by Coleridge · Cluster: Imagination · Fragment · Heroic Couplet
Abstract
A complimentary verse-letter to a young portrait artist, praising his genius and skill at making the absent present through art.
Connections
Motifs: Mirror Themes & Concepts: Artist and Society, Imagination, Immortality of Art Fame, Friendship
Testo integrale / Full text
Kayser! to whom, as to a second self,
Nature, or Nature’s next-of-kin, the Elf,
Hight Genius, hath dispensed the happy skill
To cheer or soothe the parting friend’s ‘Alas!’
Turning the blank scroll to a magic glass, 5
That makes the absent present at our will;
And to the shadowing of thy pencil gives
Such seeming substance, that it almost lives.
Well hast thou given the thoughtful Poet’s face!
Yet hast thou on the tablet of his mind 10
A more delightful portrait left behind —
Even thy own youthful beauty, and artless grace,
Thy natural gladness and eyes bright with glee!
Kayser! farewell!
Be wise! be happy! and forget not me.
1833.