The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1902-11-11

but that fact mas nOtnlnS 10 10 viii Ii
respective merit of the two poets. 1here
was a time, not so very long ago, When
Tupper had a dozen readers in England
where Tennyson had one. That, however,
did not show that Upper was the great
er poet. The popularity Of Longfellow
in ENGLAND has always been rather a
nlzzle to Americans. Granting all that
can be said III praise OF LOngfeIloWS
gentle and pleasing muse, why should he
have been selected from all other Amerf-
can authors as the one whom the
British public delight to honor? That
certainly must be ranked among the list
of those things which no fellow can find
out"
Edgar Allen Poe nearly sixty years
ago showed conclusively how Longfellow
plagiarized from Tennyson, MotherWell,
and others. His criticism Of the Massa-
chusetts poet is full of point and
pungency. Whatever he may be be is
not the chief poet in America He IS
probably the most popular poet as he
can be more easily understood and APP
preciated, as q consequence, by the
great mass Of rhyme readers. Even SO
far back as the forties in the last CEN
fury, the then prominent Scotch critic,
Rev. George Gillian, writing OF the
American poet, said this in a paper OF
some twelve pages: "LongfelloW is
rather a romantic and sentimental, than
a philosophical poet. He throws in verse
the feelings, moods, and fancies of the
young or female mind of genius, not the
mature cogitations of profound phil
osophy. His song is woven of moonlight,
not of strong summer sunshine.
He gathers roses and lilies. His
1870. =. .l.~+ - oo-+;,,o.+ roth0. th1n
OF thought. His sphere is that
of sentiment. moralizing elegantly upon
many subjects" He had a refined, ele-
CANT mind. of genuine lyrical turn, and
he wrote of the common, everyday feel
ines and experiences of men and women.
He was ovable and courteous, full OF
sensibility and affection, a true, scholar
ly, modest gentleman, replete with senti-
ment, sometimes Of sentimentality, and
with a sincere love Of nature and of
legend. Gilfillan said Of him that he has
'~intense humanity He has genius,
genial manhood His genius lis essen
TALLY lyrical" He has not the severity
Of epic power nor the subtility of Ira
matte genius." Gilfllan finds more
depth of power in Emerson, another
poet of New England.
SO fine an English critic as Stopford \.
Brooke. in a recent critical study Of
Browning, uses verses" for stanzas.
Stornmouth's excellent dictionary, q
product of England's scholarship,-says
verse is from Latin Versus-a fine. 1t
gives Italian verSo-'a line IN poetry"
But adds that it is "~popularly four lines
or a stanza of q piece Of poetry. Using
it for stanza is simply an abuse. Wor-
~cestor's Dictionary defines Eerse-"a
measured line OF poetry" It says to use
verse for stanZa is common, hut t)ardly
proper 1t sometimes comes to rass
that abuses in popular speech are intro
duced into dictionaries IS proper, but
that is the sure way TO corrupt and per
vert language. Prof. George Saintsbury,
an acute and learned critic o. England,
in his superior and valuable work. on
The EliZabethan Iiterature,' writes
none have" What is "none?" 1t is mot
one" So it should he written none or
not one is, and not mot che are" Nine
public speakers out of ten use any"
and every" Incorrectly. Listen AID you
will hear speakers constantly saying: If
thore be any one in the house who desires
this or that. then let them DO 50 and so"
Or you Will hear "aNCry' used in this
wise: IF every one of you desires sal
walton, then let them all seek, etc.
The very gifted Scotch author, Robert
Louis Stevenson, who finished in his
! prime" a few years ago, had a poor
opinion of politics as pursued. He de-
scribed them (Mr. Gladstone said poll
ties are and other eminent authorities
so wrote or spoke IT'D as the dirtiest,
the most foolish, and the most random
of human cmployments." But at another
tire he wrote this: What else do We
care for, what else is any thing but sec
ndary IN that embroilcd, confounded
reVelment OF politics., but to protect the
cid, and the weak. and the quiet, from
the bloody, wild beast that slumbcrs in
l man?" Then politics, after all. may have
a noble mission in the world. 1t is a
!, good and noble work to strike for the
l right, and the politicians of the higher
type perform grand service for liberty
, and law, for the protection of the poor
and defcnseless and oppressed. That
: gifted English man-of-letters-essayist
and poet, Austin Dobson-has written
: this on Don QuiXote, the immortal crea-
liCn of Ccryantes-
, Would today when courtesy grows
t chill
4 Anu iltt . hH' lo9diCieH Ore Iurued 10 jest,
n Some fire of thine might be within Us
still
All, would but one might lay his lance in
c And charge in earncst-wcre il bat q
mill"
Y There have been some highly note
/ worthy biographies-the most enjoyable
S of all literary works. save the best novels
Of the masters and the greatest poetry,
V l take leave TO say-published Within the
V last decade. | name but a few of the
f best: Tennyson's life by his son; Scud-
o der's life of Lowell; Balfour's life Of
Y Stevenson, Woodbcrry's life of Nathaniel
Hawthorne: Morlev's Life of CromuelI":
HarriSon's life of Ruskin: Higginson's
life of LongfelloW. A great biography,
take 1t, is III course of preparation-Johr