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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Pomegranates from an English Garden - A selection from the poems of Robert Browning - -Author: Robert Browning - -Release Date: October 21, 2016 [EBook #53335] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POMEGRANATES FROM AN ENGLISH GARDEN *** - - - - -Produced by Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div> - <h1 class='c000'>POMEGRANATES<br />FROM AN ENGLISH GARDEN:</h1> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div>A SELECTION FROM THE POEMS OF</div> - <div>ROBERT BROWNING.</div> - <div class='c001'>WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY</div> - <div>JOHN MONRO GIBSON.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c002'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Or from Browning some ‘Pomegranate,’ which, if cut deep down the middle,</div> - <div class='line'>Shows a heart within, blood-tinctured, of a veined humanity.”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in30'><i>Lady Geraldine’s Courtship.</i></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>NEW YORK:</div> - <div>CHAUTAUQUA PRESS,</div> - <div>C. L. S. C. Department.</div> - <div>1885.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<p class='c004'>The required books of the C. L. S. C. are recommended -by a Council of six. It must, however, be understood that -recommendation does not involve an approval by the -Council, or by any member of it, of every principle or doctrine -contained in the book recommended.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>Copyright 1885, by <span class='sc'>Phillips & Hunt</span>, 805 Broadway, New York.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_i'>i</span> - <h2 class='c005'>INTRODUCTORY.</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c006'>The name of Robert Browning has been before the world -now for fifty years. For the greater part of the time his work -has had so little recognition, that one marvels at his courage in -going so steadily on with it. His “Pomegranates” have been -produced year after year, decade after decade, in unfailing -abundance; and, while critics have kept paring at the rind, and -the general public has not even asked if there was anything -beneath it, he has laboured on with unremitting energy, calmly -awaiting the time when “the heart within, blood-tinctured, of a -veined humanity,” should be at length discovered. It can scarcely -be said, even yet, that that time has come; but it is coming fast. -Already he is something more than “the poet’s poet.” Few -intelligent people now are content to know one of the master -minds of the age simply as the author of “The Pied Piper of -Hamelin,” as if that were the only thing he had written worth -reading!</p> - -<p class='c007'>That the form in which the thought of Browning is cast is -altogether admirable, is what none but his most undiscriminating -admirers will assert. It is often, unquestionably, rough and -forbidding. But there is strength even in its ruggedness; and -in its entire freedom from conventionality there is a charm such -as one enjoys in wild mountain scenery, even though only in -little patches it may have any suggestion of the garden or the -lawn. There are those who have charged the poet with affectation -of the uncouth and the bizarre; but careful reading will, we -think, render it apparent that it is rather his utter freedom from -affectation which determines and perpetuates the peculiarities -and oddities of his style; that, in fact, the aphorism of Buffon, “<i>le -<span class='pageno' id='Page_ii'>ii</span>style est l’homme même</i>,” is undoubtedly true as applied to him. -It would, of course, be absurd to claim for the pomegranate the -bloom and beauty of the peach; but, equally with the other, it -is Nature’s gift, and to toss aside a rough-rinded fruit because it -needs to be “cut deep down the middle” before its pulp and -juices can be reached, is surely far from wise. Even hard nuts -are not to be despised, if the kernels are good; and as to -Browning’s “nuts,” we have this to say, that not only are they -well worth cracking, but there is in the process excellent -exercise for the teeth.</p> - -<p class='c007'>This brings us to the alleged “obscurity” of Browning’s -writings, which still continues to be the main obstacle to their -general appreciation. It is freely admitted that often it is not quite -easy, and sometimes very difficult, to understand him; and it is -hard for most people to see why he could not make his meaning -plainer, and matter for regret to many, who heartily admire him, -that he has not done so. That he has taken some pains to this -end is evident from what he says in the preface to “Sordello,” -written for an edition issued in 1863, twenty-three years after its -original publication: “My own faults of expression were -many.... I blame nobody, least of all myself, who did my -best then and since, for I lately gave time and pains to turn my -work into what the many might—instead of what the few must—like.” -In a later preface (1872) he says, “Nor do I apprehend -any more charges of being wilfully obscure, unconscientiously -careless, or perversely harsh.” The true explanation of it seems -to be what we have already suggested, that he does not think of -his audience as he writes, his only care being to express the -thought in the way which comes most natural to him. As a -dramatist, he can throw himself with abandonment into the -persons he represents; but he never seems to think of putting -himself in the position of a listener, or, if he does, he assumes -too readily that he has a mind of similar texture and grasp to -his own. On the other hand, it is fair to say that the difficulty -of understanding him arises in great part from the very excellence -<span class='pageno' id='Page_iii'>iii</span>of his work. The following considerations will illustrate -what we mean:—</p> - -<p class='c007'>1. His work is full of <i>thought</i>, and the thought is never -commonplace. There is so much of it, and all is so fresh, -and therefore unfamiliar, that some mental effort is necessary -to grasp it. The following characteristic remark of Bishop -Butler, in his preface to the famous Fifteen Sermons, is -worth consideration in this connection: “It must be acknowledged -that some of the following Discourses are very -abstruse and difficult; or, if you please, obscure; but I must -take leave to add that those alone are judges, whether or no -and how far this is a fault, who are judges, whether or no -and how far it might have been avoided—those only who will be -at the trouble to understand what is here said, and to see how -far the things here insisted upon, and not other things, might -have been put in a plainer manner; which yet I am very far -from asserting that they could not.”</p> - -<p class='c007'>2. The expression is always the briefest. Not only are no -words wasted, but, where connecting ideas are easily supplied, -they are often left unexpressed, the intelligence and mental -activity of the reader being always taken for granted.</p> - -<p class='c007'>3. The poems are, for the most part, dramatic in principle. -The reader is brought face to face with some soul, in its -thoughts and emotions, frequently in the very process of the -thinking and the feeling. The poet has stepped aside, and of -course supplies no key. The author does not appear, like the -chorus in a Greek play, to point a moral or explain the situation. -The <i>dramatis personæ</i> must explain themselves. And, just as -Shakespeare must be <i>studied</i> in order to an appreciation other -than second-hand, so must Browning be studied in order to be -appreciated at all; for his writings are not yet old enough to -secure much second-hand enthusiasm.</p> - -<p class='c007'>4. The wealth of allusion is another source of difficulty. The -learning of our poet is encyclopædic; and though there is no -display of it, there is large use of it; and it often happens that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_iv'>iv</span>passages or phrases, which seem crabbed or obscure, require -only the knowledge of some unfamiliar fact in science or in -history, or it may be something not readily thought of, and yet -within easy range of a keen enough observation, to light them -up and reveal unsuspected strength or beauty.