New-York tribune., 1871-12-16
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
toyGFELLOW's "CURIsTUs."

fTUH TRIBUNE wctk or twoaco IL giving aueapVHs'o
,ey,ew of Mr. Iongfeilow's poem, The DIVINE 1rag
.,y made also rst Mt that such poem
s i, ex,,cuce or even in contemplation. We have the
asnre OF presenting below paper which In additlont 70
T. interest as presenting critical estimate of ths last
work OF one poet by another has In thatt
ontaus extracts from the unpublished connecting INKS
between the new poem and " The Golden Legend aud
The New England Tragedies" which, with the new
,ocm are ultimately 10 form connected work. 1t
uyes aso from the unpublished sheets the nGe of the
sbole work, striking extract headed 'st John -EdJ
70 tAs Editor Of The Tribune.
SIR: The publication of THE Divine Tragedy
marks the most important period of the life of ts Illus
,rous author. and thus becomes event of Spec'ai
significance in American Literature. The theme %
old and so often attempted is in itself almost cha
lenge After having been made cOarsely familiar ny
the miracle plays Of the Middle Ages, and incuh-
bercd with all the accessories which fous magma
t0ns working upon HOmeric models could de'se'
It seems to have been set aside in modern tiines as
something outside and above the proper domain OF
Poetry. Coleridge, we believe, included snch Work
Tn the long list Of his untouched plans, ana we can
scarcely regret that ii not written; for whether
it had reflected his early ratonaism or his later or
thodoxy, it would have had an intellectual ra'ner
than broadly human character.
Mltons Paradise Regaaed, judged from MS own
ro,nt of view az poet is not failure, but com
plete and admirable poem. Its basis
Recovered Paradise TO all mankind.
By one mans firm obedience fully tried "
Through oil temptation, and the temlter iohed
And Eden raised in the waste Wilderness
- the first incident in Christ's ministry, and that
alone The result of the temptation was Satans
overthrow: Christ avenged supplanted Adam,
and the strife between the Powers Of Light and
Darkness which took Persian even more than
Hebrew form in Millions mind comes to an end.
Miltons expansion of this incident i'll his four
books, is grand and noble piece of work but in it's
severe elemental character we lose that aspect o1
Christ in which lie is beheld by the heart of the
human race.
Klopstock attempted more in his Messias and ac-
compshed less in literary sense. although the
remarkable popularity of his poem when il first ar-
peared undoubtedly made it literary as well as
religions influence. His inspiration was drawn from
Milton, and his poetical form from Homer; hut, III
his immense and unwirldy machinery OF angels ami
devils he fell as far behind the former, as IN his
conflicts and debates. he fell behind the latter He
not only attempted to represent the New Testament
but to revive all the principal personages OF the Od
and the work, to which he gave twenty-five years OF
his life was not completed under twenty thousand
lines Of hexameter, Although it has passages Of
great beauty and tenderness the pure stream OF the
Sacred Narrative is almost lost amid the turbulent
sidc-currents Of human and supernatural episodes,
which he pours into it, The Judgment of Klop
stocks day has been reversed, and his hessias far
from being considered one Of the great poems of the
world has been Ielegated to that limbo wherein
slurnbers Spenser's Fdery Queeno-a work of which
all must know something but which The fewest read
q whole.
The failure of some poets TO draw successful in
spraton from the lofty subject, and the reluctance
of others TO approach it-so that large portion OF
the educated world has come to regard the rehgi0ns
and the pOctical elements sprnging from different
sources in an authors nature-mnst have been care
fully considered by Mr.. Longfellow before under
taking his task Religion and Politics, we told.
.hve rarely been successfully welded to Poetry.
Substitute Sect and Party" for the larger terms,
and the assertion is trnc. But release the inmost,
vital spirit of Christianity from its cOrporeal
clothing Of doctrne-separate the rights duties, and
organized activities of men from the lower forms
which political systems practically and both
blend naturally and perfectly with the psthetic
ideal of the poet. The painters and the sculptors
art have achieved purely religious eIninence, be-
cause they can only represent devotion. not dogma
and the Christian poct who would make his art the
servant Of his spiritual aspiration, must remember
this higher law.
The only successful attempt. hitherto, to make the
If of Christ the subject of poetry is probably the
od,si in cXistencc-the Holland Of that Saxon peas
.n Who in the ninth century, turned the Gospels
INTO artless verse. that the common people might
know and remember the things whereof He spake.
n is Il work inimtabe in its childlike simplicity, its
f.,2llncss aud purity and the fine instinct whereby
ONLY the wisdom and love which breathe from all
the teachings of Christ made clear and prom-
ncnt The tue spirit of the original and the grace,
humility and sweetness Of the peasant-authors
nature are still felt through its antiQuated dialect
and roughly ihythmical lines.
We have been constantly reminded Of this ancient
work in reading Mr.. Longfellows Divine
Tragedy" What the simple, untutored instinct of
the peasant accomplished, has been attained in
more perfect form by the best application of the art
of the poet and the knowledge of the scholar. How
far Mr. Longfclow has been tempted by the delicate
demon of his imagination to use those poetic sugges-
tiOns of which the theme is pregnant, we cannot
guess; we only know that he has resisted. He has
approached the subject if after long ascetic dis
cpline of bis fancy, touched 1t reverently and only
80 far necessary for the scope OF his whole
design, and lays it down without leaving the mark
of finger OH the divine central figure. The adj
aitional colorng which he has given to some of the
subordinate characters is drawn chiefly from Jewish
tradition and like the splendOr of the Temple
around the despsed NazareIe teaching in its courts,
il forms an Illuminated background, against which
the form of Christ shines as if with a newer white
The reader will not fail to notice the reserve with
which Christ is introduced in the of the Three
Passovers and the impression Of power and cOnsecra
ton which results from it, No word is put into His
mouth except those recorded in the Gospels; they
are only arranged rhythmcaly, the slightest trans