The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-12-20


'rwiXt Yankee pedlers and Old gods
But the resemblance to Lowell stops
here. IL is Whittier, and not Lowell,
still less Tennyson, who. spite OF different
; times and other surroundings, is the
closest counterpart OF That strange later
Greek world of idyll. of which Theocritus
is the most perfect expression. Just as
Sicily showed L. subjects which he I'm
itated in truthful art" so with Whittier
in New England. Theocritus has been
called affected and stilted, because he
makes his peasants express retned sen-
timents ia language adorned with color
and music but IL is known that the
modern Greek shepherds sing So and
tnat both were vastly superior To the
French peasants OF the age of Fontenelle,
the critic who belitled Theocrltus'
creatures Dlackened with the sun, and
burned with labor and hunger" Aud so
Whittier Several of the obituary notice =
in the English weekly papers called him
"A peasant BOY. Evidently the New Eng
land farmer boy is not much better
known across the sea-despite Whittier's
Barefoot Boy, than Is the plain.living
aud high-thinking OF many OF Whittier's
idyllic character.
The old Dorian settlers in Syracuse
pleased themselves with the fable that
their fountain, Arethusa--so celebrated
in TheocriJus' idylls-nad been "A Grecian
nymph. who, like themselves. had crossed
the sea To Sicily; or, in another tradition,
that the water supplying Grecian springs
flowed under the sea, and emerged IN
their new home in the fountain Arethusa.
May we not please ourselves with the
fable that Wnittier's muse is the new
Arethusa of English thoughtful and
sacred verss of 200 years ago, and That
when he revsits his Merrimac IL is as
though Wordsworth writes OF "Iarrow
kevisitedY
The chief value for literary criticism of
comparisons, like the one we have just
made, lies in the advantage it procures
us Of holding off AT arms length some
character who is too near, too much a
part of ourselves.
More than one critic while claiming for
Whittier the distinction OF the most
American poet. the poet of New England.
| etc, has failed 20 perceive that he claims
a certain universe. AS well as local char
acter that "a certain place is his in the
! history OF the highest life and thought OF
the great English American race. This
historical position can be measured
neither by considering the present CEN
| tury alone, nor by comparing Whittier
| solely with contemporary poets. nor yet
by studying him AS IA unique phenome-
non, new wildiower, as 1T we're, spring
iBg from the virgin New England sotf.
a recent German writer has called great
authors-the classics of a nation-the
"correctors of tradition" They break
with the literary conditions which imme-
| diately preceded them, and reach back TO
join hands with the living spirits OF an
earlier time, which the natlon mad taken
for lifeless statutes on their pedestals. as
IL swept by them TO follow after strange
gods OF literature. IL is too early tc
discuss Whittier's claims TO tue position
even of minor classic author, but in this
one respect at least he is the peer of al
4 hnt He q a UranHinaa
correct n OF traditions, with the deepest
life OF New England at his back. Whit
tier was not IN conscious ana direct oppo-
stion TO the literature OF his time-the
literature called Victorian. Great poets
only oppose what in their youth they
| have initiated, and Whittier has
scarcely initiated anything later IN
English literature than Burns and Words
worth, who are pre-Nictorian, who are IN
| consonance with much in his own genius.
and who were themselves grand correc
tors of tradition In English literature.
Whittier was simply never part OF
Victorian literature; aud II / now com
pare him for IA moment with TeInyson
IL is only for aspt cifc purpose of contrast.
| A French writer in the Nouvelie Revue
| NOV. /, lS92) thus sums up 1ennyson
| from the popular French point of view!
"rennyson was simply aud solely poet.
| A ferveut worshipper of rhyme, he has
\ OnlN ItlL but SWtti VI blOupiouS
| unrest which springs from the love
| of woods aud waters. and he has
voiced these Joys aud emotions of the
| soul. He has sung the bucOllc pleasures
of moral England, entertained his coun-
| try with her ancle It legends, revived the
| Establishments OF the Middle Age in Eng
| land or addressed-as an idealist and
mystic of the ~Anglo-Saxon type-the
hearts of young English women"
Turning To the German "Rundschau''
| OF the same date, an experienced critic,
| julius Rodenberg, calls Tennyson 'the
musng poet, in whose eyes every OBJ .cl
OF sense ls only n symbol, and To whom
| all things earthly are euyeloped in thar
mystery where God in man becomes one
| with man in God"
1t is not my intention to attempt to recon
cile these Judgments, but simply To point
out that the one fails To do justice tC
Tennysou's deeper thought, anu that tn,
other essentially Identifies him with
| Whittier The French writer is the NOR
discriminating lie speaks Of Tenny som,
furtivd attachment 70 the psychological
enigmas which surround our Intelligence
OF his poetical echoes OF theories OF eyolu
ton, OF his swift momentary flight, liki
bird Of passage, througl tue sphere o
higher metaphysics, and OF fair formulas
i'm which he has vaguely and harmoni
ously enwrapped his conception OF human
| progress 1ennyson Ii a genuine Englisl
| poet: and for the English poet OF tn,
present day, as for the Latin poets of th
Roman Empire, the Empire means tn
| world.
How different Whittier AS a poet, hi
individual range is by no means as wild
as Tennysou's, but as an outlet OF tn
hidden How of spiritual life during tw
centuries of English thought, ana as al
acknowledged spokesman of that Magni
Britannia, part Of which il New England
he expounds deeper secrets; hldde
truths which are universal and unend
ing. IL we may be permitted To imagin
a second Paul preaching fcom some Eos
lish Acropolis, centuries after the glory c
English life should have vanished fror
the central isle, to spread in eyer-widet
ing circles of culture 10 that Create
Britain corresponding To the large
Greece which PaIl bad been traversia.
may we not think OF hun as passing by
multitude of lesser and some create
poets. TO single out Whittier as the ex
ponent Of the instructive aspiration {
the Anglo-SaXon souli And feel aftC
Him, II happy they might hnd Hin
though lie be not far from every one ,
US As certain one OF your own poel
, | has said: For we are also his offspring.