PLEASURES OF IMAGINATION.
Ασεβισμέν ἑςιν ἀνθρωπε τὰς παρὰ τοῦ θεω χάρθας ατιμάζειν. Epict. apud Arrian. II. 13.
WITH what attractive charms this goodly frame Of nature touches the consenting hearts
Of mortal men; and what the pleasing stores Which beauteous imitation thence derives To deck the poet's or the painter's toil; My verse unfolds. Attend, ye gentle powers Of musical delight! and while I sing
Your gifts, your honours, dance around my strain. Thou, smiling queen of every tuneful breast, Indulgent fancy! from the fruitful banks Of Avon, whence thy rosy fingers cull
Fresh flowers and dews to sprinkle on the turf Where SHAKSPEARE lies, be present and with thee Let fiction come, upon her vagrant wings
Wafting ten thousand colours through the air, Which, by the glances of her magic eye,
She blends and shifts at will, through countless forms,
Her wild creation. Goddess of the lyre, Which rules the accents of the moving sphere, Wilt thou, eternal harmony! descend,
And join this festive train? for with thee comes The guide, the guardian of their lovely sports, Majestic truth; and where truth deigns to come, Her sister liberty will not be far.
Be present, all ye genii, who conduct
The wandering footsteps of the youthful bard, New to your springs and shades: who touch his ear With finer sounds: who heighten to his eye
The bloom of nature; and before him turn The gayest, happiest attitude of things.
Oft have the laws of each poetic strain The critic-verse employ'd; yet still unsung Lay this prime subject, though importing most A poet's name: for fruitless is th' attempt, By dull obedience and by creeping toil Obscure to conquer the severe ascent
Of high Parnassus. Nature's kindling breath Must fire the chosen genius; nature's hand Must string his nerves, and imp his eagle-wings, Impatient of the painful steep, to soar
High as the summit; there to breathe at large Ethereal air; with bards and sages old, Immortal sons of praise. These flattering scenes, To this neglected labour court my song; Yet not unconscious what a doubtful task To paint the finest features of the mind,
And to most subtle and mysterious things
Give colour, strength, and motion. But the love Of nature and the muses bids explore,
Through secret paths erewhile untrod by man, The fair poetic region, to detect
Untasted springs, to drink inspiring draughts, And shade my temples with unfading flowers Cull'd from the laureate vale's profound recess, Where never poet gain'd a wreath before.
From heaven my strains begin; from heaven descends
The flame of genius to the human breast,
And love and beauty, and poetic joy
And inspiration. Ere the radiant sun
Sprang from the east, or 'mid the vault of night The moon suspended her serener lamp;
Ere mountains, woods, or streams adorn'd the globe, Or wisdom taught the sons of men her lore Then lived th' Almighty One: then, deep retired In his unfathom'd essence, view'd the forms, The forms eternal of created things;
The radiant sun, the moon's nocturnal lamp,
The mountains, woods, and streams, the rolling globe, And wisdom's mien celestial. From the first Of days on them his love divine he fix'd, His admiration; till in time complete, What he admired and loved, his vital smile Unfolded into being. Hence the breath Of life in forming each organic frame,
Hence the green earth, and wild resounding waves; Hence light and shade alternate; warmth and cold; And clear autumnal skies, and vernal showers, And all the fair variety of things.
But not alike to every mortal eye
Is this great scene unveil'd. For since the claims Of social life, to different labours urge The active powers of man; with wise intent The hand of nature on peculiar minds Imprints a different bias, and to each Decrees its province in the common toil. To some she taught the fabric of the sphere, The changeful moon, the circuit of the stars, The golden zones of heaven; to some she gave To weigh the moment of eternal things, Of time, and space, and fate's unbroken chain, And will's quick impulse: others by the hand She led o'er vales and mountains, to explore What healing virtue swells the tender veins Of herbs and flowers; or what the beams of morn Draw forth, distilling from the clefted rind In balmy tears. But some to higher hopes Were destined; some within a finer mould She wrought, and temper'd with a purer flame. To these the Sire Omnipotent unfolds The world's harmonious volume, there to read The transcript of himself. On every part They trace the bright impressions of his hand : In earth or air, the meadow's purple stores,
The moon's mild radiance, or the virgin's form Blooming with rosy smiles, they see portray'd That uncreated beauty, which delights
The mind supreme. They also feel her charms, Enamour'd; they partake th' eternal joy.
For as old Memnon's image, long renown'd By fabling Nilus, to the quivering touch Of Titan's ray, with each repulsive string Consenting, sounded through the warbling air Unbidden strains; e'en so did nature's hand To certain species of external things,
Attune the finer organs of the mind: So the glad impulse of congenial powers, Or of sweet sounds, or fair-proportion'd form, The grace of motion, or the bloom of light, Thrills through imagination's tender frame, From nerve to nerve: all naked and alive, They catch the spreading rays; till now the soul At length discloses every tuneful spring, To that harmonious movement from without Responsive. Then the inexpressive strain Diffuses its enchantment: fancy dreams Of sacred fountains and Elysian groves, And vales of bliss: the intellectual power Bends from his awful throne a wondering ear, And smiles: the passions, gently soothed away, Sink to divine repose, and love and joy Alone are waking; love and joy serene As airs that fan the summer. O! attend,
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