Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-05-03
Holmes to LOngfellOw.


sets Historical Society last week, Dr.. Oil
yer Wendell Holmes paid the following elo-
quent and beautiful tribute to our late poet
1t is with no vain lamentations, but rather
with profound gratitude, that we follow the
soul of our much-loved and long-loved poet
beyond the confines of the world he helped
so largely to make beautiful We could
have wished to keep him longer, but at least
we were spared witnessing the inevitable
shadows of an old age protracted too far be-
yond its natural limits. From the first
notes of his fluent and harmonious song to
the last, which comes to us as the "voice
fell like falling star" there has never been
discord. The music of the mountain
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
periods of his minstrelsy. 1t has been
fully rounded life, beginning early with
large promise, equaling every anticipation
in its maturity, fertile and beautiful to its
close in the ripeness of its well-flled years.
Until the silence fell upon US we did not
entirely appreciate how largely his voice
was repeated in the echoes of our own
hearts. The affluence 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 80 abun-
dant. Not, of course, that every single
poem reached the standard of the highest
among them all. That could not be in Ho-
mer's time, and mortals must occasionally
nod now as then. But the hand of the ar
tist shows itself unmistakably in everything
which left his desk-the o of Giotto 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 characterizss 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 state
ment; one thing to be natural through ig-
norance of all rules, and another to have
made a second nature out Of the sovereign
rules of art. In respect to this simplicity
and naturalness, his style is in strong con-
trast to that of many writers of our time.
There is no straining for effect, there is
no torturing of rythm for novel patterns,
no wearisome iteration of petted words,
no inelegant clipping of syllables to meet
the exigences Of verse, no affected ar
chaism, rarely any liberty taken with lam
guage, unless it 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 Hiawatha," poem with a curious his
tory in many respects. Suddenly and i'm.
mensely popular in this country, greatly ad-
mired by many foreign critics, initiated with
perfect ease by any clever schoolboy, serving
as model for metrical advertisements,
made fun of, sneered at, admired, abused
but at any rate a picture full Of pleasing
fancies and melodious cadences. The very
names are Jewels which the most fastidious
muse might be proud to wear. Coming
from the realm of the Androscoggin and Of
Moosetukmaguntuk, how could he have
found two such delicious names as Hiawaths
and Minnehaha
All his art, all his learning, all his mel
ody, cannot account for his extraordinary
popularity, not only among his own country
men and those who in other lands speak tn
language in which he wrote, but in othe
lands where he could only be read through
the ground glass of translation. 1t was il
his choice Of subjects that one source of tn
public favor with which his writings, NOR
especially his poems, were received OF
viously lay. A poem to be widely popula
must deal with thoughts and emotions tina
belong to common, not exceptional, chal
acter, conditions, interests. The most POI
ular of all books are those that meet tn
spiritual needs of mankind most powerful,
such works as limitation of Christ an
Pilgrims Progress" | suppose if tn
great multitude of readers were to render
decision as to which of Longfellow's poem
they most valued, the "Psalm of Life
would command the largest number. Thi
is brief homily, enforcing the great truth
of duty and of our relation to the eterni
and invisible. Next in order would yer
probably come excelsior" poem ths
springs upward like flame and carries th
soul up with it in its aspiration for the III
attainable ideal. Again ask Ii
first schoolboy you meet which of Longfe
lows poems he likes best, aud he will /
, very likely TO answer, " Paul Rsvere's Ride
When he is few years older he might pc
haps say, "The Building of the Ship" tn,
I admirably constructed poem, beginning wit
: the literal description, passing into IL
j higher region of sentiment by the most ma
= ural transitions, and ending with the mob
climax,
= "T Thou too sail on thou ship OF state"
a which has become the classical expression
a patriotic emotion.
q Nothing lasts like coin and lyri
: Long after the dwellings of men have disa
: peared, when their temples are in ruins al
, all their works of art are shattered the plo,
, man strikes an earthen vessel holding IL
] golden aud silver disks ON which the featur
y of dead monarch, with emblems, it ms
y be, betraying the beliefs and manners, Il
t rudeness or the finish of art and all viii,
o this implies, survive an extinct civilizatio
8 Pope has expressed this with his usual He
d atian felicity in the letter to Addison
v the publication of his little "Treatise G
Q Coins !"
. "a small Euphrates through the piece is rolled
|. And little eagles wave their wings In gold"
a Conquerors and conquered sink in comm,
l. oblivion triumphial arches, pageants t
n world wonder sat, all that trumpeted its,
h as destined to an earthly immortality pa
n away, the victor of hundred battles is dui
n the parchments or pspyrus on which b
q deeds were written are shrivelled and d
n capped and gone
4 And all his triumphs shrink into eon."
8 So II is with lyric poem. One happy utt
% ance of some emotion or expression whi
Is comes home to all may keep name remel
II bered when the race to which the singer
If longed exists no longer. The cradle song
IL Danss 10 her infant as they tossed on I