Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-05-13
M,cLuNe AND SHELLEY.
strange Coincidence or Paipabie
Plagiarism.

The recent publication in a morning
cotomporary of poem from the pen OF
the gifted but fatal duelist and untoi-
tunate suicide, Col. A. X. McClung, OF
Mississippi, attracted considerable at
tention A friend who has studied
poetry for its own sake, discovered in
Meetings. poem, entitled TO Death, !"
that It was almost counterpart of Shell
ley's beautiful invocation To Night :
The similarity is so remarkable that it
must strike every reader, and dis
solve the idea that it is original
either in thought or expression. Col
onel Meetings. terrible and startling
invocation, "To Death possesses, for
persons Of literary turn Of mind, a
strange fascination. II is a poem of re-
cognized merit, but Of irregular versifi-
cation. 1t is strange that the same
measure, the same words-nay, the
same sentences, can be found in Shell
ley's more elegant and classical invoca-
ton, ITO Night" By comparing the
poems and placing the stanzas in oppo-
sition, remarkable and fatal similarity
can be discovered, which is also fatal to
the much Landed originality of Mr.. Nc
Clung's supposed poetical inspiration.
We subjoin the stanzas, showing the
plagiarism in full:
TO DEATH.
lSOiflv speed Ger the copes Of time,
In manhood morn, in youthful prime.
WOO thy breath!
For the fading hues Of hope have fled,
Like the dolphin's light,
And dark are the clouds above my mead
As the starless nightF'
The weird-like, dark shadow thrown
over the above stanza does not hide its
too fatal resemblance to the following
by Shelley:
TO NIGHT
' ,y.citfly scalk DER he lcesfern icdUe,
Spirit Of NIGHT
Out of the misty eastern cave,
Where all the long apd lone daylight,
Thou wovest dreams OF joy and fear,
Which make thee terrible and dear,
S,elf be hgfiOhiP'
1t is true, the measure after the second
line was changed by McClung by con
tinuing the same measure in alternate
lines of the stanza. But to proceed
further with the comparison:
!" OIL painly the popo0er signs for The rest
OF the peaceful hareR;
The pilgrim saint for the home Of the blest
And the calm Of Heaven"
Poor Shelley sang of Night as follows:
when arose and saw the dawn,
sigh'd for hecl
When light rode high and the dew was gone.
And noon lay heavy on flower and tree.
And the weary Day turn'd to his rest,
Lingering like an unloved guest,
Isigh'd for heel'
Up to this point Mr. Meetings. poem
preserved intact the idea of death instead
of night, as invoked by Shelley, but the
last lines of Death and Night tell the
tale of plagiarism too we'll to be ignored
by the dullest critic:
Z" The galley-slave signs for the night-wind's
breath
At the burning noon;
But more gladly I'd spring to thy cold arms,
Death, oh! Death, Come soon!
In more elegant verse, death and
sleep are invoked by Shelley as follows
death will come when thou art dead,
Soon, too soOnl
Sleep will come when thou art fed.
OF neither would ask the boon
| ask of thee, beloved Night:
Come sOOn-so0H!"
The above comparison does away with
the originality of Meetings. poem, as to
ideas, sentiment, measure and words.
1t may have been land this is probably
true) that Shelley's poem on Might
captivated the talented and literary
Mississippian, and haunted his memory
until his death wall broke out, in the
fine poem written by him before he com
n,;ttad enicida Ia his mind IL was