Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1874-11-14
WALT w HITHAN.
M Ow One Of the Roughs f. Regarded
IN England.


rot % notice hls eVquisAes descriptive fs>ulty,
ARD bis singular felicity IN its use. Forced as
he Is, both py natural inclination sud in the
carrying ont or his main idea, 10 ts.se nO.e Of
"the actual eSrth's qualities" he ia, ssrslY
Tiled his pages with tn song OF birds, the
brshef mufmur OF saves the quiet and multi
fern life OF the forest and the me8dOH. And
In these Ge-CTtpt, Ons he succeeds in do. ug What
= st OH emit, IN giving "a the actual ecene
OF Circumstance As It impressed him, AMI not
merely fhr impression itself. This Is what
none but the greatest poets have ever ave by
accident done. suf what Whitman does con-
stsntly and With a sure hand. you shall /" he
says at the hes ginning OF his book.
''1Ou shall no longer take tn ngs az second or
third hand. no. LOOK through the eyes OF the
Gesd, nor feed on TIE sPectTes in books:
''Y0u shall not look through my ewes either
nor take things from me-
''Y0u shan listen TO all sides aud flter them
from yOuTself.'
two subjects on which he IL especially eloquent,
which seem indeed to intOxIclte and inspire
him the moment he approaches them. These
are death and the sea. In the latter respect he
II not, Indeed, peculiar, but accOrds with aIl
poets Of ali times, and especially OF this tine.
But in his connection OF the two ideas (fOr the
one always seems to suggest the other TO him),
aud In his special devotion to death, he IL more
singular. The combined influence OF tbs tive
hiss produced what IL certainly the most perfect
spec men Of his york. the Word out of the Sea
Unfortunately 10 is indlEisible, and It's length
precludes the possibility of quotation. But
there is another poem almost equally beautiful
HYMN, and for this space may perhaps be
found.
DEATH CAROL.
Come. lovely and soothing Death
Undulate around the world serenely arriving,
arriving.
In the day. IN the night. to sr, to each
Sooner OF later delicate death.
Praised be the fathOmless universe.
For life and joy. and for objects and knowledge
curious,
And for love, street. love. But praise' praise!
For the sure enwinding arms of cool-eufoliiDg
Death.
Dark Mother, always gliding near, with soft
feet,
Have none chsuted for thee chant of fullest
welHome2
Then Il chant it for thee glOriry thee above
all;
bring thee a song that when thou must indeed
come come unfslteunGly.
Approach, strong Delivsressl
When IL il so-when tbeu hast taken them,
JoyOusly sing the dead,
l-osf m the loving, floating ocean Of thee,
LsVed in the flood of thy biiss, D Death.
From me to thee glad sereusdss.
Dances Tor thee propose, ssiutlr z thee-atOrn-
meDts snd tea-lIng for thee;
And tbe .ishts Of the open landscape and the
high spTe.l sky are httiag,
And nfs and the telds and the huge and
thoughtful night.
The night, in silence under msnv a star;
The ocean shore, aud the husky whispering
wave Sbose voice know,
And the seGl turning 10 thee, y vast and we'll
yeiled deAth,
And the body gratefully nesting close to thee.
over the tIee-tops Ihoat thee = song!
Cyo- TIE fisi'E AVID sinking wayes-over the
nyTIa1 hcid aud the u aries vile:
over The q Use-packrd cities al and the TEEN
ing Wh-rve~ and WAYS,
] hcat biz Carol with joy, with Joy 70 thee, y
Dsa'Ei
It e EASY 6HOuEh to connect this ca-tus OF dea-b
ard ths EsI.f.et-H which necessarily sccoJnpa-
El-- 10. with the main articles of whi,rnan's
creed Death b viewed tie one event of
great SOieuHity and Importance which 1, &C n
mon 10 aI.-th.- one lneSitts.7, yet not CON-
InGHEla"e incident 10 every life, however com
MOI Flac-- an, further, n must nO- be over
looked thef a. ath g De FmIIeutIY valuable IN
och a sy-trm - this. IN the caBacItV OF recon.
cileT, rrady 70 &C -Omm date all difficulties to
sweep AVA AL rubbish The ChesTiast OF ont
mists with fhs loves or standards cannot pre-
tend 70 assert OF expect that everyone will live
the ideal life--bUt death pays al scores and OBJ
EteTates al mistakes.
