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contents , will find a place in the library of the polite scholar ; while its claims on the gratitude of the wise and affectionate parent , are yet more commanding and durable . Her poems ,
without exception , ( and we have just been speaking of poetry of the most elevated class , ) are consecrated to the best pursuits and interests of man ; to the cause of piety , of freedom , of knowledge , of virtue , friendship and domestic love . The "Summer Evening ' s Meditation , " impressively presents the loftiest conceotions of the
Creator of the universe : and this , like the * ' Address to the Deity , " completely refutes the assertion that
poetry and religion have no mutual alliance . Her hymns are , in general , extremely calculated for the purposes of social Christian worship : and here we have only to regret that one who
wrote so well , wrote , as we must think , so little . The truth is , her humility corresponded with the other great endowments of her mind : her judgment was as exact as her fancy was ardent , and her invention lively . Her main praise will , however , be found in her kind and well-regulated
affections , in the exercise of which she conferred on a number of young persons , some of them her near relations , others her chosen friends and companions , blessings of which they can never be forgetful . * It is in his Life of Waller that
Johnson has unfolded the principles of his deeply-rooted objection , if we must not call it antipathy , to attempts at uniting poetry with devotion .
He there tells us , in opposition to facts and experience , that " poetical devotion cannot often please / ' The doctrines of religion , he admits , may indeed be defended in a didactic poem . Not © nly so : he concedes that " a
poet may praise the Maker for his works , in lines which no reader shall lay aside . " But , for the purpose of rendering these admissions nugatory , Johnson endeavours to distinguish between " piety and the motives to piety , " between " God and the works of God - " as though a poem enforcing those motives , and celebrating those
* Were this the place to speak of her " pieces in prose , * ' we should enlarge on the unrivalled merit * of her Essay on < c Inconsistent Expectations . "
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works , were not characteristicall y devotional 1 " Contemplative piety , " he says , ' * cannot be poetical / 1 Does he meaii that it is never vocal , but exclusive ly mental—the silent meditation of tlie heart ? When it employs language , that lansuaire will iisuallv h « its nw « that language will usually be its own
, but will also sometimes be borrowed from the poetical and devotional books of Scripture , and sometimes , we presume , from even the poetical effusions of other pious writers . Though poetry does not confer on man " a state of intercourse with his Creator , " ( and we never heard that such was or could
be the effect of poetry , ) still devotional poetry may aid us in gaining that state , and may even render it more delightful and advantageous . What , though the essence of poetry be invention , or rather combination ?
In devotional poetry this combination has a range coextensive with Nature , Providence and the discoveries of Revelation . Dr . Johnson affirms , but does not and cannot prove , that " the topics of devotion are few /* It is true , if they are absolutely few , " tkey can be made no more : " but this
identical proposition would seem to be unworthy of its author . Nor will it easily be admitted that devotional topics , be they few , or be they numerous , " can receive no grace from
novelty of sentiment , and very little from novelty of expression . " All this is crude and prejudiced * theory , in opposition to facts , and to the judgment and feelings of men whose minds piety has elevated and taste has polished .
But " religion must be shewn as it is : suppression and addition equally corrupt it ; and such as it is , it is known already . " Dr Johnson now speaks of practical and doctrinal religion , not of devotion . His remark , therefore , whether true or false , is irrelevant to the case of devotional
poetry . We have always looked upon piety as a certain state of mind and character : by consequence , its feelings and qualities may be expressed , may be improved—like many other qualities and feeling's—l » y the strains of a hallowed taste and genius .
* We believe that much of tins prejudice arose from Dr . Johnson ' s rooted uiid unreasonable hostility to Milton ' s fame .
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170 Review . —Lamport ' s Sacred Poetry .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1826, page 170, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2546/page/42/
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