The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1872-03-03

Hisy very breathing stied,
Asa a sesr rsGf he ss sass "A Anss
s.s the
o. :Ss.s; q %sSs! ss.s,s ~ s!a ss "ols
a9 I'd. es and fell
In silver chimes came ringing.
TWAS the bell
Tass 4! M ssily Gabriel s..r
sss sssRgsfss 10 abbey gate
Nor for asecond summons idly wait
But ssss s ss; ;asys ssay in his humble way
o Lord and feast Away
Upon the honeyed sweetness Of thy beauty
But q, ny win; mot mine. ! must obey;
r nsssr M III 70 the Ss T W. Sut smiled
The monk went forth light heal ted a child.
An hour thence his duty nobly done.
sss .a.w
And in r. ssp;ss ;sesd ssss BLESSED One
And bore our weight OF shame
Down on t thsshreshola fell
His forehead pressed upon n, the floor of clay;
~: Ne
The They, v,s 10. . only said nd,
IF Mon hadst stad, y son! must have tled!"
To this poem this note by the editor of the
heord was preiixed 81
We are requested by onr talented contribu-
pr, Miss Eleanor c, Donnelly, to republish the
allowing beautiful poem from her pen, which
originally appeared March, 1862 in maya
zine called The Continental, edited, in New
York, by Charles G. Leland but now discon-
timed. The Legend will be read With special
a poem styled The Legend Beautiful" appear
ing in the December number OF the Itantie
NOnthiy, and credited to the pen of Henry w.
Longfsllow, is almost Identical in theme and
t,nat Az of nsti, to l,nl lady
rheerfully comply with her request, and, with
out further comment, leave the matter with
the public.-Ed.
The Legend Beautiful" was published in
the STAK of December Ia, ISL.
Now, while we coincide with the closing
sen.eaco o. this note, and are willing to leave
1t to "a discriminating public whether Long
fellow in this instance bcstrode borrowed
Pegasus and made that NEUROLOGICAL animal
ainble on some gentle Parnassian slope (the
heights of that mythical mountain Of poetry
never having been assaulted by H. w. L. to the
soft cadence of the Z" Legend Beautiful" OF was
inspired by his own Puritauic Muse, we still
think few words about Longfellow as poet
or rather verslt:er not inappropriate.
Without intimatinS u charge of plagiarism
against Mr. Long follow, there is certainly
woeful lack of orignalitylin all his writings.
4hlS defect IL made more paintuliy manifest
by the evident efforts the part of the writer
10 be original His verses are forced cmana-
lions from IL scholarly MUD. They inspire no
feeling, for they are not the creation of iuspi-
ration. We may sometimes admire and APP
plaId his artistic talent, but we are conscious
that in his case poetry is indeed an art The
light that beams from his page is simply phos-
phorescent and cold, there is no fire, no warmth
His straning for originality is plainly oLscr-
rable in his SMILES and metaphors which are
almost always infelicitous, not to say, false
Nc cite a few examples: in the poem of Nj
lcmberS" read:
From remote and sunless suburbs came they TO the
Building nests in Fame's great temple as in spouts
the swallows build
Here we see Fame's great temple likencd
Anto spout Such imagery as that might
well put tho writer's chances for Fame cup
the spout"
u his piece called the arsenal at Spring
ID occurs the following:
the warriors name would be n name abhoITea.
And every nation that should lift again
l., hand against a brother, on its forehead
would wear for cNermOre the curse OF Cain
uw. apart Crom making forehead rhyme to
0oItcd, We thiril that the idea of giving n
ION forehead should be abAor:ed. any
While real Vort had Written:
"SigA. threw her sahle mantle DER ihc world
An" pinned il with a start
LonGfc!low eliminated nothing butter than
shis which Foe so kcenly and Justly c.i:tc;zes: