Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-04-22
EMERSON THE POET.
A Critical iraIysis OF the Works Of the
Sage and Poet by the Au.ccrat OF
the Breakfast Table.
An Interesting and Timely Paper Read
Before the Nineteenth Century Club
at Its Last Meeting.

INC meelipS anu III o!ieI ana apPIOptIate
address introduced DR.. HoImea. TIE follow
ing is an abstract Of the paper:
DR.. Holmes said he should put and try to
answer four question:.
Frst-What are the chief merits and de-
fec;s OF Mr.. Emerson's poetry; what is Its
prevailing character, and OF what other
poets does he most remind us2
Second-Wby DOES Mr.. Emerson, m aster
Of en- harmonious and beautiful prose style,
write poelr'?
Third-Why does anyone who can express
himself without the hindrances of rhythm
and rhyme write poetry?
FJurth-What is poetry, that it should
exercise such an attraction for those who
read it or listen 10 it, and more especially
for those who write it?
He said that some of the questions seemed
as dry az hay which had been long stacked,
but his pen, which was to him what the
pitch-fork was to the farmer, was in his
hand and he proposed 10 toss them over once
more in The sunshine of his hearers intelli-
eence. He should take them, he said, in the
reversed order.
Poetry be defined Sc imprisoned or in
spirirg thought expressed in musical, COM
monty in melr;cal language. Il need not
necessarily be impassiOned, but if not in
spring, however agreeable verse might be,
we were disposed TO deny it She name OF
poetry. But different minds are very off
ferently impressed by the same poems, as he
illustrated By several examples, SO that it is
very difficult to fix any absolute standard Of
what is inspiring.
Poetry, he said, was the natural flowing
out of tloqueEce. Highly excited thong hit
becomes in Imaginative snd, under CT rtain con-
ditioDs, rhytbmical. He illustrated this by
the sing-song whine Of certain preachers,
which develops into intoning, and then into
chants and hymns.
He then showed the curious relation be-
| tween the rh ythms of verse and respiration,
which he said he had before pointed out in
40 article contributed to a medical journal.
| The "fatal facility" Of cctosyllabic verse wac
| owing 10 the fact that we breathe six
| teen 10 twenty times in minute and read
about the same number OF these lines, at our
ordinary rate Ct reading, in the same period
of time, so that We allow one breath, that is,
one expiration 10 each line. 1t is the easiest
measure TO read aloud, and in silent mental
/, articulstio We feel the same kind OF facility.
| Another important character Of poetry" he
| continued, sis that it is Inc form in which
| we dare tell our secrets. Poetry is to prose
what the so called 'full.dress' OF the bali
room is to the plainest garments OF the house
| hold and the street. Ii shows less clothing
and more ornament. Full dress' lie that
1 which is go full OF beauty that it cannot hold
/, it all, AMI some of its redundancy over
| hows the margin CT is silken or
other receptacle. The bright pearl
or diamond necklace excuses the liberal
allowance of undisguised nature. Just go the
poet reveals his hidden self in Verse and
Trusts TO his Imagination and the beauty OF
his ryLhms aId rhymes to justly and COM
| mend his self-expysure."
| Wbu wi "A " sli
choose verse is accounted for in various ways.
| Many do II because they are less wise th an
their neighbore, in plain English, fools. The
| delight which versi6ers have in tagging
rhymes together and the satisfaction they
feel in overcoming the difficulties OF versi6-
cation Is most intense. No infatustion sur
passes that of the person wao believes him
self poet. The man who recites his verses
to every listener he can buttou-hole is the
most fearful of beings. The Romans often
| put at their thresholds as a warning cdre
canem; il should be eaps eaneatem.
| Another reason why so many write n
| verse is because it brings such a.reward oi
| popularity when it meets the feelings and
| tastes Of the community. Next TO the cue
cessful sodier-sometimes more than he
the poet is the popular idol. He illustrates
this by the examples OF Burns and John
| Howard PAYNE, author of a single popular
lyric.
