neglect grander scenery; his muse

"Sees Caledonia, in romantic view:
Her airy mountains, from the waving main
Invested with a keen diffusive sky,
Breathing the soul acute; her forests huge,
Incult, robust, and tall, by Nature's hand
Planted of old; her azure lakes between,
Poured out extensive and of watery wealth
Full; winding, deep and green, her fertile vales,
With many a cool translucent brimming flood
Washed lovely...."

And in _A Hymn_ we read:

Ye headlong torrents rapid and profound,
Ye softer floods that lead the humid maze
Along the vale; and thou, majestic main,
A secret world of wonders in thyself.

It is the lack of human life, the didactic tone, and the wearisome
detail which destroys interest in the _Seasons_--the lack of happy
moments of invention. Yet it had great influence on his
contemporaries in rousing love for Nature, and it contains many
beautiful passages. For example:

Come, gentle Spring, ethereal mildness, come,
And from the bosom of yon dropping cloud,
While music wakes around, veiled in a shower
Of shadowing roses, on our plains descend.