The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-06-11
THE POETS BIRDS.
By PHIL. ROBINsoE.

1
who should Say that, IS 3 class, To
bards are not only Insdequently IN
I rmed az to the ordinary objects il
nsture, bat ceriously unfair toward
those which they profess to under
stand.
This holds good only OF British
poste, Tennyson excepted; for the 20
stry of America marks pertectl.
new departure from the stereotyped
artificial, and unsympathetic treat
ment of natural objects which char
acterizes British verse. America, per
haps,is too large to tolerate prejudices
or it may be that a specific variation
in the intellectual conditions of thG
welt develops a corresponding varis
ton in the poetic tona. Her poet
cannot 60 to an antique heI abby fol
grotesque fancies about beasts which
herslds had never heard of, ror tC
classical myths for Whimsical ideas
about birds which were unknown tC
Greece and Rome. They are pro.
tected, therefore. to q certain extent,
from any hereditary faint" of pre-
Ijudice. and have fewer temptations
than European poets toward the loRi-
clans ''fallacy tor antiquity" But
this does not suffice to explain that
universal kindness towards 1.-THE
speechless world" which is conspicu-
Gus in the works of Emerson, Long
ie low, Lowell, Holmes, Bryant, and
Whittie:; that tender gospel OF sym
psthy, of which Buddha was the Mes
siah and Edwin Arnold is the latest
evangelist. Now this sympathy, CO.
extensive with nature. which / find
common to all the poets of America.
is one of the rarest of traits in the
poets of England, The latter, no
tice land l have carefully examined
200 volumes of their verse. are eel
dom in true accord with Nature, and
seldom, therefore, in her fullest con-
fdenCe.
Silence, Bs an American writer has
said, 10 unsa lisfactory, inasmuch as
il does not permit sentiment in its
treatment of natural objects; but even
cOnceding the essayist to be right. it
is also certain that poetry is hardly
more satisfactory when it shows an
unnecessary disregard OF scientific
faCts. All who love the poetry in Ma
ture better than the poetry out Of it
viii admit this.
Poetical license Of course excuses
much, and in homage to the true aim
OF poetry almost. anything may be
con6oued. But even poetical license
must confess TO laws, and, like Ma
ture herself In her mos. WayWard
moods, must never permit the extern
sion of an idea except in the direction
of its natural progression. It must
be produced in a Straight line only. !
There must be no kinks in il, DO &C.
centric liberties taken. When Nature
made a bat che availed herself of a
lawful license; but when poets call
The hat "a bird" they GO beyond the
ustifsble. II a bard is not content
With merely saying that the eagle
stares at the sun, but goes on to add
hat its sight pierces through the sun
Ind beyond it, his extension is in a
trsight line; or if another, describ
ng the raven riding on the crest of the
wiftly-moving storm, speaks of it as
the storm, there is an admis.
bic and pleasing prolongation, go
0 speak, of the original idea. But
Vben the vultUre, because it is oppo-
co to the dove in general character,
} made las by saVsge) to chase the
owe and catch il; or when, the sea q
sving become calm, the ses.gulls
egin las il Mallet) to "Warble," We {
esent the liberty taken by the bard,
" it Is eccentric. and out of the reg
lar plane OF n ature's procedure. 8
1t will no doubt be sIeo pleading, in Z
lstlhcstion of poeticsl license, that c
De WEiters are often only pureuing ,
points of high prescription, and
up old tradition. The plea Y
J admissible, for no one can be die Q
leased with any effort TO preserve q
le delightful fancies OF antiquity. y
'ut the poets should sometimes save L
lemselVes by an aunt, or at all c
vents they should not go beyond the p
riglnsl myth. 1t is poor com pliment c
} the fable of the bird of paradise. Il
lat it sleeps on the wing, to stretch
re same privilege, as Cowper doe, to T
Re swallow; nor is it respectful 10 =
lie legend of the pelican to exagger-
e her act into one of self-destruc- n
on. She fed her young from her Y
-esst, so tradition pretended, to save b
lem from starvation. But she did
9s, obviously, give them "her life's d
o cd" for that would have precip- b
ated the very catastrophe which Ct
le poor mother tried so painfully to
Iert. now these, | take it, are Il
buses OF tradition, and opposed to
at tender, reverent trusteeship of 81
d-World bird-lore which We look for u y
the poets. Let them, by all means, Il L.
'rpetuate the pretty wisdom of the =
But they must not add "
it for their present pur pose, nor 2,
ke from it to suit their text.-June
tantic. 81