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Excerpt from English Songs: And Other Small Poems
It may be thought paradoxical to assert that the songs which occur in dramas are more natural than those which proceed from the author in person: yet such is generally the case. If, indeed, a poet wrote purely and seasonably only, - that is to say, if his poetry Sprung always from the pas sion or humor of the moment, the fact might be Otherwise. But it may easily be seen, that many rhymes are produced out of season; and are Often nothing more than the result of ingenuity taxed to the uttermost or otherwise, are Simply the indiscretions of gentlemen at ease, who have nothing, or nothing better, to do. Now Poetry is not to be thus con strained; nor is It ever the offspring of ennui or languor. It demands not only the faculty divine, (so called,) but also. That it Should be left to its own impulses. The intellectual faculties are in no one always in a state of tension, or capa ble of projecting those thoughts which, in happier moments, are cast forth with perfect ease, - and which, when thrown out by the Imagination or the Fancy, constitute the Charm, and indeed form the essence, of poetry.
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