The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1876-11-08
POETRY.

EOGIh1s
To the Editor Of the Morristown Gazette:
1t is a very prevalent d 6nion that Pc
etry is of little use compared with othel
species of writings that it is of HttIt
real utility as trainer and strengthened
of the mind. The vast majority are will
ing to give it but, at best, middle place
in literature. They regard it as the or
namentation of other, and, as they con
slider, more instructive productions as
the frescoing and covering in an archi-
tectural design, calculated to enhance
the beauty of the structure, and capti-
vate the eye, but add no real value This
belief is attributable only TO neglect to
cultivate taste for such reading The
more one will devote his attention
to poetry, the more rapidly will this
error be eradicated. There is on
gIander, more effective agency for ex-
banding the mental powers, developing
the faculties, brightning and quickening
the moral perceptions, than judicious
use Of the standard poets. True, the
mathematics may make us more logical;
the classics more ornate and polished
the science of wealth better economists;
history may furnish US with more facts,
may make US better acquainted with the
origin and progress of the human race
but none of them, or all of them, are so
well calculated to give Us correct views
of life and its responsibilities !; none so
well adapted TO enlarge our conceptions
Why is this Because the true GrS deCiRd
stoops not to anything base or low, but
deals only in noble, lofty images Does
it speak of Nature. it directs the mind
to the great Master Spirit, the Eternal /
First Cause. 1t teaches us to look ND |
through Nature unto natures God What |
better schoolmaster have we, pray, than
Nature as interpreted by a Thompson
or a Bryant 3? The four English poets,
Shakspere, Milton, Pope and Young
open up to US more ample field for pro
fltable study than an equal humber of
any other character of writers. Shaks-
pere, with his life-like pictures of hui
man nature, its weakness, frailty and
need of support How he sketches, /
with master hand the malevolence of
man when controlled by his base pas
sions How graphically he pictures the
crimes of Richard III, with their heri-
tage of remorse the despicabIe avarice
and Unsuitable malice of Shylock the
jealousy of the Moor; the ingratitude
of Regain and Goneril And in it all,
how odious does he make crime, and
how bitter it's fruits Pope, too, charms
us with his splendor of diction and beau
ty of versitication and instructs us :
with his terse, argumentative, sensible :
maXims. How truthfully and forcibly
does Young show the gay, worldly Lo- /
reno the inevitable result of his course; ]
and how all, unpiloted by reason and {
morality, must drift at the mercy of the q
wind and tide And, finally, how the :
Blind Bard, while he ''sings of things I
yet in prose or verse;" e
opens up to the astonished vision the
grandeur of Heaven, the glory and ma 4
jesty of God, the beauty and rewards of I
the Nervousness and pen D
atty of sin In the contemplation of u
such things would it not appear strange II
that the mind should fail to enlarge, and
the moral powers to become strengthen u
ed? Read poetry, then, real, true poe !.
ry-not the f1imsy, wishy-washy kind, d
)ut the standard poets-those which re- n
Iuire a demand upon the intellect to r
grasp and comprehend them. IT'S the a. q,
of mans highest conceptions G
nd nOblest feelings. Whether we con- d.
ider the attractiveness of its subjects, ell
r the loftiness of its nature, it win be tr
ound to offer more wealth of thought, a
lOre beauty of imagery tnan any other
lass of reading. L. L. T. 1y