Genius [pp. 297-300]

SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER.
Then thy soft ray so passing sweet,
Has beamed around my hallowed seat.
And I have loved thee, star!
When in night's diadem,
I saw thee lovelier, brighter, far
Than all the steliate worlds, and thou
Of that great star the wise men sough
And came to Bethlehem,
To view the infant Saviour's face,
The last bright hope of Adam's race.
Frederick Co. Va.
GENIUS.
T. J. S.
Pope says in the preface to his works, "What we
call a genius is hard to be distinguished, by a man
himself, from a strong inclination." Such a distinction
is certainly hard to make, and in my opinion has no
existence. Genius, as it appears to me, is merely a
decided preference for any study or pursuit, which
enables its possessor to give the close and uinweaied
attention necessary to ensure success. Whien this constancy of purpose is wanting, the brightest natural
talents will give little aid in acquiring literary or
scientific eminence: and where it exists in any considerable degree, it is rare to find one so ill endowed
with common sense as not to gain a respectable standing.
Genius is of two sorts, which may be termed philosophical and poetical. When the mind takes most
pleasure in the exercise of reason, the genius displayed
is philosophical; when the fictions of fancy give the
greatest delight, the cast of mind is poetical. All the
operations of the human intellect may be referred to
one of these, or to a combination of both. Books of
this last character are much the most numerous; for
we seldom find a work so severely argumentative as to
exclude all play of imagination even as ornament, or so
entirely poetical as never to allow the restraint of sober
reason.
These two kinds of genius require different and peculiar faculties. In philosophy, where the great end
proposed is the discovery of truth, the coloring of imagination should be carefully avoided as useless and
deceptive. It is necessary to divest the mind as far as
possible of all pre-conceived opinions, that so the proofs
presented may make just the impression which their
character and importance demand. No prejudice or
association of former ideas must be allowed to bias the
judgment; but the question should be decided in strict
accordance with the deductions of the sternest reason.
And yet this perfect freedom from prejudice, however
necessary to the proper use of right reason, is perhaps
the most difficult effort of the human mind. "Nemo
adhuc," says Lord Bacon, in apassage quoted byStewart
in the introduction to his mental philosophy, "Nemo
adhuc tanta mentis constantia inventus est, ut decreverit et sibi imposuerit theorias et notiones communes
penitus abolere, et intellectum abrasum et equum ad
particularia de integro applicare. Itaque illa ratio hliumnana quam habemus ex multa fide et multo etiam casu,
necnon ex pueri!ibus quas primo hiausimus notionibus,
farrago quedam est et congeries. Quod si quis, Fetate
matura et sensibus integris et mente replurgata, sec adl
experientiam et ad particularia de integro applicet, de
eo melius sperandum est." Such wvas the opinion of
the great father of modern philosophy.
On the other hand these vulgar errors and superstitions, these "theorie et notiones communes," supply
the means of producing the strongest effect of poetry.
The dull scenes of real life can never be suffered to chill
the ardor of a romantic imagination. And as the poet
finds truth too plain and unadorned to satisfy his enthusiastic fancy, he is compelled to seek subjects and
scenery of more faultless nature and brighter hues than
this world affords. He delights in combinations of the
most striking images. The grand and imposing, the
dark and terrific, the furious and desolating-whatever
serves to fill the mind with awe and wonder, are his
favorite subjects of contemplation. The legends of superstition contribute largely to the effect of poetical
composition. The enthusiast loves to fancy the agency
of supernatural beings, and endeavors to feel the influetnce of those emotions which such a belief is suited to
inspire. This seems to be the spirit of Collins in the
following lines of his ode to fear.
"Dark power, with shuddering rieek submitted thought,
Be mine to read the visions old
Which thy awakening bards have told;
And lest thou meet my blasted view,
lHold each strange tale devoutly true."
In combinations of poetical images, no regard is had
to their consistency with truth and reason. It is the
part of philosophy to discover relations as they exist in
nature; but to search out and combine into one glowing
and harmonious whole the brightest and grandest images
which art or nature supplies-this is the province of
poetry. The utmost calmness and most collected
thought are necessary to that patient and laborious
reasoning by which progress is made in the science of
truth. The fury of impassioned feeling, on the other
hand, supports the loftier flights of poetry. Hence
philosophy and poetry rarely meet in the same individual. Yet the smallness of the number of those who
have gained renown both as poets and philosophers, is
to be ascribed less to any incompatibility between the
habits of mind peculiar to each, than to the fact that
the short space of human life will not allow to both the
attention necessary for their highest attainments. I
speak now of poetical and philosophical genius, not of
poetry and philosophy. Between the two last there is
an incompatibility, as may easily be shown. Euclid's
elements, for example, contain as pure specimens of
mere reasoning as can be conceived; but in them sitnmplicity, clearness and precision of terms are all the ornamnent they need or will admit: nor can poetical language
be used by any arrangement without producing obscurity and disgust. And the wild conceptions of unbridled fancy will as little brook the restraint of heartless
reason. In short, poetry and philosophy are so distinct
and opposed in character, that neither can ever be used
to heighten the proper effect of the other.
A most extraordinary combination of poetical and
philosophical talent in one individual was displayed by
Lucretius. I might challenge the whole circle of science
or literature to furnish examples of clearer, closer and
more irrefutable argument than his work presents.
And for purity, sublimity, delicacy, strength and feeling, passages of his poetry might be selected scarcely
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