The primitive Republican. (Columbus, Miss.) 18??-1852, 1851-05-15
For dte Primitive Repa5llean.
MaiilyM1Tliag Gossip about Be5ss iilhos u.
ny Phil NEfLY
No. VIZ
LONGFELLo W oa4l

NO. Is
.LoNGFELLoW eosrfsuso
ia claiming for Longtell 10y lligh position
in the gallery Of poets, we wish not to BE- mis-
understood. lie IS not q philosophical wi
ter, in the sense Of profound and inetapnysi
cal analysis Of subjects This hasneYer beer
his ambition; and we doubt, whether he ha
the qualities essential to success IN i, wer'
he inclined to the attempt lie could neYe
write a Paradise Lost" nor an "Inforno;
yet he can write much that neither Milton
nor Dante, could have written.
lie has moro Of the sentimental, than tn
philosophical, in, both, his conceptions Of tn
true, and his execution of that that is true
and yet theromantic spirit that possesses him
does not find expression in honor Of beauti
full women, merely for their external lowell
ness; nor does he manifest it by indietins
mawkish sonnets about flowers, and cigar
girls, when there is notruth needful in thc
betteringof his race, to be drawn thorefrom
Although profoundly imbued with the spiri
Of German and Swedish literature, he pre-
serves his American individuality, and is nov
er guiltyof that beam transcendcntalism
of which the works he has evidently studied
with "a great admiration, abound. lie oc
cupies a midway ground between them, ant
the maudlin commonplace, Of some Of hi
countrymon.
We claim lor Longfellow, what we conceive
to be the three essential characteristics of Z
true poet, beauty and truth Of conception
an artistic expression, and a noble aim.
His sense Of the beautiful, we do not re
gard as being Of the highest form. It's Ger
tainly inferior to Shelley's; yet the difference
is one that must link all loving spirits the
more strongly to him as a man, 1t reveals
him as one-frce from impulse-excmpt from
those ftful starts, and sudden outbreaks Of
which, while they clectrify by
their terrible power, are sadly in proof of an
organization wanting in uniformity. His
gaze upon beauty never oycrpowers him. Il
is the look of collected and tranquil spirit
upon great things, and by It's very calmness
proves that the beauty disclosed, & the gran
deur seen, were expected. The consequence
is, we never see him vehement, nor particu-
larIy dazzling Solemn he may be; for he
is looking upon things bearing numerous and
eternal relations, and isaddrossingmultitud
who are greater than the old forests, and tho
silent stars, CT which he sung.
lie, more than all others, with whom VIC
have knowledge, has contributed to spiritual
Use the material-to invest the actual with
of that loveliness, which, while it
is real, Is not often enjoyed This idiosyn-
eracy. gives 20 his Imagination a kind Of SEN
5uous quality, that renders it moro adaptive
to the age. Hence the sympathy between
him and sho readers Of this generation. They
feel, while reading, that they have found ona
at last, who has pat in measure the feelings
they have often had, but which they Could
and who has, in the most simple
(and therefore the greater language express
ed those feelings.
Ills conceptions are true to nature. There
is nothing cxagg2ratcd-no straining after
an ideal that does not, neither can, exist
lie seizes en- something which every man has
felt, ana knows to be true, and by presenting
it in this understood manner to the reader.
secures involuntarily, respect and confidence
In his Village Blacksmith there i.
shown the beauty of simplicity, in the con
ccptions, including the toiling laborcr-tht
Homecoming school throng looking in upor
the flaming FORGE" listening to the roaring
bellows, and chasing the burning sparks, .
the blacksmith at church on Sunday, lis
toning, with rejoicing heart to the villag,
choir" and thc voice of the parsons daught
er, sounding to him like her mothers voice
singing in Paradise" whom he has know
and loved, as the wife of him who was hi
earthly guide and shepherd. So powerful
are the emotions recalled, by the strains o
that parsonage birding, left without moth
er, and So dear to the honest-hcarted, and hard
handed laborer, is the memory Of that moth
er, that,
lie needs must think of her once more,
How in the grave she lies;
And his hard rough hand he wipes
A tear out of his eyes"
Throughout there is not only combination
of beautiful conceptions, but these are set ii
most betting thought-pictures.
The Wreck of the Hesperus," is anothe
instance of Longfellow's beauty of concep
ton" 1t is seen in the striking and appro
pirate contrast, drawn by him, between th,
innocence and confidence of the daughter, an,
that Of the sublime courage, and strong Low
Of the father. The description Of the storm
although rising into sublimity, is kept in tn
background, with the reader, by the ixednes
lof his attention to the daughter, as calm, an,
trustful, she holds 9 colloquy with her parent
amid,
So the sound Of the trampling surf,
Der the rocks and the hard sea-sand"
The Skeleton in Armor," combines til