The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-01-17
in the writing of the Trauscendental
school Enerson's verse.

school Emerson verse.
Thou canSj not wave the lake.
OF dip thy paddle inhy staff ia ajr.
But IT carveS the bow IF beauty there
And the ripplCs in rhymes the oar Tursabe-
expresses in mystical language the es-
sential oneness between all forms Of
beauty; and this was Lanfer's creed. To
him. moral beauty, harmony OF soul,
charm of color, perfection OF thought.
were inseparably allied. In this work
he freely uses the expression tone
color" and points out the Importance Of
musical combinations Of language. He
says among other things.
1T is often heard that music is a kind
Of language. ana many sayings are pred
icated upon THAI idea But this is not
I true: exactly the converse is true; mu-
sic is not species of language. but Ian
guage is a species of music IN short,
You viii always find yourselves in con
dition to arrive at right conclusions In
these matters if you keep steadfastIy
before your mind that language is only
a certain number of sounds which have
been selected out of the vast body OF
/ possible sounds and which have come 10
/ be agreed upon by men-in one way OF
another-as representatives of ideas"
It was on this theory that Lanier
wrote that symphony" in which this
/ passage occurs. than which no more per
/ feet example exists of the power of Ian
/ guage to reproduce harmony of sound.
and then. when from words that seem but
rude
/ We pass 20 silent pain that sits abrood
! BACK IN our hearts great dark and solitude,
( % sank the strings to gentle throbbiuE
J ga i0ng chords change marked with sohbiug-
J NojheTiF sobblng, not distinctiieT heard
] Than half Uing-openings Of the sleeping bird
! some dream Of danger to her Young hath stirred
! Ihen storing and demUTTing ceased and 10,
Every east ripple Of the strings soHg-dow
Died 60 a level with each Level bow
And made great chord tranquil surfaced so
As brook beneath his curviug bank doth 90
lo lInger IN the sacred dark and green
/ Where many houEhs rhc still pool 0Yerean
/ And many leaves make shadow with their sheen
But presently
4 velvet Guje-note fell down pleasantly
pom the bosom Of that harmony.
And sailed and sailed necessarily.
As II petal from Wild-rose blown
Had fluttered down upon that pool Of tone
! and boatUIse dropped o. the convex side
And hosted down the CLASSY tide
And clarified and glOrifed
The solemn spaces where the shadows bide
from the warm c0uCave Of th8t fiuted note
Somewhat half song. halt odor forth did float
As = a rose might somehow be a throat
The man who wrote this exquisite
harmony in language may well be con
isidered Shakespeare spiritual kinsmar
at least. for at the time It was writer
such poetry was as much an origina
achievement as were the dramas o.
shakespeare beside those of MarIowe anc
Jonson-
There is, moreover. a particular fit.
ness OF temperament which make
Lanier the natura. student of the Eliza
bethan age of literature He was
Southern man born early enough to b,
fairly considered as belonging to tn,
older generation, and the Southern MAJ
Of culture is often lover OF the oIde
English authors. It may be because tn,
isolated life of the plantation fsvore,
great libraries Of standard authors. pre-
served from father to son. rather thai
the study Of the latest literature: II ma,
be that the life of the South held SOM
of the characteristics of the older Eng
lish life but it Is certain that the cuI
tiyated Southern gentleman is apt .,
pay more attention TO Elizabethan an
Georgian authors, end less 10 contem
pOrary literature, than the man of tn,
same traditions in Re North This in
, stinctive liking for Marlowe. and Chau
Ger. and Michael Drayton. and Constable
and Sir Philip Sidney. this instinctiv,
sympathy with and admiration for thei
archaic forms. Lanier had in full. and i
gave him an enthusiastic love for IN,
study OF the period which another maj
might have possessed in a more chas
tened ard less spontaneous form What
, ever be the cause. it is one of The at
, fractions Of the work. Generally speak
ing, man can OILY write we'll Of thing
which he loves. Thomas Janvier, in hi
recent book on Provence. expresses re
gre that he could not have been one O
his own ProvenCaI ancestors in the day
= of The Three Musketeers;" one car
imagine Lanier pursued hy gentle re
J greet that he was not born friend an,
comradc Of siCney. in the age when mel
? sang their poetry and turned their must.
into verse.
It should not. however. be inferred
that there was anything archaic abou