The Pleasures Of Imagination - The Fourth Book

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One effort more one cheerful sally more	A
Our destin'd course will finish and in peace	B
Then for an offering sacred to the powers	C
Who lent us gracious guidance we will then	D
Inscribe a monument of deathless praise	E
O my adventurous song With steady speed	F
Long hast thou on an untried voyage bound	G
Sail'd between earth and heaven hast now survey'd	H
Stretch'd out beneath thee all the mazy tracts	I
Of passion and opinion like a waste	J
Of sands and flowery lawns and tangling woods	K
Where mortals roam bewilder'd and hast now	L
Exulting soar'd among the worlds above	M
Or hover'd near the eternal gates of heaven	N
If haply the discourses of the Gods	O
A curious but an unpresuming guest	P
Thou might'st partake and carry back some strain	Q
Of divine wisdom lawful to repeat	R
And apt to be conceiv'd of man below	S
A different task remains the secret paths	T
Of early genius to explore to trace	U
Those haunts where Fancy her predestin'd sons	V
Like to the Demigods of old doth nurse	W
Remote from eyes profane Ye happy souls	X
Who now her tender discipline obey	Y
Where dwell ye What wild river's brink at eve	Z
Imprint your steps What solemn groves at noon	A2
Use ye to visit often breaking forth	B2
In rapture 'mid your dilatory walk	C2
Or musing as in slumber on the green	D2
Would I again were with you O ye dales	E2
Of Tyne and ye most ancient woodlands where	F2
Oft as the giant flood obliquely strides	G2
And his banks open and his lawns extend	H2
Stops short the pleased traveller to view	I2
Presiding o'er the scene some rustic tower	J2
Founded by Norman or by Saxon hands	K2
O ye Northumbrian shades which overlook	L2
The rocky pavement and the mossy falls	M2
Of solitary Wensbeck's limpid stream	N2
How gladly I recall your well known seats	O2
Belov'd of old and that delightful time	P2
When all alone for many a summer's day	Y
I wander'd through your calm recesses led	Q2
In silence by some powerful hand unseen	D2
	-
Nor will I e'er forget you nor shall e'er	J2
The graver tasks of manhood or the advice	R2
Of vulgar wisdom move me to disclaim	S2
Those studies which possess'd me in the dawn	T2
Of life and fix'd the color of my mind	U2
For every future year whence even now	L
From sleep I rescue the clear hours of morn	V2
And while the world around lies overwhelm'd	W2
In idle darkness am alive to thoughts	X2
Of honourable fame of truth divine	Y2
Or moral and of minds to virtue won	N
By the sweet magic of harmonious verse	W
The themes which now expect us For thus far	Z2
On general habits and on arts which grow	S
Spontaneous in the minds of all mankind	U2
Hath dwelt our argument and how self taught	A3
Though seldom conscious of their own imploy	S
In nature's or in fortune's changeful scene	D2
Men learn to judge of beauty and acquire	J2
Those forms set up as idols in the soul	S
For love and zealous praise Yet indistinct	B3
In vulgar bosoms and unnotic'd lie	S
These pleasing stores unless the casual force	C3
Of things external prompt the heedless mind	U2
To recognize her wealth But some there are	Z2
Conscious of nature and the rule which man	D3
O'er nature holds some who within themselves	E3
Retiring from the trivial scenes of chance	F3
And momentary passion can at will	S
Call up these fair exemplars of the mind	U2
Review their features scan the secret laws	G3
Which bind them to each other and display	S
By forms or sounds or colours to the sense	H3
Of all the world their latent charms display	S
Even as in nature's frame if such a word	I3
If such a word so bold may from the lips	J3
Of man proceed as in this outward frame	S2
Of things the great artificer pourtrays	J3
His own immense idea Various names	J3
These among mortals bear as various signs	J3
They use and by peculiar organs speak	K3
To human sense These are who by the flight	L3
Of air through tubes with moving stops distinct	B3
Or by extended chords in measure taught	A3
To vibrate can assemble powerful sounds	J3
Expressing every temper of the mind	U2
From every cause and charming all the soul	S
With passion void of care Others mean time	P2
The rugged mass of metal wood or stone	M3
Patiently taming or with easier hand	N3
Describing lines and with more ample scope	O3
Uniting colors can to general sight	L3
Produce those permanent and perfect forms	J3
Those characters of heroes and of gods	J3
Which from the crude materials of the world	P3
Their own high minds created But the chief	Q3
Are poets eloquent men who dwell on earth	R3
To clothe whate'er the soul admires or loves	J3
With language and with numbers Hence to these	J3
A field is open'd wide as nature's sphere	S3
Nay wider various as the sudden acts	J3
Of human wit and vast as the demands	J3
Of human will The bard nor length nor depth	T3
Nor place nor form controuls To eyes to ears	J3
To every organ of the copious mind	U2
He offereth all its treasures Him the hours	J3
The seasons him obey and changeful Time	P2
Sees him at will keep measure with his flight	L3
At will outstrip it To enhance his toil	S
He summoneth from the uttermost extent	U3
Of things which God hath taught him every form	V3
Auxiliar every power and all beside	W3
Excludes imperious His prevailing hand	N3
Gives to corporeal essence life and sense	J3
And every stately function of the soul	S
The soul itself to him obsequious lies	J3
Like matter's passive heap and as he wills	J3
To reason and affection he assigns	J3
Their just alliances their just degrees	J3
Whence his peculiar honors whence the race	J3
Of men who people his delightful world	P3
Men genuine and according to themselves	J3
Transcend as far the uncertain sons of earth	R3
As earth itself to his delightful world	P3
The palm of spotless beauty doth resign	Y2

Mark Akenside

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