Evening star., 1924-12-24
To me did uaAm

me eafth, and every common sight,
ADp.r.,,.a To 70 me c.i.s.t., ad SEEN .ss.
The glory and the frsshnsss Of q dream.
So begins Wordsworth's ode. In the
course OF which he succeeds In say.
ing about all there IL to be said con-
corning this feeling, which most Of
US have held at some time or other,
that as children we were nearer to
the solution Of the mystery Of life
than We ever will come again.
Tho things which / have seen
now can see no more" he says. II
I dare to say, How true that Isl"
perhaps the new poets will sneer at
my ohildishness, but
Tho longer one lives. and the more
he investigates, the more he comes
to the conclusion that each great
thought in the world has been said
once and for all in the perfect form.
THE eternal God 10 thy dwelling
place. and underneath are the ever
harangued the Israelites.
F Search the worlds literature, from
as far back as you can get to the
very latest edict, you will never find
q more perfect expression than that
of the great fundamental idea which
II contains.
Moses said about all there was to
be said. and he put Il in such a way
that succeeding generations have not
been able to Improve upon 1t. There
have been many attempts to do SO, of
course. but, after all. Moses excels.
Tho eternal God Is thy dwelling
place. and underneath are the ever
lasting arms"
The rainbow comes and goes,
And lovely Is the rose;
The moon doth with delight
Look round her when the heavens are bare;
waters on 4 starry night
The sunshine 10 slofious birth;
But yet ! know, where'er 90,
That there hath psss'd away glory from
The birds are singing their joyous
song as Of old. the earth is gay, the
babe leaps upon his mothers arm,
but all things speak OF something
that is gone.
whittier is ned the visionary fleam?
Where is it now. the glory and the dream
For the life Of me I cannot sec how
those two lines are made any the
worse because CLEAN" rhymes with
dream" In the hands OF a master
the end-rhymes come SO naturally
that you have to 30 out of your way
to be offended with them.
/ cannot see how the thing would
be improved by putting II something
like this:
Where, b. went the bunki
where did the man with the goatec go to?
Come, then, those perfect lines:
Our birth 10 but a sleep and q forgetting:
The soul that rises with us. our life's star.
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And coheth from afar;
Not in entire forsetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness.
But trailing clouds OF glory do we come
From God. who IN our home:
Heaven lies about Us in our infancy.
The vision fades away into the
light Of common day, he says, and
man Is made to forget the glories he
has known, and that imperial pail
ace whence he came
Does Wordsworth overdo II a trihe
when he calls child thou best
philosopher" Well, maybe he does
but we can forgive him, because we
know what he was trying to say. He
Is trying to express:
Truths that wake,
To perish never.
Which neither listlessness, nor mad endeaVor.
Nor man nor boy.
Nor all that 10 at enmity with JOY.
Can utterly abolish or destroy.
Hence In q season Of calm weather,
Though inland far we be.
Our souls have sight of that immortal sea
which brought Us hther.
Can Ia q moment travel thither,
And see the children sport upon the shore,
Aad hear the mighty waters rolling erermore.