The Portland daily press., 1882-04-19
Holmes to Longfellow.
An Eloquent Tribute to the Dead Poet.

passed, and DIR. Oliver Wendell Holmes made
the following remarks:
1t is with no vain lamentations, but rather
with profound gratitude. that we follow the
soul of our much-loved and long-soved poet be-
yond the confines of the world he helped so
largely to make beautiful. We could have
wished to keep him longer, but at least we are
spared witnessing the inevitable shadows of an
old age protracted too far beyond its natural
limits. From the first notes of his fluent and
harmonious song to the last, which comes to US
as the "voice fell Ike falling STAR" there has
never been a discord. The music of the noun
tain stream in the poem which reaches us from
the other shore of life is as clear and sweet as
the melodies of the youthful and middle perl
DDS of his minstrelsy. 1t has been fuily
rounded life, beginning early with large prom
Use, equalling every anticipation in its matur-
ty, fertile and beautiful to its close IN the ripe
ness of its well-flled years.
Until the silence fell upon us we did not en-
tirely appreciate how largely his voice was re-
peated in the echoes of our own hearts. The
aff1uence of his production SO accustomed us to
look for poem from him at short intervals
that we could hardly feel how precious that
was which was SO abundant. Not, of course,
that every single poem reached the standard OF
the highest among them all. That could not
be in Homer's time, and mortals must OCCASION
ally nod now as then. But the hand of the ar
list shows itself Enthusiastically in everything
which left his desk.-the 0 of Gotto could not
help being perfect round and the verse OF
Longfellow is always perfect in construction.
He worked in that simple and natural way
which charaeterizes the master. But it is one
thing to be simple through poverty OF intellect,
and another thing to be simple by repression OF
all redundancy and over-statement; one thing
to be natural through ignorance of all rules and
another thing to have made second nature
out of the sovereign rules of art. In respect to
this simplicity and naturalness his style is in
strong contrast to that of many writer's OF our
time. There is no stralning for effect. there is
no torturing of rhythm for novel patterns, no
wearisome iteration of pettod words, no inele-
CANT clipping of syllables to meet the exigen-
cies of a verse, no affected archaism, rarely any
liberty taken with language, unless 1t may be
in the form of a few words in the translation
of Dante. will not except from these remarks
the singular and original form which he gave
to his poem of "Hiawatba," poem with Gu
rious history in many respects. Suddenly and
intensely popular in this country, greatly ad-
mired by many foreign critics, initiated with
perfect ease by any clever school boy, serving
as a model for metrical advertisements, made
fun of, sneered at, admired, abused, but at any
rate picture full of pleasing fancies and melo-
dious cadences. The very names are jewels
which the most fastidious muse might be proud
to wear. Coming from the realm OF the An
droscoggin and of Moosetukmaguntuk, how
could he have found two such delicious names
as Hiawatha and Minnehaha? The eight-sy-
liable trochaie verse of "Hiawatha" like the
'eight-syllable iambic verse of "The Lady OF the
I Lake, and others of Scott's poems, has fatal
facility, which have elsewhere endeavored to
I explain on physiological principles. The recital
of each line uses up the air of one natural expl-
ration, so that we read, as we naturally do,
eighteen or twenty lines in minute without
disturbing the normal rhythm OF breathing,
which is also eighteen or twenty breaths TO
minute. The standing objection to this is. that
it makes the octosylabc verse too easy writing
and too slipshod reading. Yet in this most FREE
squently criticized piece of verse work, the poet
las shown subtle sense OF the requirements
Of his simple story OF primitive race, IN choos-
ing the most fluid OF measures that let's the
thought run through its easy sing-song, snch as
oral tradition would be sure to find on the lips
of the story-telers of the wigwam. Although
Longfellow was not fond of metrical contor
tions and acrobatc achievements, he well knew
The effect of skilful variation in the forms of
verse and well-managed refrains or repetitions.
In one of his earlier poems f. pheasant it was
when woods were green the dropping sylla-
ole from the last line is an agreeable surprise
to the ear, expecti ug only the common monot-
on of scrupulously balanced lines. In lex
celsior," the repetition of the aspiring exclama-
zion which gives its name to the poem lifts ev-
cry stanZa step higher than the one which
preceded it. In "The Old Clock on the Stair"
the solemn words Forever, Never, Never.
