Page:The Celtic twilight. Men and women (IA celtictwilightme00yeat).pdf/34

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The Celtic Twilight.

in thoughts which have evidently a special value to the writer's mind, but are to other men merely the counters of an unknown coinage. To them they seem merely so much brass or copper or tarnished silver at the best. Sometimes he illustrates his verses with Blake-like drawings, in which rather incomplete anatomy does not altogether hide extreme beauty of feeling. The faeries in whom he believes have given him many subjects, notably Thomas of Ercildoune sitting motionless in the twilight while a young and beautiful creature leans softly out of the shadow and whispers in his ear. He delights above all in strong effects of colour: spirits who have upon their heads instead of hair the feathers of peacocks; a phantom reaching from a swirl of flame towards a star; a spirit passing with a globe of iridescent crystal—symbol of the soul—half shut