Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1871-12-27
IoNGFELLOW'S NEW POEM.
esThc Divine Ira gedy'"
From the Boston Advertiser.

surprise was as great to those who are
supposed to keep informed
events in the literary world
as to the publsc at large. Precisely how
soon it will be on the counters of the
doubtless before the close of the year.
The title of he poem is fThe Divine
Tragedy" and its subject, the life and
death of Christ. The treatment of the
theme Is dramatic. The poets desire
inducing him to undertake work OF
this character must necessarily have
been justified by the truest courage. |
The fascination of the marvellous story |
of the founder of Christianity is con-
stant invitation to devout and magma !
tive souls. Tt has been rewritten many
times and from various motives. Within
a few weeks the first volume of an elab-
crate work on the subject by Henry
Ward Beecher has been published, but
this and all the other lives we can now
recall have been prose narratives. Ihe
miracle piays of the middle ages, and
the Passion Play, which has preserved
their character to recent times, indicate
not only that the incidents of the life
of Christ are susceptible of dramatic
version, but that they make a drama
for stage representation of surprising
vividness and power. But such use of
the sacred theme has been alien, and to
some degree unpleasant, to English
habits of religious thought.
With this sentiment Mr.. Longfel-
lows new work will have to contend,
but it would be difficult to suppose a
more conciliating manner than that
which he has shown throughout the
spirit and phrasing of the new poem
The directness and force of the dramatic
poem are courageously chung to, while
q severe restraint has been imposed on
the fancy, the simplicity of the Gospel
narratives steadily maintained, and
anachronisms of sentiment and imagi-
nation cautiously avoided. The spirit
is deeply reverential, and the Ian
ouaoe keeps surprisingly close to
that of the English Scrip
lures. At a recent gathering at
the house of DR.. Bartol, when the con-
yersation turned upon Il remark that
one test of any theory touching men s
souls and inner consciousness was that
it could be sung, the poetical charac-
ter of the language of the New Testi-
HlGHb WAS I0l61IGO w oo Cf1NiN1ASS VI
the wisdom of the observation. Prob
ably no one then present had any idea
of the remarkable demonistra-
ton of this quality OF the
Gospel so soon to be made by poet
whose thorough culture is in nothing
more distinguished than the delicacy
of his sense of rythm and melody.
Wherever the language of the poem de-
parts from that of the sacred narratives
there is no corresponding departure of
style or tone. The poet has come into
beautiful sympathy with the Evangel-
ist and his own words have shared in
the tenderness and awe and grandeur
which impart so much tenderness to
theirs.
The drama opens appropriately with
a dialogue between the Angel of the
Lord and the Prophet Habakakuk, in
which the angel reveals to the seer a
vision of the coming of the Redeemer.
Then comes the preaching of John the
Baptist, summoning the world to re
pentance. From this portion we make
the following extract:
Repent repent repent!
For the kingdom of God is at hand,
And all the land
As the waters cover the sea,
And encircle the continent.
Repentl repent! repent
For To- the hour appointed,
The hour so long fortOld
By the Prophets of old,
OF the coming of the Amounted,
The Messiah, the Paraclete,
The desire of the nations is nigh
He shall not strive nor cry,
Nor his voice be heard in the street;
Nor the bruised reed shall he break
Nor qUench the smoking fiaxI
And many of them that sleep
In the dust of earth shall awake,
On that great and terrible day,
And the wicked shall wall and weep,
And be blown like smoke away,
And be melted away like wax,
Repent repent! repent
o Priest and Pharisee
Who hath warned you to flee
From the wrath that is to be?
From the coming anguish and re?
The AK is laid at the root
OF the trees and every tree
That bringeth not forth good fruit,
Is hewn down and cast into the fire!
Ye Seribes, why come thee hither?
In the hour that is uncertain.
In the hour Of anguish and trouble
He that stretched the heavens a curtain
And spreadeth them out a a tent,
Shall blow upon you, and We shall wither
And the whirlwind shall take you away as stubbIeI
Repent repent repent
PRIEST
Who art thou, o man of prayer!
In raiment of cancels hair,
BegTt with leathern thongs,
That here, in the wilde ness,
With cry as of one in distress,
Preacheth unto this throng
art thou the Christ?
Priest of Jerusalem,
In meekness and humbIeness,
deny not, confess
/ am not the Christ :.
PRIEST.
What shall we say unto them
That sent us here? Reveal
Thy nane and naught conceal!
Art thou Elias?
JOHN.
mol
PRIEST.
Art thou that Prophet then
OF lamentation and Woe
Who . symbol and sign
Vi impending wrath divine
Upon unbelieving man.
Shattered the vessel of CLAW
In the Valley OF Slaughter?
JOHN.
Nay,
l am not he thou namest :
PRIEST.
Who art thou, and what is the word
mat mere thou proclaimest
JOHN.
I am the voice of one
Crying in the wilderness alone:
Prepare ye the way OF the Lord.
Make his paths straight
In he land that is desolate
PRIEST.
If thou be not the Christ,
Nor yet Elias, nor'he,
That, in sign of the things to be-
Shattered the vessel of clay
Ia the Valley of Slaughter
Then declare unto us, and say
By what authority now
Baptizest thou?
indeed Eaptize you with water
Unto repentance; but He,
That cometh after me-
is mighter than l and higher:
The latchet Of whose shoes
am not worthy to unIoose;
He shall baptize you with FIRE,
And with the Holy Ghost!
Whose fan is in his hand:
lie viii purge to the utterInost
Ills hoor, and garner his wheat
But viii burn the chaff in the brand
And lire OF unquenchable heat
Repent! repent repent!
The scheme of the poem permits the
rehearsal of most of the imnortant in