Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1859-01-13

selves.
have the honor to Re, respectfully. your ooe-
dient servant s-s,-.. ANDREW JACKSON -:
Major General Commanding
For the Yorkville Enquirer.
COLLEGE PoKMs---BY WILLIE.
To write q book of real merit or originality Is
che most difficult of tasks-to write one Of sver
commonp,aoesi is not devoid Of Difficult
ties. We are accustomed to throw aside vol
ume which does not fully gil up our ideal Of ex.
cellenoe, and are almost disposed to quarrel with
the author for the time we have thrown away
We feel like An enthusiastic admirer Of beauty,
who beholding in the distance an elegant assort-
ment Of pink and crinoline, pauses for . glimpse
at the enveloped wemanhood, and, much to his
finds only faded beauty or hideous
ugliness where he expected the glow Of youth and
the rosy pulchrituds Of "sweet sixteen" Bot it
is real qualification to take up an unpretsnding
volume, like "College Poems," and find It fra
grant with the aroma Of genuine poetry. There
is something in the first Offering OF the Muses.
shrine that gds it with the romantic hues Of first
love- 1t is the conservation Of . lifetime to the
esprit of the Beautiful" 1t is the VOW Of the
deyotee-scarcely less sacred than that Of nun
or hermit-which consigns to dreamland-to
dreams Of the pure, the bright and good-ths fu-
ture Of the gifted bard. 1t is the bridal offering
which binds him to the noble avocation OF the poet.
1t is his pledge to the world thasall the energies
of his soul-'the vision and faculty divine =
with which he is endowed by nature-should be
devoted to the ful6llment Of the poets mission
to purifying, to elevating his w-mau-to the
declaration Of all who delight in novel forms of
loveliness and new developments Of beauty. His
mission is alike noble and 'envisble. He stands In
the vestibule Of nature-her great high priest
to interpret mysteries and unfold her thousand
varying charms. tits his to combat the tendency Of
man to cold, soul-strangling, materiatism. 1t is
his to celebrate the 'bridal of the earth and
skies" II is his to sweep the grand diapason Of
the human heart and make It echo back senti-
ments alike beautiful and enuobling; With how
much pleasure then do we welcome the adven,
Of new star in the horizon.
Why should not the South have her bards p
Why should not some one arise to classicslize, il
may use the expression, the thousand romantic
scenes which dot our land! We al respond in
stinctively to the poet: - ''-.' '..
. "Land of the South, imperial iandl
How proud thy mountains rise, ~ ..
How fair thy scenes on every hand,
How bright thy covering skiesr fr. 20, i.
Yet, who has written US poetry worthy Of our
magnificent realm? What Southern stream is en-.
balmed in the mausoleum of literature. like the
hallowed Avon, the sacred Ayr or the classic Ar
no? True we have our SIMMs, MEEK, CALDWELL,
HA1NE, DAv1DsoSAbut they have yet to win The
immortal wreath Of Poetry. Very, little that they
have yet written is bathedin the fountain Of youth
to live on iu perennial freshness aud beauty
True we have had in our midst WILDE and q
PoE, but the "Summer Rose'' is the lone emblem
Of the one, while theiStter has bequesthcd us only
a few short pieces, 50 perfect however, that the
eRaven" will perch forever on the chamber door
Of Apollo, and r. rsp'tsi-'f . '.. & ,'."....
HThe Moon meyer beams without bringing sweet dreams
Ofthe beautiful Annabel Lee" >. -,
But none Of these have swept the harp Of the
South with master hand For Mr.. EAsT-who
writes under the nom de plume Of willie
we claim place in the catalogue Of Southern
Poets. His fugitive pieces have, for sometime.
attracted the attention Of the public. The volume
before us, "written amid the e1acting duties Of
College life, IS evidence irrefragabIe OF the mer-
its Of the writer. 1t were an easy matter to pick
out artistic faults--to criticise these efusions-
to show where the author did not sustain his
'.high argument" but through the volumes may
be found many passages Of energy and beauty
We select at random few extracts which will
give insight into the style and merits Of the writer
In oomulgee-a poem Of considerable merit and
beauty-We find portrayed the same dark spirit Of
melancholy that brooded over the soul Of Manfred:
r Solitude and home =
Tempest and calm, the darkness and the light,
Are words which had for him kindred sense .
They went into his spirit, like the sound
OF ocean murfnurs In the meaning shell
Low music whispering az the evening Winds
Fair forms-too fair for mortal eyesI
Had foated on the visions Of bis mind, ..
Like moonit clouds upon the silver air - .,
High visions, too ethereally endowed
With rapture not TO burn the human soul
Which they ilumlne. Hence, upon his heart
Tho blight of years fell ere bis youth was gone
As, lost in thought he stood amid the vast
Montanic solitude the emptiness
Of these aspiring dreams made sick bis heart:
He felt that he had wandered far beyond
His own dark sphere Of being into ono, ~, .a.
Too high and pure for human feet to tread"
The following passage from the same poem re-
mipds US Of Alexander Smith, though more chaste
and in better taste than his spasmodio effusious
49,. IS ''The mystic bark ~
Drove on, eareering through the whIrling storm.
Night, like despair upon O ruined soul.
Sat on the waters and beneath her wings
Outspread, collected all their hollow moans
The poet felt as II above his heart 3D.. n.
dagger hung suspended by hair.
Aurora came in middle Of the night, 80"
And frowned upon the sea; then haggard day,
Like wild maniac wearing on through lfe
Went frantic o'er the world The evening came
Like sad dove unto her pundered nest :.
And then returned again. Tho spent clouds few
Before the whstng wind, and the soft moon
Swan like dolphin through the snowy foam. " ''
Perhaps one Of the greatest difficulties with
which modern poets have to contend is that the
freshness Of most poetical themes, has {, long
since been worn of; but there: ore some subjects
which never grow thread bare-which renew their
beauty through coming years-which kindls in
every Imagination, emotions Of pleasure and glad
ness, land one of these is-Love. Like all young