</p> - -<p class='c007'>Before leaving the subject of the rough and often tough -exterior of Browning’s work, it may be interesting to refer to -the characteristic illustration of it he has lately given us in -the prologue to “Ferishtah’s Fancies,” his most recent work. -He begins by asking the reader whether he has ever “eaten -ortolans in Italy,” and then goes on to describe the preparation -of them. The following lines will show the use he makes of -the illustration:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“First comes plain bread, crisp, brown, a toasted square;</div> - <div class='line in5'>Then, a strong sage-leaf;</div> - <div class='line in1'>(So we find books with flowers dried here and there</div> - <div class='line in5'>Lest leaf engage leaf.)</div> - <div class='line in1'>First, food—then, piquancy—and last of all</div> - <div class='line in5'>Follows the thirdling;</div> - <div class='line in1'>Through wholesome hard, sharp soft, your tooth must bite</div> - <div class='line in5'>Ere reach the birdling.</div> - <div class='line in1'>Now, were there only crust to crunch, you’d wince:</div> - <div class='line in5'>Unpalatable!</div> - <div class='line in1'>Sage-leaf is bitter-pungent—so’s a quince;</div> - <div class='line in5'>Eat each who’s able!</div> - <div class='line in1'>But through all three bite boldly—lo, the gust!</div> - <div class='line in5'>Flavour—no fixture—</div> - <div class='line in1'>Flies permeating flesh and leaf and crust</div> - <div class='line in5'>In fine admixture.</div> - <div class='line in1'>So with your meal, my poem; masticate</div> - <div class='line in5'>Sense, sight and song there!</div> - <div class='line in1'>Digest these, and I praise your peptics’ state,</div> - <div class='line in5'>Nothing found wrong there.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>This extract also furnishes an example of the strange rhymes -in which the poet sometimes indulges, with what appears too -little refinement of taste.</p> - -<p class='c007'>The themes of Browning’s poetry are the very greatest that -can engage the thought of man. He ranges over a vast variety -of topic; but, wherever his thought may lead him, he never -<span class='pageno' id='Page_v'>v</span>loses sight of that which is to him the centre of all, the human -soul, with its infinite wants and capabilities. In the preface to -“Sordello” he says: “The historical decoration was purposely -of no more importance than a background requires; and my -stress lay on the incidents in the development of a soul: little -else is worth study. I, at least, always thought so.” To this -principle he has kept true through all his work; and hence it is -that, whether the particular subject be love, or home, or -country; poetry, painting, or music; life, death, or immortality; -it is dealt with in its relation to “the development of a soul.” -Hence it is that his poetry is so thoroughly and profoundly -spiritual, and so exceedingly valuable as a counteractive to the -materialism of the age, which ever tends to merge the soul in -the body, and swallow up the real in mere phenomena.</p> - -<p class='c007'>As might be expected of one who deals so profoundly with all -that he touches, the great reality of the universe to him is God. -Agnosticism has little mercy at his hands; if a man knows -anything at all, he knows God. And the God whom he knows -is not a God apart, looking down from some infinite or indefinite -height upon the world, but one in whom all live and move and -have their being. Out of this springs, of course, the hope of -immortality, and also that bright and cheerful view of life so -completely opposed to the dark pessimism to which much of the -unbelieving speculation of the present day so painfully tends. -The dark things of human life and destiny are by no means -ignored; rather are they dwelt on with a painful and sometimes -frightful realism; but even amid deepest darkness the light -above is never quite extinguished, and some little “Pippa -passes” singing:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“The year’s at the spring</div> - <div class='line in1'>And day’s at the morn;</div> - <div class='line in1'>Morning’s at seven;</div> - <div class='line in1'>The hill-side’s dew-pearled;</div> - <div class='line in1'>The lark’s on the wing;</div> - <div class='line in1'>The snail’s on the thorn:</div> - <div class='line in1'>God’s in his heaven—</div> - <div class='line in1'>All’s right with the world.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_vi'>vi</span>There has been much discussion as to Browning’s personal -attitude to Christianity. The profoundly Christian tone of his -writings is, of course, universally acknowledged; but attempts -are sometimes made to evade the force of those numerous -passages in which he speaks of the Incarnation, and Death, -and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, in a way which seems -to imply his hearty acceptance of the substance of what is -known as evangelical truth. Much has been made in this -connection of the way in which, in one of his prefaces, he -characterises his work as “poetry always dramatic in principle, -and so many utterances of so many imaginary persons, not -mine;” and it has been asserted that it is as unwarrantable to -consider him to be speaking his own sentiments in a poem like -“Christmas Eve,” as in one like “Johannes Agricola,” or -“Bishop Blougram’s Apology.” The obvious answer is that -this profound sympathy with the Christ of God and His -salvation is not found in some solitary production, but appears -and reappears, often when least expected, all through his works. -In that remarkable little poem, entitled “House,” in which -more strongly than anywhere else he claims personal privacy, -while he declines to be regarded as having furnished his -publishers with tickets to view his own soul’s dwelling, he -admits that “whoso desires to penetrate deeper” may do so -“by the spirit sense;” and accordingly some of his admirers, -who dissent from him most strongly on this point, are the most -ready to acknowledge that his Christian faith is no stage suit, -but the very garment of his soul. As illustration of this we -may refer to the admirable essay by the late James Thomson, -published in Part II. of the Browning Society’s Papers, in -which, after expressing his amazement that a great mind like -Browning’s could be Christian, he asserts the, to him, remarkable -but quite undeniable fact in these words: “The devout and -hopeful Christian faith, explicitly or implicitly affirmed in such -poems as <i>Saul</i>, <i>Kharshish</i>, <i>Cleon</i>, <i>Caliban upon Setebos</i>, <i>A -Death in the Desert</i>, <i>Instans Tyrannus</i>, <i>Rabbi Ben Ezra</i>, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_vii'>vii</span><i>Prospice</i>, the <i>Epilogue</i>, and throughout that stupendous monumental -work, <i>The Ring and the Book</i>, must surely be as clear as -noonday to even the most purblind vision.”</p> - -<p class='c007'>That a great Christian poet, in an age when so many of the -intellectual magnates of the time are hostile or simply silent, -should remain unknown or little known to any large proportion -of Christian readers, is certainly very much to be regretted. -Surely the admiration which is freely and generously accorded -to his work by many who are constrained to it in spite of his -faith in a Christ whom they reject, is a rebuke to the indifference -of those who, sharing his faith, do not give themselves the -trouble to inquire what he has to say about it. There are not -so many avowed and outspoken Christians in the highest walks -of literature that we can afford to pay only slight attention to -the utterances of one who has the ear of the deepest thinkers in -every school of thought all the world over.</p> - -<hr class='c008' /> - -<p class='c007'>The immediate object of this selection is to supply an introduction -to the study of Browning for the benefit of the readers -of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle; but it is -hoped that many others, inspired with similar aims, and who -have not had such advantages that they can dispense with all -assistance in the study of a difficult author, may find help from -this little book. It is, of course, better to read for one’s self than -to follow the guidance of another; and yet it may be necessary -to open a path far enough to lead within sight of the treasures in -store. This is all that has been attempted here—only the indication -of a few veins near the surface of a rich mine, which the -reader is strongly recommended to explore for himself.