Poetry thus makes immortal all that is best and most beautiful in the world; it arrests the vanishing apparitions which haunt the interluminations of life, and veiling them or in language or in form sends them forth among mankind, bearing sweet news of kindred joy to those with whom their sisters abide-- abide, because there is no portal of expression from the caverns of the spirit which they inhabit into the universe of things. Poetry redeems from decay the visitations of divinity on man.

NOTES: As an "expression of the Imagination," Poetry does capture these things. The "vanishing apparitions" are the thoughts residing in the Imagination, and Poetry allows us to express them with language. Again, the creative imagination imbues thoughts with life. The redemption from decay is evident in the dynamic nature of poetic language. However imperfect the poet's words are, Poetry ensures that these divine visitations are never wholly lost.