SOURCE: Sneath, Elias Hershey. “Of Human Knowledge.” In Philosophy in Poetry: A Study of Sir John Davies's Poem “Nosece Teipsum,” pp. 49-62. 1903. Reprint. Freeport: Books for Libraries Press, 1970.

In the following essay, Sneath argues that Nosce Teipsum is a didactic poem and discusses Davies's philosophy in relation to the theology of his time.

Having thus briefly studied the history of Davies and the sources of influence upon his thinking, let us next turn to a consideration of his philosophical poem. As has been suggested already, his most elaborate and important poem is Nosce Teipsum. This work is a unique production, presenting as it does, in a formal manner, a complete rational psychology or philosophy of mind in verse. It is, therefore, pre-eminently a didactic poem—the aim being to present systematically the author's speculations on the profound problems of the reality, nature, powers, and destiny of mind. The...