Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-01-26
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

Walter Savage Lander. little read
but fine English poet, wrote four lines
which for proud defiance have no
peer in the worlds literature:
I strove with none: for none was worth my
Ma,nee hdf 1yed and next to As
II sinks. and ! am ready to depart.
John Keats, a less belligerent soul,
phrased somewhat the same thought
more quietly:
Before my pen has CLEANED my teemina
Before high piled books. in charactery.
Hold IKE rich Earners the fun ripeneo
When behold. upon the night. starred face
Huge cloudy symbols of high romance
AnI think that l may never live TO trace
fhelr shadows with the magic hand OF
AMI when ] feel. fair creature of an hour
have ss svs1 the SPSn power
.Ot unrenecting love Then on the shore
Til love and fame 20 nothinRness ' do sink
Lander was too proud to fight
because he did not find strife worthy
OF the best in his nature. See him
friend of Nature and Art, warming
both hands before a big fireplace.
The fire sinks low. the fire of life
and Lander voices his willingness to
go as soon as the last spark dies. He
'ooks toward the door. the door OF
death. out Of which he must wander
as all men have gone before, and as
all Will go hereafter. The last spark
flickers. and goes out
Il am ready to depart" he says.
X x+
Keats draws us a different picture
His fear Is that he will not live long
enough to trace even the shadows OF
the huge shadowy romances which he
sees In the night, and which we'll UP
in his poetic heart. Death means to
him that he will never see again his
love. Fanny Drawn. whom he dubs
fair creature for an hour
See Keats, poet, lover, standing on
the shore of the wide world. He stands
alone. as all of US must stand, in the
last analysis.
He makes no proud obeisance to the
powers of darkness. but remains in
thought. till even love and fame
finally sink to nothingness. He was
one of the first to chant the power
Of the mind.
1t is notable that such thoughts
as the above he, put in sonnet form,
hard to handle properly. but. when
rightly done, rivaling u Greek temple
in lovely symmetry.
While We admit the beauty of the
temple. the thing looks cold and a
bit forlorn to us who are used to
steam and hot water heated apart.
ments and houses.
So few care for the sonnet, naturally
an appreciation Of its delicscy must
be won by the hard work OF reading
many OF them, until at last the reader
comes to see that out Of the hun.
dreds of Indifferent attempts there do
stand forth certain models
ION First Looking Into Chapman's
Homer" is one of the classic sonnets
which combines with it's perfect lines
a sad story. Keats never read Homer
In the original. With his natural love
for mythology, what joy he would
have had out Of the true Greek!
His knowledge of Homer, first Of
poets, came second hand through the
translation of Chapman, which stands
today, as it did a hundred years ago
as one Of the best. This ought to
be encouraging to all Of us who know
little Latin and less Greek.
Keats sonnet reads:
Much have I travelled in the realms of gold
And man. many goodly states and Kingdoms
Round many western islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
Oft Of one wide eIpsnse had I been told
That deep-oroWed Homer ruled as bis
TIL ! heard Chapman speak out loud and
Then felt like come watcher. of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken:
Or Like stout Cortez when with his eagle