</p> - -<p class='c007'>The selection has been arranged on the principle of beginning -with that which is simple, and proceeding gradually to the more -complex, with some regard also to variety and progress in subjects, -and at the same time to appropriateness for the use of those -younger readers for whom this selection mainly is intended.</p> - -<p class='c007'>The notes are meant to serve only as a guide to beginners; -<span class='pageno' id='Page_viii'>viii</span>and as guides are proverbially an annoyance when their services -are imposed unsought, these are disposed at the end of each -poem, and without reference marks to mar the pages, so that -the selection may be read, if desired, without any interference -from the notes.</p> - -<p class='c007'>Within the limits of a volume like this, only the shorter poems -could find a place. Most valuable extracts from the longer -works might have been given; but this is always a questionable -method of dealing with the best writers, with those especially -whose thought is strictly consecutive, while the effect of particular -passages depends to a large extent on their setting and -their relation to the work as a whole. The only<a id='rA' /><a href='#fA' class='c009'><sup>[A]</sup></a> exception to -this is the treatment of “Christmas Eve and Easter Day,” with -extracts from which this volume closes. That remarkable work -occupies a middle position between the shorter and the longer -poems of our author; and, though too long for insertion entire, -is yet so important, that it seemed very desirable to give some -idea of it. In furnishing a series of extracts from this work, an -attempt has been made to reduce the disadvantage above -referred to by supplying along with them a slight sketch or -“argument,” so as to give some idea, to those unacquainted with -it, of the course of thought throughout.</p> - -<p class='c007'>It is right to say that Mr. Browning has given his kind -permission for the publication in the United States of this -Selection, and also of the Notes, for which, however, as for the -selection itself, he is in no wise responsible.</p> - -<hr class='c010' /> -<div class='footnote' id='fA'> -<p class='c007'><span class='label'><a href='#rA'>A</a>. </span>It has been found necessary also to give only the latter part of the noble -poem “Saul.” A slight sketch of the part omitted is given, and the poem -is continued without interruption to its close.</p> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c005'>CONTENTS.</h2> -</div> - -<table class='table0' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='86%' /> -<col width='13%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <td class='c011'> </td> - <td class='c012'>PAGE</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Introductory</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_i'>i</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Home Thoughts, from Abroad</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_11'>11</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Home Thoughts, from the Sea</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_12'>12</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'>“<span class='sc'>How they brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix</span>”</td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_13'>13</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Echetlos</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_16'>16</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Helen’s Tower</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_18'>18</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Shop</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_19'>19</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>The Boy and the Angel</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_25'>25</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>The Patriot</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_29'>29</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Instans Tyrannus</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_31'>31</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>The Lost Leader</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_34'>34</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Love among the Ruins</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_36'>36</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>My Star</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_40'>40</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Rudel to the Lady of Tripoli</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_41'>41</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Never the Time and the Place</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_43'>43</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Wanting is—What?</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_44'>44</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Evelyn Hope</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_45'>45</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Prospice</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_48'>48</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Good, to Forgive</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_49'>49</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Touch him ne’er so Lightly</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_51'>51</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Popularity</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_52'>52</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>The Guardian Angel</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_56'>56</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Deaf and Dumb</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_59'>59</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Abt Vogler</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_60'>60</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>One Word More</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_68'>68</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Saul</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_77'>77</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>An Epistle</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_87'>87</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Christmas-Eve</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_100'>100</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><span class='sc'>Easter-Day</span></td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_121'>121</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c003'> - <div><span class='xxlarge'>A SELECTION FROM THE POEMS</span></div> - <div><span class='xxlarge'>OF ROBERT BROWNING.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span> - <h2 class='c005'>HOME THOUGHTS, FROM ABROAD.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Oh, to be in England now that April’s there,</div> - <div class='line'>And whoever wakes in England sees, some morning, unaware,</div> - <div class='line'>That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf</div> - <div class='line'>Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,</div> - <div class='line'>While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough</div> - <div class='line'>In England—now!</div> - <div class='line'>And after April, when May follows,</div> - <div class='line'>And the white-throat builds, and all the swallows!</div> - <div class='line'>Hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge</div> - <div class='line'>Leans to the field and scatters on the clover</div> - <div class='line'>Blossoms and dewdrops—at the bent spray’s edge—</div> - <div class='line'>That’s the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over</div> - <div class='line'>Lest you should think he never could recapture</div> - <div class='line'>The first fine careless rapture!</div> - <div class='line'>And, though the fields look rough with hoary dew,</div> - <div class='line'>All will be gay when noontide wakes anew</div> - <div class='line'>The buttercups, the little children’s dower</div> - <div class='line'>—Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span> - <h2 class='c005'>HOME THOUGHTS, FROM THE SEA.