Charlotte Smith wrote in her Italian “Sonnet I”,
“…Far happier is the lot of those
Who never learn’d her delusive art, (Smith 143)”

As discussed in class Smith connects suffering with being an artist. In the selected quote Smith seems to be saying that life is happier or easier psychologically for people who do not have the minds of artists or poets. In this quote “her” refers to the “partial muse” or the art God that “smiled” on the speaker, Smith in this case. Many of the artists I have studied appear to see the world through eyes that belong to bleeding hearts. These artists’ minds almost have to concern themselves with the extra weight of the sufferings of the world. Pain runs so deep for a poet and needs to in order to be expressed in such a manner that other people can get close to feeling the poets emotions without suffering the poets suffering or having been part of that moment in time; or to pull out the readers own emotions. Smith ties the poets emotionally deep perception of life to the partial muse that, “…Reserves the thorn- to fester in the heart…(Smith 143). ” Smith closes with the idea that those that feel sadness to the deepest extent can paint it for others. Smith made it clear that those who never learned her delusive art, the non-poets and non-artists have a happier lot in life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9d5hjvFne8