40
[ARS POETICA]
In the two following lines, for instance, there is nothing objectionable, nothing which would preclude them from forming, in their proper place, part of a descriptive poem:—
'Behold yon row of pines, that shorn and bow'd
Bend from the sea-blast, seen at twilight eve.'
But with a small alteration of rhythm, the same words would be equally in their place in a book of topography, or in a descriptive tour. The same image will rise into a semblance of poetry if thus conveyed:—
'Yon row of bleak and visionary pines,
By twilight-glimpse discerned, mark! how they flee
From the fierce sea-blast, all their tresses wild
Streaming before them.'
1815. First published in Biog. Lit., 1817, ii. 18; 1847, ii. 20. First collected 1893.