the memory. This power, though
indispensable to a Poet, is one which he employs only in submission to
necessity, and never for a continuance of time: as its exercise supposes
all the higher qualities of the mind to be passive, and in a state of
subjection to external objects, much in the same way as a translator or
engraver ought to be to his original. 2ndly, Sensibility,--which, the
more exquisite it is, the wider will be the range of a poet's
perceptions; and the more will he be incited to observe objects, both as
they exist in themselves, and as re-acted upon by his own mind. (The
distinction between poetic and human sensibility has been marked in the
character of the Poet delineated in the original preface.) 3dly,
Reflection,--which makes the Poet acquainted with the value of actions,
images, thoughts, and feelings; and assists the sensibility in
perceiving their connection with each other. 4thly, Imagination and
Fancy,--to modify, to create, and to associate. 5thly, Invention,--by
which characters are composed out of materials supplied by observation;
whether of the Poet's own heart and mind, or of external life and
nature; and such incidents and situations produced as are most
impressive to the imagination, and most fitted to do justice to the
characters, sentiments, and passions, which the Poet undertakes to
illustrate. And, lastly, Judgment,--to decide how and where, and in what
degree, each of these faculties ought to be exerted; so that the less
shall not be sacrificed to the greater; nor the greater, slighting the
less, arrogate, to its own injury, more than its due. By judgment, also,
is determined what are the laws and appropriate graces of every species
of composition.[17]

[17] As sensibility to harmony of numbers, and the power of producing
it, are invariably attendants upon the faculties above specified,
nothing has been said upon those requisites.

The materials of Poetry, by these powers collected and produced, are
cast, by means of various moulds, into divers forms. The moulds may be
enumerated, and the forms specified, in the following order. 1st, The
Narrative,--including the Epopoeia, the Historic Poem, the Tale, the
Romance, the Mock-Heroic, and, if the spirit of Homer will tolerate such
neighbourhood, that dear production of our days, the metrical Novel. Of
this class, the distinguishing mark is, that the Narrator, however
liberally his speaking agents be introduced, is himself the source from