Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-02
EgE h MiuG 1oA@E1Low We DoW

Longfellow's poetry Is likely to have Q
permanent place in literature.
But there are few writer's, however great
their genius. whose works are OF uniform
value. The literary regulations OF most au.
thors are based on certain part OF thetr
writings. What are the works of Longfel.
low on which his Game chiefly rests today
and on which 1t is likely to depend in the
future?
estimating the literary value of Longfellow
we may set aside his prose works. such az
'Outre-Mer,' Hyperion, and 'Kavanaghs
'Outre-Mer was a frank imitation of lrv.
ing's Sketch Book; Hyperion a romance
full of youthful crudty, probably owed its
early success to large extent to Its at
tractive sketches Of travel at time when
travel literature was not as common as ~
is now, and 'Kavanagh, village romance
thoug.. 1t has some beautiful passages. as
whole convinces the reader that Longfel.
lows romanticSm found more spontaneous
utterance in poetry than in prose.
"a not inconsderable part Of the work Of
Longfellow is his translations. He held pros
fessorships of modern languages In Bow.
doin College and Harvard for twenty-five
years and translated from the poets OF
Spain. Italy, Norway. Germany and France:
His translation of Dante's Divine Comedy,
undertaken after the tragic death OF MS
wife to divert his mind, occupied him for
four years. 1t is usually regarded as the
best poetical translation of Dante yet pro.
duced."
The estimates Of Longfellow's genius that
have been called out by the centenary eel.
ebration include one by the keen critic or
the Nation who points to the seventy seven
sonnets scattered through Longfcllow9
writings forming his most original ana
artistic work. He says.
Head Of American Poetry.
For ripeness of style and imagery" q
volume containing these sonnets "would
stand easily at the head of American
poetry; 1t would place Ldhgfelow as a peea
among the great sonnet writers of Engs
land"
One critic C. r. Carpenter) has said that
IL Longfellow had died before writing
"Evangeline," 1.-THE Song of Hiawatha,"
Tales of wayside Inn and THE Court
ship of Miles Standish." the world would
Justly have estimated him as man of fine
literary tastes, a remarkably skillful trana-
lator and the author of number of very
popular, tender, romantic and didactip
poems, but would have regretted that he
had never attained real proficiency In his
art. In the main 1t seems to me that this
is a fair estimate. and L believe that the
three long poems, "Evangeline, THE Song
of lIinwatha" and THE Courtship of Miles
Standish," and on the collection of shorter
poems "Tales of Wayside Inn." Longfef-
lows enduring fame will rest.
"Evangeline" must always rank high
among narrative poems on account of IT.
charming romance, its beautiful setting ana
its smooth yet rapid movement. 1t has
also the distinction, according to many
authorities, of being tie first, and, with
the exception of Miles Siandish," the only
poem in which the English hexameter has
been used with real success.
Allied to "Evanse!ile" in matter and
treatment, though separated from 1t by
"Hiawatha" in the time of production, 10
1.-The Courtship of Miles Standish." 1t "
a Puritan romance. as "Evangeline' Is an
Acadian romance. But 1t is humorous
full where "Evangeline" is tragic. 1t has
never been as popular as 'Evangeline."
but 1t seems to me to be more vital al
well as a more artistic and finished piece
Of work. 1t has more strength OF pot ana
stronger and more varied characters. ana
the meter is even better handled than IN
"Evangeline."
An American Epic.
In Tales of Wayside Inn" Longfellow'p
great skill as storyteller Is perhaps at I'D
heights. The Tales have often been
compared with Chaucer's Canterbury
Tales" and certainly Longfellow bears tho
compar ison well. He chose as his sub.
jects old legends and historical anecdotes,
lust as Shakespeare borrowed plots for
his plays from old Greek, Italian British
and Scandinavian tales. and. like Shakes.
peare, Longfellow SO adorned his originals
that he has made them entirely his own.
But In my opinion 1t is in 'Hiawatha''
that Longfellow has produced his most
thoroughly original and artistic poem. EN-
bodying in it, he did, the old Indian
folk lore of our country-With great ao~
curacy and, what is more important, with
the preservation of the Indian spirit, 80
we are told by those familiar with Indian
life and legends-he has given us our great
American epic. In "Hiawatha,' too, all
Longfellows storytelling skill and his
power of picturesque description have full
play, so that Hiawatha's conflict with
Mudjekeewis, Hiawatha fasting, Hla-
watha's hunting. Hiawatha's wooing and
the death of Mlnnehaha are rarely for
gotten by one who has once read this most
American of all american poems.
One hundred years have passed since
Longfellow's birth, and the fact that hig
centenary Is being so widely celebrated
shows that he Is still living force In Its
erature and in life. He Is probably read
and loved by more people today than at the
times when his best poems were written.
Whether he viii be widely read and
equally loved when another century shall
have passed: whether he Is to have a plaon
among the few great ones whose wor~
possesses that rare quality Of endurance
which makes them as vital after the lapse
Of centuries as during the period of theit
production. none of US can know. We may
speculate about It, but Time must afteu
all, bring the answer to such speculations.