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Nobly, nobly Cape Saint Vincent to the North-West died away;</div> - <div class='line'>Sunset ran, one glorious blood-red, reeking into Cadiz Bay;</div> - <div class='line'>Bluish ’mid the burning water, full in face Trafalgar lay;</div> - <div class='line'>In the dimmest North-East distance dawned Gibraltar grand and grey;</div> - <div class='line'>“Here and here did England help me: how can I help England?”—say,</div> - <div class='line'>Whoso turns as I, this evening, turn to God to praise and pray,</div> - <div class='line'>While Jove’s planet rises yonder, silent over Africa.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>The former of these companion poems may have been written from Italy -or the south of Spain, as would appear from the last line of it. Mr. E. C. -Stedman, one of the severest of Browning’s appreciative critics, commenting -(in his “Victorian Poets”) on the lines beginning “That’s the wise thrush,” -says:—“Having in mind Shakespeare and Shelley, I nevertheless think -these three lines the finest ever written touching the song of a bird.”</p> - -<hr class='c008' /> - -<p class='c007'>In the latter poem, the course is from the southern point of Portugal -through the Straits. “Here and here”—the reference is to the battles of -Cape St. Vincent (1796) and Trafalgar (1805), and perhaps to the defence -of Gibraltar (1782).</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span> - <h2 class='c005'>“HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD<br />NEWS FROM GHENT TO AIX.”</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c013'> - <div>[16—.]</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>I.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>I sprang to the stirrup, and Joris, and he;</div> - <div class='line'>I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three;</div> - <div class='line'>“Good speed!” cried the watch, as the gate-bolts undrew;</div> - <div class='line'>“Speed!” echoed the wall to us galloping through;</div> - <div class='line'>Behind shut the postern, the lights sank to rest,</div> - <div class='line'>And into the midnight we galloped abreast.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>II.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Not a word to each other; we kept the great pace</div> - <div class='line'>Neck by neck, stride by stride, never changing our place;</div> - <div class='line'>I turned in my saddle and made its girths tight,</div> - <div class='line'>Then shortened each stirrup, and set the pique right,</div> - <div class='line'>Rebuckled the cheek-strap, chained slacker the bit,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor galloped less steadily Roland a whit.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>III.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>’Twas moonset at starting; but while we drew near</div> - <div class='line'>Lokeren, the cocks crew and twilight dawned clear;</div> - <div class='line'>At Boom, a great yellow star came out to see;</div> - <div class='line'>At Düffeld, ’twas morning as plain as could be;</div> - <div class='line'>And from Mecheln church-steeple we heard the half-chime,</div> - <div class='line'>So, Joris broke silence with, “Yet there is time!”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>IV.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>At Aershot, up leaped of a sudden the sun,</div> - <div class='line'>And against him the cattle stood black every one,</div> - <div class='line'>To stare thro’ the mist at us galloping past,</div> - <div class='line'>And I saw my stout galloper Roland at last,</div> - <div class='line'>With resolute shoulders, each butting away</div> - <div class='line'>The haze, as some bluff river headland its spray:</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>V.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And his low head and crest, just one sharp ear bent back</div> - <div class='line'>For my voice, and the other pricked out on his track;</div> - <div class='line'>And one eye’s black intelligence,—ever that glance</div> - <div class='line'>O’er its white edge at me, his own master, askance!</div> - <div class='line'>And the thick heavy spume-flakes which aye and anon</div> - <div class='line'>His fierce lips shook upwards in galloping on.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>VI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>By Hasselt, Dirck groaned; and cried Joris, “Stay spur!</div> - <div class='line'>“Your Roos galloped bravely, the fault’s not in her,</div> - <div class='line'>“We’ll remember at Aix”—for one heard the quick wheeze</div> - <div class='line'>Of her chest, saw the stretched neck and staggering knees,</div> - <div class='line'>And sunk tail, and horrible heave of the flank,</div> - <div class='line'>As down on her haunches she shuddered and sank.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>VII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>So, we were left galloping, Joris and I,</div> - <div class='line'>Past Looz and past Tongres, no cloud in the sky;</div> - <div class='line'>The broad sun above laughed a pitiless laugh,</div> - <div class='line'>’Neath our feet broke the brittle bright stubble like chaff;</div> - <div class='line'>Till over by Dalhem a dome-spire sprang white,</div> - <div class='line'>And “Gallop,” gasped Joris, “for Aix is in sight!”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>VIII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“How they’ll greet us!”—and all in a moment his roan</div> - <div class='line'>Rolled neck and croup over, lay dead as a stone;</div> - <div class='line'>And there was my Roland to bear the whole weight</div> - <div class='line'>Of the news which alone could save Aix from her fate,</div> - <div class='line'>With his nostrils like pits full of blood to the brim,</div> - <div class='line'>And with circles of red for his eye-sockets’ rim.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>IX.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Then I cast loose my buffcoat, each holster let fall,</div> - <div class='line'>Shook off both my jack-boots, let go belt and all,</div> - <div class='line'>Stood up in the stirrup, leaned, patted his ear,</div> - <div class='line'>Called my Roland his pet-name, my horse without peer;</div> - <div class='line'>Clapped my hands, laughed and sang, any noise, bad or good,</div> - <div class='line'>Till at length into Aix Roland galloped and stood.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>X.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And all I remember is, friends flocking round</div> - <div class='line'>As I sat with his head ’twixt my knees on the ground;</div> - <div class='line'>And no voice but was praising this Roland of mine,</div> - <div class='line'>As I poured down his throat our last measure of wine,</div> - <div class='line'>Which (the burgesses voted by common consent)</div> - <div class='line'>Was no more than his due who brought good news from Ghent.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>The indefiniteness of the date at the head of this poem will be best -explained by the following extract from a letter of Mr. Browning’s, published -in 1881 in the <i>Boston Literary World</i>:—</p> - -<p class='c007'>“There is no sort of historical foundation about ‘Good News From -Ghent.’ I wrote it under the bulwark of a vessel off the African coast, -after I had been at sea long enough to appreciate even the fancy of a gallop -on the back of a certain good horse ‘York,’ then in my stable at home.”</p> - -<p class='c007'>This poem, therefore, widely known and appreciated as one of the most -stirring in the language, may be regarded as a living picture to illustrate -the pages—no page in particular—of Motley.</p> - -<p class='c007'>As parallels in American literature, reference may be made to “Paul -Revere’s Ride,” by Longfellow, and “Sheridan’s Ride,” by T. B. Reade.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span> - <h2 class='c005'>ECHETLOS.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Here is a story, shall stir you! Stand up, Greeks dead and gone,</div> - <div class='line'>Who breasted, beat Barbarians, stemmed Persia rolling on,</div> - <div class='line'>Did the deed and saved the world, since the day was Marathon!