of material objects, and 
borrows the aid of thefe pi€tures in 
treating of abftraét topics, we may ftyle 
tt, with Ariftotle, af imitative art. 
“« The word Poe?, im its original im- 
port, fignifies Creator, As names are 
not always arbitrarily applied, but are 
frequently fignificant of the nature of 
the ideas which they reprefent, perhaps 
the name itfelf of Poetry may ferve as a 
clue to direét us in our prefent enquiry. 
And it is one of the nobleft qualities of 
Poetry that it opens to the mind a new 
creation. The poet enjoys the invaluable 
rivilege of ranging through the bound- 
ffs field of poffibilities, and fele€ting his 
objecis according to the impulfe of his 
fancy and the difcretion of his judgment. 
Eike our. firft father, “ the world is all 
before him where to choofe.’ What is 
friking and interefting, he makes pro- 
minent in his picture; what is offenfive, 
deformed, or grofs in ipecies, he conceals 
or foftens.. In what have been termed 
the dull realities of life, a thoufand name- 
lefs circumftances intervene, to check the 
énthufiaftic intereft which our hearts are 
difpofed to take in any fpecific occur- 
rence. Thefe circumftances the poet 
has a prefcriptive right to exclude from 
his reprefentations. His heroés are 
freed from a conneétion with the groffer 
incidents that occur in life—his heroines 
are purified from the imperfections of 
the female nature. Though he cannot 
go beyond the materials which the 
ftation and the powers of man fupply, 
yet he can, by a combination of thefe, 
produce beings and fituations the in- 
tereft us the mofi, the better powers of 
he¥ion, to which they owe their birth, 
are concealed from us. Like the favour- 
ed ftatuary of Greece, he is furrounded 
by naked beauties, from each of which 
he feleéis its peculiar excellency, and 
produces a whole, which, though ftriétly 
natural, furpafies the realities of nature. 
*« The mathematician, in his inveftiga- 
tion of truth, is ftriétly confined to the 
narrow path of reafon. The fame may 
be faid of the philofopher. The flightreft 
deviation into the fields of imagination 
fruftrates their purfuit, and blafts their 
Jaurels. The hiftorian muft found his 
reputation upon a patient inveftigation of 
faéts, and beware of giving the loofened 
reins to his inventive talents. The 
orator, indeed, calls fancy to the aid of 
reafon; but fhe ought to be itriétly an 
auxiliary. If his.edifice be not founded 
on the folid bafis of reafon, it will fall, 
together with its embellifhments, to the 
On the Charatteriftics of Poetry. 
[Sup. 
ground. In oratory, fancy embellithes 
the operations of judgment; but, as 
poetry is a creative art, imagination is 
its primary caufe, and judgment a fe- 
condary agent, pruning the luxuriant 
fhoots of fancy. 
“* And now the queftion occurs, “ by 
what means is this imitation effeéted ?” 
The painter prepares his canvas; he 
chalks his outline; and, by the {fkilful 
combination and nice application of his 
colours, he produces the work that fills 
the heart of the connoiffeur with ecfacy, 
and immortalizes the name of the: arti/?. 
But where are the poet’s colours? 
What has he to combine to enable hiny 
to exalt his favourite mufe to the emi-- 
nence which fhe claims fo far above her 
fitters ? We anfwer, as Hamlet anfwered 
Polonius, ‘‘ Words.” Thefe. are the 
poets colours—it is thefe that it is his 
dufinefs to arrange and combine ; and 
this is, perhaps, the proper place to ob- 
ferve, that it ts the grand fource of the 
excellence of the poetic imitation, that 
its- materials confit of words. Words 
are, by the Stagyrite, defined to abe 
“founds fignificant”’—they are fignifis 
cant of ideas.. Men.that adopt the fame 
language, by a tacit compact, agree that 
certain founds fhall be the repreienta- 
tives of certain ideas; but ideas reprefent 
their archetypes. When, therefore, we 
ufe words, we revive in the minds of 
thofe that underfand our language, the 
pictures of the objeéts of which we 
{peak. When I {peak of a tree, or a 
mountain, the image of a tree and a 
mountain occurs in the fancy of thofe 
that hear me. The poetic imitation, 
then, being carried on by means of words, 
plainly embraces all objeéts of - which> 
mankind have ever formed ideas. Its 
energies are not crippled. It expatiates 
in the ample field of the univerfe, and 
paffes the fammantia limina mundi. 
‘The dignity and beauty of the 
painters’ art are fo univerfally felt and ac- 
knowledged, that its admirers need net - 
fear any difparagement of their miftrefs, 
when itis faid that the energies of paints 
ing are confined to thofe objects that 
can be reprefented by colour and figure. 
Poetry can alfo exprefs thefe objeéts, 
though it muft be confeffed, with a far 
inferior degree of exquifitenefs; but. 
this deficiency is amply compenfated by 
the vaft range of the poet’s excurfions : 
“« The poet’s eye, in a fine phrenzy rolling, 
Doth glance from Aeaven to earth, from earth 
to heaven; 
And, as imagination bodies forth Oe eat 
The form of things unknown, the poct’s pen 
Turns 
+ 
