The Lifted Veil Essay | Critical Essay #4

The Lifted Veil Critical Essay #4

Fifteen years after the initial publication of "The Lifted Veil" George Eliot added a short epigraph to the story.

Give me no light, great Heaven, but such as turns To energy of human fellowship; No powers beyond the growing heritage That makes completer manhood.

This poem is written in the form of a prayer, whereby the speaker asks Heaven to give him "no light"—meaning, no knowledge or insight— "but such as turns to energy of human fellowship." In other words, the speaker asks to be granted no special powers of knowledge or insight ("light"), such as clairvoyance, which would turn his "energy" (thought or intention) away from "human fellowship." The speaker asks to be granted only those ordinary powers of knowledge and perception which direct his "energy" toward "fellowship" with humans in the natural world. This clearly refers to Latimer's supernatural powers of clairvoyance— as if the heavens...
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