18
THE STAR IN THE WEST
or 'midst the stars in search of the Psyche of events ;
dreams almost monstrous in their intensity seize our
troubled brain , deep problems of psychology , of sex ,
of the
carnal , of the
pathic , and of evil ,
all
inter
webbed and woven with the eternal filament
of
good
.
And
so
if
we read this strange
poet
aright
,
we shall
see
as
we progress
onwards
,
that
he
has
struck
a
sonorous note from the rim
of
Time
,
fulfilled
of
the
knowledge
of
good
and
evil
,
sweet
to
the
ears
of
those who are born children
by
the daughters
of
men
to
the sons
of
God
,
sweet
as
that mystic fruit was
to
the lips
of
Eve
,
daughter
of
God
,
child
of
the mystic
Man
.
But we must speed
on
,
taking
in
this chapter
swift
glances
at
the
magnificent
scenery
that
these
volumes offer
up
to
us
,
plucking
the lilies
of
spring
and
the
roses
of
summer
,
and weave them
into
a
laureate wreath
with
the
fiery
leaves
of
the
dying
year
.
Poe
,
in
that little masterpiece
of
his
,
“
The Poetic
Principle
,
”
lays down that the value
of
a
poem
lies
in
the ratio
of
its elevating
excitement
,
the excitement
being
the
power
it
has
in
elevating
the
soul
.
And
here
we think
,
were Poe still living
,
he
would
have
found
no
small part
of
his ideal realized
.
By soul we
naturally
do
not mean
a
haloed fowl strumming
dithy
rambs
on
a
harp
,
or
the
mere
döppelganger
of
the
living
;
but that inner power
of
good and evil which
lies latent
in
self
,
controlled
by
that
intuitive
con
sciousness within
us
,
and manifested
in
our appetites
and desires
;
this intangible
soul aspiring
upwards
is
called Virtue
,
sinking
downwards
Vice
;
finding
in
finity
in
the conceptions
of
nether and upper
,
heaven
and hell
,
paradise and gehenna
;
and finality
on
earth
,
-its sporting
ground
.
Further
Poe states
:
that
an