Under that inspiration and revelation the poet is a divine interpreter of
(in his own words) --

"All lovely things, and gentle -- the sweet laugh
Of children, Girlhood's kiss, and Friendship's clasp,
The boy that sporteth with the old man's staff,
The baby, and the breast its fingers grasp --
All that exalts the grounds of happiness,
All griefs that hallow, and all joys that bless,

"To me are sacred; at my holy shrine
Love breathes its latest dreams, its earliest hints;
I turn life's tasteless waters into wine,
And flush them through and through with purple tints.
Wherever Earth is fair, and Heaven looks down,
I rear my altars, and I wear my crown."

It was this mission of Poetry that filled his mind and heart and life
with abiding light, which made him cling passionately to life,
not because of any physical fear of death, but because in that mission
Art and Nature were so inexpressibly rich and sweet to him
to reveal his message to man. In the benediction of his dying words,
"Love is sweeter than rest!"

The moral purity of these poems is their distinctive quality,
as it was of the man. With a universal sympathy for all life, still he moved
always on the highest planes of thought and feeling and purpose. He seemed
always to be impressed in his art with the truth of his own lines, --

"There is no unimpressive spot on earth,