The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-05-17

ShTlneS IN verse SCOTS own romantic
town of Edinburgh, and sings with
HOmeric fire and vigor the fatal field
where mediaeval Scotland went down
in hopeless and heroic ruin. Scott. to
put it plainly, was himself the last
minstrel, the last English poet to
whom loyalty in its old accepted mean
ing was more than an idle word Tt is
the fashion of late years to pass light
ly over his poems as mere tales in
verse, as though the first great poem
of European literature were not a
tale" One may admit at once that
SCOTS verse lacks depth and artistic
finish, but when every admission is
made the fame Of Sir Walter remains
undiminished. He is still the wizard
Of the north, dear to thousands upon
thousands of young hearts as the open
er Of the gates into an enchanted
world, dearer still to every man who
has left in his composition something
"Of that stern joy which warriors feel
In foemen worthy of their STEEL
John Keats was even less touched
by the revolutionary spirit than Wal
ter Scott. He neither upheld nor at
tackled il, he passed it by in quiet in
difference. He was a being born out
Of his due time, a belated Elizabethan,
the poetic son Of Edmund Spenser. A
W0rShiper Of beauty, the beauty which
appeals to eye and ear and touch, he
was the most senSuOus poet Of his day.
SensuOUs. not sensual for in spite of
some early extravagances of express
sion there is nothing common nor IN
clean in Keats. His worship of beauty
is seen in his attitude toward nature
He Is the divinely drunken lover Of her
charms. His heart aches and his
l.
at the song of the nightingale. Nature
herself partakes Of his passion: the
star thrObs in the sapphire heavens
deep repose like the heart of a lover
drawing near his goal. In the world
OF man Keats sought for beauty in the
old Hellenic myths. When some one
asked how Keats with his lack of
learning could so interest the legends
of Greece, because he is a Greek,
said Shelley. Palgrave has we'll point
out the Greek element in the poetry Of
Keats. It is seen ia his absolutely di-
rect and spontaneous expression of the
thought before him. in his freedom
from conventiOnality. in his freshness
of phrase. Such a passage as the pic
ture of Hebe in the "Ode to Fancy
is pure Greek; SO is the description of
Saturn and Thea with which 'Hype-
rion'' opens, or such a couplet as
Into the green-reeessed woods they
flew,
Nor grew they pale as mortal lovers
do
But thee is something more than
this Hellenic element in Keats. To the
old Greek purity and simplicity he adds
warmth of color and a richness of
phrase unknown in English poetry
since Shakespeare day No doubt it
was on this account that he left un-
finished the noble fragment Of "Hype-
rion The theme was too remotely
classical. the style too severely Mil
tonic. Keats is at his best when deal
ing With subjects chosen from later
Hellenic legend. such as Lamia. or
from medieval romance. Let US take
this famous passage in which his de-
light in rich color finds its fullest ex-
preston.
Fun on the easement shone the win
try moon,
And threw warm gales on Made
leine's soft breast,
As down she knelt for heavens grace
and BOOM