New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-12-24
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
=. oo,pAa1soN OF olEpMoN. DANTE AND
MILTON.

MILTON.
-~,n vp,~ or THE FALL OF MAN ComPars
dvs Btudy Of Cedmon; Dante shd d Octave: pp
"a e. p Putnams sons
mi. 4. a popular presentation OF suo'eo'
-, .orn. have hitherto considered as "of'hy
..,, % .nuse the idler hours OF the ahti0uAiy'
,p,,,,r tina last fifty years revival OF AAs.o
&C., learning has taken place. muoh hhe the
-,...,.., revival OF the fifteenth century Inc
-, ., the uterature-and II Is not at nI' "a
A. aresdust order as some THINKS ho' Gil
~. awaits those who are willing to oeiVe NC
,ao,h the ancient forms TO tho s'u"
A,g,o.saxon. the why and wherefore ho. o'
q, many a psrplexing phrase and pronunciA''-,
hut ~ many a social and political lnsu'u'0
Oh. dav become clear. The evoiu'ion
.,oryht from the earliest times opens oei'
him in an unbroken series OF written r'ooIuS
IN. noet Cedmon. autf or OF the Full W
Man >" IL supposed to have lived IN INC ~
NJ the seventh century. about huiiui
49,. A,,rsa the Great in the monastery A'
yb,tbv under Hilda, it's renowned louio
ehhess. Mr. Gurteen does not enter 'u''
question Of the historic truth OF neoe' A
rat,ve concerning the coming OF Cseo'hoA' ''-'
n.,rv o.. hs SAYS. '1n no sense OF vital ii'poi
tance 10 the modern student OF LITERATURE w"
must say that with regard 10 lhis opi-
scholars are at variance He. however Supp''
,r.nts his statement by a note, giving the oplh'
iona Of Sir Francis Palgrave and MT haen u"
m. or1etn OF tn, Cedmonian poems
Tina comparative study Of the poems OF O'eu
r,on and OF Milton is made clear by gi'ihs IA
zach case the setting adopted py 'he poo'
That Of Milton Is almost Identical Win 'ne Va.
.nn,oyed BY the earlier poet the only poiii' "a
s,nsrence being the grand and Original oonoep
tion of the Puritan poet OF the cause"aS
nv Sin and Death to Join Earth ana hen' r0'
N. rest. we have the universe divided INTO tiiee
oonoavs-Heaven. Chaos and Hel-with
Starry Universe. Of the Ptolemaio oruef'
An, q, Chaos and suspended from Heaven This
~ 20 ,nesk Of the diagrams-seventeen In
number-oy which the author lxes In the nina
..a.- the universe as conceived by Csed-
mon Dante and Milton In addition TO 'hese,
.,.rs ara twenty-seven reduced fao-similes OF
the Nominations Of the manuscript such a. 'ie
Deity hurting the Archnend forth.
Down the dark. steep. unutteraole pain
That leads to hell
Roth the diagrams and the fso-simies Aoo
rrsat,y 10 the calculation and interest OF the
tsat.
In tho analysis Of C@dmon's Fall OF Man
and of Paradise Lost" our author SHOWS many
points of similarity and difference. The genera
outline 4. alike In both narratives. But IN Cad-
mon It is the Deity Himself who creates the
starry Universe; in Paradise LOST the Father
d.lesates the work Of creation to the Son. BY
making satans pride the cause OF the war IN
Hsayen-pride In physical perfection and in the
povsr TO do-as the earlier poet does, instead
Of Muton.s motive Of Jealousy. Cndmon ADDS
grandeur to the conception Of his hero. And as
the delight of the Angel Of Presumption had
bssn q life Of action, so after his fall he was
condemned to . life Of inaction, chained In the
burning lake.; whereas Millions Lost Arch
angel" Is left free to wander wheresoever ne
lists The story Of the Temptation and Fall Is
very different In the two poems and 1t must be
admitted that the superiority is on the side OF
the Anglo-Saxon narrative On the other hand,
we have already spoken Of the causeway lead
ing from He'll to Earth that the Puritan poet
Introduces 30 effectively That and the Anal
glimpse Of Lucifer and his legions IN Pande-
monium have no counterpart IN Cedmon's Fall
Of Man"
Mr. Gurteen dsvotes q chapter to comparison
Of the Torture house Of Csedmon the Inferno
Of Dante and the Hell Of Milton" In the Anglo
Saxon poem alternate FIRE and cold await all
tho ldlleu. IN the tno
"are all symbolical OF the states OF mind expe-
rienoed BY the individual when under the in
fluence Of the passion for which he is punished;
In Paradise Lost" hell Is "a place Of promis-
cuous punishment. comparative gayety and
crude theological discussion" In addition to
this. the idea Of q subjective punishment ap-
pears IN such lines as
"~The mind Is Its own place. and IN itself
Can make q Heaven of He'll Hell of Heaven"
At the conclusion Of his book Mr.. Gurteen
gives . metrical translation Of Cedmon's Fall
Of Man." IN which his object has been ito give
the sense Of the original and. in so far as pos
thought and Of expression" The rendering IL very
free. and loses the force and picturesQueness
that q more careful following Of the original
would have given. On the other hand the
blank verse adopted by the author is easier
reading for the majority than the aiterativs
method Of translation. from the fact that he
devotes twenty pages to analysis Of the first
part Of the poem Of "Beowulf," merely to show
the beauty OF the secular poetry Of the Anglo
Saxons-athough It has place In the discus
zion Of Cadmon-and from his general treat
ment Of his subject, should say that his OBJ
ject has been to make "The Epic Of the Fall of
Man" book to arouse the interest Of the LAY
reader" rather than TO serve q reference book
for the scholar.