The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-11-14
THE MASOUE OF PANDORA.

The MASQUE OF PANDOkA.
By Henry W. Longfellow. Osgood & Co., Bos-
| ton. From R. g. Eyrich, 100 Canal street. New
Orle ms, La.
For more than half a century Longfellow
has lived and breathed within an atmosphere
Of "golden thought" and has never been
miser with his talents. He has written
much-much, perhaps, that will fail in the
ordeal of time, but much, also, that will last
for generations to come, monument to him
self, and to his country's literature. And, of
all that he has lately given US. the Masque
of Pandora" stands out pre-eminent l.
will be read when the other poems with
which it now makes its ppearance-except-
ing, perhaps, "Moritun Salutamus will be
forgotten.
1t is peculiar, for the way in which a some
what hackneyed classical myth-though in a
modified form, for Pandora was given her fatal
box, and did not find it in Epimetheus's pos
SESSIONS treated in what has become, with
out sufficient reason we would think, an obso-
lete form of composition, and yet SO endued
with feelingas to become interesting, not only
because Gifts intrinsic beauties, but for the
sympathy which it rouses within US.
The poem opens in the Workshop of
Heppatus, who has just finished the statue,
Pandora, which he describes as
| Not fashioned out of gold, like Hera's throne,
| Nor forged of iron like the thunderb Sits
But moulded in soft clay
Zeus then endows the statue with ife and
proclaims that
She shall possess all gifts: the gift Of song,
The gift of eloquence, the gift of beauty,
The fascination and the nameless charm
That shall lead all men captive.
| And as she descends from her late pedestal,
the Graces salute her in chorus, in which,
most aptly in the mouth of Thalia, occurs one
of the most beautiful descriptions in the Ian
guage:
o sweet, pale face o lovely eyes of azure,
Clear as the waters of brook that run
Limping and laughing in the summer sun
| 0 golden hair, that like miser's treasure,
| In its abundance overfows the measure
| 0 graceful form, that cloudllke --latest on
| With the soft undulating gait Of one
Who moveth as il motion were pleasure
| still the same,
| Nameless or named, will be thy loveliness.
Next, we are introduced to Hsrmes, who,
while engaged at his toilet, in a characteristic
speech tells US that the gods have commits
stoned him to lead
maiden to Prometheus in his tower,
And by my cunning arguments persuade him
10 marry her. What mischief lies concealed
In this design I know not; but know
Who thinks OF marrying ha tn already taken
One step upon the road to penltence.
And, consequently, there follows scene in
which he vainly endeavors to fulfill his COM
mission. Prometheus, however, mistrusts
The gods and all their gifts,
For, he continues:
The gods are not my friends, nor am l theirs.
HERMEs.
But the gods
as pledge
OF reconciliation they have sent to thee
| This divine being, to be thy com panion,
And bring into thy melancholy house
The sunshine and tue fragrance OF her youth.
PRoMETHEUs.
| | need them not have within myself
Ali that my heart desires; the ideal beauty
Which the creative faculty of mind
Fashions aud follows in thousand shapes.
More lovely than the real. My own thoughts
And aspirations are my only friends.
There are few descriptions of "peopled
solitude" to be found which are more beauti-
| full or perfect than this of Pro metheus.
Hermes is unsuccessful in his persuasions,
and Prone theus,
The defiant,
The self-centered, self reliant,
Wrapped in visions and illusions,
Robs himself of life's best gifts.
That is, We suppose, wife, in Pandora
She fares better, however, with his brother
E pimetheus, who Immediately becomes her
captive, and so gives occasion, to the keen ap-
probation at leas. of any young reader, for
two of the most chastely finished love
scenes ever printed, in which she, Pandora,
becomes possessed of the knowledge of the
fatal box.
Prometheus on learning of his brothers
conquest comes to him and urges him to
Assert myself; rise up to thy full height;
| shake from thy soul these dreams eliminate,
These passions born Of incidence and ease.
1t is too late for good, however. Woman,
like Pandora, is possessed of curiosity; and
that, in the following scene, produces its
fatal result. She seeks to know the secret of
the Gods, opens the fatal box, and
| Fever of the heart and brain,
| Sorrow, pestlence and pain,
| Means Of anguish, maniac laughter,
| All the evils that here after
| Shall affiict and vex mankind,