Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1875-05-13
From the staunton Spectator.
IroTHEA.

NJ, Of the Polytechnic Institute, New
Market, Virginia. The real merits Of
this unpretendihg volume are such, we
think, as will place this venerable and
scholarly man, not only. among the
bold and original thinkers of the age,
but the originality and sublimity of
the conception, as well as the poetic
beauty and simple purity of his style,
evince, in the highest degree, ''the art
divine" and will place him, in our
humble judgment, high up among those
men OF genius whose names and works
are alike imperishable.
"ldothea" is volume of 308 pages,
large duodecime, and, as the name inn
ports, its burden is the Divine Image,
as seen in
l.-Idothea-BEAurY OF TRUTH.
ldos Truth in Man, (subject-
ively,)
ldos II-Truth in Nature, Idos III
Truth in Revelation. In it's relation
to the Divine Image, Truth in all these
aspects is beautifully and sublinely por'
trayed
Idothea 1.-THE Divine Image as
seen in Coop and EVIL. Under this
head are nine idyls, beginning with
EuDRMoN1A, Rural Happiness,) and
Nemesis. GAVE of Divine Retribution,
in bold aud startling contrast. The
creative wand of the author at once
gives life like images; and passing
through all the phases of life's varied
experiences and phenomena, Upward
and onward, to the unseen mystery of
Passive AWAY, in which he nnfolds
the half-revealed and half concealed
yet deeper mysteries "Behind the
Veil"
Idothea ILLS the IMAGE of Con,
as seen Yonder, in the BEAUTY of
HOLINESS. From the higher conccp.
tons of ancient, genius and philosophy,
of the Right, the Just, the Supreme
Good, our author ascends to a still
higher world, essentially spiritual
here, with trem bling, blissful awe. con>
templates Truth, Mercy, Holiness in
the Absolute and Unconditicned,
Yonderl Under the head, Epidos I,
entitled UranotEen, from heaven,
;hls higher plane of thought has con-,
ceptions weird and un earthly; and
while all the conclusions may not
equate with our theology, or even with
our philosophy, yet every line is truly
instinct with just portrayals of the or
binary, aud even possible powers Of
mind in its strange relationship to the
present and hA;;;ond, The excursions
OF the BARELY possible, and the return
from the heavens, give q pleasing
variety and deepening interest to this
wonderful little book.
Epidos II-HoME AGAIN, trans
cends all other parts of the book, by
sustaining the wonderful heroine
Idothea, who has come back to eartl
again, with her life entirely segregated
from all ghostllness-a feat which
neither Milton nor Shakespeare, with
all their transcendant powers, per-
formed. Their ghosts were ghosts In
deed. But, Idothea, with all tht
naturalness of arth-life, opens to view
aral life, and the souls progress
toned down to such cadence as make
actual the regions and visions of hap
pier spirits yonder. And Idothe;
teaches US the wonderful dominion &C
CURED by mind over matter, and grad
uated by Holiness, as exercised with
more than magical powers by diferen
orders, until the grand thought Gull
inmates in the conception of Pure
Spirit, absolute at once in holiness ane
in control. This is so sublimely con-
ceived and presented, that it is une-
qualled outside the Book of God it
self.
The conception is SO bold, and so il
harmony with the dignity, and nature
of spirit, human, angelic, and divine
that the theories of scientists, such al
Huxley, Spencer and Darwin, seem. by
comparison mere inanities. The terri
bic repentance of Orson, his fearful ret
ribution, and wonderful rescue of Elaine
are too highly wrought, and in our o
pinion, constitute the defect of the
book.
! In the closing epidos, QII,) Uranon
de, (back to heaven,) this work trul.
eliminates, Erasmus and Idothea, as
they respectively embody and imper-
senate human thought, the struggles o
the understanding, the intellect, science
art, on tho one hand, and those highe
| elements-the moral, the Spiritual, an(
the Divine-on the other hand ye'
this work of art seems perfect-the.
seem actual, living beings all the time
not mere distractions, but reyeling il
actual life; yet rising from lofty to lof
tier planes The Seen is always thu
symbol and suggestions of something
unseen and higher, until in the Trisa
gion the Divine is truly inspired in all
and through all, not only warming thu
skies" and sustaining the ALL, but BY
him the very laws of life, science, art
toll, pain, thought, feeling-all sacred
in the mission of evolving the higher
possibilities of nature and of man, i'm
maging the Divine in the Beauty o
Holiness. The nuptials of Erasmus
and Elaine constitute fitting sequel t
this wonderful poem. The eliminating
thought justly terminates the book, ant
crowns the strangely new progress from
the lower to the higher planes OF thong
realizing the development Of ONE IDEA
until they crystalize in the conception
of the True, the Beautiful, the Pure
the Divine
"The Beauty of Holiness-is to forgive.
WV. H. WILSON,
Moorefeld, VIVA.
!