V. THE POETRY OF REINCARNATION IN WESTERN LITERATURE.

126Poets, the first instructors of mankind.—Horace.

Poets are the truest diviners of nature.—Bulwer-Lytton.

Poets utter great and wise things which they do not themselves understand.—Plato.

Poets should be lawgivers; that is, the boldest lyric inspiration should not chide and insult, but should announce and lead.—Emerson.

We call those poets who are first to mark

Through earth’s dull mist the coming of the dawn,

Who see in twilight’s gloom the first pale spark

While others only note that day is gone.

Holmes.

O brave poets, keep back nothing,

Nor mix falsehood with the whole.

Look up Godward! Speak the truth in

Worthy song from earnest soul!

Hold, in high poetic duty

Truest Truth, the fairest beauty.

Mrs. Browning.

The spirit of the Poets came at morn

To Sinai, summoned by the Lord’s command,

Singers and Seers; those born and those unborn

The chosen souls of men, a solemn band.

The noble army ranged, in viewless might

Around that mountain peak which pierces heaven;

Greater and lesser teachers, sons of light,

Their number was ten thousand score and seven.

Then Allah took a covenant with his own,

Saying, “My wisdom and my word receive.

Speak of me unto men, known or unknown,

Heard or unheard: bid such as will believe.”

“Bear witness then,” spake Allah, “souls most dear,

I am your Lord, and ye heralds of mine.”

Thenceforward through all lands his Poets bear

The message of the mystery divine.

Edwin Arnold.

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V.

THE POETRY OF REINCARNATION IN WESTERN LITERATURE.

The poets are the seers of the race. Their best work comes from the intuitional heights where they dwell, conveying truths beyond reason, not understood even by themselves, but merely transmitted through them. They are the few tall pines towering above the common forest to an extraordinary exaltation, where they catch the earliest and latest sunbeams which prolong their day far beyond the limits below, and penetrating into the rare upper currents whose whisperings seldom descend to the crowd.

However diverse the forms of their expression, the heart of it is thoroughly harmonious. They are always prophets voicing a divine message received in the mount, and in these modern days they are almost the only prophets we have. Therefore it is not a mere pleasantry to collect their testimony upon an unusual theme. When it is found that, though working independently, they are in deep accord upon reincarnation, the inevitable conclusion is that their common inspiration means something—namely, that their gospel is worth receiving.

It may be objected that these poems are merely dreamy effusions along the same line of lunacy, with 128no real attachment to the solid foundations upon which all wholesome poetry is based; that they are kinks in the intellects of genius displaying the weakness of men otherwise strong. But so universal a feeling cannot be disposed of in that way, especially when it is found to contribute to the solution of life’s mystery. All the poets believe in immortality, though unaided reason and observation cannot demonstrate it. Some inexperienced people deride the fact that nearly all poetry centres upon the theme of Love—the most illogical and airy of sentiments. But the deepest sense of the world is nourished by the certainty of these “vague” truths. So the presence of reincarnation in the creed of the poets may give us courage to confide in our own impressions, for “all men are poets at heart.” What they have dared publish we may venture to believe and will find a source of strength.

It is well known that the idea of reincarnation abounds in oriental poetry. But as our purpose is to demonstrate the prevalence of the same thought among our own poets, most of whom are wholly independent of eastern influence, we shall here confine our attention to the spontaneous utterances of American and European poets. We shall find that the great majority of the highest occidental poets lean toward this thought, and many of them unhesitatingly avow it. For convenience we divide our study into four parts, comprising forty-two authors.

Part I.

American Poets, (twelve.)

II.

British Poets, (seventeen.)

III.

Continental Poets, (six.)

IV.

Platonic Poets, (seven.)

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