so in his greatest moments. He is a great mystic, because he has a full
vision of the mystery of realities, not because he has a clear invention
of similitudes.

Of many thousand kisses the poor last,

and

Now with his love, now in the colde grave

are lines on the yonder side of imagery. So is this line also:

Sad with the promise of a different sun,

and

Piteous passion keen at having found,
After exceeding ill, a little good.

Shakespeare, Chaucer and Patmore yield us these great examples. Imagery
is for the time when, as in these lines, the shock of feeling (which must
needs pass, as the heart beats and pauses) is gone by:

Thy heart with dead winged innocence filled,
Even as a nest with birds,
After the old ones by the hawk are killed.

I cite these lines of Patmore's because of their imagery in a poem that
without them would be insupportably close to spiritual facts; and because
it seems to prove with what a yielding hand at play the poet of realities