He is certain that everything has an immortal soul:
I swear I think there is nothing but immortality![1]
Filled with hope, he has no fear of the future, and seeks to go beyond the things of common life, beyond cowardly immobility:
Away O soul! hoist instantly the anchor!
Cut the hawsers—haul out—shake out every sail!
Have we not stood here like trees in the ground long enough?
Have we not grovel’d here long enough, eating and drinking like mere brutes?
Have we not darken’d and dazed ourselves with books long enough?
Sail forth—steer for the deep waters only,
Reckless O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me,
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.
O my brave soul!
O farther farther sail!
O daring joy, but safe! are they not all the seas of God?
O farther, farther, farther sail![2]
Who has gone farthest? for I would go farther.[3]
V
And now, like all good orators and all good essayists, I ought to gather the threads of my discourse and frame a summary. But this I
