The lover, equally
with the poet, speaks of the auburn tresses of his mistress as locks
of shining gold, because the least tinge of yellow in the hair has,
from novelty and a sense of personal beauty, a more lustrous effect
to the imagination than the purest gold. We compare a man of gigantic
stature to a tower: not that he is anything like so large, but because
the excess of his size beyond what we are accustomed to expect, or the
usual size of things of the same class, produces by contrast a greater
feeling of magnitude and ponderous strength than another object of ten
times the same dimensions. The intensity of the feeling makes up for
the disproportion of the objects. Things are equal to the imagination,
which have the power of affecting the mind with an equal degree of
terror, admiration, delight, or love. When Lear calls upon the heavens
to avenge his cause, "for they are old like him", there is nothing
extravagant or impious in this sublime identification of his age with
theirs; for there is no other image which could do justice to the
agonizing sense of his wrongs and his despair!
Poetry is the high-wrought enthusiasm of fancy and feeling.
Pages:
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344