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The role of rhetoric in helping the poet to convey ineffable spiritual relationships is fundamental. It provides him with ready-made or stock methods of production. And, like the oral poets of classical times, he uses these formulaic methods without fear of such damaging terms as "cliche" or "stereotype," for in them he has discovered an ennabling means of expression. Discussing classical rhetorical formulae in this regard, C.M. Bowra writes:

These formulae are in the main traditional; for, once a good formula has been found, poets use it freely without considerations of copyright. If formulae prove useful, they may last for centuries, and there is no need to abandon them just because they are familiar. Indeed their familiarity gives them a special dignity and commands respect. [27]

It may be useful to test this assertion of the efficacy of the familiar by considering a third. poem from Europe-Blossoms based on a dawn/noon/evening time sequence:

MAN THE SAVIOUR SUPREME

  Be pure like the golden dawn.
You can and shall easily be
  Man the seeker supreme.

  Be sure like the dauntless noon.
You can and shall unmistakably be
  Man the lover supreme.

Be true like the dutiful earth
    And
The dutiful sun.
You can and shall eventually be
    Man the saviour supreme. (P. 10)

The first lines of the two opening stanzas echo and repeat connections made explicit in the poems I have already discussed. The pattern is slightly adjusted to accommodate the two adjectival qualifications "golden" and "dauntless" but the meaning is not significantly affected. Having established his familiar terrain, the poet proceeds to extend each stanza with a rhetorical figure in which a "reward" is offered (or defined) by the poet upon the fulfilment of the precept given in the first line. If the imperative "Be pure like the golden dawn" is obeyed, then the reader or spiritual aspirant shall become "Man the seeker supreme." This process of transformation is based upon a logic of causative action.