Analysis of The Pleasures of Imagination: Book The First
Mark Akenside 1721 (Newcastle upon Tyne) – 1770
With what attractive charms this goodly frame
Of nature touches the consenting hearts
Of mortal men; and what the pleasing stores
Which beauteous imitation thence derives
To deck the poet's, or the painter's toil;
My verse unfolds. Attend, ye gentle powers
Of musical delight! and while i sing
Your gifts, your honours, dance around my strain.
Thou, smiling queen of every tuneful breast,
Indulgent Fancy! from the fruitful banks
Of Avon, whence thy rosy fingers cull
Fresh flowers and dews to sprinkle on the turf
Where Shakespeare lies, be present: and with thee
Let Fiction come, upon her vagrant wings
Wafting ten thousand colours through the air,
Which, by the glances of her magic eye,
She blends and shifts at will, through countless forms,
Her wild creation. Goddess of the lyre,
Which rules the accents of the moving sphere,
Wilt thou, eternal Harmony! descend
And join this festive train? for with thee comes
The guide, the guardian of their lovely sports,
Majestic Truth; and where Truth deigns to come,
Her sister Liberty will not be far.
Be present all ye Genii, who conduct
The wandering footsteps of the youthful bard,
New to your springs and shades: who touch his ear
With finer sounds: who heighten to his eye
The bloom of nature, and before him turn
The gayest, happiest attitude of things.
Oft have the laws of each poetic strain
The critic-verse imploy'd; yet still unsung
Lay this prime subject, though importing most
A poet's name: for fruitless is the attempt,
By dull obedience and by creeping toil
Obscure to conquer the severe ascent
Of high Parnassus. Nature's kindling breath
Must fire the chosen genius; nature's hand
Must string his nerves, and imp his eagle-wings
Impatient of the painful steep, to soar
High as the summit; there to breathe at large
Æthereal air: with bards and sages old,
Immortal sons of praise. These flattering scenes
To this neglected labour court my song;
Yet not unconscious what a doubtful task
To paint the finest features of the mind,
And to most subtile and mysterious things
Give colour, strength, and motion. But the love
Of nature and the muses bids explore,
Through secret paths erewhile untrod by man,
The fair poetic region, to detect
Untasted springs, to drink inspiring draughts,
And shade my temples with unfading flowers
Cull'd from the laureate vale's profound recess,
Where never poet gain'd a wreath before.
From heaven my strains begin; from heaven descends
The flame of genius to the human breast,
And love and beauty, and poetic joy
And inspiration. Ere the radiant sun
Sprang from the east, or 'mid the vault of night
The moon suspended her serener lamp;
Ere mountains, woods, or streams adorn'd the globe,
Or wisdom taught the sons of men her lore;
Then liv'd the almighty One: then, deep-retir'd
In his unfathom'd essence, view'd the forms,
The forms eternal of created things;
The radiant sun, the moon's nocturnal lamp,
The mountains, woods and streams, the rowling globe,
And wisdom's mien celestial. From the first
Of days, on them his love divine he fix'd,
His admiration: till in time compleat,
What he admir'd and lov'd, his vital smile
Unfolded into being. Hence the breath
Of life informing each organic frame,
Hence the green earth, and wild resounding waves;
Hence light and shade alternate; warmth and cold;
And clear autumnal skies and vernal showers,
And all the fair variety of things.
But not alike to every mortal eye
Is this great scene unveil'd. For since the claims
Of social life, to different labours urge
The active powers of man; with wise intent
The hand of nature on peculiar minds
Imprints a different byass, and to each
Decrees its province in the common toil.
To some she taught the fabric of the sphere,
The changeful moon, the circuit of the stars,
The golden zones of heaven: to some she gave
To weigh the moment of eternal things,
Of time, and space, and fate's unbroken chain,
And will's quick impulse: others by the hand
She led o'er vales and mountains, to explore
What healing virtue swells the tender veins
Of herbs and flowers; or what the beams of morn
Draw forth, distilling from the clifted rind
In balmy tears. . But some, to higher hopes
Were destin'd; some within a finer mould
She wrought, and temper'd with a purer flame.
To these the sire omnipotent unfolds
The world's harmonious volume, there to read
The transcript of himself. On every part
They trace the bright impressions of his hand:
In earth or air, the meadow's purple stores,
The m
Scheme | AXBXCDXEFXXXXGXHIXJXXXXXXXXHXG EXXXCKLMGNXOXXXPGXNXXXDXN XFXXXQRNXIGQRXXFXLAXODG HXXKXXCJXXGEMNXXPXOAXXXMBX |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101011101 1101000101 1101010101 11010101 1101010101 11010111010 1100010111 111110111 11011100101 0101010101 1101110101 11001110101 111110011 1101010101 101101101 1101010101 1101111101 0101010101 1101010101 1101010001 0111011111 01010011101 0101011111 0101001111 110111101 0100110101 1111011111 1101110111 0111000111 011001011 1101110101 010111101 1110110101 01011101001 11010001101 0111000101 111010101 11001010101 1111011101 0101010111 1101011111 11110101 01011111001 110101111 111010101 1101010101 0111001001 111010101 1100010101 11011111 0101010101 11110101 011101110 11010010101 1101010101 110110111001 0111010101 0101000101 0010101001 1101110111 01010011 1101110101 1101011101 11001011101 01110101 0101010101 01001010101 010101011 011010101 1111110111 10101011 11010011101 0100110101 1101010101 1011010101 1101100101 01010101010 0101010011 11011100101 1111011101 1101110011 01010111101 0111010101 0101001011 0111000101 1111010101 011010101 01011101111 1101010101 1101010101 0111010101 11101010101 1101010101 11010110111 110101011 0101111101 0101010101 1101010101 11010010001 01010010111 0110111001 1101010111 011101101 01 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 4,365 |
Words | 762 |
Sentences | 24 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 30, 25, 23, 26 |
Lines Amount | 104 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 887 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 191 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 3:56 min read
- 85 Views
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"The Pleasures of Imagination: Book The First" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 16 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/26540/the-pleasures-of-imagination%3A-book-the-first>.
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