The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-04
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Ahhg NNAFESN hNAaCN'a ~
| delicate; but there IL magic in his handling
| Of language. In his love poems a fasci-
mating. glowing sensitiveness and an ardent
tenderness And expression in word melo-
dies which are as tuneful AZ airs by Ros-
sini.. Mr.. Brandes considers that Byron's
| description of his most beautiful female
character as Natures bride and PASSIONS
child and his description Of the love OF
Don Juan and Haidee might serve as char
aoterizations of the love celebrated in the
nmatory poetry Of the majority Of his con-
! temporaries. II Is pointed out. however.
that only in "Don Juan has Byron painted
happy love Most of his erotic poems are
nothing but misery and lamentation. For
instance. the most marvellous Of them ali
has a sob in its very rhythm. and the whole
pain Of parting is conveyed by the manner
in which the rhythm suddenly changes in
the last verse. In the first lines there is
still a certain calmness Of passion:
When we two parted
In silence and tears,
Half broken hearted,
To sever for years.
Pale grew thy cheek and cold.
Colder thy kiss;
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow 10 this.
To the authors mind all the misery Of
Hove IL expressed in the short. abrupt
cadences Of the concluding stsnza:
In secret We met
In silence ! z5eve,
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive.
II l should meet thee
After long years,
How should l greet thee
With silence and tears.
Concerning Thomas Campbell. who wrote
not many poems purely erotic. the curious
fact IL noted that he became warmer, ten
derer and less restrained In expression as
time passed. IL was IA an old man that he
wrote his most amatory verse. To the
remonstrance Of conscience that ~platonic
friendship should content him Mt his years
he answers by a challenge to Plato himself
in the skies TO look into the yes OF a GER
tain lady and try 20 be platonic.' He is
most Enthusiastically himself a. an erotic
poet when he oonfesses, with a half mourn
full smile, that his heart is younger than his
years, as in the following lines:
But times been so far from my wisdom enrichInr
That the longer I live beauty seems more bcwitch-
ing:
And the only new lore my experience traces
Is To ind fresh enchantmcnt In magical faces.
How weary is wisdom. how weary
When one ats by a smiling young dearie.
OF Keats's erotic verso but a single rep
resentative is reproduced. Characteristic
cally, not only IL it breathless and burning
but il revels in fragrance and sweet sound:
Lift the latch! All, gently! All. tenderly-sweeti
We are dead II that lstchet gives one little Clink.
Well done--now those lips and a ioweTy seat
The old man may sleep, and the planets may weep;
The shut rose shall dream OF our loves, and awake
Full blown and such warmth for the mornings take:
The stock dove shall hatch her soft brace and
shall coo.
While l kiss to the melody. aching all through.
Shelley in his love poetry is compared
with Correggio for the reason that, in the
productions Of both artists. the expression
of the utmost self -surrender IL blended with
the most violent sensual excitement. BY
way Of illustration are cited the concluding
lines OF the Indian Sorensde':
on lift me from the grass
die. I faint, I fail
Let thy love In kisses rain
on my lips and cyelids pale.
Ny check Is cold and white. alas
Ny heart beats loud and fast;
on press II 10 thine own again.
Where II will break at last.
Beside this we are invited TO place the
transport with which -Epipsychydion- con-
cludes:
our breath shall lntermlI, our bosoms bound.
And our veins beat together; and our lips,
With other eloqucncc than words, eclipse
The soul that burns between them: and the wells
Which boil under our beings inmost cells,
The fountains Of our deepest life shall be
Confused In passions golden purity.
As mountain springs under the morning sun.
In a word. IL Byron's domain. 40 far as
his erotic poetry is concerned. was that of
the tortures Of the luckless or forsaken
lover. Shelley's was that OF the pain Of the
happy lover, OF sell -annihilation in the
rapture Of love.
Mr.. Brandes holds that Shelley, where he
Is most himself. surpasses Shakespeare in
delicacy. and that, from this point Of view.
there Is no other poet with whom he can
even be compared The following lines are
presented. not because there il anything
remarkable in the rhythm. but because they
are wonderful for the restraint OF express
sion:
ono word Is too often ~proianed
For me to profane n:
One feeling too falsely dlsdalned
For thee to disdAin II:
ono hope 10 too like despair
For prudence 20 smother:
And pity from thee more dear
Than love from smother
Again. Shelley has given imperishable
expression 10 the feeling Of muta3iIity.
There. for example. are the lines on the
human heart:
Oh. Love. WIN bewaiicst
The frailty Of all things here.
Why chose yOI the lrailsst
For your cradle, youIhome ana your BIER
The poem which bears the simple title
Lines" was written. probably. after one Of
the authors fond beliefs had ~evaporated:
yet. on the surface. Il bears no trace Of
being a personal confession:
When the lamp is shattered;
The light In the dust lies dead:
When The cloud Il scattered,
The rMnbOw's gIory 10 shed:
When the luts Is broken.