Ossian Collection > Aspects of poetry

68 THE SPIRITUAL SIDE OF POETRY. [ill.
of the desires, affections, hopes, aims, by which he Hves?
These make up the moral substance of each man's life ;
these create the spiritual air he breathes. But objects,
which are adequate to the finer affections, cannot be
found within the mere world of sense ; phenomena,
however rich and varied, are not enough for any living,
feeling man. Even persons, however loved, cannot
satisfy him, if these are thought of as only transitory.
Some foundation the heart needs to rest on, which
shall be permanent, secure, and stable. Where is this
element to be found ? Not in the maxims of moralists,
nor in the abstractions of the schools. ' I cannot cor-
dialise with a mere ens rationis,' said the late Alex-
ander Knox ; and so would say every man with a warm
heart throbbing within him. Leave moral abstractions,
and categorical imperatives, to the philosopher, who has
lived so long by mere intellect, that everything else is
dried out of him. But man, as man, needs something
more quick and vital, something at least as living as
his own beating heart, something akin to his own per-
sonality, to commune with. And if man, much more
the true poet, who has within him all the elements
that make man, only these carried to their highest
power.
The truth is that poetry has this in common with
religion, that it lives by that which eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard. Deny it this and it dies ; confine it to
mere appearances, whether phenomena of the outward