The Bridling of Pegasus: Prose Papers on Poetry
poem might serve as an instance of verse which, in spite of tenuity of meaning, becomes poetry by sheer magic of exquisite music.

 My soul is an enchanted boat, Which, like a sleeping swan, doth float Upon the silver waves of thy sweet singing; And thine doth like an angel sit Beside a helm conducting it, Whilst all the winds with melody are ringing It seems to float ever, for ever, Upon that many-winding river, Between mountains, woods, abysses. [Pg 8]A paradise of wildernesses! Till, like one in slumber bound, Borne to the ocean, I float down, around, Into a sea profound of ever-spreading sound.

My soul is an enchanted boat,

Which, like a sleeping swan, doth float

And thine doth like an angel sit

Beside a helm conducting it,

It seems to float ever, for ever,

Upon that many-winding river,

Between mountains, woods, abysses.

[Pg 8]

A paradise of wildernesses!

Till, like one in slumber bound,

Borne to the ocean, I float down, around,

Into a sea profound of ever-spreading sound.

There is a magic of sound in the verse so enchanting to a reader that he may be pardoned for failing to observe at once that it is mainly musical fancy. Many may remember a line of Tennyson:

Like a tale of little meaning, though the words are strong.

And are we not compelled to feel, on second thoughts, if we have any capacity for discrimination, that here we have poetry of little meaning, though the verse is 
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