|
Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE PLEASURES OF IMAGINATION; A POEM. ENLARGED VERSION: BOOK 4, by MARK AKENSIDE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: One effort more, one cheerful sally more Last Line: The palm of spotless beauty doth resign. Subject(s): Imagination; Prophecy & Prophets; Reason; Thought; Fancy; Intellect; Rationalism; Brain; Mind; Intellectuals; Thinking | |||
ONE effort more, one cheerful sally more, Our destined course will finish; and in peace Then, for an offering sacred to the powers Who lent us gracious guidance, we will then Inscribe a monument of deathless praise, O my adventurous song! With steady speed Long hast thou, on an untried voyage bound, Sail'd between earth and heaven: hast now survey'd, Stretch'd out beneath thee, all the mazy tracts Of passion and opinion; like a waste Of sands and flowery lawns and tangling woods, Where mortals roam bewilder'd: and hast now, Exulting, soar'd among the worlds above, Or hover'd near the eternal gates of heaven, If haply the discourses of the gods, A curious, but an unpresuming guest, Thou might'st partake and carry back some strain Of divine wisdom, lawful to repeat, And apt to be conceived of man below. A different task remains; the secret paths Of early genius to explore: to trace Those haunts, where Fancy her predestined sons, Like to the demigods of old, doth nurse, Remote from eyes profane. Ye happy souls Who now her tender discipline obey, Where dwell ye? What wild river's brink at eve Imprint your steps? What solemn groves at noon Use ye to visit, often breaking forth In rapture 'mid your dilatory walk, Or musing, as in slumber, on the green? Would I again were with you!O ye dales Of Tyne, and ye most ancient woodlands; where Oft as the giant flood obliquely strides, And his banks open, and his lawns extend, Stops short the pleased traveller to view Presiding o'er the scene some rustic tower Founded by Norman or by Saxon hands: O ye Northumbrian shades, which overlook The rocky pavement and the mossy falls Of solitary Wensbeck's limpid stream; How gladly I recall your well-known seats Beloved of old, and that delightful time, When all alone, from many a summer's day, I wander'd through your calm recesses, led In silence by some powerful hand unseen. Nor will I e'er forget you; nor shall e'er The graver tasks of manhood, or the advice Of vulgar wisdom, move me to disclaim Those studies which possess'd me in the dawn Of life, and fix'd the colour of my mind For every future year: whence even now From sleep I rescue the clear hours of morn, And, while the world around lies orerwhelm'd In idle darkness, am alive to thoughts Of honourable fame, of truth divine Or moral, and of minds to virtue won By the sweet magic of harmonious verse; The themes which now expect us. For thus far On general habits, and on arts which grow Spontaneous in the minds of all mankind, Hath dwelt our argument; and how self-taught, Though seldom conscious of their own employ, In nature's or in fortune's changeful scene Men learn to judge of beauty, and acquire Those forms set up, as idols in the soul For love and zealous praise. Yet indistinct, In vulgar bosoms, and unnoticed, lie These pleasing stores, unless the casual force Of things external prompt the heedless mind To recognise her wealth. But some there are Conscious of nature, and the rule which man O'er nature holds: some who, within themselves Retiring from the trivial scenes of chance And momentary passion, can at will Call up these fair exemplars of the mind; Review their features; scan the secret laws Which bind them to each other: and display By forms, or sounds, or colours, to the sense Of all the world their latent charms display: Even as in nature's frame (if such a word, If such a word, so bold, may from the lips Of man proceed) as in this outward frame Of things, the great Artificer portrays His own immense idea. Various names These among mortals bear, as various signs They use, and by peculiar organs speak To human sense. There are who by the flight Of air through tubes with moving stops distinct, Or by extended chords in measure taught To vibrate, can assemble powerful sounds Expressing every temper of the mind From every cause, and charming all the soul With passion void of care. Others meantime The rugged mass of metal, wood, or stone Patiently taming; or with easier hand Describing lines, and with more ample scope Uniting colours; can to general sight Produce those permanent and perfect forms, Those characters of heroes and of gods, Which from the crude materials of the world Their own high minds created. But the chief Are poets; eloquent men, who dwell on earth To clothe whate'er the soul admires or loves With language and with numbers. Hence to these A field is open'd wide as nature's sphere; Nay, wider: various as the sudden acts Of human wit, and vast as the demands Of human will. The bard nor length, nor depth, Nor place, nor form controls. To eyes, to ears, To every organ of the copious mind, He offereth all its treasures. Him the hours, The seasons him obey; and changeful Time Sees him at will keep measure with his flight, At will outstrip it. To enhance his toil, He summoneth from the uttermost extent Of things which God hath taught him every form Auxiliar, every power; and all beside Excludes imperious. His prevailing hand Gives to corporeal essence life and sense, And every stately function of the soul. The soul itself to him obsequious lies, Like matter's passive heap; and as he wills, To reason and affection he assigns Their just alliances, their just degrees: Whence his peculiar honours; whence the race Of men who people his delightful world, Men genuine and according to themselves, Transcend as far the uncertain sons of earth, As earth itself to his delightful world, The palm of spotless beauty doth resign. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MILLE ET UN SENTIMENTS (PREMIERS CENTS) by DENISE DUHAMEL SUNDAY AFTERNOON by CLARENCE MAJOR I BROOD ABOUT SOME CONCEPTS, FOR EXAMPLE by ALICIA SUSKIN OSTRIKER EASY LESSONS IN GEOPHAGY by KENNETH REXROTH GENTLEMEN, I ADDRESS YOU PUBLICLY by KENNETH REXROTH ON FLOWER WREATH HILL: 1 by KENNETH REXROTH THE VIRTUOSO; IN IMITATION OF SPENCER'S STYLE AND STANZA by MARK AKENSIDE |
|