To the Public
After my three years slumber on the banks of the Ocean, I again
display my Giant forms to the Public: My former Giants & Fairies having
reciev'd the highest reward possible: the [love] and [friendship]
of those with whom to be connected, is to be [blessed:] I cannot doubt
that this more consolidated & extended Work, will be as kindly recieved
The Enthusiasm of the following Poem, the Author hopes [no
Reader will think presumptuousness or arroganc[e] when he is reminded
that the Ancients entrusted their love to their Writing, to the
full as Enthusiastically as I have who Acknowledge mine for my Saviour
and Lord, for they were wholly absorb'd in their Gods.] I also
hope the Reader will be with me, wholly One in Jesus our Lord, who
is the God [of Fire] and Lord [of Love] to whom the Ancients look'd
and saw his day afar off, with trembling & amazement.
The Spirit of Jesus is continual forgiveness of Sin: he who waits to
be righteous before he enters into the Saviours kingdom, the Divine Body;
will never enter there. I am perhaps the most sinful of men! I pretend
not to holiness! yet I pretend to love, to see, to converse with daily,
as man with man, & the more to have an interest in the Friend of Sinners.
Therefore [Dear] Reader, [forgive] what you do not approve, &
[love] me for this energetic exertion of my talent.
Reader! [lover] of books! [lover] of heaven,
And of that God from whom [all books are given,]
Who in mysterious Sinais awful cave
To Man the wond'rous art of writing gave,
Again he speaks in thunder and in fire!
Thunder of Thought, & flames of fierce desire:
Even from the depths of Hell his voice I hear,
Within the unfathomd caverns of my Ear.
Therefore I print; nor vain my types shall be:
Heaven, Earth & Hell, henceforth shall live in harmony
Of the Measure, in which
the following Poem is written
We who dwell on Earth can do nothing of ourselves, every thing is
conducted by Spirits, no less than Digestion or Sleep. [to Note the last
words of Jesus, Εδοθη μοι πασα εξουσια εν ουρανω και επι γης]
When this Verse was first dictated to me I consider'd a Monotonous
Cadence like that used by Milton & Shakspeare & all writers of English
Blank Verse, derived from the modern bondage of Rhyming; to be a
necessary and indispensible part of Verse. But I soon found that in the
mouth of a true Orator such monotony was not only awkward, but as
much a bondage as rhyme itself. I therefore have produced a variety in
every line, both of cadences & number of syllables. Every word and
every letter is studied and put into its fit place: the terrific numbers are
reserved for the terrific parts—the mild & gentle, for the mild & gentle
parts, and the prosaic, for inferior parts: all are necessary to each other
Poetry Fetter'd, Fetters the Human Race! Nations are Destroy'd, or
Flourish, in proportion as Their Poetry Painting and Music, are Destroy'd
or Flourish! The Primeval State of Man, was Wisdom, Art, and Science.
PLATE 4
