New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-09-19
LONGFELLOW AND HOLMES.

affection than any other American wrliefs low Nv
irg Both have passed the wears which the Psainlst
assigns the natural term of the strength and hap
pness of man: bul both. in their sunny af 'ernoon,
escape the chill shadow of the approaching night,
which we all pray may be far off. There is a quiet
and pensive tone IN nearly all these poems, suggest
ing the red and fruitful autumn and the sweet re-
pose which follows the heat and labor of the fields.
But they never sound the note of sorrow. 10 these
our beloved poets. life has never been evil; they
have found consolation in it's erlefs and support IN
its perpexites (; il is still bright for them WITH
present friendships and cheerful memories, and 1t
will be bright to the end. Mr.. uougfellow pretixes
to his little volume a Dedication which explains the
title of the book and at the time sets the key
for all the songs comprised in 1t
DEDICATION.
ToG.w.G C..
with favoring winds. DER sunt seas,
We sailed for the Hrsperides.
The land where golden apples grow;
But tnaI, all that was long ago
How far since then the ocean
That land of fic ion ana of truth,
The lost Atlantis of our youth
wbither ah whitherl Are not these
The tpmpesthaunted He0ridcs
Where sca-guIis scream and breakers roar,
And wreck and Sca-weed line the shore
Ultima Thule! Utmost Isle
Here IN thy haIDOrs for wbIe
We lower our sails while we rest
Tn still more perfect harmony with the poets
temper are the last lines of these Eiegiac stanzas.
beautiful alike as a piece of exquisite description
and the expression of a calm and sympathetic heart
ErEGrAC.
Dark is the morning with mist in the narrow mouth Of
Motioness lies the s. A. under Its curtain OF cloud
Dreamiy glmmer The sails OF ships on the distant hori-
Like to the towers OF town. built on the verge OF the
Slowly and stately and still, they sail forth into the
With them sail my thoughts the lmitIess deep,
Farther farther away borne on by unsalsned long
1,nt ~ Hcsperian isles uni o Ausonian shores
Now they have vanished away, have disappeared in the
Sunk are the towers of the into the depths Of the
All have vanished hut those that, moored in the neigh
saiiess al anchor ride looming so large in the mist.
Vanished. too, the thoughts. the diu unsatsfed
sunk are the rurrets of cloud of dreams
While a of rest my heart Is riding ut anchor
Held by the chains OF love, held ny the anchors OF
trusti
What conld he charming than the verses
From my Arm Chair" addressed TO the children
of Cambridge who presented to the poet on his sew
enty-second birthday a chair made from the wood
of the Village Backsmith's Chestnut Tree'
The Danish king could not in all his PRIDE
Repe the ocean tdr
But, seated this chair, can In rhyme
Roll back the Tue 81 lime.
see again. AZ one in vision sees.
The blossoms and the bees.
Aud hear the childreu's vioces shout and CALL
And the brown chestnuts fall.
see the smthy with its fires aglow,
hear tne bellows blow,
And the shrlll hammers on the anvil beat
The iron white with neat
And thus dear children, have ye made for me
This day jubilee.
And tn NV more thah thf'c-scoie yehrs anu teh
Brought back my youth again.
The heart hath its own memory. like the mind.
And III II shTined
The precious kccpsakeS into which is wrought
the glvcr's loving thought
Only yonr love and your remembrance could
GIVE life to this dead Nood,
And make these branches, lcaiess now 30 long,
Blossom again iu song.
The volume contains the poems OF the past two
years including, besides those we have quoted the
lines Oh the death of Bayard Taylor, the sonnet
| "The Burial of the Poet " Orchard Henry Danal.
"Robert Burns.n"My Cathedral,"" Old st. Da
vid's at Ralnor" and nine ten other pieces. The
following sonnet is highly characteristic:
NIGHT.
Into the darkness and the hush Of night
slowly tue landscape SINKS. and fades away.
Aud with 1t fade tie plantoms of tie day.
TIE ghosts of and things, that haunt the light.
The crowd, The camor. the pnrsui,, the flight.
T unpT"htabN spiendor ard display,
the agatIons, and the cares that prey
Upon our hearts, all vanish our OF sign.
Nclestsu~; ali It's r, cords we erase
From the dull place book Of our lives.
That IKE q pdlmpsest Is written DER
WITH trivial incidents OF time and Place,
And 10 the idcaI, md len beneath REEVES.
Somewhat more in the Gayer spirit of Lolgfel-
lows earlier work are the song of The Windmill"
ami the dialogue between the Maiden and Wealth
ercockn The maiden asks the weathercOck what
he can see from his perch aloitf He sees \ ship
come sal ing in and young man on the deck blow
,I,o la
MAIDEN
An that IL the shin from over the sea.
That IL bringing my lover back to me,
Bringing my lover 80 fOud anu true,
VINO does not change with the wind like you.
wEATHEgCOCK.
III change with III the winds that blow,
Ills sl,ly because they made me so.
And people would thlnk II wondrous strange
H. Weathercock, should not change.
O pretty Maiden. 50 fine and fair.
WIN your dreamy eyes and your golden hair,
Wgen YOU and your lover meet to-day
You VIII thank Inc FOR looking some other way.
DIR. Holmes IN collecting the occasional produc-
lions of the past six years has taken the tile OF
The Iron Gate from the poem read at the birth
day breakfast given him by the publishers Of HE
atlantic Monthly last December. he thought of
Old Age Is ever present in these verses. as IT is i'll
Mr.. Lone fellow's " Ultima Thule ,"
Old Age the graybeard Well, indeed, ! know him.
Snrunk. lettering, bent OF nchss ana HIS the prey;
Ia sermon, story fable. pic iure, poem,
OFT have met him from my earliest DAY:
Yes long, Indeed, I've known him nj n distance,
And now my lifted dooratch shows MN here;
take his shryeed hand wr nout remittance
And find lin smiling ~ his step draws near.
What though Of gildcd baubles bn bereaves ns.
Dear 10 the hoarl youth. To manhood'r prime;
THINK Of the cam he brings. the wealth he leaves
The boarded spols the Iegacies OF time
The genial huuor Of DR.. Holmes. however, is