Poems by Thomas Odiorne . :: :: University of Virginia Library

SECTION IV. Influence of External Nature on the Mind—Invitation to associate with Sublime and Beautiful Objects—Images of Fancy, by Similitude—Power of Imagination to retain, and to retrace her Perceptions.

SECTION V. Survey of Sublime Prospects, with Reflections.

SECTION VI. A Glance at Ocean, a high Cliff, Torrent, Cataract, Alps in Switzerland, Mont Blanc—Alexander of Russia, illuminated, and his Fame, by Comparison.

SECTION VII. Diffusion of Divine Truth—Blessed be the Missionaries!

Part II.

SECTION I. Morn—Apostrophe to Nature—Imagined Efforts under other Circumstances.

SECTION II. Effects of Pleasant Prospects—Good Humour—Rural Walk—Descriptions in which several Beautiful Objects are noticed—A perched Bird, singing; Ascending Vapour; An Eagle circling the Skies.

SECTION III. Evening.

Part III.

SECTION I. Morn—An Ocean-Scene—Sublime Tempest—Its deliberate Preparations, and dread Pause, previous to its Onset.—Terrible Appendages, and woful Catastrophes.—The Tempest Moralized.

SECTION II. Other Objects Moralized.

SECTION III. Effects of the Sublime, other than of Fear.

SECTION IV. Instances of the Moral Sublime in a Mariner, and in the Poet.

SECTION V. Moral Sublime in David.

SECTION VI. Washington crossing the Delaware—His parting Scene—News of his death—His Character, a Prototype to future years.

SECTION VII. Character of Alphonzo.

No. II.

MORAL EVIL NO ACCIDENT.

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SECTION IV.
Influence of External Nature on the Mind—Invitation to associate with Sublime and Beautiful Objects—Images of Fancy, by Similitude—Power of Imagination to retain, and to retrace her Perceptions.

Lo! through her magazines, from grade to grade,
From rolling systems, to the waving blade,
Nature has power, conferr'd by Heaven above,
The thoughts to captivate, and heart to move!
With instantaneous force arrests the sense,
And opens to perception scope immense;
With vastness, danger, terror, unconfin'd,
Absorbs the thought, and overwhelms the mind!

Or, where her sprightly face shines deck'd in charms,
She with a gentle flame the bosom warms;
Detains the mental passes in control,
Darts light and transport to the conscious soul;
Adapts the taste, and, as her drift inspires,
Forms genius to the relish of her fires.

Lift, then, thy view, O man! thy fancy send,
Rapt through the tracks of distance without end!
Beyond where eye through optic glass can scan,
Far, far beyond where orient light began,
As rapid as the dart of thunder flies,
Myriads of years, go see new worlds arise;
Ponder the stretch'd-out realms of Nature's throne,
Height, depth, expanse—an infinite unknown!
With all thy powers the universe explore,
And, in the boundless, lost, humbly adore!
Make thyself smaller, as thy thoughts diverge,
And in thy conscious nothingness grow large!
The less thou seem'st in viewing infinite,
The greater, in admiring what is great.

But most within the bounds of sense, O man!
Far as the view extends, creation scan;
Associate with the vast of objects bold,
Nor slight the scenes which wear a gentler mould.
From splendid imagery o'er every clime,
From beauty's impulse, to the touch sublime,

Collect the stores, which fancy may command,
To fire the genius, and the soul expand.
All, all appears, by bounteous Heaven design'd,
A magazine of glory for the mind;
To furnish thought, the moral world adorn,
To bring to birth capacities unborn;
While conscious mem'ry's tablature retains
What sense admits, and rumination gains.
Thence in the scope of fancy's thoughtful sight,
Rise images in visions of delight.
So, in the lake's enchanting sky-lights glare,
To sense appears a ground of emblems fair,

The fleeting clouds, the moon, the stars that glow,
Rocks, trees, and landscapes—a reflected show!

What though thick darkness all creation fill!
Imagination holds the world at will;
Recals to mental day the scenes anew,
Which, erst, have been depicted on the view;
And wakes to exercise those nobler powers,
Which caught vibration in departed hours.
Stor'd in the mind, the blank ideas lay,
Till brought to use, and cloth'd in bright array;

Recurring oft, they raise sublime desires,
And wake in Virtue's cause the poet's fires.
Rapt, at his bosom's altar, Genius sings,
While Fancy strikes by spells the trembling strings.

It seems to be the decided opinion of the moderns who have searched into the labyrinths of the human mind, that all our primary notions are derived through the avenues of the senses; there being no other inlet of communication, except by Inspiration. In which latter case, we perceive no image, but after the manner of some elementary similitude. We feel certain powerful impressions of a moral nature, which appertain to happiness or misery, in view of certain external qualities, though they never present any figure to the mind: such as wisdom, benevolence, design; or properties of moral turpitude; and, as we can have no idea of any thing which has never been exhibited to the sensitive faculties, the antiquated theory of innate knowledge, or intuitive perception, is of course unphilosophical.

Ideas are said to be images reflected on the mind, as on the back ground of a camera-obscura; but they have this additional advantage: Having once been impressed, they are retained in the magazines of memory, at the call of every associate emergency. And it is wonderful to think, what a countless variety of ideas the mind is capable of receiving, without obliterating or confusing previous impressions! If amidst the bustle and tumults of life, they get jostled and derang'd; yet, as in the glassy lake when its fluctuations have subsided, they return upon the view in vivid perspective. Hence, Genius, ruminating over his accumulated materials, appropriates to his use, as conception shall suggest, imagination select, and ingenuity adapt and adorn; and a work which should contain new, and useful, and beautiful ideas and combinations, though it exhibit no other knowledge than that which is already within the precincts of human discovery, were worthy of immortality.