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>No man but did his manliest, kept rank and fought away</div> - <div class='line'>In his tribe and file: up, back, out, down—was the spear-arm play:</div> - <div class='line'>Like a wind-whipt branchy wood, all spear-arms a-swing that day!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But one man kept no rank, and his sole arm plied no spear,</div> - <div class='line'>As a flashing came and went, and a form i’ the van, the rear,</div> - <div class='line'>Brightened the battle up, for he blazed now there, now here.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Nor helmed nor shielded, he! but, a goat-skin all his wear,</div> - <div class='line'>Like a tiller of the soil, with a clown’s limbs broad and bare,</div> - <div class='line'>Went he ploughing on and on: he pushed with a ploughman’s share.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Did the weak mid-line give way, as tunnies on whom the shark</div> - <div class='line'>Precipitates his bulk? Did the right-wing halt when, stark</div> - <div class='line'>On his heap of slain, lay stretched Kallimachos Polemarch?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Did the steady phalanx falter? To the rescue, at the need,</div> - <div class='line'>The clown was ploughing Persia, clearing Greek earth of weed,</div> - <div class='line'>As he routed through the Sakian and rooted up the Mede.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>But the deed done, battle won,—nowhere to be descried</div> - <div class='line'>On the meadow, by the stream, at the marsh,—look far and wide</div> - <div class='line'>From the foot of the mountain, no, to the last blood-plashed sea-side,—</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Not anywhere on view blazed the large limbs thonged and brown,</div> - <div class='line'>Shearing and clearing still with the share before which—down</div> - <div class='line'>To the dust went Persia’s pomp, as he ploughed for Greece, that clown!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>How spake the Oracle? “Care for no name at all!</div> - <div class='line'>Say but just this: We praise one helpful whom we call</div> - <div class='line'>The Holder of the Ploughshare. The great deed ne’er grows small.”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Not the great name! Sing—woe for the great name Míltiadés,</div> - <div class='line'>And its end at Paros isle! Woe for Themistokles—</div> - <div class='line'>Satrap in Sardis court! Name not the clown like these!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>The name, Echetlos, is derived from ἐχέτλη, a plough handle. It is not -strictly a proper name, but an appellative, meaning “the Holder of the -Ploughshare.” The story is found in Pausanias, author of the “Itinerary -of Greece” (1, 15, 32). Nothing further is necessary in order to understand -this little poem and appreciate its rugged strength than familiarity with the -battle of Marathon, and some knowledge of Miltiades and Themistocles, -the one known as the hero of Marathon, and the other as the hero of -Salamis. The lesson of the poem (“The great <i>deed</i> ne’er grows small, not -the great <i>name</i>!”) is taught in a way not likely to be forgotten. One is -reminded of another, who wished to be nameless, heard only as “the voice -of one crying in the wilderness!”</p> - -<p class='c007'>The ellipsis in thought between the eighth and ninth stanzas is so easily -supplied that it is noticed here only as a simple illustration of what is sometimes -the occasion of difficulty (see Introduction, p. iii). It would only have -lengthened the poem and weakened it to have inserted a stanza telling in so -many words that when the hero could not be found, a message was sent to -the Oracle to enquire who it could be.</p> - -<p class='c007'>As a companion to “Echetlos” may be read the stirring poem of “Hervé -Riel.”</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span> - <h2 class='c005'>HELEN’S TOWER.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c013'> - <div>Ἑλένη ἐπὶ πύργῳ</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Who hears of Helen’s Tower, may dream perchance,</div> - <div class='line in4'>How the Greek Beauty from the Scæan Gate</div> - <div class='line in4'>Gazed on old friends unanimous in hate,</div> - <div class='line'>Death-doom’d because of her fair countenance.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Hearts would leap otherwise, at thy advance,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Lady, to whom this Tower is consecrate:</div> - <div class='line in4'>Like hers, thy face once made all eyes elate,</div> - <div class='line'>Yet, unlike hers, was bless’d by every glance.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The Tower of Hate is outworn, far and strange:</div> - <div class='line in4'>A transitory shame of long ago,</div> - <div class='line in6'>It dies into the sand from which it sprang:</div> - <div class='line'>But thine, Love’s rock-built Tower, shall fear no change:</div> - <div class='line in4'>God’s self laid stable Earth’s foundations so,</div> - <div class='line in6'>When all the morning-stars together sang.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>The tower is one built by Lord Dufferin, in memory of his mother Helen, -Countess of Gifford, on one of his estates in Ireland. “The Greek Beauty” -is, of course, Helen of Troy, and the reference in the alternative heading is -apparently to that fine passage in the third book of the “Iliad,” where -Helen meets the Trojan chiefs at the Scæan Gate (see line 154, which -speaks of “Helen at the Tower”).</p> - -<p class='c007'>On the last two lines, founded of course on the well-known passage in -Job (xxxviii. 4-7), compare Dante:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“E il sol montava in su con quelle stelle</div> - <div class='line'>Ch’eran con lui, quando l’Amor Divino</div> - <div class='line'>Mosse da prima quelle cose belle.”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Aloft the sun ascended with those stars</div> - <div class='line'>That with him rose, when Love Divine first moved</div> - <div class='line'>Those its fair works.”</div> - <div class='line'>—<i>Inferno</i> I. 38-40.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span> - <h2 class='c005'>SHOP.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>I.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>So, friend, your shop was all your house!</div> - <div class='line in2'>Its front, astonishing the street,</div> - <div class='line'>Invited view from man and mouse</div> - <div class='line in2'>To what diversity of treat</div> - <div class='line in2'>Behind its glass—the single sheet!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>II.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>What gimcracks, genuine Japanese:</div> - <div class='line in2'>Gape-jaw and goggle-eye, the frog;</div> - <div class='line'>Dragons, owls, monkeys, beetles, geese;</div> - <div class='line in2'>Some crush-nosed human-hearted dog:</div> - <div class='line in2'>Queer names, too, such a catalogue!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>III.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>I thought “And he who owns the wealth</div> - <div class='line in2'>“Which blocks the window’s vastitude,</div> - <div class='line'>“—Ah, could I peep at him by stealth</div> - <div class='line in2'>“Behind his ware, pass shop, intrude</div> - <div class='line in2'>“On house itself, what scenes were viewed!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>IV.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“If wide and showy thus the shop,</div> - <div class='line in2'>“What must the habitation prove?</div> - <div class='line'>“The true house with no name a-top—</div> - <div class='line in2'>“The mansion, distant one remove,</div> - <div class='line in2'>“Once get him off his traffic groove!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>V.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Pictures he likes, or books perhaps;</div> - <div class='line in2'>“And as for buying most and best,</div> - <div class='line'>“Commend me to these city chaps.</div> - <div class='line in2'>“Or else he’s social, takes his rest</div> - <div class='line in2'>“On Sundays, with a Lord for guest.