The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1907-08-29

.e~e-~.~~~~o-~-os~~-e1
Paper Read Before the ChdutauQita Circle.
IN ORDER to say as much as possi-
BILE within the least possible COM
pass, it will be assumed in this
paper that poetry is All art well
worthy of serious consideration, and it
will further be necessary to confine
our,excursion within the limits of the
English tongue
English poetry, as everyone knows,
sprang into life with Geoffrey Chaucer,
q poet who contains all the elements
of popularity. with one very important
exception. At first sight, the archaic
form of English employed by Chaucer
appears an insurmountable barrier to
a proper understanding of. his mean
ing. But on looking more closely into
his works, the student finds the diff
Guilty, if not absolutely overcome, at
least considerably diminished. Chau-
GERS merits may be easily summarized;
in an age which can only be regarded
as semi-civilized, he had deep SYM
.pathy with Nature and with mankind.
Tho an arlstocrat singing to aristocrats
in an age when democracy was un-
known, his character-sketch OF the
poor parson Tin the Prologue to the
Canterbury TaIes) is instinct with
reverence for the (obscure), unapprecl-
ated and probably unlearned clergy
man, who taught Gods law, but first
followed it himself.
The next poet following century
and half later, presents great con-
trast to Chaucer. Edmund Spenser,
altho by his time the language approx
imated very closely to that of the pres
ent day, at any rate to that of fifty
years ago, can never be popular poet.
He was indeed aptly described by
Charles Lamb, as poets poet. His
unpopularity must be ascribed largely
to the fact that in the afaerie Queen"
he starts out to tell story in ailegor-
acal form and becomes so enthusiastic
in his descriptions and so involved in
his digressions that when the story
comes to an end, the average reader
has confused impression that he has
been wandering thru labyrinth, with
most charming flowers growing in the
hedges, but ending at the starting
p0int.
Poetry in the Golden Age of Eng
lish literature was chiefly allied with
or subordinate to, the drama. OF
Shakespeare, in an excursion of this
character, it is impossible to speak
even were the writer capable of adding
one word of appreciation to the mighty
tributes of men who have made tn.
master their life-study. Milton, per
haps, can be briefly touched upon
This age is entirely out tofsympathy witt
~sParadise Lost" that epic in which
man talks familiarly with God, and il
which critics have discerned that th'
real hero, so to speak, is none othe
than Satan. The extraordinary dig
nifty which Milton c0nfers on that spir
it which later theologists have first o
all reduced to the primeval, but undig
nified, snake and latterly abolished, tn
majesty of the conflict in heaven, ant
the brilliancy of the description IN tn
Second Book of the fallen angels new
abode, would alone make the poem tn
most spirited of all epics. Milton
shorter poems, too, can never lose thei
charm. In the gay and Fascinating
rhythm of "L'Allegro," in the almos
Greek elegance Of "Lycidas," his thol
ough scholarship and fertile imagine
tion are alike displayed and perhaps i
eli Penseroso" he reaches his neares
point of sympathy with the preser
age.
Dryden, again, is almost unread 9
present, for the chief reason that hi
verse and dramas are bound up, nc
with the history of the age. but wit
its spirit. Pope, on the contrary, wi
always find readers, for his descriptio
OF society tthe only world which }
knew RENAME as true today as in ITO
Substitute bridge for ombre and Il
automobile for the ssden-chair, au
Pope Is moro medern than even FfeI'
ins. AZ an epigrammatist he III