The New York herald., 1877-03-02
SHAKESPEARE'S SCENE PAINTING.
LECTURE BY THE REV. JOHN wEIss-THE
GROWTH OF THE SENTIMENT OF NATURE IN

LECTURE BY THE REV. JOHN wEIss-THE
GROWTH OF THE SENTIMENT OF NATURE IN
LITERATURE.
very interesting lecture, the FIRST OF course OF
nve, was delivered yesterday afternoon by the Rev.
John Weiss, OF Boston, the parior the American
Geographical Society, No IL West Twenty street.
The subject chosen Landscape In Shakespeare ("
Tho parors well filed with ladies, and precisely
three O'Clock the stepped the platform
lie sad:-
Shakespeare mover depicted landscapc-he always
implied It. The sentiment Of nature tho product of
modern thought and feeling. The ancient Greek
dramatic poets, SopnocIcs and Euripdes, never even
implied a landscape. Euripides, indeed, depicted
landscape In very curt shape but he Is tho only in
stance In al tho Crock dramas of a reference to
natures scenery In the present century tho
drama, and indeed all literature, is full OF dcscrip-
tons of nature and natural objects and scenery.
Shakespeare occupies a middle ground between the
ancient Greck and the modern drama. He anticipates
modern methods generally leaving the character OF the
inan or woman In mis- plays TO imply the landscape.
desertion Is told by the Duke, and Murianas loneli-
by the mOated grange is Indicated by sentence
two and the rest lett to the reader, who will
inevitably follow out the thought Teunyson takes u
whole poem to tell what Shakespeare told in two
sentences
ln the Tempest" Prospcro's address nature is in
the ancient fashion, but may he that nature s
indivdualiZed but personincd by Shakespeare.
The Greek iancy pretended that an cpthct Is ndi
vIduaL Shakespeare never does The speech OF
Ariel the "Tempest admirably expresses the differ
between ancicnt aud modern sentiment OF
nature. Compare op this point Shakespeare and the
ancient poets with Schiller in his 'Marie Stuart"
where clouds and sky addressed ms human beings
In "King Lcar'' there Is a speech which seems to
encourage the midnight storm, beginning, "Blow
winds and cruck your cheeks, but he expressly DIS
claims any notion OF attrbuting any human sentiment
TO them. But just following that speech Shakespeare
does anticipate modern ieeling and or once, attribute
human feelings TO the elements There is scarcely
another instance, except the song IN 'As You Like
IT, BLOW, Blow Thou Winter WInd;" but modern
poetry s iull OF such unsuspected waste 0f tho mag
inaon Here the lecturer read, as specimen, Robert
Browning's poem, "Under tho Cn, and remarked
IL took 900 years to write that poem At any other
period than the present II would have been impUs-
sibilIly illustrations OF the same character
drawn from many oil tho other plays and poems OF
Shakespeare.
Shakcspearc's feeling Tor flowers is an exception
That runs through ali mis- plays, and In speaking
this point the lecturer alluded 10 the ideal distribution
of ideal flowers by Ophelia, and said that Opheiia
ought not to have any real flowers her hand, as the
whole passage and thought was purely ideal
Frequently through the lecture Mr.. Weiss read and
recltcd with considerable effect passages support of
his position taken from the different plays and poems
Of Shakespeare for his remarks were not confined to
the playg alone, but included the poems Is we'll
The next lecture will be given at tho place
morrow afternoon, the subject being "Antony and