...
'A second promise of genius is the choice of subjects very remote
from the private interests and circumstances of the writer himself.
At least I have found, that where the subject is taken immediately
from the author's personal sensations and experiences the excellence
of a particular poem is but an equivocal mark, and often a
fallacious pledge, of genuine poetical power....
'Images, however beautiful, though faithfully copied from nature,
and as accurately represented in words, do not of themselves
characterise the poet. They become proofs of original genius only as
far as they are modified by a predominant passion; or by associated
thoughts or images awakened by that passion; or when they have the
effect of reducing multitude to unity, or succession to an instant;
or lastly, when a human and intellectual life is transferred to them
from the poet's own spirit....
'The last character ... which would prove indeed but little, except
as taken conjointly with the former--yet without which the former
could scarce exist in a high degree .
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