Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-09-29
SOUTHERN

So far as the intellectual activity Of
the Southern states has been shown in
literature, its force and eulture-for i'm
aginative writing at least-appear the
grades of poetry, too, that seem most
natural to an overweight social self
consciousness. From Poe to Hayne,
the poets Of the South have been more
felicitous in OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
and lyric verse than in the treatment Of
epic and idyllie theme-the first-named
and great genius mingling 40 much NOR
bid interpretive personality with the
work Of his objective imagination that
the latter is always without spiritual re-
pose; while Mr.. Hayne, who is, in
many artistic essentials, the most pol
ished present poet Of his section, COM
bines lyric and descriptive powers in a
measure just short Of idyllc delicacy Of
ideality and epic capacity Of cOnstruc-
ton. Past social exclusiveness, main
tanned with true provincial rigOr, is IN
dOubtedly the cause of the limited range
Of thought noticeable in the average !
literary production Of the South and the
lack Of sustained power in Southern
Of imagination. In the Rthetics /
Of verse, no less than in the cOsmics Of
philosophy, the home-loving South has
not come far enough out OF herself yet TO /
know and gain the universal range Of
OF art, and her literature shows this even
more in its poetry than its prose. In
the idyL as in the epic, there must be
universally Of thought, feeling, and
imagination; while descriptive and ly-
-ic verse, however dramaucaLy fervid
Or gracefully %faneiful, are Of q social
growth, and may be refined to a high
- 80. -.--..L=n Te-.aA~NsI- I
the past week Southern journals
have restored to print, after a long neg
.ect, two brief poems, admirably repre-
sentative Of their grades and strikingiy
Illustrative Of the poetic genius Of their
lime. This, from the Richmond En-
where it reappears after almost
.xactly sixteen years of seelusiOn In the
famous Southern Literary Msssen-
Ter, is an intensely graphic and charae-
eristic bit Of description:
THE STAR.
Of Sadde1 sta6s IN gr0Ues lorI0rn-HOoD.
On the ruad-the lonely road,
Undsr the cold white moon,
Under the ragged trees he strobe;
He whistled and shifted his weary load
Whistled q foolish tun
There was a step. tuned with mis- own,
figure that stopped and bOWedH
A broad, white knife, that CLEANED and
shOne i,
Like a splinter Of daylight downward
And the moon went under a cloud.
But the moon came out so broad and good.
That the barn fowl woke and crOwed, {
Then roughed his feathersin droWsy mood, [
and the brown owl called 70 his mate IN I
That a man lay dead in the road. Z
WALLACE HARVEY. {
Recalling Hoods Eugene Aram and {
-sunted House, this powerful ~prsseuta- q
mystery and murder also suggests
Oleridge- q
5 one who on a Lonesome rosd doeth go with :
silent dread, =.
nd having once looked back, goes on, nor
scause he knows a horrid hend doth close
behind him tread
inception and wonderfully dramatic {
)wer Of literal description. The sec 2
Id revival Is r. NJ. Potter's battle-lyric, =
lie Hymn Of the Alamo, which is COM I
.unicated for reprint in the Waco Tex q
] ErGnlin6r by an ~appreciative local Z
respondent. Of all the many des- .
in prose and verse Of the heroic 4
ID appaIlingly-tragicaI defense Of the Il
III 1AAAgAA0 AOAA N AAQ ELAAAAA0r IL
80, by one hundred and forty Texans, y
lder Colonel Travis, Crockett, and 2
Owie, against two thousand Mexicans =
ID five full batteries under Santa Anna %
a AlmOnte. nothing in native litera- e
re is more Instructive with the devoted e
triOt spirit Of that historical martyr =
M for independence than this thrill q
g chant; and its lyric qualities are Of II
e highest order. Readers Of history >
ay remember that the doomed Texans s
thstOOd terrific commandments for {
veFal days, and then repealed assaults =
til their devoted band was reduced 70 r
men, under Crockett, who were in e
manly cut to pieces at last by their q
'uriated enemies. Such was the event VI
.ebrated by this American MarseIlaise: "
THE HYMN OF THE ALAMO. CT
Use, man the waI-Our clariOnis blast O.
sound its ina reveille@ ~
Is dawning morn must be the last -
ur fated band shall ever see o
life, but not 70 hOpe-fareWenl OF
YOD trumpets clang and lannon's peal, -
And stOrming shout, and clashtng steel, ~
e Our-but not our co1ntryl-kneu- IS
JOY 10 spartan death, OF
is no despatrtnE strife 81
fall-We debut our expiring breath ~
Freedoms breath 0fnfei III
ere, on the new ThermopylR,
VI monumentshall tower high -.
q AamOl hereafter be M
b bloodier fields the battle-cryE' Is
bus Travis from the ramparts cried. ~
And when his warriors saw the foe
Like whelming pillows move below, IS,
each dauntless heart replied; Fl
elc0me the Spartanfs death.
is no despairing strife
fali-we debut our expiring breath
Freedoms breath Of Hfef'
y cOme-hke autumnfs leaves they fall.
ct hOrdes on hGrdes they onward rush a.
CORY tramp they mount TIA Wau. Ov
III number the defenders crush ~,
u falls their nag, when none remaint ~
Wea may the Victorsuuakc 70 tell Al
How Travis and his Hundred fell la
mid a thousand foemen slairl z
They died the Spgrtan's death
But notfn hopeless strife; IL
Like brothers died; and their expiring tn
breath nc
Was Freedoms breath Of fifel
he military spirit of the South has hi
other battle lyrics of high or so
, and the social aud passionate lyrics he
pinckney, TimrOd, Flash, and others, IN
all representative in their grades. II, ne
ID, the lOftiest exercises Of idsality and IA
fullest pOwers of sustained imagina- M
!, -. 49, - .~-sIrnnua IN Tho F4kar-N Il