The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1851-02-19

The Language and literature of the Scandina.
Wan race srs but little known either to English
| American readers The construction of the Ian
guagc il entirely different from our own, or to
that of the other European tongues, that scholars
deferred from the attempt to master the uncouth
and strange structure and seemingly harsh sounds.
But the poetry concealed in these coarse books, is
often Of the highest order The scandinavian
mind is as susceptible to the influences of nature,
a. the Grecian and like that its religion is moulded
by visible nature. The Greek lived in climate
temperate and serene, with mountains which did
not, by their vastness and height, become sublime
t and surrounded by sea seldom ruffled by the
storm. Nature here was in her gentlest mood.
The Greek learned to love her-his religion was
| the intense admiration of beauty
"The beautiful alone. the holy there"
The Northman, with susceptibilities equally
acute, occupied rigorous climate, where Nature
wrapped herself in the snow robes, and adorned
her awful brow with the crystals of the ice caves
It was no summer sea which dashed in fury on the
| rocky barriers -" eternal sleet" whitened the
mountains which scaled the heavens - savage
forests and not groves covered the land-subIimity,
I not beauty, was the genius Of the place. Hence
grew up wild, mystic, sublime mythology.
Modernized, we see glimpses of it in Macpherson.
1t is religion Of NATURE but in her grandest and
+ sternest phase.
To Dr.. Bowring and Long fellow we are chiefly
/ indebted for the imperfect knowledge which the
English reader possesses of this strange religion
and poetry. In a more recent work, we find an
elaborate analysis of the "Kalevala," the Scan.
dinavian Theogony."
During the present season, New Orleans has
been visited by the Swedish author, Miss Bremen
whose charming pictures of Northern life find their
parallel only in the pages of Miss Edgeworth, and
Miss Milford; and at this writing, the city is run
mad with the sweet voice of the Swedish songster.
We think this an appropriate occasion to introduce
short extract from the ancient poem which must
have been written prior to the twelfth century.
The resemblance to many of the Grecian myths
strikes every reader. The hero Of this epic, at one
moment recalls the voyages of Ulysses-at another
the sufferings of Philoctetes-then the magic of Or
pheus Whence this similarity! How did the
seeds of the Grecian mind find their way into that
remote and severe region7 Or are they the sponta.
ne0us productions of that stern climate The
fringed gentan is found blooming in the tropics,
and defying the Alpine SUBMITS. Its delicate
blossoms alike court the blazing ervor of the trop
ical sun, and the chilling kisses of Mont Blanc.
The translation before us is in prose- and thus
we lose all the beauty of the rhythm but so un-
musical Is the measure TO ears, that the prose
is doubtless the better mode of transferring even
the poetry to our language. TIE manufacture of
iron is the subject select 1t is favorite theme
with the Northern bards. In truth, it is the most
poetic of the arts; but we do not call to mind any
poem, by the English or American muse, which
has touched it. Longfellow's Building of the
Ship" is the only one of the kind by any of our
poets The quarrying OF granite offers opportu-
nifty for fine poem. The boldness of the North
ern bard may be initiated, and the rock traced to
its origin in that remote period when the earth was
vast cauldron-then following it down as it cooled
and formed the mountain crystals - then the
struggles Of the waters, as at Niagara, to break
their prison bonds-the slow formation of the soils
the sprnging up of the fiowers-the slower growth
OF the forest-the appearance of man-the progress
ofcivization which at last invades the quarry-the
operations of the cuter--the various uses to which
it is applied, from the homeIiest to the hottest
the rude wall
Hoporng the holy bounds of property
or serving as defence for the undisciplined farmer
struggling for his country's freedom--the ham
mered blocks, which, on each other piled with
painful labor, become the cathedral We barely
touch the prominent points, poets mind alone
can give harmonious proportions, and rhythmical
beauty to the thoughts which flow of the subject
The Ancient Rune will be found on our first page