Laws for creations,
For strong artists and leaders, for fresh broods of teachers and perfect literats for America,
For noble savans and coming musicians.
All must have reference to the ensemble of the world, and the compact truth of the world,
There shall be no subject too pronounced — all works shall illustrate the divine law of indirections.
I was looking a long while for Intentions,
For a clew to the history of the past for myself, and for these chants — and now I have found it,
It is not in those paged fables in the libraries, ( them I neither accept nor reject,)
It is no more in the legends than in all else,
It is in the present — it is this earth to-day,
It is in Democracy — ( the purport and aim of all the past,)
It is the life of one man or one woman to-day — the average man of to-day,
It is in languages, social customs, literatures, arts,
It is in the broad show of artificial things, ships, machinery, politics, creeds, modern improvements, and the interchange of nations,
All for the modern — all for the average man of to-day.