There z mains. however, still to bs coas.d-
cred point not East IN impOTtaBce-the We
hiSle which Whitman HIS chosen Tor the con
yeyauce % these thoughts. He employs, az
most people know who know anything st al.
about him, neither rhyme nor even regular
metre; the exceptions TO tbis rule occurring
among h's more recent poems are few and In-
significant page or rs work has little or no
look Of poetry ahoutit; it Il not, Udeed, printed
less IN eNttft tLd" = line, sometimes extending
20 mary lines. Only after reading these for
a NE tine Goes IL become apparent at, though
rhyme, ami metre have been 40 and med
rLylm las not; and moreover, that certain
GguTtS a. q tricks OF language occur which are
generally -Es-ieTef more approximate to poetry
Than 70 prose. lhe total effect produced II dis
similar 20 that OF any Of the various attempts
which have been made 90 ale the shackies Of
metre and rhyme, w hIIe retaining the other ad-
vtutages Of gOeetc4l form aHi dlctiOn. Whit
i -fV Ia q aaa s-F-
eHcFts a. Bspseiaire's Peas F0srtss sp Pf0ss
for fICm IL - Al rhythm, di-tiOn and 50 forth
lot strictly appropriate to prose is c0u-cen-
uCus'y excluded ~ l. more ike the pOIymeIres
o. the pOet'- uame-aks Wait IL klchtaT's f sgsl-
FJiTg, exc - that thsse latter being lin ted 10
the expression "I a single thought are not di-
viCed into separate limos OF verses. PERHAPS
the likeness which = presented % the mind
most struU civ, l. that which exists between olr
author AMI The verse divisions Of the English
Is pie e-Ier " IN the TCctical books, and il Is
not unlikely that the latter ana actually ex-r-
cise son r .friHruce "a moulding the poets work
10 = hard @ eve fair specimen Of IL in the
sy q quot arlJH-that already given is not re-
p-eseutariyFr being too avOwe1iy lyricsl-4nd
The TEyff n n IS a rae too VARYING, complex.
snd 81 bic 70 De readily seized except from a
con ari>or ~ MANY instances. Perhaps, how
ever, The 10 losing st4uzs from Children OF
Adam Ray convex some idea OF II.
have perceived that 20 De with those I like is
enough;
TO stOr ~ company Hitl ire rest az evening il
To b sulrgu nfed b. beautiful, curious, breath
inE, angling flesh = enough,
o Ias- an o ( the IN. or tOuch any one, or rest
ry a-m ever % lightly around his or Ler
reSk or = moueNt-what l. this them
Go n ask any more delight swim ia il az
IN
There Is +. r-thirg in staying close 20 men and
NCusu- and boxing on them, AMI In thg
cor act snd OCOT OF them, taa- pleasss the
soul sell
Al t'irgs ples Sc the soul-b2t these please the
sJu, WI
Il Viu DE oa-eryed that tie rhythm i many
Cen'T,d- hat II taxes fresh departures As IL
gees 0H. 4hr poet uses freely ALTERATION, chi
asmus, antifhes's, and especially the retention
OF TIE same word OF words u BEGIN and sud suc-
cessiVe lines, but none OF these 50 freely a. to
render { Characteristic. The result thouyn
perhaps IN ourh AZ fret sight and hearing is A
medium o OPPRESSION BY no IN cans wanting in
e1ceuence, snd certainly well adapted for
NhItInan.s LurPOses- Strange a. 10 appears 10
reader fanl itGiscd with the exquisite Vsrsifi-
cation o. mo-1ern England OF France u Is by no
means ID uisagreeAb'e contrast Herewith he
lng AZ least In it earlier forms TOR Ia som Of
The later p0- ms "reminiscences OF tina FDyItsb
feToics OF LprgtellOw's hexameters And svsr
e Poe's stanzSs occur singularly fresh ug6t
"a vigorous Nor shOuld the lapguaga -,
.meHboBed-fOr though OF c0urss soins~n.t
Esnsatlsntic in construction Ar <sab1Is-v
not extensively American. The chief NJ
2 IN the eyes OF a sensitive critic i an II Nv
a 80 H. "a Il