Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-02

these v1rile constructive geniuSeS VINO
have bid defiance to the conventionali-
ties of art literature and ethics have be-
come such devotees of their new masters
that they have been unwilling to ac-
knowledge any virtue in one SO far re-
moved from the new modes of thought
and methods of treatment. To such Long
fellow Is the poet of childhood and the
child mind, the poet of the commonplace,
the poet of the middle classes lin Eng
land), the poet of conventionality and
crude didacticfsm, a romanticist, q mere
felicitous teller of stories, and even these
not original stories. 1t must be admit
ted that these epithets, the BADLY stated,
have in them certain elements of truth.
But to stop here and not to show that,
not in spite of them, but In the best sense
because of them, Longfellow is classic
poet, would be to leave the statement
practically false.
"Longfellow is the poet Of childhood
par excellence. All honor to him that he
is. To be chief among the group that in
cludes Scott, Macaulay, Whittier, Steven
son, Eugene Field and Riley is of itself
no mean place to occupy in literature. To
make the happy years of childhood more
happy to nurture the poetic spirit that
dwells in every child's mind and to pre-
pare that mind for lifelong enjoyment
of poetry-other poetry than Longfel-
lows, perhaps-iS surely to be a true
poet. 1t is his musical faculty, his perfect
sense of rhythm, his repetitions, his d.
dacticism, his aphorisms, his marvellous
poetry to the child mind.
No Inglorious Title.
"Longfellow is the poet of the common
place. This, too, is no inglorious title.
Life itself is for the most part common
place. But our poet has transferred the
common life >of mankind to the realm of
poetry by suffusing it with his poetic
imagination. AS one critic points out, to
lift the commonplace into the bright air
of poetry is to confer one Of the richest
boons on dull humanity. 80 Long
fellow hallowed our human life ITSELF
In this field. too. Longfellow is in good
company, with Robert Burns and Words
worth. Longfellow was not. perhaps. one
Of the most original creative geniuses.
He was rather an interpreter, a trans
lator Of life. 1t is his simplicity, his ten
derness and his sensitiveness that give
him his universal appeal, SO that the
common people heard him gladly BY
another he has been called the laureate
Of the common human heart The nu-
merous biograp hical and critical sketches
are filed with examples of his wide (al-
most worldwide) acceptability. 1t is re-
lated how once in London his carriage
was surrounded by a crowd Of people
who called him by name and begged to
touch his hand, and how at least one in
the crowd recited one of his familiar
poems. The editor of one of the great
London weeklies is quoted as stating
that thousands Of English working peo-
pie can repeat some of Longfellow's
poems who have never read a line of
Tennyson and who have probably never
heard Of Browning.
Library Demands.
ITO librarian the test of popularity as
shown by the catalogue of the British
Museum is of interest. In 1901 the key to
that encyclopedia literary listed 100 YER
stons in Is different languages of parts Of
Longfellow's writings. in addition to the
editions in English, with 357 entries in
all, to 4S7 for Tennyson, 179 for Browning
and 15S for Emerson. I believe that If
census were taken Of the book stocks of
public libraries the English-speaking world
oven It would be found that more copies
of LOngfellow's poems Tin whole or in
parO are required to supply demands
than of any other single book.
There are certain questions which must
inevitably be asked concerning any author
by the student of INSTRUMENTATION
which in the case Of Longfellow, because
Of his exceptional popularity, are often
asked by the general reader as we'll as the
student. What is his place in literature
as whole? What position does he hold
in the literature of his own country, of
his own period? What will his future be?
VIII his fame be enduring? Perhaps 1t is
safer to follow the example Of Howells,
who says:
what Longfellow's place in literature
will be, shall not offer to say; that is
Times affair, not mine
Yes, Time undoubtedly settles most
things-literary regulations among them.
It elevates some humble, ignored prophet
or chronicler and dethrones the popular
hero of a decade or two; it brings forward
some into the shining light of fame. and
retires others to the dusty back shelves
of libraries. But we cannot all AFFORD to
hold our judgment in allegiance and to
wait for the decision of Time We are
likely to drop out before the decisions are
reached Meanwhile the tendency Is so
strong in human nature to dogmatize. to
arrive at certain definite conclusions even
though they must be altered Immediately
afterward, that very few critics are able
to refrain from assigning to their author
a present place and from some prophecy,
however guarded. for the future. Even
Howelis, while disclaiming any attempt at
prophecy for Longfellow. goes on to say:
." But I am sure that. with Tenpyson
and Browning, he fully shared In the ex-
preston of an age which more completely
than any former age got itself said by
its poets
In Harmony With Period.
'Longfellow lived and wrote then in a
period which found one Of it's chief modes
Of expression in poetry and he shared In