The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1874-07-10
Longfellow's Inspirations.

IN lecture in Boston, on ''The Poet
Longfellow," Mr.. James 7. Fields mar
rated some very interesting facts in re-
Iatlon to the history. of several of that
poets most frequently-quoted pieces.
some oil which are as follows:
It Is always interesting to know under
What circumstances poet has framed an
immortal poem, or sonnet, or song. As
happened to know something OF the
origin and birth of many of 1yOngfel-
lows poems, let me divulge few Sc
crets in regard to them. 5l-.
The psalm of Life" came into ex-
/ istence on q bright summer morning In
July, 1888, in Cambridge, as the poet sat
between two windows at the small table
in the corner of his chamber. IL was a
voice from his inmOst heart, and he
Kept it some time in manuscript, un-
willing to part with it. IL expressed
his own feelings at that time, when he
was rallYing from the depression of =
deep aflliction, and he hid the poem in
his own heart for many months.
He was accused of taking the famous
verse, "Art is long and time is feeting,"
| from Bishops poem, but L happen To
know that was not in his mind, and
that the thought came to him with as
much freshness and originally as If
nothing had been written before.
FThere is reaper whose name is death"
crystallized at once, without effort, In
/ the poets mind, and he wrote il rapidly
down, with tears filling his eyes as he
composed it. s9 lft aT
'Ihe Light of the Stars" was COM
/ posed as the poet looked out upon q
calm and beautiful summer evening,
exactly suggestive of the poem. The
moon, a little strip of silver, was just
| setting behind Mount Auburn, and Mars
was blazing in the south.
That fine ballad, ''rhe Wreck of the
( Hesperus,u was written in 1888. A vi
oIent storm had occurred the night be-
I fore, and as the poet sat smoking his pipe
about midnight by the fire, the wrecked
| Hesperus came sailing into his mind.
He went to bed, but the poem had
sieZed him, and he could not sleep. He
got up and wrote the celebrated verses.
'The clock was striking three, he said,
"when / finished the last stauza.n It
did not come into his mind by lines,
but by whole stanZas, hardly causing
| him an effort, but flowing without let or
4 hindrance.
One of the best known OF all LoBgfel-
lows shorter poems is "EXeelsiOr.
! The word happened to catch his eye late
one autumn evening in lS4l on torn
piece of newspaper, and straightway his
imagination took fire at it. Taking the
first piece of paper at hand, which hap
pened to be the back of letter received
that night from Charles Sumner, Long
fellow crowded it with verses. AS first
written down, Excelsior differs from
the perfected and published poem; but
it shows in its original conception q
rush and glow worthy the theme and
the author.
On summer afternoon in 1919, "a he
was riding on the beach. ''Fhe Skeleton
in Armor' rose as out of the deep befor,
him aud would not be laid.
! The story of "Evangeline" was frs
: suggested to Hawthorne by friend VIII,
wished him to found romance upon it
, Hawthorne did not quite coincide will
: the idea, and handed the theme t.
= LOngfellOw, who saw at once all the es
E sential qualities of deep and tende
: idyI.
4 1t is a delightful tribute to Longfel
r lows genius that all young people de
4 light so in his poetry. They find in it
3 ehildlike simplicity as well as the es
s sential quality of supreme interest
: The child detects the imitation articl
. quite as readily as the parent, and vii
! pass the spurious Tyre and accept tn
e real one with 4 judgment that is mar
velous Old and young, the laborer an,
7 the professor, alike find occasion 70
> the Inspiring words of Longfellow whicl
they can not do without. Everywhere
{ anywhere, he is in the most perfec
5 and delightful keeping. The untaugh
: grace of poetry, the power of infusin
a the authors mind in the heart of TIN
4 reader in his, and this endears him t
, his readers, and will endear him to gen
I erations to come.