Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1839-03-15

row from the actual for the uses Of poetry,
mus, be translated, not transferred, its form
and colouring modified, from that consistent
with and dependent on the appearances Of the
actual world, to those required by the unity
9th imaginary creation. Such seem to me
the laws required by the slightest song ; and
yet adequate to explain the Odyssey, Hamlet,
and Herman and Dorotbea.'
well, a very pretty scheme. But in my
notion a mere jugglery. The moment you
separate a part of human existence from the
great All il belongs to, and seek to shape il
into a minor. dependent, and analogous, but
distinct world, which, as | understand, is your
notion. that moment you lose all law and
measure Of truth and falschood. A feeling,
an image. an event is true that is real. genuine,
not when detached. but only when connected
with its original circumstances and atmos.
phere. Suppose, while the clay Of nature is
soft and plastic, | break off a finger or an ear
from tho great image this is, no doubt. a real
part Of the whole. But then the fractional
edge recalls that itis only a portion, and ought
TO be replaced in its former position. But if
again knead it up aud round il off into a SO.
parate work. betraving no violent dislocation,
it ceases 10 be any thing but n fiction Of my
hands. | cannot make it a small total recalling
in minuter lines. representing the great one,
because the great Que is too vast, and | see
il only in part. An Illiad was very well,
because those tor whom 1t was written,
believed il oil true, read it as history, aud
had no more doubt Of Jupiter aud Pallas
than Of Achilles and Agamemnon. TO Us
who have looked at the wrong side Of the
puppet show. it has lost half its value. But
remember. besides. that the free ex'empo
raueous Homeric rvthm ls very unlike our
modern metres. To me it seems that the
very fact Of writing IN artificial elaborate
verse is a proclamation Of o design to be
absurd
Verse ought to be and to have The evi.
-dence Of being. the spontaneous and only
suitable utterance Of lively and delightful
emotion. Ii not, doubtless it is bad ard a
trick
Almost all I know Of. indeed. is so. As
for the verse Of Homer and Shakespeare. It
rs only prose fused and fluid. But almost
all else 10 prose punched, twisted. filed
,scraped. and no,ched into arbitrary forms,
in hopes. not Of producing any independent
feeling, but Of awakening some echo of the
feeling which the authentic melody OF
words bege,s. But in fine explain it how
YOU will, all fiction in verse or prose is to
me abhorent. hate straw men. snow. men,
rag men. colossal dolls, bronze kings and
dukes, and all the sons OF scare.crows. |
loathe your modern romance which sets
up it's tawdry wooden Highlanders and
'calumetted Indians at the door &ith as
keen on eye to gain, and to the public's
gross caverns. as The keeper of q snuff shop.
W. have not too much thoush t and energy
among US for actual life, and it is ldiot.ic 10
waste what we have in aimless sympathy.
end 10 spend our days in tracing out The
baby. house Iabyrinlhs of songs and SON.
nets. What would you think Of a man
who. when his ship was sinking. and the
only chance lay in working with every
sinew, should begin TO fiddle on the deck,
and set the sailors off in an insane dance ?
We. and The world too, are in just this
need, and the poets help us as I,ttle.'
W~slsingham answered calmly,-'I do
not remember that The seamen in the Greek
story were much the better for throwing
Arion overheard
'Ah | suppose that in that tale the
poet was pleading his own cause and tina,
Of his brethren. In this matter, however.
we shall not agree /; but | do hold most
firmly to the belief that the task Of life is
a hard, stern, Spartan work TO climb with
bleeding feet among rocks Of ice and lava.
We must have done, once for all. with cob
webs and rose vapors. election ribbons and
rockets, iumery and fnery of all kinds
Sentimental signing has no business in a
world where there are so many heart bro
ken eroans. The will ,s the foundation of
q man. He should stand up-speak out
hold fast-stamp his thoughts in strong
words, and leave lies, songs. flateries, fan.
clcs. and all other mental syllabub whalev.
e.. TO womanish and sickIy stomachs.-
Then when he stands, as i often do. alone
upon the bare hill top, and thinks of the
laws, mo xims. and ANNA bIlities, decencies.
and regulations that make up what we call
our country, and which are but one great
fermenting mass of falsehood. let him re.
joice that he dares keep his own soul pure
and in arms, and breathe the al, of heaven,
which has not yet been all filled with The
reek Of mems vanity and righteousness,
For in our smooth, delicate. moral days,
even conscience has been made nothing
more than a voIuptuous self indulgence
O for some rude old John Baptist or
Wickllfe, to 90 through the land and cry
Wo! Wo! and make our feeble busy men
of talen, and notorlety, and European re
puta,ion Heaven help them skip at his
voice like g%rasshoppers from before the
tramp of a rhinoceros.'
why should not he who so strongly
conceives also perform /"
o lama may fancy indeed that his
arms are long enough to reach the stars
but when in trying to raise them above his
own head, they have been heavily beaten
back and crushed by The demon of the air.
he must be content, for a while at least. Ia
res, and nurse his pangs. But you-you
for whose pipings and madrigals the world
has smooth and favorable ears-you, had
you the heart of a man instead of the fancy
e o,r:,,o, ,,,uhk ,ndoo1 fnb 80 NAB.