New-York daily tribune., 1844-01-25
n Fl E T r [ B y n E !.
sThe Dial, for january.

the Good and the Practical through the Profound
and the Beautiful--'The Dial is the loftiest and
bappiest periodical IN our own, probably IN any
,anopage The number before us has papers on
THE Modern Drama and Tantalus by RALPH
W EmERsoy; on The Youth of the Poet and
the Painter by w. ELLERY CHANN1SG; on Brook
Farm by CHARLES LANE; on Poetry, with a
Literal translation Of Pindar, by HENRY D. Tho.
asAv, which would be gems in any living work.
They embody lofter as well as serener thought
than we find expressed elsewhere. The writer's
are destined to be felt by the next age if dsre-
carded by the present The shorter articles, crit
csms. sc. of The Dial' evince truthfulness Of
soul an appreciation Of and familiarity with the
profound significance Of Life and Literature,
which are calculated to excite the admiration of
the wise and repress the mirth even Of the shall
low. Those who do not read The Dial can
laugh at the quaintness or exaggeration Of an oc-
casional expression but those who know it at all
intimately must regard it with delight and rcver-
ence.
We deeply desire to quote many pages, by diff
ferent writers, from this number, but must be con-
tent for day with the following extracts from
Lecture on Poetry, by H. D. THoREAU, young
disciple and companion Of Emerson, in whom
the true spirit Of the authors philosophy is repro
duced without the egotism and indifference to
practical ills which we have regretted to sec it
cherish in less genial natures.
HOMER
The Wlsest definition Of poetry the poet will
E,1c ~
tons. We can therefore publish only our adver-
tsement Of it.
There is no doubt that the loltiest written
wisdom is rhymed or measured, is in form as well
as substance poetry; and a volume, which should
contain the condensed wisdom of mankind, need
not have one rhythmless line. Yet poetry, though
the last and finest result, is a natural fruit. AS
naturally as the oak bears an acorn, and the
vine gourd, man bears poem, either spoken
or DONE 1t is the chief and most memorable
success, for history is but prose narrative OF
poetic deeds What else have the Elndoos, the
Pcrsians, the Babyonlans the Egyptians, done,
that can be told? 1t IS the simplest relation ol
phenomenal and describes the commOncst sen
satons with more truth than science does, ana
the latter at distance slowly mlinlcs Its style
and methods. The poet sings how the blood
flows in his veins. tie performs his functions,
and is so well that he needs such stimulus to
sing only as plants to put forth leaves and BIOS
SONS He would rtrive in vain +" moduiotc the
remote and transient music which he sometimes
hears, since his song is a vital function like
breathing and an integral result Ike weight. 1t
is not the overtiowmg of life but its subsldencc
rather, and is drawn from under the feet of the
poet. 1t is enough if Homer but say the sun
sets. He is as serene nature, and we can
hardly detect the enthusiasm Of the bard. 1t Is
as if nature spoke. He presents to us the SIM
plest pictures of human life, SO that childhood
itself can understand them, and the man must
not think twice to appreciate his naturalness.
Each reader discovers tor himself, that succeed
ing poets have done little else then copy his
simles. His more memorable passages are as
naturally bright, as CLEANS of sunlight IN misty
weather. Nature furnishes him not only with
words, but with stereotyped lines and sentences
from her mint
As from the clouds appears the full moon
All shining az goes hind the shadowy clouds
So Hector at one ,me Appeared among the foremost,
AUD al another the commanding and all WIN Grass
he shone like 10 the lightning OF egishearng Leus.
He conveys the least nlormatlon, even the
hour of the day, with such magnliicence, and
vast expense of natural imagery, as If II We're
message from the gods.
While twas dawn. and sacred day was adv ancnS,
Bu, when now The wood-cut,e was preparing his morning
10 recesses of the mountain, and had wesr-d his hands
Win ncutng lofty trees aud safety came TO ms ms mno
And the desire oad took possession OF ms thoughts
Then the Danaaus by their valor broke the phaamXeS
Shouting to thei companions from rank to rank
When the army of the Trolans passed the
night under arms, keeping watch lest the enemy
should re-embark under cover of the dark
They thinking things the neutral sTound OF war
Sat all the night aud many fires burned lor them
As when the heavens the round the orSh moon
Aprear beautiful, and the air is without wiad
And all the nights, and The extreme SUBMITS, :;
AND the shady valleys appear and the shephefu "
So betwesn the ships and the streams of Nautilus
Apreared the fires of the TIojaus before liium
The white-armed goddess Juno" sent by
the Father OF gods and men for Iris and Apollo
Went down the ldean mountains TO far Olympus,
a. when the mind Of who has come over uch eSf'
There was l. and there aud remembers many things
30 swiftly the Juus Fastening flew through the a
iAHu came TO high Olympus
There are few books which are fit to be remem
bered IN our wisest hours, but the Had is bnght !
est IN the serenest days, and embodleS still all the
sunlight that fell on Asia Minor. No modern
Joy or ecstasy of ours can lower its hight or am
It's uStre but there it lies in the last of literature
as It were the earliest, latest production of the
mind. The ruins Of Egypt opprcss and stlt1e us
with their dust, foulness preserved in cassia and
pitch, and swathed in linen; the death of that
which never lived But the rays of Greek poetry
struggle down to US, and mingle with the sun
beams of the recent day, The statue of Memnon
is cast down, but the shaft OF the Had still meets
The sun in his rising.
So too, no .doubt Homer had his Homer and
Orpheus his Orpheus in the dim antiquity which
preceded them The neurological system OF the
apcients and IT is still the only mythology of the
modens, the poems OF mankind, lnterwoven SO
wonderfully with their astronomy, and matching
grandeur and harmony with the architecture