The Portland daily press., 1867-02-26
Whi,tier's New Poem.
"THr TENT ON THE BEACH


Whi,tier's New Poem.
"THE TENT ON THE BEACH"
This eagerly expected volume was published
by Ticknor s. Fields ON Saturday. The sweet
and mellow fruit of the poets ripened genius,
it will be read with deep enjoyment by all who
appreciate the authors power of rich and Wv
i'd description, of melodious expression, ana
the purity of moral and holiness of patriotic
sentiment 10 which he gives such vigorous u.
terance. We do not propose to o1er any
tempt at criticism upon the contents VI
book but choose rather the more er''.-D.
of presenting to our readers such eA'i"e vs., :.
we have space for, that they may io'A' 'n0ii
own estimate of its quaiity
mrh,, tn. on the Beach" is the longest poem
.,,o..o1,,,,,o and consists of nine short po-
o,,,s l;nla5 together in a manner suggestive of
.ho aCanterbury Tales" The poet camps out
on salisbury Shore with two comrades, and in
tbe evening around their lighted kerosene"
he brings forth the treasures of his portfolio,
and reads aloud to his friends. A somewhat
shadowy lady guest is introduced, who joins
sweet songs The poem opens with the fol-
lowing picture of Salisbury Beach:
When heats as of tropic cline
Burned all our inland valleys through,
Three friends, the guests OF summer time, I'D.
fltched their white tent where sea-winds blew.
. bennd them, marshes, scanned and crossed
With narrow creeks, and fower-embossed,
Stretched 10 the dark oak wood, whose leafy arms
screened from the stormy East the pleasant lnian"
H'4 farms. A ...fj
At full of tide their holder shore
N OF sun-bleached sand the waters peat;
At ebb, a smooth and glistenng floor ~
They touched with light, receding feet;
- Northwarda green bluff broke the cham
Of sand-hills; southwark stretched a pam '-t
OF salt-grass, with river winding Gown, --ti
Sail-whIened and beyond the steepies OF the town,
wbepce sometimes when the wind was light
And DUH the thunder of the beach, g4f
They heard the bells of morn and night -
Swing miles away, their silver speech. yls z"Al
Above low scarp and turt-grown wall a~ .Ifl
Tbey saw the fort flag rise and fall; H%i'f't
And, the first star TO signal twilight's hoar, -t
The iamp-ire gmmer down from the tall lighthouse
tower. ,uoHt 5le4.
They rested there, escaped awhile -..rt
Il From cares that wear the life away,
To eat the lotus of the Nile & iIn1f ..gf
And drink the peoples of Cathay- -
To fling their loads of custom down, t" 1871
Like drift-weed on the sand-slopes brown, t4e
And in the sea waves drown the restless pack
OF duties, claims and needs that barked upon their
tstElaiN. tt..ft D
He then proceeds to describe the three
friends, the first among whom is Mr.. j. T.
Fields, the widely known member OF the firm
of Ticknor & Fields: ...-. ...... ..
One with his beard scarce silvered, bore m
A ready credence in his looks,
A lettered magnate lording DER aI .4.
An overwhelming realm of books. -
In him, brain-currents, near and far, ~.
Converged as in a Leyden jar; l hltU ra
The old, dead authors thrOnged him round about.
And Elaevir's gray ghosts from leathern graves
looked out. ..
He knew each living pundit well sHg
Could weigh the gifts of him or her,
And well the market value tell iI .'
Of poet and philosopher. - -....
But if he lost, the scenes behind, .l
:. Somewhat of reverence vague and blind,
Finding tie actors human at the best, -l ...
No reader Ups than Lis the good he confessed.
His boyhood fances not outgrown, -,f- a
He loved himself the singers art
Tenderly, gently, by his own - q 3H
He knew and judged an authors heart. ra
No Radamanthine brow of doom
Bowed the dazed pedant from the room;
And bards, whose name is legion, if denied,
Bore OFT alike intact their verses and their pride.
These two stanzas clearly reveal one known
almost the world over, at once as traveller,
poet and author: ..l..... .......1 'i
And one, whose Arab face tanned
BY trOpic sun and boreal frost, -.f4
So travelled there was scarce land + taI .
Or people left him to exhaust, ,irt .f. '4o
In idling mood had from him hurled, -ts
The poor squeezed orange of the world
And in the tent-shade as beneath PALM .E9
Smoked, cross-iegged, like Turk, in Oriental calm.
The very waves that washed the sand AaJi t.e
Below him, he had seen before ra.. Aus (
Whitening the Scandinavian strand -t
And sultry MauIitanian shore. st't't
From ice-rnmed isles, from summer seas JH
Palm-fringed, they bore him messages; 4
He heard the piaintive Nubian songs again,
And mue-beils thinking down the mountain paths
OF Spain. f....i t...,t-
Next the poet draws his own portrait in the
following lines: 5r rs 90 20 6atqri -F|
And one there was, dreamer born, 20
Who, with mi, sion TO fulfil, -. t.,lN-r
Had lefs the Muses. haunts to turn u.s.
The crank of an opinion-mill, t1lf ! ID
Max ng his rustic reed of song II 80 ! -
weapon in the war with wrong, ="
Yoking his fancy to the breaking-plough liiiG
That bcam-deep turned the soil for truth to spring
and grow, =.
Too quiet seemed the man to ride r s4 ia -li
The winged Hippogriff Reform; "a
Was his voice from Size to side " l- r
To pierce the tumult of the storm?F q %
silent, shy, peace-oying man,
DE ~eemed no fiery partisan ft,--t -I|
To hold his way against the public frown.
The ban o church and state the fierce mobs hound
For phiIe he drought NTH Strenuous mill
TIE cork his hands had found to do, -it
He heard the ffJn muse sill al
or minds that out OF dred,n-Idnd bteav.
The din 1toHt him could not drown 1Lt l9
:, Wet NE strange roices whispered dorm:
Along his tGsE.feld ,cerd professions sacept,
The visionary pomp OF stately phantoms stepped
The common air was thick with dreams-1 r.
r7, He told them to the toiling crowd;
Such music as the woods and streams ID,
Sang in his ear he sang aloud; d
In still, shut ba s, on windy capes, I7a IS
He heard the call OF reckoning shapes, a
And as the gray Old shadows prompted him,