...is nntjj"^, but thf wnrlrs nf HnH . Contemplative piety, or the intercourse between God and the 136 human soul, cannot be poetical. Man admitted to implore...already in a higher state than poetry can confer. , The jgsence of poetry is invention ; such invention as, by 137 producing something unexpected, surprises...

...only useless, but, in some degree, profane.' 2 As for religious lyrics, ' Contemplative piety . . . cannot be poetical. Man, admitted to implore the mercy...already in a higher state than poetry can confer.' * Of his own personal predilections in poetry no one 1 His fullest statement of this principle is found...

...both the reason which he assigns, and the argument by which he supports it. The reason is this : " Man, admitted to implore the mercy of his Creator,...already in a higher state than poetry can confer." This is true. And if it followed from admission to a higher state, that what belongs to a lower must...

...devotional poetry there is something to be said for the Johnsonian theory that contemplative piety, or the intercourse between God and the human soul, cannot be poetical. And yet it was the same man who wrote : " Through all eternity to Thee, A joyful song I'll raise :...

...inadmissibility of religion into poetry, may have seen the end of vanity. That 'contemplative piety, or the intercourse between God and the human soul, cannot be poetical,' is true if it be true that the human soul having such intercourse is parted from its humanity, or if...

...solutions which are sometimes given of that circumstance. ' Contemplative piety,' says Dr. Johnson, ' or the intercourse between God and the human soul,...already in a higher state than poetry can confer.' l The sentiment is not uncommon among serious, but somewhat fearful, believers ; and though we believe...

...poem. The subject of the description "is not God, but the works of God." But "contemplative piety, or the intercourse between God and the human soul,...already in a higher state than poetry can confer." This can be interpreted as meaning that prayer is a higher state than poetic contemplation, and one...

...are unmistakably new and his own. CHAPTER VIII RELIGIOUS POETRY: A POSTSCRIPT Contemplative piety, or the intercourse between God and the human soul, cannot be poetical. DH JOHNSON, Life of Waller TH E poets to whom Donne's influence was most congenial were religious poets....

...opposition to many authorities, has the merit of originality, and forcible reasoning. " Contemplative piety, or the intercourse between God and the human soul,...already in a higher state than poetry can confer. The employments of pious meditation, are faith, thanksgiving, repentance, and supplication. Faith, invariably...

...process of mutual exclusion; for, as Johnson declares in the Life of Waller, "Contemplative piety, or the intercourse between God and the human soul,...already in a higher state than poetry can confer" (Lives, 1:291). Such a conviction may explain why Johnson has more to say about the moral and psychological...