“’Tis distance lends enchantment to the view, And robes the mountain in its azure hue.”
- Source
- The Pleasures of Hope
- Date
- 1799
- Local voice
- Poetic speaker · Poetic narrator
Meaning of “’Tis distance lends enchantment to the view, And…”
Campbell uses a distant mountain to show how remoteness can make a scene—and, by analogy, anticipated future happiness—appear especially attractive.
Where does it come from?
The Pleasures of Hope, Part I, represented in The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell, Project Gutenberg #59788. ‘’Tis distance lends enchantment to the view’ appears in the poem's opening mountain image and immediately leads into a comparison with imagined future joys appearing more pleasing from afar. It remains Romantic poetic analogy and philosophical observation rather than an empirical law of visual perception, memory or decision-making.
Why the local voice matters
The Pleasures of Hope, Part I. Campbell’s narrator uses a distant mountain as an image for the way imagined future happiness can appear more attractive from afar; this is poetic analogy, not empirical psychology.