The pleasures of imagination. A poem / In three books.

  • Mark Akenside
Date:
1754
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The pleasures of imagination. A poem / In three books. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    48/144 (page 44)
    Unenvy’d treafures, and the fnowy wings 510 Of innocence and love protect the fcene ? Once more fearch, undifmay’d, the dark profound Where nature works in,,fecret; view the beds Of min’ral treafure, and th5 eternal vault That bounds the hoary ocean ; trace the forms 5.15 Of atoms moving with incefjfant change Their elemental round; behold the feeds Of being, and the energy of life Kindling the mafs with ever-adtive flame : Then to the fecrets of the working mind 520 Attentive turn ; from dim oblivion call Her fleet, ideal band; and bid them, go ! Break thro5 time’s barrier, and o'ertake the hour That faw the heav5ns created : then declare If aught were found in thofe external fcenes 525 To move thy wonder now. For what are all The forms which brute, unconfcious matter wears, Greatnefs of bulk, or fymmetry of parts ? Not reaching to the heart, foon feeble grows The fuperficial impulfe •, dull their charms, 530 And fatiate foon, and pall the languid eye. Not fo the moral fpecies, nor the pow’rs