New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-03-30
tPor the Sunday Republican.
LYricsi BY Pearl Rivers,


Imagine the appearance of a volume like
this in the early days of our republic, wher
old Bsriow's Colunbiad was our only epic
and Home, Sweet Home" by Robert Trea'
Paine, our best lyric. With what sstonish
mont and delight would our ~forefathers have
received these lyrics; gem upon gem, pear
upon pearl; this delicate fancy; this tender
sentiment these sparkling f~elicities OF
thought and diction. How they would
hsvo hailed the morning star of their
country's literature with Joy! What plaudits,
what ovations they would bave given the
poetess! The reception of Burns in Edin.
burg would have been ~re-enaoted with all
the heartiness of New World enthusiasm.
We are supposing the impossible. Every
poet is the product and exponent of his
age, his country and his surroundings, an
etieot whose causes lie deep in the past.
No Tennyson could have graced the court
of Elisabeth; no Longfellow could have
sung for the Continental Congress. The
civilization they sing was then a green fruit
upon the tree of time, with no poet to give
it utterance save in n few CLEANS of the
the prophetic spirit.
The poet, therefore, being the product Of
his times, must be judged from the intel
%lectual. moral, social and artistic stand
points Of his W era. A book which might
have been a startling sensation in the days
oil Washington, may fall dull and dead
upon the ear of the present generation. The
literary heavens are flooded with light.
Since the passing away of the old school of
poetry, last represented by Cowpec and
Thomson, the skies nave been Illuminated
by stars OF the first magnitude. such as
Byron. Wordsworth, Shelley and Tenny-
son. with very many brilliant satellites, re-
hecting with greater or less splendor of
color the beauty and glory of their prima-
ries. Any one claiming q place among these
consultations must show some light-giving
power III himself, or an extraordinary
faculty of concentrating. recombining and
rejecting the light which has come from
others
Before dropping the metaphor we may
say that the new star which has Just risen
IN our Southern hemisphere ia one of I'M
questionable beauty and brilliancy. The
fugitive poems, bearing the morn de plane
OF Pearl Rivers, which have been fitting
tor several years through the Southern
press. ike song birds from tree to tree, are
hero collected into . handsome and attrac.
tive volume. There is genuine poetry in it,
80 akin to the Vital spirit of the spring in
EhInb che dol;ra3s H.. - Ill IL.
die, no matter what cautious or ~unappreci-
alive critics may say. In the cotempora-
neous rush OF busy life the voice of the poet
Is often unheard. but in due time the solo
comes, the noisy orchestra is hushed, and
the proud soprano or tenor moAopoliZes the
AIR and charms the world.
The most striking characteristic Of this
poet IS her subtle aud ethereal persouifca-
non OF natural forms and forces, investing
them with human thoughts and passions,
and thus splritualiEing, as it were. the
whole world around us. This is one of the
highest Offices of poetry, and distin guishes
the genuine seer from the word painter or
musician. What are descriptions of bat
ties or iaudatiors of heroes. or morals. or
metaphysics in verse, or love ditties. or
urlhklng songs. to that sublime faculty.
"hlch grasps !ntultively the COrrespondence
hot"een man and nature, sees the suhiec.
ave rejected in tie objective, and e~levates
and lnstructs while 1t sings and delights.
shelley and Keats are masters of Ibis deli
cate chord Of poetry, and if any one doubvs
hat Pear Rivers deserves honorable men
lion 10 the same line, let him read "Tbs
Royal Cavalcdd. )" THE ROYAL Funeral"
The Four Maptlcs.' The Surrrn6e-:'
Midsummer" "Cornstalks," and cstca
tho ethereal and brilliant spirit which, iIke
moonlight on the water. runs through ~
abe has written.
a genuine love Of tature, seasibEt, to