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>VI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Some suburb-palace, parked about</div> - <div class='line in2'>“And gated grandly, built last year:</div> - <div class='line'>“The four-mile walk to keep off gout;</div> - <div class='line in2'>“Or big seat sold by bankrupt peer:</div> - <div class='line in2'>“But then he takes the rail, that’s clear.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>VII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Or, stop! I wager, taste selects</div> - <div class='line in2'>“Some out o’ the way, some all-unknown</div> - <div class='line'>“Retreat: the neighbourhood suspects</div> - <div class='line in2'>“Little that he who rambles lone</div> - <div class='line in2'>“Makes Rothschild tremble on his throne!”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>VIII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Nowise! Nor Mayfair residence</div> - <div class='line in2'>Fit to receive and entertain,—</div> - <div class='line'>Nor Hampstead villa’s kind defence</div> - <div class='line in2'>From noise and crowd, from dust and drain,—</div> - <div class='line in2'>Nor country-box was soul’s domain!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>IX.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Nowise! At back of all that spread</div> - <div class='line in2'>Of merchandize, woe’s me, I find</div> - <div class='line'>A hole i’ the wall where, heels by head,</div> - <div class='line in2'>The owner couched, his ware behind,</div> - <div class='line in2'>—In cupboard suited to his mind.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>X.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>For, why? He saw no use of life</div> - <div class='line in2'>But, while he drove a roaring trade,</div> - <div class='line'>To chuckle “Customers are rife!”</div> - <div class='line in2'>To chafe “So much hard cash outlaid</div> - <div class='line in2'>“Yet zero in my profits made!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“This novelty costs pains, but—takes?</div> - <div class='line in2'>“Cumbers my counter! Stock no more!</div> - <div class='line'>“This article, no such great shakes,</div> - <div class='line in2'>“Fizzes like wild fire? Underscore</div> - <div class='line in2'>“The cheap thing—thousands to the fore!”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>’Twas lodging best to live most nigh</div> - <div class='line in2'>(Cramp, coffinlike as crib might be)</div> - <div class='line'>Receipt of Custom; ear and eye</div> - <div class='line in2'>Wanted no outworld: “Hear and see</div> - <div class='line in2'>“The bustle in the shop!” quoth he.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>XIII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>My fancy of a merchant-prince</div> - <div class='line in2'>Was different. Through his wares we groped</div> - <div class='line'>Our darkling way to—not to mince</div> - <div class='line in2'>The matter—no black den where moped</div> - <div class='line in2'>The master if we interloped!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XIV.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Shop was shop only: household-stuff?</div> - <div class='line in2'>What did he want with comforts there?</div> - <div class='line'>“Walls, ceiling, floor, stay blank and rough,</div> - <div class='line in2'>“So goods on sale show rich and rare!</div> - <div class='line in2'>“<i>Sell and scud home</i>,” be shop’s affair!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XV.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>What might he deal in? Gems, suppose!</div> - <div class='line in2'>Since somehow business must be done</div> - <div class='line'>At cost of trouble,—see, he throws</div> - <div class='line in2'>You choice of jewels, everyone</div> - <div class='line in2'>Good, better, best, star, moon and sun!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XVI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Which lies within your power of purse?</div> - <div class='line in2'>This ruby that would tip aright</div> - <div class='line'>Solomon’s sceptre? Oh, your nurse</div> - <div class='line in2'>Wants simply coral, the delight</div> - <div class='line in2'>Of teething baby,—stuff to bite!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>XVII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Howe’er your choice fell, straight you took</div> - <div class='line in2'>Your purchase, prompt your money rang</div> - <div class='line'>On counter,—scarce the man forsook</div> - <div class='line in2'>His study of the “Times,” just swang</div> - <div class='line in2'>Till-ward his hand that stopped the clang,—</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XVIII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Then off made buyer with a prize,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Then seller to his “Times” returned,</div> - <div class='line'>And so did day wear, wear, till eyes</div> - <div class='line in2'>Brightened apace, for rest was earned:</div> - <div class='line in2'>He locked door long ere candle burned.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XIX.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And whither went he? Ask himself,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Not me! To change of scene, I think.</div> - <div class='line'>Once sold the ware and pursed the pelf,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Chaffer was scarce his meat and drink,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Nor all his music—money-chink.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XX.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Because a man has shop to mind</div> - <div class='line in2'>In time and place, since flesh must live,</div> - <div class='line'>Needs spirit lack all life behind,</div> - <div class='line in2'>All stray thoughts, fancies fugitive,</div> - <div class='line in2'>All loves except what trade can give?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>XXI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>I want to know a butcher paints,</div> - <div class='line in2'>A baker rhymes for his pursuit,</div> - <div class='line'>Candlestick-maker much acquaints</div> - <div class='line in2'>His soul with song, or, haply mute,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Blows out his brains upon the flute!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XXII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But—shop each day and all day long!</div> - <div class='line in2'>Friend, your good angel slept, your star</div> - <div class='line'>Suffered eclipse, fate did you wrong!</div> - <div class='line in2'>From where these sorts of treasures are,</div> - <div class='line in2'>There should our hearts be—Christ, how far!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>There ought to be far more in a man than can be put into a front window. -This man had all sorts of “curios” in his shop window, but there was -nothing rich or rare in his soul; and so there was room for all of <i>him</i> in a -den which would not have held the hundredth part of his wares. The contemptible -manner of the man’s life is strikingly brought out by the various -suppositions (stanzas 5, 6, 7) so different from the poor reality (8-9). All -he cared for was business, which made him “chuckle” on the one hand or -“chafe” on the other, according as times were good or bad (10). Even in -his business it was not the real excellence of his wares he cared for, only -their saleability (11). A merchant prince is a very different person (13-19). -The last three stanzas give the lesson in a style partly humorous, but passing -in the end to an impressive solemnity.</p> - -<p class='c007'>In connection with this should be read the companion piece, “House,” to -which reference is made in the Introduction.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span> - <h2 class='c005'>THE BOY AND THE ANGEL.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Morning, evening, noon and night,</div> - <div class='line'>“Praise God!” sang Theocrite.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Then to his poor trade he turned,</div> - <div class='line'>Whereby the daily meal was earned.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Hard he laboured, long and well;</div> - <div class='line'>O’er his work the boy’s curls fell.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But ever, at each period,</div> - <div class='line'>He stopped and sang, “Praise God!”