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inspired strains of the Hebrew poets into our language Las not yet appeared . In a country in which religion is held in such high esteem as in England , and amongst a people who are so eminently pious , it seems remarkable that so few , * amongst the almost countless number of those who feel an ambition
to write verse , should have attempted to improve our Devotional Poetry . Perhaps tlie difficulty of the undertaking , and the failure of those who have attempted it , may deter others from aspiring to the fame that success would inevitably insure . The requisites , too , to form the sacred bard are great . He must possess a soul elevated above the grosser feelings of the earth , and a mind enriched with all the stores of moral wisdom . His genius , like the Great Object that inspires his strains , must-be
sublime—€ i That with no middle flight intends to soar Above the Aonian mount /' He ought to possess an imagination daring and creative , capable of giving life and form to the most abstract qualities , and to have at his command all the colours of language with which to invest and adorn his conceptions . It would be particularly necessary for him to be familiar with the prophetic and devotional parts of Scripture , that from them he might catch the inspiration
which alone can dictate or sustain the sublime strains of sacred song , and select the language , figures and sentiments most appropriate to his subject . The Bible is , indeed , the fountain where the muse , that would soar into the empyrceum of Devotional Poetry , must refresh her vision , and invigorate her pinions with the purifying waters of truth . But notwithstanding the difficulties that almost obstruct the paths to eminence in this the loftiest and most sublime kind of poetry , is there amongst our countrymen uo latent genius ,
feeling the secret consciousness of superior talent , who dares , like a second IVlilton , to " pursue things unattempted yet , " or attempted in vain ? Whilst so many are ambitious to excel in the lighter kinds of poetry , especially the amorous lay—which , after Moore , none can hope to tune so well—does no living bard feel an emulation to strike the sacred lyre , and by its elevating tones to raise the minds of men from earth to heaven ? We should be glad to excite such an emulation in the breast of any of our countrymen . There
cannot be a finer field for poetical competition than that to which it would leada field yet open and to be won . The sacred bard best fulfils the noblest end of poetry : for it is his direct object to excite in the soul the purest sentiments of devotion , and to elevate the heart above the gross desires of sense . The fame too he acquires is the most glorious , for he associates his name with that of the Deity , and whilst the hallowed strains of his song continue to exert an ennobling influence over the feelings and sentiments of mankind to
poet . It is not true , then , that Montgomery ' s religious impressions have cramped the powers of his genius , though they may have occasionally stamped a gloom upon its brow : yet that gloom itself ought , perhaps , to be attributed rather to early disappointments than speculative opinions . At all events , the gloom of his poetry is relieved by the stars of faith and hope which shed through it their soothing light ; and , compared with the darker gloom of more sceptical compositions , it is as much to be preferred as the shadowy prospect of closing eve to the unbroken and dismal blackness of midnight . We confess ourselves admirers of the genius and character
of Montgomery : both are , in the highest degree , amiable ; and they have imparted to his works that purity of thought and benevolent tenderness of feeling , which render them peculiarly fitted to exalt and refine the sentiments of the soul . No poet of the present age has a greater claim upon the gratitude of his country for the ennobling influence which his verses are calculated to exert on the morals of society than Montgomery : he is truly a minister in the temple of the muses , who never forgets the sacred responsibility of his office , and never suffers the grosser fires of earth to mingle with the vestal flame that lights the pure altar of his religion .
* Amongst the few who have lately made such an attempt , the thanks of the public are due to Mr . Bowring , whose " Matins and Vespers" ( the writer has not seen his more recent devotional pieces ) contain many poems inspired by a pure , fervent and cheerful piety , with occasional passages of great poetic excellence *
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258 On Devotional Poetry .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1826, page 258, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2548/page/6/
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