University of Virginia Library


106

[Many for Poems care much, for Poesie little or nothing]

Many for Poems care much, for Poesie little or nothing;
Story, character, reasoning, subtlety, eloquence, wit,
They find; the verse at most is merely taken as clothing
And decoration,—'tis well if they be not “bored” with it;
But the fine, the mystical, magical influence, all-involving,
Lifting, dissolving, reshaping, into music revolving,
Giving a life to the words, putting an atmosphere round them,
Of this no sense have they, and Poesie leaves where it found them.