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Then back again his curls he threw,</div> - <div class='line'>And cheerful turned to work anew.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Said Blaise, the listening monk, “Well done;</div> - <div class='line'>“I doubt not thou art heard, my son:</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“As well as if thy voice to-day</div> - <div class='line'>“Were praising God, the Pope’s great way.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“This Easter Day, the Pope at Rome</div> - <div class='line'>“Praises God from Peter’s dome.”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Said Theocrite, “Would God that I</div> - <div class='line'>“Might praise Him, that great way, and die!”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Night passed, day shone,</div> - <div class='line'>And Theocrite was gone.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>With God a day endures alway,</div> - <div class='line'>A thousand years are but a day.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>God said in heaven, “Nor day nor night</div> - <div class='line'>“Now brings the voice of my delight.”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Then Gabriel, like a rainbow’s birth,</div> - <div class='line'>Spread his wings and sank to earth;</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Entered, in flesh, the empty cell,</div> - <div class='line'>Lived there, and played the craftsman well;</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And morning, evening, noon and night,</div> - <div class='line'>Praised God in place of Theocrite.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And from a boy, to youth he grew:</div> - <div class='line'>The man put off the stripling’s hue:</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The man matured and fell away</div> - <div class='line'>Into the season of decay:</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And ever o’er the trade he bent,</div> - <div class='line'>And ever lived on earth content.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>(He did God’s will; to him, all one</div> - <div class='line'>If on the earth or in the sun.)</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>God said, “A praise is in mine ear;</div> - <div class='line'>“There is no doubt in it, no fear:</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“So sing old worlds, and so</div> - <div class='line'>“New worlds that from my footstool go.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>“Clearer loves sound other ways:</div> - <div class='line'>“I miss my little human praise.”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Then forth sprang Gabriel’s wings, off fell</div> - <div class='line'>The flesh disguise, remained the cell.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>’Twas Easter Day: He flew to Rome,</div> - <div class='line'>And paused above Saint Peter’s dome.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>In the tiring-room close by</div> - <div class='line'>The great outer gallery,</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>With his holy vestments dight,</div> - <div class='line'>Stood the new Pope, Theocrite:</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And all his past career</div> - <div class='line'>Came back upon him clear,</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Since when, a boy, he plied his trade,</div> - <div class='line'>Till on his life the sickness weighed;</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And in his cell, when death drew near,</div> - <div class='line'>An angel in a dream brought cheer:</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And, rising from the sickness drear,</div> - <div class='line'>He grew a priest, and now stood here.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>To the East with praise he turned,</div> - <div class='line'>And on his sight the angel burned.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“I bore thee from thy craftsman’s cell,</div> - <div class='line'>“And set thee here; I did not well.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>“Vainly I left my angel-sphere,</div> - <div class='line'>“Vain was thy dream of many a year.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Thy voice’s praise seemed weak; it dropped—</div> - <div class='line'>“Creation’s chorus stopped!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Go back and praise again</div> - <div class='line'>“The early way, while I remain.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“With that weak voice of our disdain,</div> - <div class='line'>“Take up creation’s pausing strain.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Back to the cell and poor employ:</div> - <div class='line'>“Resume the craftsman and the boy!”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Theocrite grew old at home;</div> - <div class='line'>A new Pope dwelt in Peter’s dome.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>One vanished as the other died:</div> - <div class='line'>They sought God side by side.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>The lesson of this beautiful fancy is the complement of the “Shop” -lesson. Even drudgery may be divine; since the will of God is the work -to be done, no matter whether under St. Peter’s dome or in the cell of the -craftsman (the Boy)—“all one, if on the earth or in the sun” (the Angel).</p> - -<p class='c007'>The poem is so full of exquisite things, that only a few can be noted. -The value of the “little human praise” to God Himself (distich 12), all -the dearer because of the doubts and fears in it (20-22); and the contrast -between its seeming weakness and insignificance and its real importance as -a necessary part of the great chorus of creation (34); the eager desire of -Gabriel to anticipate the will of God, and his content to live on earth and -bend over a common trade, if only thus he can serve Him best (13-19); -and again the content of the “new pope Theocrite” to go back to his “cell -and poor employ” and fill out the measure of his day of service, growing -old at home, while Gabriel as contentedly takes his place as pope (probably -a harder trial than the more menial service) and waits for the time when -both “sought God side by side”—these are some of the fine and far -reaching thoughts which find simple and beautiful expression here.</p> - -<p class='c007'>Longfellow’s “King Robert of Sicily,” though not really parallel, has -points of similarity to “The Boy and the Angel.”</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span> - <h2 class='c005'>THE PATRIOT.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c013'> - <div>AN OLD STORY.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>I.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>It was roses, roses, all the way,</div> - <div class='line in2'>With myrtle mixed in my path like mad:</div> - <div class='line'>The house-roofs seemed to heave and sway,</div> - <div class='line in2'>The church-spires flamed, such flags they had,</div> - <div class='line'>A year ago on this very day.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>II.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The air broke into a mist with bells,</div> - <div class='line in2'>The old walls rocked with the crowd and cries.</div> - <div class='line'>Had I said, “Good folk, mere noise repels—</div> - <div class='line in2'>“But give me your sun from yonder skies!”</div> - <div class='line'>They had answered “And afterward, what else?”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>III.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Alack, it was I who leaped at the sun</div> - <div class='line in2'>To give it my loving friends to keep!</div> - <div class='line'>Nought man could do, have I left undone:</div> - <div class='line in2'>And you see my harvest, what I reap</div> - <div class='line'>This very day, now a year is run.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>IV.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>There’s nobody on the house-tops now—</div> - <div class='line in2'>Just a palsied few at the windows set;</div> - <div class='line'>For the best of the sight is, all allow,</div> - <div class='line in2'>At the Shambles’ Gate—or, better yet,</div> - <div class='line'>By the very scaffold’s foot, I trow.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>V.