THE DESIGN.
Genius is the highest power of the soul,
and opens before the poet a subject interesting
and extensive. The different faculties which are
subservient to its influence, have frequently undergone
investigation; while genius itself, has
seldom been examined with care. Genius receives
assistance from all the intellectual powers;
but it is, however, to be carefully distinguished
from them. We often meet with works of great
invention, abounding with errors: the defect then,
is not in the genius, but in the assisting powers.
Taste has been called passive genius. It is necessary
to direct the wild sallies of imagination,
and to regulate the course of the inventive mind.
Taste is more generally bestowed on mankind
than genius, and is dependent on cultivation and
rules. Genius, though always incorrect without
study and investigation, still overcomes every
difficulty and penetrates through the thickest and
most hidden recesses. It stoops not to the smaller
niceties of taste, but, heedless of them, pours
along its irresistible course. An excellent taste
may exist with little invention, but invention is
the distinguishing mark of genius. Taste is improved
by the comparison of the different grades
of sublimity and beauty. Genius, disdaining any
imitation, strikes out a path for itself, wild and
hazardous, where foot has never trodden. “Genius
(says Lord Kaimes) is allied to a warm and
inflamable constitution; delicacy of taste to calmness
and sedateness; hence it is common to find
genius in one who is a prey to every passion.....
but seldom delicacy of taste.”
The greatest incorrectness is frequently connected
with genius. Numerous errors spring up
in the most fruitful mind. The rich soil which
gave birth to the oak, which waves its head in the
tempest, also produces weeds and sickly flowers.
The slightest impulse is at times sufficient to
rouse the full strength of genius. A spark communicated
excites the most terrible explosion.
The greatest river proceeds from the smallest
fountain, rolls its waves over a large extent of
country, and heaves its billows with the voice of
the ocean.
It is supposed that the fall of an apple to the
ground directed Newton to the investigation and
discovery of the law of gravitation: that the
sound of a smith's hammer gave to Pythagoras
the first hint of his theory of music; and that a
wretched dramatic performance, by an Italian of
the name of Adreino, awakened the soul of Milton
to the grand conception of Paradise Lost.
Genius implies such vast comprehension, such
facility in the association of ideas, as enable a
person to call in the conceptions that are necessary
to execute the design in which he is engaged.
We will always discover that great stores
of materials have been collected by his fancy,
and subjected to his judgment. He darts with
rapidity over the fields of his investigation; and
by this rapidity his ardour becomes more inflamed.
“The velocity of his motion sets him
on fire, like a chariot wheel which is kindled by
the quickness of its revolution.”
Since then invention is the infallible criterion
of genius, and invention in poetry is active imagination;
since taste is necessary in order to
form a polished genius, and taste is dependent
on the judgment and sensibility; it is evident that
genius is intimately allied with all these powers,
and its correctness and improvement must proceed
from their universal or partial conjunction.
If such then is the exalted nature of genius,
the joy and satisfaction which are connected with
it are entitled to the same eminence. All those
pleasures which Addison has traced from the
source of imagination belong to genius; for genius
is the parent of imagination. The subjects upon
which genius is exercised should be also respected
and revered; for they are the fields of pure and
rational satisfaction. Whatever affords a proper
entertainment, whatever softens the calamities of
human life, is useful. Literature, next to religion,
is the fountain of our greatest consolation
and delight. Though it is a solemn truth that
the profoundest erudition disconnected with religion
cannot enlighten the dark region beyond
the grave, or afford consolation on the bed of
death; yet, when in union with religion, literature
renders men more eminently useful, opens
wider their intellect to the reception of divine
light, banishes religious superstition, and bows
the knee with purer adoration, before the throne
of God. Literature, on the rugged journey of life,
scatters flowers; it overshadows the path of the
weary, and refreshes the desert with its streams.
He who is prone to sensual pursuits, may seek his
joy in the acquirement of silver and gold, and
bury his affections with the treasure in his coffers.
The nobler soul, enlightened by genius and
taste, looks far above these possessions; his riches
are the bounty of knowledge, his joys are those
which the wealth of the miser cannot purchase.
He contemplates nature in her various forms, and
finds companions where persons of different pursuits
would experience the deepest solitude.
“The studies of literature,” says Cicero, “afford
nourishment to our youth, delight our old age,
adorn prosperity, supply a refuge in adversity,
are a constant source of pleasure at home, are no
impediment while abroad, attend us in the season
of the night, and accompany us in our travels and
retirements.”
It is the design of the following poem to draw
no more than the general outlines of genius, to
describe its progress, to ascertain the marks by
which it may be known, and to give the prominent
features of those writers who have excelled in its
different departments. Analytical writers have
divided genius into two kinds. The one belongs
to the sciences; the other to the arts. The one
is employed in the discovery of truth; the other
in the production of beauty. The one addresses
its discoveries to the understanding; the other its
productions to the taste. The one explores the
labyrinths of intricacy; the other wanders
through the mazes of delight. The characteristic
of the one is penetration; but that of the other
is brightness. In the following poem no such
distinction is drawn, but genius is considered under
different directions, and as influenced by various
causes. The author does not pretend to
do justice to all those characters, who have been
distinguished for their genius; he has exercised
his judgment in introducing only those whom he
thought would prove striking and confirming examples
of the doctrines which he has advanced.
The notes have been added to explain passages
which may be doubtful, and to support general
assertions which may require some confirmation.
Prosaical illustrations, if pertinent to the subjects
of the poem, it has been thought might prove
pleasing and instructive to the larger class of
readers.
The author shall not supplicate the candour, or
indulgence of any individual, or any tribunal in
favour of his poem. He is willing that it should
stand or fall by its solitary merit. Whatever may
be its fate, it was written with an honest intention,
during those moments of leisure, in which he
could withdraw from the severer studies of his
profession. If literature and morals are not benefitted
by this effort; it will not be disgraceful
to have failed in the design to promote them.
