Prologue

[Bruce V]

The world, like all things else, has its own soul,
Is by the selfsame Source created whole 
And individual, as you or I, Scans a little weird, a little old-fashioned, to have it be "in-di-vi-du-al" than "in-di-vi-dwal".

Interesting...I've never heard it as 4 syllables....perhaps regional dialect?  After all, I come from a place where "you all" is one syllable.

With one set term in which to live and die--

An instrument of that one highest power
Who gives sweet purpose to our every hour.

Substantively, I'd say this beginning seems a little weak. An object doesn't have to have a soul to be whole, nor to be whole to be individual, nor to be an individual to be a mere instrument. It could be pruned (though ignoring the form for now):

Good point about the weakness of 'whole' as unnecessary and misleading.  As far as "mere" instrument...it's no mere thing to be an instrument of God.

The world has a soul
bound to its body in the same

I don't see the soul as being 'bound' to the body.

loose manner as a man,
with one set term in which to live and die:
no more than an instrument, a tool
in the hands of a higher power.

Therefore with Earth, and with her smallest part
Are we conjoined, and held in Heaven's heart
As children all, beloved of God, and meant
To live in happy concord, each content  If "with each" isn't removed, as here, then I suggest having the previous line also be in hexameter.
To seek our private destinies, aware

Good point.  I never noticed the line wasn't pentameter.

Through all our lone pursuits that we must share
Whatever God has given.  

There's something paradoxical in this passage: if our destinies are private, then why the emphasis on sharing? The matter could be resolved just by adding a conjunction or two:

You're right:  our destinies really aren't private, even if they sometimes seem so.

To live in happy concord, each content
To seek a private path, if well aware
That we yet live conjoined, that we must share
Whatever God has given.

Yet few perceive
How thoroughly the spirits interweave
Their subtle essences into each force
That on this planet dwells, how far the course
Of this our very home communicates
With every spirit that incorporates
Its light into the natural web.  The doubled "that" in this passage was awkward, so I revised it accordingly.

Right again.  In the original I did say "Its".  I clearly made an error in my typing.

And so,
Unheedful of the sweetest strains that flow
Unceasing through this realm, we often miss The "too" was unnecessary.

That works, too.

The surest source of God's intended bliss--
That deep communion holy Nature gives
To whomsoever in her graces lives.

This passage could be cut entirely, it's entirely tautological. I would just extend the previous line "Its light into the natural web" into something that rhymes with "communicates"/"incorporates"---the occasional tercet is spice to this sort of thing.

Wherefore here told is but the simple tale Also awkward was the doubling of "tale" here, hence this revision.

I like this revision.

Of one who came to lift the mystic veil 
Which others take as Nature's truest dress,
But which the poets know does not confess
The deeper truths of life unless one's eyes
Are keen enough to see what hidden lies
Beneath the outward, lovely show of things, "of" was missing.

Bad transcribing on my part, again.

Into the deeps, where Life to Heaven sings.

If this is meant to be an epic, then it's not a very powerful opening: I suppose there's a reason why all the great English epics I've encountered start with a proper invocation. And those are probably your principal points of reference, what with your choice of form, which I can neither condemn nor condone: I'm very partial to reading Dryden and Pope, even if Pope writes so perfectly that I am often lulled to sleep by his work, yet to adapt a music critic whom I like, to write like those guys in 2026 is deliberately to cultivate a sensibility whose time you know perfectly well has passed. I like this, but I may be a very limited audience.

Quite right.  I knew all along that this style's time has passed.  I wrote it for my own pleasure, and as an exercise in various meters, rhyme schemes, and poetic techniques.
Thanks for you feedback -- much appreciated.