The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-01-29

mateo bnROoW OF something OF Wnlon teSson ooulu
| understand nothing He ranged himself upon the
side Of popular Judgment. The solution had often
been attempted by philosophical minds, but they
differed from the popular judgment, and also among
themselves. By some of these, II was described .,
| the language of passion, but which was unsuostau-
tial. Any attempt must fail to describe poetry in
its various internal peouliartes Singularly fortu
nate was the definition of popular judgment, for tho
prose of DemOsthenes Socrates, aud other writer's,
was often full OF poetry while the verse of Homer,
! Virgil, Dante, and Byron, had often exhibited the
boldest characteristics Of prose- STILL convenience
required that some method SHOULD be instituted Of
distinguishing between tho two classes of compost
ton, though IN great part arbitrary and to him the
external form OF poetry must be received AS pecu
harry scholastic, and conaucihg 70 difference from
prose The vast peculiarises Of that external form
was its measure and its rules of accent. ME-
Hazit (the great critic) said saat poetry was the
language OF 'mas,naion and passion; tnas II re-
lated to whatever imme late pie asure or pain
| to the human mind-that 1t oame homo 10 the
bosom of man. That definition approached to
something like philosophical method. Fear,
of the mind, according to hast, were all poetry
II was definition which WAS no definition At all
1t described nothing distinctly. To the lesturer's
apprehension, poetry suggested itself to be tho
life and soul of the affections, while prose- was the
language of the passions and the instincts of exist
ence. The thoughts that in the language of Milton,
wandered through eternity, were the soul and the
affections standing in obscudty. The magnificent
the beginning and went with IL 10 the end. Tao
soul had majesty Of speech whion bslonge to it
alone; connected with it and with the affections
was the language Of purity and elevation. In like
manner as man was lower than the angels, SO were
the a1e cti0ns lower than the soul. The life of
passion had different Expressions; it was the life of
The world without reference TO what had gone be.
fore, and what should come after. 1t was the life
Of the camp and the court The boundary between
poetry wa not uncertain as IT vas often described
70 be; but there was palpable limit plain and DIS
tlnguishabe. PoeIy was the invisible lite OF tne
soul and of the aectlons the several descriptions Of
verse assumed visible form His object was to
vindicate modern poetry. " was said that in mo-
dern poetry there were no new things nor did it
belong to the country to the nineteenth century.
That v as part of the war which had been waged
for centuries; it was one of those opinions which
had been element OF struggle between conserva-
'vism and progress; it was part of the struggle
that was going on between republicanism and mo-
narchy, and between monopoly and freedom. The
decriers OF modern poetry knew nothing of what
they pretended to be the judges; they knew little
OF the poetry of the past or Of the present; they
brought the smallest m00icum of logic to their use
and encrusted with the classic ideas Of their alma
mater. Now, what was ancient poetry and what was
modarn poetry The Oldest part Of the schools went
back as far as Orpheus, then came Hesisd, andnext
came Homer, whose epic poems were tremendous
effort ofhuman genius It's characters were superna-
tura lecherous, and revengeful 1t was vt Variance
with morality and poetic justice, The sooner it
gave place to the introduction Of something belong
ing to the Christian era the better. (Applause
Anacreon, Pindar, and the Athenian Dranatists
followed, and some Of them possessed higher
morality; but while they censured ths vices OF the
times, they fed their flames The Eae;d of Virgil,
the Odes of Horace, and the mstamorphoses Of
Orvid, were written in another age. The ele
canoe Of the Horatan odes could not be disputed,
but elegance Of poetry did not come or die with
Horace. The Ened approached the Iaid The
Metamorphoses Of Orvid were dangerous, as they
attracted by their seductive beauty In revie wing
English poetry, he said that :. Paradise Lost"
in the qualities Of sublime conception, and power Of
expression and beauty OF language and richness of
imagery, transcribed the lllaid. (Appiause') He
proclaimed it to be superior, and in its adaptation
to the precepts Of morality and Christian truth,
there could be no difference of opinion In compar
son with the Athenian D-amatists. Europedis,
Escapalus, he named Beaumont and Fletcher, and
Massinger, and others, Of the age of Elizabeth,
who, he commended, were equal in plot and in the
Dramatists. For Anacreon, Thomas Moore was
substitute. The Lyrics Of Pindar were supplied by
those of Coleridge. Instead of Virgil, Oryid, and
Horace, modern poetry had Sponsor, Dryden, and
had its Shakespeare, its Burns, and its BY.
ron (Applause) Where, among the aaceats, was
'.Macoeth," " Hamlet " Lear" or g Oshello,"
even in the Augusan age! When Roscius was an
The Tempest, and the exquisite poetry of King
Jehn," and the barbed wit Of = Henry VII " With
the Pindaric odes could set up the ''Cottar's Sa
turday night" e Tam O'Shanter," and other songs
of Burns. And there was The Childe Harold
and s.The Giaour' We had Southey, SOFT.
Shelley. Coleridge, and Wordsworth, who inter.
preted the language OF nature and hum anity There
weIe parties who contended that poetry was dying
out-that the present days were those Of the steam
engine and the electric telegraph, WHAT an uufor-
innate theory, This could not be admitted from
and the Brownings. All over the history Of pro-
gress of the last century we're scatteredgem The
lecturer then referred to another class Of dsprecia
tors OF modern poetry, who were connected with the
| ~ -
iended) were wrapped in the classic vellum of
| Rome. They took their rise in England, where
| they attacked everything in the shape of Yam.
kee poetry American writer's had triumphed
| over these calumnies, and still they shouted
that America coaid not produce a poet. Re
| fenipg to American poetry, he said that in
the days Of Trumbull, Freneaux, and others,
| there was visible grea. improvement, condu,ed
the times, and the satire they welded was as keen
es that Of any Of their contemporary writer's: but
tie European models were still followed Ameri.
can poetry began to be superior at tho rise OF Hal
eck SpragUe. Dana, Bryant, Pierpons, and Others
Mrs Breoke's "Zophiol' was especially noticed
in the English reviews. and pronounced by Southey
to be beautiful performance. AT the present
cay, American poets had taken high place in
lterotsro He mentioned the names Of Longielow,
hitter. Miller, and Lowell. The poetry Of the
present day was adapted to ii, and to expect this
aoaptation from the ancient poets was unreason-
able Poetry, in our day, had mission to per-
FORM as it also had in other ages. We had our
Bayard Taylor, Stoddart, Morris, Sc. The demo-
cTscy Of knowleds &c had began to prevail, and men
turned their thoughts from kings and courts, to
commerce end artisans (Applause) Words
worth. Shelly, Ciabbe, and Elliot, (the anti.eorn
law rymer. Tassed into the depth of the human soul.
Their voices still ring. They did not find 1t ne
cessary TO write epics-they called no heatnon
deities to ther aid but they looked into
the human mind, and discemed and dtspoled Its
darkness, and ale waited its sorrow We're the mis-
sions Of Homer and |trgilao grand as that For
modern poetry. taking Its purposes into view, he
claimed need of praise, as great as that which
was AWARDED to any of the ancient poets He
claim I'd the spirit Of countless love, aud senti
mont Of humility. The lecturer concluded with
eisquentiy remarling upon tbo true, pure, and use
I'll character Of the poetry Of tho present day, ana
Quilted the room amidst much applause
Iirst Anniversary OF The Brooklyn insti-
tuition for the Relief of Respectable Aged
ndlgent Females,
The first anniversary Of the above charitable iu-