He applied the same question to the case
| Of Mr.. Emerson, and gave the reasons which
he supposed led him TO write in Verse occa
sionally. He supposed it was partly an in
stinctive movemeut,psrty because he wanted
greater freedom than prose allowed him. Hs
has himself spoken of the extraordinary
fondness Of the world for It's poets, and m sy
/ have been mol unwilling 10 avail hiuaself o
this predilection. The reader of his early
essay, MATURE" will see by what process b,
passed from prose 10 poetry. He does moi
make his poet (who was himsslf, doubtless
sing in verse, but he puts into his mouf
that which he meant as the most complet,
exposure of his inner thought. "When i
took the metrical form it was commonly OH
of the simplest, much OF ii being what you
may smile to hear me call the normal respi
ratory verse;"
DR.. Holmes mentioned having recently
met persons OF high intelligence in many re
specls, one very eminent lawyer, who die
not see much that wss valuable or like Il
be permanent in Mr.. Emer4 oI's writings il
| prose or verse. But his poetry is more APP
TO be sighted or misunderstood than hi
prose. Why is it not so popular az many 0
US think it ought TO be? Few poems ar
wi lely and permanently popular which ar
not of plain Significance, OF simple con
struciion and relating to the everyday inter
ests of humanity. Two of Mr.. Emersen'
poems which stand in he foreground, name
ly, "The Sphinx" ard "Brahma," have n
doubt frightened off many readers from hi
poems. DR.. Holmes took up these tw
poems and showed how ,hey were like t
psrplex and perhaps discourage M any read
err, who, if they had begun with othe
poems of Emerson snd kept these till ID
last, might have become loyal Emersonians
DR.. Holmes next mentioned some of IN
careless rbythms and rhymes which NATURAL,
| offended ia stidious critics. All these thing
must be allowed for, but they are mer
trivialties 10 the great fact that We have il
| EGIerson master singer.
The difference be. ween his poetry and tina
of others with whom he might naturally b
mpared is that OF algebra and ariLhms tiC
He is'always seeing the universe in the par
ticular. The great bulk OF mankind car
more for two and two-somethlng de finite,
fixed quantity-than for a b, with l an
other symbols implying undermine
amounts and indefinite possibilities. Emsr
son ia a citizen Of the universe, who his
taken up his residence for a few days an
nights in this travelling csravansera betwee
| the two inns which hang out the sisus c
Venus and Mars. This little planet coul
not provncialize such being. Dr.. Holme
enlarged somewhat on this point, ard Illus
trated by striking passage from one of NJ
Emerson's poems The fascination OF hi
poems is in their spiritual depth and sir
cerity and their all-pervadipg symbolism
Nothing is vulgar if he touches
give him a milkiug-stool or q
alehouse bench TO sit upon, he throw
/, his imperial purple over it and it become
throne. Sometimes, of course, symbolism
az in the famous story of the comments upo
, Fannie Ellsier's dancing, no doubt invente
for him and Margaret Fuller by some sauc
fellow, but worth telling if half dozen
the audience possibly may not have heard i
s The seer and seeress have just seen III
+ danseuse execute magnificent gyratien wit
: Wondrous breadth and grace of movsmen
! "Margaret, this ia poetryr' says the see
"Wado, this is religion~ replies the scores
! But with this sense of the infinite in a
things, of symbolism everywhere, Emerso
united keen eye fof the everyday aspect
of nature and an almost child like enj J
ment OF them. His eve is alsays, hoHeve
that of the poet, not that Of the man {
science. The poet couples idess by thei
spiritual, imaginative, fancitul sfhniliss; b
: scientific man BIZ their totally of resen
, blance, 80 as to organize them in seTii
, | groups. Mr.. Emerson's poems are like 500
! | of our stain lass Windows, in which Il
E | picture may be hard to make out, but Il
| effect is beautiful aud impressive, an
the light which shines through the
is light from heaven. DR.. Holm
then pointed out various resemblance
$ between poems Of Emerson and those
| o.her writers. "Recogniziog all these r
, | semblances, Emerson" ne said, as notwitl
: standing one Of the most original OF poet
! | In comparing Wordsworth's way Of thong
E and feeling with Emerson's, l should cay,
: | l wished 10 be epigra1matic, that Emers;
: contemplated himself as belonging to nstu
/ | and Wordsworth felt a. if nature belongs
: to himself. 10 studying his poems We mu
! not overlook the great delieacy OF their d
scriptive portions. If in the flights OF b
Imagination he is ike the strong wing
. bird of passag, in his exquisite choice OF d
Z scrip;ive epIiheis, he reminds me of q
: teauirostraLs. That II tie selecti7e insln t
Z his penetrates the vocabulary for the q
, word it wants, as the long, elender bll
i those birds dives deep into the soil ior Its pa
: iicle OF nutriment. l did not opo
! 4 10 take up your time this event.
S with reading extracts from Emerson
It poems. You have already seen msl
admirable seleciisns from those in u
i Siedman's thoughtful aud scholarly esss
7 But here lie one passage which shows
exquisitely the two different conditions