Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-03-01
Modern "Criticisu...'

TRUE PEN PORTRAITCRE.
The Toledo Blade thus reveis IN the realm
| of modern CRITICISM" The effort illustrate.
the admirable adaptation of this noble art to eu
cidating productions of the humblest character
| Readers who carefully follow this master i'm hi
| analysis of ''Jsck and Gill;" will readily per
| eeive what wonderful thing modern ''criti
cism' is:
Jack and Gill went up the hill,
To get pail of water;
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Gill came tumbling after
In conducting q criticism of this beautifu
poem, we shall first attend to what may be callet
the rythmical and dynamical qualities of thu
verse. Observe the perfect measure:
III. J ,;.ss .s Gilla IL up the hill.
is hypercatalectic:
To get-a pail-of water.
The err, In this instance, would exactly fill the
incomplete foot of the first verse, thus produc-
ing grand iambic diamer, and leaving the
second verse delightful tripody.
The next two verses display the same wonder
full poetic structure:
Jack-fell down-and broke-his crown
And Gill-came tumb-hng after
observe the pleasing and highly musical ef-
rect produced by the addition OF the fractional
And Gill-came tumb-ling after
Let us now turn our attention to what are
really the essential elements of pOetry-the ma
ture OF the thought and the quality of the senti-
ment. First, the thought All true poetry IS
highly imaginative. This is highly ina gina
tive:
Jack and Gin went mp the HILL
To get a pail of water.
Inc poet imagined that they did, and in this
Sidss very largely its poetry Again, Jack
didn't come tumbling after. The poet simply
imagined all this, and hence it is all the more
poetic. Again, this is an upward flight of mag
ination. Jack and Gill went up the hill They
also went up to get water, which makes the CON
ception still more striking. 1t woud have been
commonplace and matter of fact to go down
the hill for water.
Notice that in the next line it is not the ina o.
nation that falls, but Jack-,Jack fell down
Notice, too, the result. He did not break the
connection of the story; he did not even break
the night OF the poets fancy; he simply broke
his crown. We may suppose it was afterward
repaired. We have as good right to suppose this
as the poet had to imagine it at all. And now
the hnal catastrophe:
And Gill came tumbling after
Ihis is perfectly harmonious. We should ma
turaliy have expected 1t. We may suppose that
GU was leaning ON Jack, and that, therefore,
when Jack fell, Gill. by necessity, went tumb-
ing alter; or We may suppose that Gill loved
Jack more than we can tel, and that when she
saw him fall back and break his crown in a lit
of sheer desperation she threw herself after him.
Either hypothesis would fully account for the
facts, but am inclined 10 accept the latter, ii
being the more poetic and thoroughly eon>Onant
with the pathetic nature nature OF the scene.
Lastly, let us study the sentiment,
Jack and Gill went up the hill.
Here, We see that Jack and Gill were indus
VI "us. hIcuuircS Al eNOTt 10 go up NIL. FMS
was probably long, steep hill. At any rate
We may suppose 1t was. IL it was, it would re-
quire all the more effort to go mp it. We have
no evidence that Jack and Gill repined. 1t is
not said that they went up the hill under pro-
test. They appear to have gone up cheerfully:
and what lesson of cheerful industry is here
taught us! The object of their going up the
NH was to get pail of water. What they
wanted to do with the water is matter of mere
conjecture. i have sometimes thought that
they wanted it to drink, and have again sup
posed they were getting 1T for a sick compan.
ion.
Either purpose would have been praiseworthy.
1t is not stated what became of the water when
they fell down. Perhaps it is not known. Pos
sibly In the general overturn 1t was spilled-but
this would detract nothing from the honor due
to them for going after it.
The misfortune which overlook Jack and
Gill is singularly impressive. 1t shows the I'M
certainty of all things earthly. Quietly return
ing down the hill, bearing the pail of water and
suspecting no evil, suddenly they fell. 1t is not
stated that a serpent tempted them. 1t is not
even stated that they slipped. The record is
simply that they fell; we can only imagine the
cause, and say to our own hearts-What a fall ,