Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1875-07-29


c. B. written for the Westminster Q mart.
erly Review, England:
Of the author of lDoTHEA, Joseph
Salyards, we know nothing whatever
more than we HAY infer from the elegant
little volume now before us. 1t seems to
have been issued during the present year
from the press of Henkel, Calvert & Co.
New Market, Va, in North America. II
comes to us in no gaudy, bur IN graceful
attire, heralded by no glaring frontis-
piece, aided by no imposing illustrations
In closely printed pages, mass OF classic
thought and diction needing great num-
Der OF explanatory notes, which 1t does
not, however, presume to be necessary.
After very careful pcrusal, we hesitate
not to pronounce this great Moral Epic.
1t is full of emotion and enthusiasm. It
attempts. reverently, to deal with the
mysteries which surf ound us IN the great
moral and physical universe to which we
belong; to ascertain the sources of our
knowledge, the origin of onr hopes and
fears, our.affections and desires, pursuing
every thought upward from the natural
to the supernatural. It's pervaded with
a healthy admiration for the truly beauti-
full in nature and art. and replete with
profound thought. It has a plot, occa-
sioualiy intermitted for considerable i'll
teryals, to enhance tile anxieties of sus-
pense 1t has an obvious unity Of design,
the revelation Of the Divine. from every
object it contempl4tes. This revelation
consists in tho discovery of Truth, her
power and beauty; in the experience OF
Good and Evil; in the perception OF i'm
maculate Holiness,-consequentl rule
of right and wrong, of virtue and Of vice
Thus we ascend from the intellectual to
the moral, from the moral 10 the spiritual;
from more light to more love, from more
love to more liberty. 1t employs a few APP
propriate characters, whose consistency is
faithfully sustained. Reason and wisdom
intervene as superior powers, who spesk IN
human language and efficiently contribute
their aid in accomplishing the plot. 1t
abounds with imagery fresh,vigorous, and
apparently inexhaustible. The harmonious
uniformity of the versification becomes
rather monotonous, but generally well
suited to the theme under treatment.
Like Milton and Shelley, the author OF
IDoTHEA seems to fell and appreciate the
magic OF classic and euphonious names,
the power of musical terms and epiLhets.
His transitions are sometimes too abrupt
and among the various characters and
interlocutors, it Is often difficult to know
which is speaking. This seems too fire.
Quently to be left to mere Inference from
the turn Of thought, or from signs Of quo
tation. This, to some extent, mars and
obscures:: style which otherwise would,
be clear as crystal. So entire appears to
be the control Of copious expression, that
scarcely single instance occurs of those
harsh diversions, poeticaI licences, or sole
cisnA, which we often find In our best
poets no rhymes merely allowable; when
rhyme IS required, it is always perfect
The i,auses and cstlences are SO unsteady
adjusted, as generally to crafty both the
ear and understanding-For the mechan-
ism of musical numbers, let any one take
a passage from the first or third IpoTHEA,
aud similar passage from Pope, Byron,
or Tennyson, read them In connection,
and compare them In respect to rhythm,
harmony, and ease Of expression,-then
Judge in whose favor the command Of
anguagc Is found For example, IDoTHEA'
page "a, and Pope's Essay on Man, Epistle
III, Section V. s.
The design of the whole poem is single
and easily detected The author himself
gives us the key IN a single couplet:
''Por this is true philosophy, to know.
Not what We see, but why we zee 1t So"
He assumes the intuitive truth that
every object Of thought means something;
else why it is called an object of Moaghs9
Merely to assent that such things az light
aud darkness, truth and falsehood, life
and death, right and wrong, love;and hate,
good and evil, liberty and slavery, purity
and impurity, virtue and vice are seen in
the moral, spiritual, and intellectual sys-
tenn, would be no full conception st. all of
the achole truth. We must know why they
are seen in this system If things. What
idea do they express by existing, which
would not be expressed to finite minds,
if they did not exist? Then, among all
the possible meanings of nature, he choos-
es one,-the Divine Idea-the Great Im-
81, l., H., M,sa
gives complete unity to his poem. The
different aspects of the Idea, or Image, at
one time he calls ldos, then Idyl, and last
" Epidos. And here it should be obseTv-
ed carefully, that this conception would
not properly lend itself to prose
AS to power of conception, We doubt Il
the whole range Of English poetry Pres
ents more sublime views than will be
found in Idos II, pages 55-72, and Ia
Idos III, pages 97-l04. ~
The aspect Of spiritual sanctlty and
holiness is the last and Hottest form In
which this Divine Image is supposed to
reveal itself. And here, ~ in the "Pan.
thea, or Spirit Of NSture' of Mr.. Rober,
Hunt, or in "Ths Children Of the SUM-
by Hogg, a field Of contemplation invites
the poet vastly more exalted and univsr'
sal, yet never transcending the limits o.
created intelligences. In rapid stanxas O.
harmonious dactyls, the vario us stages o
rational existence appear.-The sympa
thies and affections OF living intelligence
command wider and more potent sway
over the material organism, and tn
natural elements. or mere human inter
est, what can exceed the imposing specsa
| Gle of Cramer and Holbach ?-the one q
the brink ofthe grave, in rspt anticipa