Fraternal Egotism

Not in self-seeking doth the Poet draw
      From his own wells, and analyse his heart;
      All men in all men bear a kindred part,
All spirits to all spirits are a law:
  Whatever any mind has seen or felt,
That inner secret which in self he saw
  With genial utterance to his brother dealt
  Shall quicken him, and make his hardness melt,
His passion thrill, his frozen feeling thaw,
  His selfishness to brotherhood aspire:
So then, accuse not as of mean design
  The generous fervour of poetic fire,—
Such frankness cheers, such sympathies refine,
  Such noble thoughts to nobler thoughts inspire.