New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-03-14

Jolned ,h c%ta =" if possible in to study
character. / had a flute in my knapsack. ana i
Thought It would he very prelT ou NO i would not
have dons il for the world without an lnNi!alon'
Well. before long determined to get an invita- da
t,on' if possible. So addressed the girl VINO WAS
walking beside me- told her had q lutte III my
sack and asked her if she would IKE 10 uamov,
Now laugh long and loud! what 90 yo1 suPPos1 1
her an, wer WASP She said she liked to dance pul
she did not know what flute was! what havoc
that made among nv romantic ideas Ny, uuIt'Ts
was made SAID no more about NUE. the Nio!o
journey through: and thought nothing Dut sta'
yatinn would drive me to strike up at the entrance
of n village. as Goldsmith dld
Spain was the country which deghted-hlm inc
most There he learned 10 speak Spanish with eN-
traordinary nucncy and purity taking many lesson
from the lips of pretty girl-ior eVerywn''G n'
made cordial friends. He formed cueHNn'" AZ
ouaintanceship with Washington IRVING anu ""9
warmly received 10y Alexander Everett, then United
States Minister at Madrid. In after years hc re-
fused TO return to Spain lest he should break tho
sroll Of mi, memorable visit. He wrote to his
SISTER from Cotcingen: any poetic career Is M
| isbcJ Since left America have hardly pat TWO
| limos togetber" But this was not penned IN mo"u
of detection The long interruption OF his poctlcal
| activity extending, with only slight outbreaks Oh
SOM. over several years. was caused by close APP
| nUcation TO scyerer studies. 1t covered the period
| of his life when if LIE was not hapPicst. he was
most uniformly cheerful 1t was only after lac had
known real suffering, in the loss oT ms hrst VIC
that the pensiye mood, which his earliest admirers
found 50 delicious in his writings, began to Affect
his views of life and that such entries a. the loi
! lowing appeared now and then IN his dialy'
sth Moped and CROPPED about, unweH Dcectc9
m sunshine in the soul. Cannot bring my lhInu
to work Prepared Introductory lecture Oh fau'l
/ for Monday. ,,.,,.,, l,,1od
| instead of singing: all harsh ana ont OF tunr I'm
portantl but who likes to st IN those narrow pew
with his knees crooked ana theh nave oNclS Hoi w
| in him 0uiVer in agony , &c
10th. PERHAPS the worst thing in a coege life is
! this having Your mind constantly laN Lite l"i
/ bovs-constaUtlv adapting itself TO theln lnStedu
! of stretching out and graphing with men minus
This was written just as he began Hyperion
| In the same wear with that work 1899 appeared
the collection of his poems entitled Voices OF the
Nipbt" and it is at this point that his career as u
poet may be said to begin His own references 10
his picccs are brief aud beautifully modest, and he
does not often tell us what he thought OF them
But sometimes lie mentions an interesting 1acJ OF
50 in connection with their origin. Here sa pass
age from the diary for 1888:
! Doc,rbcr G, A beautiful holy morning within
me was softly excited, knew not why; and
wrote with peace IN my heart and not without tears
IN INV ewes The Reaper and the Flowers: FSalm oil
! Death have had an idea OF tins klhh III my hlnu
Tor a long time without finding any expression FOR
| il in words This morning 1t seemed TO cTSstallzS
at once, without any eort C[ my noc te pS,iods
of CESSATION, and then are born whether we Will OF
not. .., 4 H., poouorp Cor
tho Kuick,ri,ocker having in the morning recelVei
| n letter from Clark. Added two stanzas. DIssdtiS-
fed with them and struck them out IeaNlhe Ihc
niece AS il came f:om my mind Yesterday IN gusl.
Another of his most popular poems was, like this
the result of a sudden access of feeling: Before
/ oburrb wrote The Arrow and the Song" which
came into nv mind as stood with my back to the
FIRE and glanced on to the paper with arroWy speed
Literally a Improvisation curious literary pro
| iect-which was not carried out-.s disclosed III a
| letter ~ George W. Greene:
| have broken ground in a new field namely,
| ballads bcclnninL with the Wreck OF the
simmer Hesperris" on the reef of NOrmans zoe:
IN the great storm OF a fortnight ago shaIl SEM
II TO some newspaper think shall write more.
The national ballad is virgin soil here IN New
| TnCI1pd and there are great materials. Besides
have a great notion OF working upon inc people
feelings. | am going to have II printed on shr'''
! with a coarse picture on IT, desire new sehst-
| tior and a new set of critics Nat. hawthorne IS
ticEled with the idea. FELTON, laughs and says
| - wouldn't 800
Hawthorne was more sanguine than the JoVlal Dul
sensible FELTON,. The diary says, January. 1870:
18th Hawthorne came 10 pass the evening. we
| had a long conversation on literature lie means
to write "a childS book. told nm OIL my DalIaI
and that meant to have IL printed on sheet with
nlcture on top like other ballads lie is dcl!Shled
with the idea ami says he Will distribute tHcm Ia
skinner of craft ne DOdGtlh III MS us
, tontlouse duties, SO as to hear their cTltlclsms
| HiIIard aud FELTON, came late, and we had pleas
| ant supper.
The Golden Legend" as most people know, was
never designed to be a book 10y itself although II
was published separately, but it WAS intended from
the first to occupy the place which it now hold, as
the secondpa of a trilOgy 10 lady who admired
IT Long elbow wrote:
Ihaye endeavored to show in il, among Other
things that through the darkness and corruption OF
thc Middle Ages ran bright, deep stream oi i avn
strong enough for all the eXgehcies oil NE aho
In order to do this had to Introduce por
ton of tins darkness and corruption as PACK
ground. ! am suro You Will he gan to know to''
| the monks sermon is not wholly OF my own lnNcn
ton The worst passage in II is from u sermon o.
Fra Gabrielle Baretta-an Italian preacher OF Inc
r The Miracle NJ Play is founded the Arocry
phal Gospels OF James and The Infancy OF Chrlst
Botn this and the sermon show no" sacred thelhc
were handled in the days vi long ago.
Echoes of the voclerous discussion about Engllsl
hexameters. raised by the publication of " Evan
celine," will be found in the letters and diary, bn
they did not vex the poets placid mind. Ih
opinion of poetical experts was strongly in hi
favor Perhaps the most effective answer to Tn
directors is made by the poet himself III passage
Of his diary. He tired putting an extract from the
second canto of Part H. into the common rhymeC
pentameters, and this was tho product OF the e1
/ pertinent:
hmm = snray that oyerhung the stream,
The hooking bird, awakIng from his dream.
| Poured such deliTiOus music from kls throat
That all the ar seemed listening TO his note.
Plaintive at first the song began, ana slow
! 1t breatbcd of sadness, and OF PAIN ana woe:
Then gathering all his notes. abroad he flung
The multitudmOus music from his tongue
AS after showers, sudden gust again
I'pon the leaves shakes down the rafting ram.
Compare this musical but certainly not ear
haunting fragment, and what DR.. Holmes calls th
gathering custaues OF frequent rhyme with tn
splendld movement of the hexametcTs. as IT,
passage stands in tho published poem;
Then. from a neighbUrng thiCkct. the mockng
bird, widest OF singers,
|