But now there comes unsought, unseen,
Some clear divine electuary,
And I, who had but sensual been,
Grow sensible, and as God is, am wary.

I hearing get, who had but ears,
And sight, who had but eyes before,
I moments live, who lived but years,
And truth discern, who knew but learning's lore.

I hear beyond the range of sound,
I see beyond the range of sight,
New earths and skies and seas around,
And in my day the sun doth pale his light.

A clear and ancient harmony
Pierces my soul through all its din,
As through its utmost melody,—
Farther behind than they, farther within.

More swift its bolt than lightening is,
Its voice than thunder is more loud,
It doth expand my privacies
To all, and leave me single in the crowd.

The speaker of this poem—part of Henry David Thoreau's super-long poem-novel "Inspiration"—is talking about the power of intuition. Inspiration itself alludes to the idea of intuition. When we're inspired, we feel as though we suddenly know things that we didn't know before, and we don't necessarily know how we know them.

It's this experience of inspiration or intuition that the speaker describes: "But now there comes unsought, unseen,/ Some clear divine electuary,/ And I, who had but sensual been,/ Grow sensible, and as God is, am wary." Get it?

So, for the speaker, this intuitive knowledge or inspiration is tied to God (the Transcendentalists, let's not forget, were quite a religious bunch). God provides us with the means of knowing things beyond reason and rationality. After all, God himself exists beyond reason and rationality.

The speaker of the poem communicates the idea of intuitive knowledge through the imagery that he uses. He says, "I hearing get, who had but ears,/ And sight, who had but eyes before." This imagery suggests that there is a "hearing" and "sight" that goes beyond the conventional senses of being able to hear and see stuff with our ears and eyeballs.

In other words, there is a realm of experience and knowledge that exists beyond the physical, or sensory, world. That realm of experience is only accessible through intuition, and for intuition what's key is knowledge of God.