lly be
found in it. For my own part, I find considerable meaning in the old
vulgar distinction of Poetry being _metrical_, having music in it, being
a Song. Truly, if pressed to give a definition, one might say this as
soon as anything else: If your delineation be authentically _musical_,
musical not in word only, but in heart and substance, in all the
thoughts and utterances of it, in the whole conception of it, then
it will be poetical; if not, not.--Musical: how much lies in that! A
_musical_ thought is one spoken by a mind that has penetrated into the
inmost heart of the thing; detected the inmost mystery of it, namely the
_melody_ that lies hidden in it; the inward harmony of coherence which
is its soul, whereby it exists, and has a right to be, here in this
world. All inmost things, we may say, are melodious; naturally utter
themselves in Song. The meaning of Song goes deep. Who is there that,
in logical words, can express the effect music has on us? A kind of
inarticulate unfathomable speech, which leads us to the edge of the
Infinite, and lets us for moments gaze into that!

Nay all speech, even the commonest speech, has something of song in
it: not a parish in the world but has its parish-accent;--the rhythm or
_tune_ to which the people there _sing_ what they have to say! Accent is
a kind of chanting; all men have accent of their own,--though they only
_notice_ that of others. Observe too how all passionate language does
of itself become musical,--with a finer music than the mere accent; the
speech of a man even in zealous anger becomes a chant, a song. All deep
things are Song. It seems somehow the very central essence of us, Song;
as if all the rest were but wrappages and hulls! The primal element of
us; of us, and of all things. The Greeks fabled of Sphere-Harmonies: it
was the feeling they had of the inner structure of Nature; that the soul
of all her voices and utterances was perfect music. Poetry, therefore,
we will call _musical Thought_. The Poet is he who _thinks_ in that
manner. At bottom, it turns still on power of intellect; it is a man's
sincerity and depth of vision that makes him a Poet. See deep enough,
and you see musically; the heart of Nature _being_ everywhere music, if
you can only reach it.

The _Vates_ Poet, with his melodious Apocalypse of Nature, seems to
hold a poor rank among us, in comparison with the _Vates_ Prophet; his
function, and our esteem of him for his function, alike slig