Word: propheteers
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...life, by virtue of their meaning. One would be slow to say that his general outfit as poet was so complete as that of Dryden, but that he habitually dwelt in a diviner air, and alone of modern poets renewed and justifled the earlier faith that made poet and prophet interchangeable terms. Surely he was not an artist in the strictest sense of the word; neither was Isaiah; but he had a rarer gift, the capability of being greatly inspired. Popular, let us admit, he can never be; but as in Catholic countries men go for a time into retreat...
...ejaculations. In these he loses himself, as Sir Thomas Browne would say, in an O, altitudo, where his muse is indeed a muse of fire, that can ascend, if not to the highest heaven of invention, yet to the supremest height of impersonal utterance. Then, like Elias, the prophet, "he stands up as fire, and his word burns like a lamp." But too often, when left to his own resources, and to the conscientious performance of the duty laid upon him to be a great poet quand meme, he seems diligently intent on producing fire by the primitive method...
Next to the priest comes the prophet. A prophet does not mean a man who does nothing but look into the future, for most of the prophets were very prominent men in their own time. Each one of them was an enthusiast who brought some special message or who instituted some needed reform. The prophets stand for just the opposite of what the priests do. Their work is to progress and to lead the world out of its old faults. So they are not in sympathy with the priests and the priests cannot understand them...
...third type is a kind that the prophet cannot understand, namely, the philosopher. He draws himself out of the work and rush of life, putting aside all personal feelings, and looks for the truth very quietly. We are not passing from one of these types to the other. They are no at all alike but they can live and work side by side. All three types are needed, the priest to preserve the good of the past, the prophet to help us on, and the philosopher to help us find the truth. The perfect man will be the one combining...
...ends with the publication of his first book of songs in 1786. It took by storm young and old alike. Although at first sight it seems of limited compass, the few notes in it of absolute sincerity make it great. During the period he was the poet, preacher and prophet of the peasants, of whom he was one. His power of sympathy overflowed upon all things...