Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-03-29
VERSE CRITICS LIKE BEST.
"Most Beautiful Lines in the English
Language AS Selected by Literary
Authorities.

| t>eNtIdI Hlt9nDeTS OF the french AcaQ-
| envy ar" represented on this list. as
| we'll as other eminent scholars ana
writer's whose literary Immortality is
not thus officially conSccrated. and the
result is a brilliant and extremely
varied collection of epigrams and
| fragments.
\ circular letter looking to the
formation of q similar list of opinions
from eminent Americans who write
has brought a considerable number OF
answers. of Which the majority are
attempts to comply with tine request.
Several arr serious discussions of the
futilItF of such efforts. and a few are
| curt rcfusals or gentle sarcasm
1T is curious. if nothing more, to
note difference or two between tho
French list and its American counter
part Tie F3enehman says: The
| most beautiful line in tin. French ian
eua%e is" and the line follows. NJ.
Emile Faguet the literary critic, even
assures US that the most beautiful in
existence is
The American is more likely to pre-
face his line with sit seems to me that
one Of the most beautiful of many
~ ''ttt II III u Hct
Tie two collections are alike in that
different contributors have widely diff
ierent ideas of the sort of beauty in
Il line that merits such preference,
With some it is melody of sound !;
With others charm of suggestion; some
are caught by moral significance: n
few-but these are humorists, and it
may be that the humorist is merely
consistent with himself when he an
SwerS Il serious question with a quib-
behave supplied what are ostenta
tiouslH far less plus beauX vers de la
languc.
Charles w. Eliot states with char
aeteristic straightforwardness
Il do not know the English line
| which has appealed to me most strong
ly.
1t is Cardinal Gibbons who singles
oct the beautitude:
Blessed are the peacemakers; for
they shall be called the children OF
Cod
And DIR. W. II. Carruth. the Kan
sas professor-poet. concludes by quot
| ing the same assurance in revised
version.
select and Discriminate in this way.
Many of the most beautiful lines.
such as Blanco Whites If light can
thus deceive. wherefore not life cam
not be taken out of their connection.
Let it be this then: Blessed are
the peacemakers, for they shall be
called the sons of God "
Curtis Hidden Page rcverts TO Cen
ess and finds transcendant beauty in
that which was to be the life of
men:
And then God said; Let there be
light, and there was light
Joaquin Miller admires the Book of
job. but finds nothing as wonderful
as the glimpse of first things:
IN the beginning where?
what ."
1t is exasperating, says the conf
piler that the remaining two Biblical
| references are unsigned. one Of them
| is very suggostively prefaccd:
| For its hearing on the study of
| poetry probably this line has appealed
| to me with tn" greatest force: Bless
ed are the pure in heart FOR they shall
Sc God.
The other is the incffalgc:
| Her ways are ways Of pleasant
hess. and all her paths are peaee.''.
As pseudo Biblical might be classcd
tie contribution of the paradox loving
Gilbert Hubbard;
| "Remcmbcr the week day to keep it
holy"
| William jennings Bryan is not phi
| marily literary man. perhaps. but h"
| has very definite opinions on subjects
purely literary. He states:
Il regard Iiryant's ode to the Wa
| ter Fowl as the most beautiful of
poems. because it presents a noble
| sentiment in graceful language. The
| conclusion oi his argument is stated
| in the last verse, and yet it is impos-
sihle to pick ont n line and difficult to
| take even stanza from the rest of
| the poem
Shakespeare is represented, though
slendery. Bishop William A. Quayle
| the nature-lover. prefers,
80 it came Ger my ear like the sweet
sound
That breathes above a bed of violets.
Stealing and giving odor''
And !. w. Foley. popular writer %
| light verse. puzzles his collector some"
what by solemnly quoting the ejacu
lation:
What fools these mortals be-"
| Palmer Cox the Brownie" man
accompanies the quotation from Mac
| beth:
.Tne labor We delight in physics
pain" with the interesting and some
what pathetic statement:
| THE line incloSed was used on my
desk as a motto for years. The truth
in the condensed expression has been
| proved over and over again. 1t is
hard to keep from the work that gives
one pleasure to perform"
Keats is a favorite. Madison Cawein
| speaks for the couplet from the lode
| on a Grecian Urn:
"Reauty is truth, truth beauty--that is
al
" know on earth, and all We need to
| know
john y. Tabb. whose courage in his
affection endeared him more than evel
to the reading public, repeats from the
| lode To the Nightingale:
|" "magic easements opening OF
/