New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1845-06-17
THE TRIBUNE.

TtfT POFTS AND POETRY OF EUROPE. BY HENRY
W. LoNcFELLow. ] vol. -vO Carey Hirt
TIN. Is most valuable collection. Mr. Long
ssrow says that a. one great aim with him is the
,tsiBnept Of historical completeness. and the
order Of arrangemcn, is chronological. the work is
70 Be looked on rather Collcctios than a Sc
lection "The materials have been arranged &C
cording TO their dates; and in order to render the
literary history of the various countries complete
astbese materials and the limits of a single volume
would allow, an author Of no great note has some
times been admitted, poem which seyerer
taste would have excluded
He adds -" The languages from which trans
laiions are presented are ten. They are the six
Gothic languages OF the North of Eu-ope,-Anglo.
Saxon Icelandic, Danish, Swedish, German and
Dutch; and the four Latin languages of the South
Of Europc,-French. Italian, Spanish and Portu-
guese In order to make the work fulfil entirely
the promise of It's title the Celtic and Sclavonic
likev ise tie Turkish and Romac, should have been
ntnducedi bu, with these / am not acquainted,
and ] therefore leave them to some other hand,
noling iiat, ere long, a volume may be added to
ihir which shall embrace all tie remaining European
tongues.
Mr. Longiellow has perfo med his task with his
anal excellent taste and Judgment aud II was one
i9which no person can h better qua fled. Ii is 4
high merit to have so DE- !icate an or. anizaon, 30
IN sense for the var ties of poetoal odors md
a1vms as he. and the lange Of his travel through
iaosc heavenly fields is wide.
The prcfaces AM Biographical no ices are pre-
pared with simpl; ty and candor ficis are left as
much as possible to speak for themselves, and the
desire is to pui 20 force the Judgments Of others
and nc exagee,a red emphasis upon the Collectors
own.
The book very large and ihic' far too much
TO sll the nat raj place of such en- one,-that of
portable c)I panion joune', or in rambes
through the woods and fields The buyer will do
well TO have il divided into ilrec or four volumes
il is 80 arranged that this ma, easily be done.
It is also too large and Flick to receive fair ex
animation without having been the constant
panion Of many days. considerable part Of its
contents however, II familiar To ourselves here
We recognize many beautiful pieces. We have
also our disconcnts being, perhaps, prepossessed
in favor Of some other translation; so that the one
received here seems inadequate as in the instance
caioa to Faust. We are disappointed to find
40 o'.,er translation from great author as Cal
deron, except the well known one by Shelley
sheley's premature death was grea, loss, if only
because he would probably have made known TO
he European world at large the only one of its
really great geniuses whose influence is still con
Tncd to the land from which ii rose. But the
spanish Portuguese Italian and German Collections
give. the whole a very good notion what
treasures lie garncrcd in each splendid realm We
are much pleased by the course pursued the
vexed subject of Goethe Nj. Longfellow has
placed in opposition TIE judgments of the two par
ties, as Menzel against Carlyle, Rernc against
Nebuhr and left the reader to choose We must /
quote ne brief notice by The admirable Niebuhr /
he seyeesi CT critics TO matters of fact and who
spoke no word without warrant an answer TO /
No.i-h assertions common on this topic:
MEBUHRs VIEW or GOETHE.
Our fathers. before we now advanced in years were
BON recognized in Gotz and the other poems of a /
young man who was OF the same age Naerius IL his
1's, 'Onsuship twenty ihrec1 the poet who would .
i'e lsl above all our nation possessed and who could
nfrr be cxcelled. THIS Acknowledgement; Goethe has
been enjoying Toy than half century; the third
generation Of mature men already Jok up 10 him the
~ 'l4' hdilOu WITHOUT n rttolu ana flNd. ara
-, children hear his the Greeks did aat Of
hoLer He has lived to our hteraidre. especially
% MS account recognized and horore2 in foreign
eosnGies'
VI the later German poets there are fine speci-
mems especially from Freicrah and Hcne but i,
OBVIOUS enough that the grea; time of literature
past In Germany, and that the national genius
'fhs now more 10 action, and it Is well il should
80 Enough mas been done by them in The way
study ami with the pen
Italy and Spain are ..i fertile, but generally with
weak growth though there are two or three noble
-AA''' But jasi as every young man capable of
are I've can. IN these musical countries improvse
-'ersOe music at that time ~ we may believe tie
srapher OF RosSini just 80 can they al ilul'Jyjse
-e"doas but shallow verses, and w,al. dramcs
ne md IN a late English paper s,..king accounts
v ne fertility Of the lyric drama in Spain III Tie
resent day But Tic mos, Interest IA parts 81 the
"-ecton' as being derived from sources lcss CON.
S"ly accessible, are the Anclo-Ssxc.. lceland,c.
'ahish swedish and Dutch The Swedish lrera.
Ere especially is becoming more and NOR, An oh.
~' OF interest and how rich il 5 Espe ,allv the
~us'S are '''a'in'ns With all that kim of romance
''n ""ion we nave been made &c idainted in mu.
=" through Swedish national airs-vigoros $. wild.
'a'heiic even in lis gayety
The Little Seaman ard The ,o,.sr IS tho
Ha'p' are beautifully marked by '.esc traits We
aas insert two OF the finest ,horch the frs, We
ave seen in prin, in this roen,rv
LITTLE AARlss DEATH
The little ks.in served
Within me young king hall
She g..siened axe a s'ar, j.
hiGou- the maiGcns ALL
She glis,cnei Ike a star
on al The islrosi maid
And 10 the little Karin
One day the young kim said
And hear thou lille narr
u cay, wilt ,hou b. ~ &c
"ray siccd and eoSoi. eddie
snail II thou -, Dc thine"
Gray sued ld golden saddle
Would fJi with me agree
"iFr trem 10 thy young queen,
lid leave my honor to me
ana hear thou. little karl.
~ say wilt thou be ZINE
"y orlsnies; golden crown
shall II thou wilt be thine
ny brightest golden crown
:" ouia NOT with me agree
'i.e 70 Thy young queen
ana leave my hon