conceive of poetry worthily, and more highly than it has been the
custom to conceive of it. We should conceive of it as capable of
higher uses, and called to higher destinies, than those which in
general men have assigned to it hitherto. More and more mankind will
discover that we have to turn to poetry to interpret life for us, to
console us, to sustain us....

"But if we conceive thus highly of poetry, we must also set our
standard for poetry high, since poetry, to be capable of fulfilling
such high destinies, must be poetry of a high order of excellence.

... The best poetry is what we want; the best poetry will be found
to have a power of forming, sustaining, and delighting us, as nothing
else can. A clearer, deeper sense of the best in poetry, and of the
strength and joy to be drawn from it, is the most precious benefit
which we can gather from a poetical collection such as the present."

Macaulay in his brilliant essay on Milton, which, published in the
_Edinburgh Review_ in 1825, gave him instant recognition as "a new
literary power," set up an interesting theory. A few extracts will
give it:--

"Milton, it is said, inherited what his predecessors created; he lived
in an enlightened age; he received a finished education; and we must
therefore, if we would form a just estimate of his powers, make large
deductions for these advantages.

"We venture to say, on the contrary, paradoxical as the remark may
appear, that no poet has ever had to struggle with more unfavorable
circumstances than Milton....