"All the appearances of nature I was, therefore, careful to study, and
every country, which I have surveyed, has contributed something to my
poetical powers."
"In so wide a survey," said the prince, "you must surely have left much
unobserved. I have lived till now, within the circuit of these
mountains, and yet cannot walk abroad without the sight of something,
which I had never beheld before, or never heeded."
"The business of a poet," said Imlac, "is to examine, not the
individual, but the species; to remark general properties and large
appearances: he does not number the streaks of the tulip, or describe
the different shades in the verdure of the forest. He is to exhibit, in
his portraits of nature, such prominent and striking features, as recall
the original to every mind; and must neglect the minuter
discriminations, which one may have remarked, and another have
neglected, for those characteristicks which are alike obvious to
vigilance and carelessness.
"But the knowledge of nature is only half the task of a poet; he must be
acquainted, likewise, with all the modes of life. His character
requires, that he estimate the happiness and misery of every condition;
observe the power of all the passions in all their combinations, and
trace the changes of the human mind, as they are modified by various
institutions, and accidental influences of climate or custom, from the
sprightliness of infancy to the despondence of decrepitude.
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