Forever give wonderful effectiveness to that
most impressive poem.
All his art, all his learning, all his melody
cannot account for his extraordinary popularl-
ty, not only among his own countrymen and
those who in other lands speak the language in
which he wrote, but in other lands where ne
could only be read through the ground glass OF
a translation. 1t was in his choice of subjects
that one source of the public favor with which
his writings, more especially his poems, were
received obviously lay. A poem to be widely
popular must deal with thoughts and emotions
that belong to common, not exceptional, char
acter, conditions interests The most popular
! Of all books are those that meet the spiritual
needs of mankind most powerfully such works
as 'The Imitation OF Christ and Pilgrims
( Progress" / suppose ii the great mulutude OF
READERS were to render decision as to which
of Longfellow's poems they most valued 'The
Z Psalm of Life would command the largest
number. This is brief homily enforcing the
great truths of duty and of our relation to the
very probably come Excelsior" poem that
springs upward like a flame, and carries the
soul up with it in its aspiration for the unat-
tainable ideal. If this sounds like trumpet
call to the fiery energies of youth, not less does
the still, small voice in that most sweet and
tender poem, Resignation" appeal to the sem
sibilities of those who have lived long enough
to kave known the bitterness of such a bereave-
ment as that out of which grew the poem. Or
take poem before referred to, 1.-THE Old
Clock on the Stair" and in it we find the histo-
~ of innumerabe households told in relating
the history of one, and the solemn burden OF
the song repeats itself to thousands OF listening
readers as if the beat of the pendulum were
tfrTobbing at the head of every staircase. Such
poems as these-and there are many more OF q
not unlike Characteristic the foundation OF
that universal acceptance his writings obtain
among all classes. But for these appeals to I'M
iversal sentiment his readers would have been
confined to a comparatively small circle OF ed
ucated and refined readers. There are thous-
snds and tens of thousands who are familiar
with what we might call his household poems
who have never read ''The Spanish Student
s'The Golden Legend" "Hiawatha,' or even
'sEvangeline.n Again, ask the first schoolboy
you meet which of Longfellow's poems he likes
'Paul Revere's Ride When he is few
years older he might perhaps say, 'The Build,
ing of the Ship" that admirably constructed
poem beginning with the literal description.
passing into the higher region of sentiment by
the most natural transitions, and ending with
the noble climax
"Thou too sail On, thou ship Of state"
which has become the classical expression OF
patriotic emotion.
THE FIREsIDE POET.
Nothing lasts like coin and lyric. Long
after the dwellings of men have disappeared,
when their temples are in ruins and all heir
works of art are shattered, the ploughman
strikes an earthern vessel holding the golden
and silver disks on which the features of q
dead monarch, with emblems, it may be, be-
rraying the beliefs or the manners, the rude
ness or the finish of art and all which this i'm
plies, survive an extinct civilization Pope
has expressed this with mis- usual Horatian
felicity in the letter to Addison on the publica-
lion OF his little Treatise on Cons:'
"a small Euphrates through the piece is rolled
And little eagles wave their wings in g1ld."
Conquerors and conquered sink in common
oblivion; triumphal arches, pageants the world
wonders at, all that trumpeted itself as des-
tined to an earthly immortality pass away, the
victor of a hundred battles is dust, the parch-
ments or papyrus on which his deeds were
written are shriyelled and decayed and gone:
Sand all his triumphs shrink into CON-"
So it is with lyric poem. One happy utter
ance of some emotion or expression which
comes home to all may keep a name remem-
bered when the race to which the singer be-
/ longed exists no longer. The cradle song of
Dance to her infant as they tossed on the
waves in the imprsoning chest, has made the
name of Simonides immortal. Our own Eng
ish literature abounds with instances which
illustrate the same fact SO far as the experience
of few generations extend. And think we
may venture to say that some of the shorter
noems of Longfellow must surely reach a re-
mote posterity, and be considered then, as now,
ornaments to English literature We may
compare them with the best short POEMS of the
fac 4 I, of mil cuffar