42 The Rice Institute Pamphlet
states of mind, resulting from associations enkindled in our
imaginations by external objects. Whittier responded to this
concept quite early, for in 1833 he had a fictional character
explain how his physical attraction for a young lady had be-
come blended with all the former ideas he had of “female
excellency and purity and constancy” (Works, V, 284).
One other aspect of the doctrine of associations, its con-
nection of the material and spiritual worlds, was investigated
in an article, “Swedenborg” (1844). Whittier lauded the
power of Swedenborg’s transcendental theories in stripping
bare the sense objects of the world to reveal “the types and
symbols of the world of spirit.” Stressing the associations that
an imaginative man like Swedenborg could make between
the “facts” of this world and the spiritual values of tire next,
Whittier also praised his realistic expression of these abstract
ideas. This relation of the spiritual to the material and the
importance of personal associations paralleled Emerson’s
1836 doctrine of correspondence in its far-reaching effects on
Whittier’s artistic creed and writing. Undoubtedly it sec-
onded in a theoretical way the practical and religious train-
ing of Quakerism and further strengthened his moral view
of beauty. More importantly it led him to perceive that an
accurate record of his personal experiences with their multi-
tude of concrete impressions could reveal the implicit values
hidden beneath the physical form. So, tardily, Whittier found
in the ordinary things of his life—his farm background, the
local Haverhill scenery, his knowledge of Quaker history,
Essex county legends, boyhood memories—factual images
that could be transmuted by personal associations and imagi-
native effort into authentic, worthwhile materials for poetry.
The romance that he hoped to find in these familiar things
was based on the awareness that the truth of humble experi-