The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-07-06
TWO GREATEST FEMALE POETS--S0ME
FACTS AND FIGURES WHITMAN LOWELL
By DIR. T. B. KINGSBURY.
By DIR. T. b. KINGSBURY.

. beside her. Horace
said of her dazzling Fragments:
(Which still sparkles like Greek fire,
| Bore on through time and ne'er eN-
pire."
The Sapphic stanza has come down
to US at this remote period, and is
finely handle by that eminent, WOnd-
erfully gifted English poet SWinburne,
whose death occurred but a few weeks
ago. thus closing the life Of the great
est English poet since Tennyson pass
ed to the glory land, as Symonds men
tons in his own Tappics. Horace also
tried his hand. Ben Jonson trans
lated but one of her lines, the lear
glad nigel Of the spring, the nightin-
gale He was a Lisbian, Lord Byron
wrote Of in his The Isles of Greece"
OF all women she is beyond all form
Of doubt and by far the foremost. She
has left enough to show something Of
her exquisite art. her profound emo
tons, her marvellous expression, her
voluptuOuS verse, her lu.1uriant and
beautiful imagination. "All is 50 ryth-
mically and sublimely ordered in the
poems Of SapphO that the supreme art
lends sOlemnity and grandeur to the
expression Of unnitigated passion
There is one part referred to above in
association with Observation-Disclosures
to whom I might refer to, but not
now. In modern times possibly the
two greatest poets among women are
Christina ROSSetti and Eliza beth Bar
rett Browning, wife of the distinguish
ed English poet, Robert Browning.
But there has been none to take rank
on Parnassus with a good many Eng
lish poets, perhaps a full dozen or
more. Anything may be affirmed
with confidence that unless the esti-
mates of the Greek SaphO are very
exaggerated by the Greeks themselves
and by several modern critics, she
was of supreme poetic gifts, and with
most of the ancients stood very high
up, if really she does not eclipse near
ly all Of the ancients whose gifts and
regulations AVE come down to US.
h was indeed a marvel of sweet
ness, perfection and grace.
Facts and figures are often Of
marked Importance and interest. They
give US the much needed information
without which We continue to grOpe
our way in doubt and darkness. i
was but lately reading of religious
conditions in England, and was much
impressed by some figures furnished
as to the various churches in that
great if small country. The Estab-
liShed Church OF England is now a
great body. There are thirty-seven
dioceseS now. The highest church
dignitary is the Archbishop of Canter-
bury and his annual salary is s75,-
600. Other dignitaries receive large
pay also, some as much as $4,000
a year. In 1908, there were 2,103,902
members. The wealth of the church
is very great, amounting to many mil
lions of dollars. There are 10000
clergymen and a large number of
theological schools, asylums, indus
trial homes. etc. The next greatest
church is the Methodist With $40, 600
members and a million of Sunday
/ school scholars. The Salvation Army
is great and growing body. 1t began
in 1865, in East ondon 1t is now
represented in 81 countries and colo
MES, breaches in IS languages, has s.
O55 corps and o~utpOsts. 22S day
schools, IA naval and military homes,
directed by 16 officers. It has 51,161
lay officers and 1868 missions. It's
income is $500, GOO. / get the fig
ures from a paper in the Nashville
Christian Advocate by a we'll now
English Methodist preacher, Ran
dolph Churchill. The entire paper is
full Of information and is most inter
esting. The Roman Catholics claim
to have now in England and Wales
10000 adherents. Mr.. Churchill
concludes his very instructive article
with this very significant short para
graph: The greatest need in Eng
land today is another John Wesley, in
many respects the worlds greatest
evangelist, theologian and church
statesman. not to found a new demon
inatiOn, but to revive Christianity by
stirring the hearts Of men to action
/ confess hat / have never been able
to find much of what / understood as
poetry in the writings of a Northern
favOrite among as Walt Whitman. ]
have tried to read him with Satisfac-
ton and admiration, but I have to
confess genuine failure. To one WhO
has read with proper understanding
/ anl -lAlinlt Ola tho