The Portland daily press., 1872-03-16
THE PRESS.
SATURDAY MORNING, MARCH 1e, ,7s
A Daring Literary Venture.
BAYARD rAYLoB's NEW poEM.

/ "
The Boston correspondent OF the New
York Tribune gives the following account OF
forthcoming book that viii doubtless create
considerable interest: @ Hd-
Among the most notable Spring issues of
j. r. Osgood Il Co. will be ''The Masque of
the Gods an entirely new poem, by Bayard
Taylor. 1t is conception at once daring
and reverent-a wonderful miracle-play, in
which the gods Of all races are drGmdtis per-
s0nd, with choruses from mountains, rivers,
trees, serpents, wolves, caverns, and rocks,
while over all we seem to see the shadow of
a vague and mighty presence, awful yet pity
ing-the God, from whom, and in whom gods
and men and rocks and trees alike live and
have their being. John Weiss said once that
IN Homer Olympus was but the upstairs of
the world, and the contentious and the
laughter oil its gods came pealing down the
staircase. There is nothing of this Greek
gayety in the vision Of Mr.. TAYLOR. The gods
are in earnest, mighty and desperate earnest.
as they grope after the explanation of their
own power and their own being-grope to-
ward the discovery that they were all permit
ted by the God-that each one had been an
answer to some need of this great, growing
human race, which never in vain lifts soul or
hands toward the Infinite. The first scene
of this wonderful drama is at midnight, on
| the high table land of Pamere. In a spectral
moonlight mountain peaks glow, and there is
an awfulsilenee broken first by hoarse murmurs
| from the rocks, who feel in their stony hearts
that something has changed They miss the
stains Of blood that used to sprinkle their feet
the fires Of worship or of sacrifice 1--WE
were and are, " they say, ''but man is not the
same.n Then the caverns complain that the
mystical secrets which once made them di-
vine have died in their keeping the serpents.
| that were once their Smooth cold undula-
| tions gave the sign of fate to nations" they
now s'writhe abased, with bruised and tramp
led head" The wolves wonder ''where de-
lay the wizards who were wont to claim fur
and fang and fieetness and the fearful name
To these, questioning, comes the voice of
| Odin, bidding them be silent here,
"Where even gods grow dim, and scarce behold
! s. Themselves or hdar the echo of their speech"
PeruIn follows, who ''ruled by right of eld-
est cruelty" whose life .'the savage strength
of man renewed;;' then Baal boasts that he
shall not die, since he "begets, not slays."
Manito next eonfesses that, '1seated in his
hunting-grounds above the sky, the voices
that address him slowly fail,'' and, as he
speaks, the question, which is the keynote of
the poem, rises to his lips: .I1H1r
| "But We, of other worlds, declare me this,
Am myself, am made of them? .-a
II, as fear their simple souls had need ...
OF one supreme, and therefore became;
Or IT, alone before them, have drawn
| Through ages Of unchanged companionship-
Their color to my face their JOYS to mine, .I..
| And to heir prayers the expected answer given,
Declare me this"
| And Odn answers: "li4iA ii''' o iFa
| ewho shall declare the thing? 4.tEl.
| Are we then born Of those who kneel to us?'
and Baal wonders if indeed, they have been
| all the while but servants instead of lords,
dependent still on something mightier than
themselves; fattering the senses Of one sole
divinity" With the calm of his cold north
ern heaven upon his lips, great Odin speaks
nPeace, ignorant sayagel to thy Lord and mine
Dream no rebellion. By his leave are,
No less than mans necessity. But what ..., .
he Is, where throned, and how upheld in power
Then out from infinite space comes the
| Voice whose mighty word called the worlds
into being; and gods, and man, and nature
listen as it says: -H'oA ..
dscd ST am that Iam." fL
And all the gods together cry;
| t'We cannot understand Thee yet we bow,
And without knowledge own Thee. Are we Thine?
! Or shall we cease when men more believe?''
And the Voice of voices speaks again from
the space which is infinite:
| t..s,, ,,rf mine ye are; also Mans
The second scene is a Doric temple in ru-
ins, above the Kgean Sea. In the back
ground are valley and mountains in the
| early uaHh, ssiius eWept ny Solne Wlnu OF GOu,
the trees begin to sing "Rivers, mountains,
and the sea follow; and then Jove, Elohim,
Ormuzd, Appollo, and Emmanuel discourse
together. Emmanuel proclaims himself but
the messenger of God whose kingdom
is from everlasting to everlasting But
Man, always readiest to believe in the present
and visible, listens to him, and finding in his
utterances goodness and love and mercy'
asks, And is there need of any one above
him ?' The third and last scene is vast
landscape at sunrise-for the Masque which
began at midnight has grown steadily toward
the full light Of day. The scene opens with a
chorus of spirits who chant: .g.a 9a nrl.-
"The years are as breath, aud as sands the ages;
Mid myriad suns the world is a darlSness
The Deities die when their work Is done;
But the mantle of One Is vile to enfod us;
The heart of One Is a Fathers to love us,
The spirit Of One shall lift us and hohis H--
And then Odin, Baal, Pern and Manito,
lift up their ascription of praise, their confess
sion of dependence; and the high gods, Brah-
ma, and Jove, and Elohim, talk together; and
the voice of Emmanuel falls silver-clear
through the stiffness of the dawn; and now
and again comes the mighty utterance Of the
God, to whom, at last, long-seeking man
cries humbly: a-g5-11! ,lHd ~-sogl1.I ,rs.f.
I iA l3i "Chide us not; be patient, We
- l Are children still we were mistaken oft,
Yet we believe that In some ripper time
1l Thy perfect Truth shall eome.'' ,9.-.--
And the voice answered-it is the Amen of
the sacred drama: 'Wait! Ye shall know"
1t were presumptuous to praise this grandly-
conceived poem as one might wreathe with
easy roses some gay madrigal. A wiser than
will sit in the chair of the critic; and, mean
| time, / shall be satisfied if have given YOU
some notion of the new poetical sensation