21/26 i., col.xxiv.and 804), and make a whole sermon on the symbolism of the rose; these overstrained dissertations have nothing to do with the feeling for nature. It is the arsenal of mediaeval rhetoric used to dissect a word. It is an intellectual effort, not a song of love. The Imitation would say: _If thy heart were right all creatures would be for thee a mirror of life and a volume of holy doctrine_, lib.ii., cap.2.The simple sentiment of the beauty of creation is absent here also; the passage is a pedagogue in disguise. |