Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Reviews.
But here we have the late worthy Lord Mayor of London , distinguished b y his genial qualities ancl kindly hospitality , putting forth for public approval ancl criticism , a volume of his poetic imaginings of some years . Some of these poems date from a little
time back , having been published with a dedication to Charles Dickens . The present collection , Avhich is enlarged and revised , is dedicated to Thomas Carlyle . The Times speaks in the folloAving favourable tone of his principal poem
, " Imagination " : — " Mr . Cotton opens his argument in due form , by adverting to the universal existence and influence of the imaginative poAver . Going back before the Creation to Chaos and Ni ghthe proceeds to trace
, the AvayAvard course of Fancy , from the time AA'hen he breathed into the ear of Eve Avith the first seductions of the serpent , through a succession of the most marked episodes in the Old Testament history . He travels Avith Fancy into the land of
dreams ; follows her promptings in letters and the arts , in science and philosophy , in the subtlest passions of the human mind , and in aspirations after a future that Ave fear is ideal . He dwells on her
poAvers to soothe and to charm , to heighten the joys of life , to soften or aggravate its griefs ; on the hateful results when she has been prostituted to the purposes of guilt and folly , as dooming man to moral decay , aud seducing him over the verge of sanity ; and he argues that as
she existed before man was made in the image of his Creator , so she must survive to eternity with the blessed in Paradise . It will be seen that the scope of the poem is comprehensive enough , and many of the scenes that are conjured up before the
eye are made very gracefully suggestive . The best are , perhaps , among the visions in Dreamland , with their swift transitions from the nightmares and tantalizing hallucinations of storm-troubled guilt and suffering to the peaceful dreams of
slumbering innocence . Mr . Cotton is ri ght in supposing that there is a kind of imagination which can be said to traverse space Avith astronomy , though , in its researches and results , that is one of the most exact and practical of sciences ; but , to most of his readers , Mr , Cotton ' s description of the
more obvious influence it exerts on such arts as Poetry ancl Painting , or such prin . ciples or passions as Liberty , will be more obvious . " The following little poem termed , "Sunshine , " has much poetic merit ondease : .
" The deAvy mists are melting slow , The East is bright Avith golden glow , And clouds and fogs must fade ; Iris bend ' s a varied bow , The distant village smiles below , In sunny li ght and shade .
Light shines upon the distant hill , Swiftruns the stream , slow turns the mill , And happy hums the bee ; The landscape all around is still , As silent as our God ' s great will Of human destiny . " The lines on "Spring , " are equall y effective
: — " See hoary winter melting into tears , As , zephyr-led , sweet spring comes robed in green ; Bright sunny smiles her maiden beaut y wears , And budding trees like budding hopes are seen .
All nature ' s praising God with varied throat , To hail her first with many a thrilling note , The mating birds their love notes SAA-eetly sing , And happy bleats o ' er daisied meadow ring . "
Summer also comes before us truly and gracefully : — "As summer comes sAveet spring soft glides aAvay , And smiling leaves the year to her warm heart
, Who willing plays to all a mother ' s part , To all the infant buds and flowers of May . Sometimes she weeps to see those flowers fade , Now smiles to see her daily rip ' ning grain ,
To hear her song-birds sing their heaventaught strain , Now basks in sunshine or now rests in shade . " On some future occasion we may be tempted again to allude to this little work .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Reviews.
But here we have the late worthy Lord Mayor of London , distinguished b y his genial qualities ancl kindly hospitality , putting forth for public approval ancl criticism , a volume of his poetic imaginings of some years . Some of these poems date from a little
time back , having been published with a dedication to Charles Dickens . The present collection , Avhich is enlarged and revised , is dedicated to Thomas Carlyle . The Times speaks in the folloAving favourable tone of his principal poem
, " Imagination " : — " Mr . Cotton opens his argument in due form , by adverting to the universal existence and influence of the imaginative poAver . Going back before the Creation to Chaos and Ni ghthe proceeds to trace
, the AvayAvard course of Fancy , from the time AA'hen he breathed into the ear of Eve Avith the first seductions of the serpent , through a succession of the most marked episodes in the Old Testament history . He travels Avith Fancy into the land of
dreams ; follows her promptings in letters and the arts , in science and philosophy , in the subtlest passions of the human mind , and in aspirations after a future that Ave fear is ideal . He dwells on her
poAvers to soothe and to charm , to heighten the joys of life , to soften or aggravate its griefs ; on the hateful results when she has been prostituted to the purposes of guilt and folly , as dooming man to moral decay , aud seducing him over the verge of sanity ; and he argues that as
she existed before man was made in the image of his Creator , so she must survive to eternity with the blessed in Paradise . It will be seen that the scope of the poem is comprehensive enough , and many of the scenes that are conjured up before the
eye are made very gracefully suggestive . The best are , perhaps , among the visions in Dreamland , with their swift transitions from the nightmares and tantalizing hallucinations of storm-troubled guilt and suffering to the peaceful dreams of
slumbering innocence . Mr . Cotton is ri ght in supposing that there is a kind of imagination which can be said to traverse space Avith astronomy , though , in its researches and results , that is one of the most exact and practical of sciences ; but , to most of his readers , Mr , Cotton ' s description of the
more obvious influence it exerts on such arts as Poetry ancl Painting , or such prin . ciples or passions as Liberty , will be more obvious . " The following little poem termed , "Sunshine , " has much poetic merit ondease : .
" The deAvy mists are melting slow , The East is bright Avith golden glow , And clouds and fogs must fade ; Iris bend ' s a varied bow , The distant village smiles below , In sunny li ght and shade .
Light shines upon the distant hill , Swiftruns the stream , slow turns the mill , And happy hums the bee ; The landscape all around is still , As silent as our God ' s great will Of human destiny . " The lines on "Spring , " are equall y effective
: — " See hoary winter melting into tears , As , zephyr-led , sweet spring comes robed in green ; Bright sunny smiles her maiden beaut y wears , And budding trees like budding hopes are seen .
All nature ' s praising God with varied throat , To hail her first with many a thrilling note , The mating birds their love notes SAA-eetly sing , And happy bleats o ' er daisied meadow ring . "
Summer also comes before us truly and gracefully : — "As summer comes sAveet spring soft glides aAvay , And smiling leaves the year to her warm heart
, Who willing plays to all a mother ' s part , To all the infant buds and flowers of May . Sometimes she weeps to see those flowers fade , Now smiles to see her daily rip ' ning grain ,
To hear her song-birds sing their heaventaught strain , Now basks in sunshine or now rests in shade . " On some future occasion we may be tempted again to allude to this little work .