Des Moines courier. ([Ottumwa] Iowa) 1848-1854, 1850-08-23
WHOLE NO. 81.
LOngfellow.

The muse OF Mr.. Longfellow owes
little or none of his success to those
great national sources of inspii alton
which are most likely to influence an
ardent poetic temperament. The grand
old woods--the magnificent mountain
and forest scenefy--the mighty rivers--
the trackless savannahs--all those stu
pendous and varied features of that great
country. with which, from his boyhood,
he must have been familiar, it might be
thought would have stamped some Of
these characteristics upon his poetry
Such, however, has not been the CASE
Of lofty images and grand conception
we meet with few, if any, traces. But
brlmful of life, of love, and of truth, tile
stream Of his song flows on with tender
and touching simplicity, and a gentle
music which we have not met with since
the days of our own Moore. Like him
to the genius of Air. Longlellow is es-
sentially lyric; and if he has failed to
derive inspiration from the grand fea-
lures OF his own country, he has been
no unsuccessful student of the great
works of the German masters of song.
We conid almost fancy, while reading
his exquisite ballad of the 'Beleagured
City, that Goethe, Schiller, or INLAND
was before us; ard yet, we must by no
means be understood to insinuate that he
is mere copyist--quite the contrary.
He has become SO thoroughly imbued
with the spirit Of these exquisite models
that he has contrived to produce pieces
marked with an individuality of their
own, and no ways behind them in point
of poetical merit. In this regard he af-
fords another illustration of the truth of
the position. that the legendary lore and
traditions Of other countries have been
vely serviceable towards the formation
of American literature.
About the year 1887, Longfellow be-
ing engaged in making tour through
Europe, selected Heidelberg for per-
manent winter residence. There his
wife was attacked with an illness, which
ultimately proved fatal. 1t so happened
that some tme aflerwafd there came to
the same romantic place young lady Of
considerable attractions. The poets
heart was touched, he became attached
to her; but the beauty of sixteen did not
sympathize with the poet of six and.
thirty, and LongleIlow re turned to Amer
lea, having lost his heart as well as his
wife. The young lady, also an Ameri-
can, returned home shortly aflerward.-
Their residences, il turned out were con-
tlguons, and the poet availed himself of
the opportunity of prosecuting his adj
dresses, which he did for considerable
time with no better success than at first.
Thus foiled, he set himself resolutely
down and instead like Potrarch, of lay
ing siege to the heart of his mistress
through the medium of sonnet, he re-
solved TO write whole book, book
which would achieve the double object
OF gaining her affections and of estab-
fishing his own fame. Hyperion was
the result. His labor and his constancy
were not thrown away, they meet their
due reward. The lady gave her hand,
as well as her heart and they now reside
together in Cambridge, in the same house
which Washington made his head quar-
ters when he was first appointed to the
command of the American armies.
These interesting facts were commu-
nicated to us by an intelligent American
gentleman whom we had the pleasure of
meeting in the same place which was
the scene of the poets early disappoint-
ment and sorrow.-Du6iin University,