Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1886-05-28
LONGFELLOW.
Words Concerning the Great
Poet.
May Atlantic.


Poet.
MAY Atantlc.l
1t is singular, when one stops to con-
slider, how entirely the popular conception
of Longfellow has sprung from his art,
and how little it owes to external testi- ,
mony. He shrank from publicity, and
though he was the recipient of numberless
visitors, and accepted with patience the
burdens which his fame imposed upon
him, there was charmed circle within
which he dwelt, and beyond whose lire
none passed except the very few
who would be the last to disclose
any of the knowledge which they thus
obtained. The occasions on which he
took part in any public exercises were so
rare as to intensity his privacy and this
retirement was note of his character,
not the result Of any deliberate choice or
policy. "Was to have gone to the Frank
lin birthday banquet in the Port he
writes in his diary but sent the carriage
away, hearing that was expected to re
ply to a toast IN honor of the poets OF
Cambridge. ;" But no one who was
present can forget the occasion
of his little speech in San
der's theatre in Cambridge. The hall
was filled with an audience of school chill
dren, and such of their elders as could
find admittance, met to celebrate the
250th anniversary of the settlement of
Cambridge The chair made from the
| spreading chestnut tree, which the chill
dren had given him, stood upon the plat
| form, as Il pleasant, silent response from
| the poet. He himself was among
the guests grouped about the
speakers of the day. Suddenly there
was a hush of expectation. The gov
ernor was to have spoken, but was not
present. The mayor, who was presiding,
leaned over and spoke to Mr.. Longfellow,
Il tl,t tln bod GaY1f-
ed to speak the children. The quiet voice
with which, standing where he had been
| sitting, he uttered the few graceful SEN
fences that rose to his lips was the express
sion of Il nature acting spontaneously and
naturally, undlsturDed by circumstance,
vet moved by force of sentiment which
was set in motion by the spectacle before
him.
There are but slight witnesses to the
external course of his life to be found in
| LOngfellow's prose or verse. In one OF his
| letters to Mr. Greene, when Hyperion had
just been printed, he says, "The feelings
of the book are true; the events of the
story mostly fictitious. The heroine, of
course, bears resemblance to the lady,
without being an exact portrait. There Is
no betrayal OF confidence, no real scene
described Hyperion is the name of the
book, not of the hero. 1t merely indicates
that here is the life of one who IN his
feelings ana purposes is a son of Heaven
and Earth, and who, though obscured by
clouds, yet moves on high Further
than this the name has nothing to do with
the book and in fact is mentioned only
once in the course of it. | expect to be
nightly abused. People will say that
; am the hero of my own romance, and com
pare myself to the sun, to Hyperion Apol-
10. This is not so. | wish only to mbOdy
certain feelings which are mine, not tt
magnify myself" 1t is common enough
for readers to insist upon close cor
respondence between poets lmper
sonations and his personal expert
ences, and in the case of Long
fellow they have refused to accept
any but the most literal rendering of Hy
perion and of few of his poems. Nor is
it impossible to trace the lines of his life
now and then, in his verse especially l.
! it easy to recognize his companlonship
; Still, the revelation which Longfellow'
poetry makes is of that inner experience
more important to understand than any
mere external circumstance, and 1t IS be
7 cause of the freedom and fullness of THU
revelation that we are able to say, we
l knew the poet from his poetry before we
We're able, from these volumes, to see how
4 perfectly this inner life was in harmony
D with the outer shell in which it was
, formed
e Here may be observed a difference be
I tween Longfellow and Hawthorne Boil
I We're men of seclusion; both were in
5 stinctively artists. The evidence concern
3 ing both may be said to be all in; we hav,
/, their works, their private journals, and we
l have external testimony regarding them
= But Hawthorne has been brought very
much closer to men, in his personal rela
lions, through the publication of his life
8 there have been laid open al
p most unknown tracts of his ma
D ture. His books, for all their appar
/ emily confidential air. never really tolt
: very much of the man. Longfellow, OF
4 the other hand, concealed himself behnt
veil so thin that while it was perfec
: protection to his own consciousness 1t wa
4 a transparent medium for the public. Hi
= journals and letters make this clear ant
n only translate into the language of fac
s what we may already be SAID TO have reat
[ in the language of symbol.