The Poet's Fourth Dimension
AT the Poetasters’ sign
Some poor squires of the Nine
Met to sound the mighty poets
With a plummet and a line.
Some poor squires of the Nine
Met to sound the mighty poets
With a plummet and a line.
Hidden in a neighboring tree,
All their council I could see,
And their thin and piping voices
Clearly floated out to me.
All their council I could see,
And their thin and piping voices
Clearly floated out to me.
First Poetaster
“ Melody’s the primal thing;
Falling waters — gales of spring—
Dorian flutes — were less melodious
Than the silver strains they sing.”
Falling waters — gales of spring—
Dorian flutes — were less melodious
Than the silver strains they sing.”
Second Poetaster
“ Pictures in those strains appear,
Bright as sands in rivers clear:
Oceans, mountains, chariots, horsemen, —
Isles of Ariel, storms of Lear! ”
Bright as sands in rivers clear:
Oceans, mountains, chariots, horsemen, —
Isles of Ariel, storms of Lear! ”
Third Poetaster
“Thought and passion tamed by art
Body to the whole impart,
More than melodies or pictures
Pleasing deep the listening heart.”
All
“There’s a fourth dimension, though,
Hiding in the forms we know,
Like the subtle airs of greatness Of a king incognito.
Hiding in the forms we know,
Like the subtle airs of greatness Of a king incognito.
“ Yes, in spite of all our care,
Something unexplained is there,
Like a lost Love in the doorway,
Or the answer to a prayer.”
Something unexplained is there,
Like a lost Love in the doorway,
Or the answer to a prayer.”