Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1865-10-18
The Loves of the Poets.
Petrareh, TassO, Pope. Montgomery,
PereivaI. Dante, Milton, Addison, Dry
den, Mrs Norton, Mrs Hemans.
From the Christian Advocate and Journal


Petrareh, Tasso, Pope. Montgomery,
PereivaI. Dante, Milton, Addison, Dry
den, Mrs Norton, Mrs Hemans.
From the Christian Advocate and Journal
Many distinguished poets have been
bachelors. So far as we have been able
to learn Virgil was never married. Pc
trarch's love for Laura de Moves has
given Immortality to the name of the
lady; but he loved hopeless and died un-
married. Tasso nursed an unhappy af.
lection for the beautiful Leodora, sister
to Alphonso, Duke of Ferrara. This
hapless love is said to have made the pO-
ct insane, and it led to his being more
than seven years in the hospital of st
Anna as lunatic. He never afterwards
loved another. Pope's "Elegy on an I'm
fortunate Lady," is supposed to have
been produced by the death of one whom
the author loved. However this may
have been, he never married. Thomson,
Collins and Goldsmith died bachelors.-
There is reason for thinking that Mont
gomery's beautiful poem entitled "Han-
nah," describes a circumstance that real
ly took place in the life of that poet: and
the marriage of one whom he fondly
1ONtus W dLOlbCA9 - StAAu " nave
ed Percival a gloomy misanthrope during
the remainder of his life.
But perhaps these were more fortunate
than those poets who contracted unhap-
py marriages. Dante had scarcely com
pleted his ninth year before he formed
an attachment to Beatrice FOrtinati
whom he immortalized in his "Divins
Comedia;" but the object of his love be
came the wife of another, and died
young. Although Dante cherished her
memory throughout the whole of his
life, he did not permit the remembrance
of her to prevent him from marrying a
lady of noble birth named Gemme de
Donati. This lady possessed an Outra-
geous temper, and after living together
for some years they separted. Perhaps
his own domestic troubles suggested the
lines which he placed in the mouth of o
character in his Inferno:
Me, my wife
Of savage temper. more than aught besides,
Hath TO this evil brought"
Milton married Mary Powell on a short
acquaintance; but he soon repented Of
his rashness. There was no similarity Of
taste between the republican student and
the gay daughter of the royalist. Nei-
ther of them were happy; and she who
might have been known to all coming
generations as the Eve who rendered the
home of England's sublimest bard an
Eden, is remembered only as one whose
conduct served only to vex that noble
mind. Dryden's home was far from be-
ing the abode of uninterrupted peace
We are told that upon his wife express
~. 81 IL L., l. -,
might receive some attention from him,
he said he should prefer that she should
be an almanac, for then he could change
her at the end of the year. He is said
to have written an epitaph for her in
like the following language ::
Beneath this stone my wife does lie;
She is happy, and so am L.
Addison married high born lady, only
to find that he could not live happily
with her. Byron's early love for Mary
Chaworth has rendered that lady's name
famous. One cannot help thinking how
different might have been the life and
literary productions of the poet had she
become his wife. As il was his marriage
to Miss Millbank was fruitful source Of
wretchedness, both to her and the profit
gate bard Mrs. Hemans was married
early in life to one who utterly failed to
appreciate her virtues, and who, after
having lived with her for several years,
let her go to support herself and five
small boys by the labor of her pen. Mrs.
Norton early wept over the grave of one
whom she loved, and then formed one of
the most unhappy unions that ever
brought misery on any woman. This ap-
pears like dark picture, but perhaps,
these misfortunes served to bring out the
genius of those who experienced them.
Genius produces its mightiest works in
the midst of sorrows and difficulties.-
Had Shakspear never been forced from
his home, it is possible that we never
would have heard of him as great poet
The oak must wrestle with the storm be-
fore it can come to maturity. 1t is when
outward circumstances are forbidding
that the mind generally gives birth to its
most glorious thoughts. Had bante's
life glided smoothly away, or even had
his home been a place where he could
have found peace and quietness while the
storm ragged without he might never
have been known as one of earth's great
est poets Could anything but acquaint-
ance with sorrow have given to Mrs. He
mans the pathos that characterised so
much of her poetry? 1t is a fact that
poets who have been happy in their mar
riages have few of them gained a place
in the first rank of their fraternity
Would not Moore have had a greater
depth of feeling in his poetry if his do
mestic life had not glided so smoothly
away9 Had Southey been as unfortu-
nate in his domestic relations as was By
ron, perhaps there would have been more
fire in his poetry. A happy marriage
has prevented Barry Cornwall from meet
ing the expectations that his early pro-
ductions created.