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>I go in the rain, and, more than needs,</div> - <div class='line in2'>A rope cuts both my wrists behind,</div> - <div class='line'>And I think, by the feel, my forehead bleeds,</div> - <div class='line in2'>For they fling, whoever has a mind,</div> - <div class='line'>Stones at me for my year’s misdeeds.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>VI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Thus I entered, and thus I go!</div> - <div class='line in2'>In triumphs, people have dropped down dead.</div> - <div class='line'>“Paid by the world, what dost thou owe</div> - <div class='line in2'>Me?”—God might question; now instead,</div> - <div class='line'>’Tis God shall repay: I am safer so.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>The Patriot, on his way to the scaffold, surrounded by a hooting crowd, -remembers how, just a year ago, the same people had been mad in -their enthusiasm for him. Anything at all, however extravagant, would -have been too little for them to do for him (stanza 2; cf. Gal. iv. 15, 16); -but now——! The fourth stanza is very powerful. All have gone who -can, to be ready to see the execution; only the “palsied few,” who cannot, -are at the windows to see him pass. In the last stanza the thought of a -more sudden contrast still is presented. A man may drop dead in the -midst of a triumph, to find that in its brief plaudits he has his reward, -while a vast account stands against him at the higher tribunal. Far better -die amid the execrations of men and find the contrast reversed.</p> - -<p class='c007'>It is “an old story,” and therefore general; but one naturally thinks of -such cases as Arnold of Brescia, or the tribune Rienzi. A higher Name -than these need not be introduced here, in proof of the people’s fickleness!</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span> - <h2 class='c005'>INSTANS TYRANNUS.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>I.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Of the million or two, more or less,</div> - <div class='line'>I rule and possess,</div> - <div class='line'>One man, for some cause undefined,</div> - <div class='line'>Was least to my mind.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>II.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>I struck him, he grovelled of course—</div> - <div class='line'>For, what was his force?</div> - <div class='line'>I pinned him to earth with my weight</div> - <div class='line'>And persistence of hate;</div> - <div class='line'>And he lay, would not moan, would not curse,</div> - <div class='line'>As his lot might be worse.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>III.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Were the object less mean, would he stand</div> - <div class='line'>“At the swing of my hand!</div> - <div class='line'>“For obscurity helps him, and blots</div> - <div class='line'>“The hole where he squats.”</div> - <div class='line'>So, I set my five wits on the stretch</div> - <div class='line'>To inveigle the wretch.</div> - <div class='line'>All in vain! Gold and jewels I threw</div> - <div class='line'>Still he couched there perdue;</div> - <div class='line'>I tempted his blood and his flesh,</div> - <div class='line'>Hid in roses my mesh,</div> - <div class='line'>Choicest cates and the flagon’s best spilth</div> - <div class='line'>Still he kept to his filth.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>IV.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Had he kith now or kin, were access</div> - <div class='line'>To his heart, did I press</div> - <div class='line'>Just a son or a mother to seize!</div> - <div class='line'>No such booty as these.</div> - <div class='line'>Were it simply a friend to pursue</div> - <div class='line'>’Mid my million or two,</div> - <div class='line'>Who could pay me, in person or pelf,</div> - <div class='line'>What he owes me himself!</div> - <div class='line'>No: I could not but smile through my chafe:</div> - <div class='line'>For the fellow lay safe</div> - <div class='line'>As his mates do, the midge and the nit,</div> - <div class='line'>—Through minuteness, to wit.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>V.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Then a humour more great took its place</div> - <div class='line'>At the thought of his face:</div> - <div class='line'>The droop, the low cares of the mouth,</div> - <div class='line'>The trouble uncouth</div> - <div class='line'>’Twixt the brows, all that air one is fain</div> - <div class='line'>To put out of its pain.</div> - <div class='line'>And, “no!” I admonished myself,</div> - <div class='line'>“Is one mocked by an elf,</div> - <div class='line'>“Is one baffled by toad or by rat?</div> - <div class='line'>“The gravamen’s in that!</div> - <div class='line'>“How the lion, who crouches to suit</div> - <div class='line'>“His back to my foot,</div> - <div class='line'>“Would admire that I stand in debate!</div> - <div class='line'>“But the small turns the great</div> - <div class='line'>“If it vexes you,—that is the thing!</div> - <div class='line'>“Toad or rat vex the king?</div> - <div class='line'>“Though I waste half my realm to unearth</div> - <div class='line'>“Toad or rat, ’tis well worth!”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>VI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>So, I soberly laid my last plan</div> - <div class='line'>To extinguish the man.</div> - <div class='line'>Round his creep-hole, with never a break</div> - <div class='line'>Ran my fires for his sake;</div> - <div class='line'>Over-head, did my thunder combine</div> - <div class='line'>With my under-ground mine:</div> - <div class='line'>Till I looked from my labour content</div> - <div class='line'>To enjoy the event.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>VII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>When sudden ... how think ye, the end?</div> - <div class='line'>Did I say “without friend?”</div> - <div class='line'>Say rather from marge to blue marge</div> - <div class='line'>The whole sky grew his targe</div> - <div class='line'>With the sun’s self for visible boss,</div> - <div class='line'>While an Arm ran across</div> - <div class='line'>Which the earth heaved beneath like a breast</div> - <div class='line'>Where the wretch was safe prest!</div> - <div class='line'>Do you see! Just my vengeance complete,</div> - <div class='line'>The man sprang to his feet,</div> - <div class='line'>Stood erect, caught at God’s skirts, and prayed!</div> - <div class='line'>—So, <i>I</i> was afraid!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>“Instans Tyrannus,” the <i>present</i> tyrant, the tyrant for the time only, whose -apparently illimitable power to hurt shrivels into nothing in presence of the -King of kings, whose dominion is everlasting.</p> - -<p class='c007'>The poor victim of this tyrant’s oppression is a true child of God, but the -nobility of his inner life is of course concealed from the proud wretch who -despises him, and who, it must be remembered, is the speaker throughout. -We must be careful, therefore, to estimate at their proper worth the epithets -he applies and the motives he attributes to the object of his hate. <i>He</i> can, -of course, think of no other reason why his victim “would not moan, would -not curse,” than that, if he did, “his lot might be worse.” And again, -when temptation failed to shake his steadfast patience, the tyrant is quite -consistent with himself, as one of those who call evil good, and good evil, -in speaking of him as still keeping “to his filth.” The last stanza is magnificent. -Has the power of prayer ever been set forth in nobler language?</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span> - <h2 class='c005'>THE LOST LEADER.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>I.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Just for a handful of silver he left us,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Just for a riband to stick in his coat—</div> - <div class='line'>Found the one gift of which fortune bereft us,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Lost all the others, she lets us devote;</div> - <div class='line'>They, with the gold to give, doled him out silver,</div> - <div class='line in2'>So much was theirs who so little allowed:</div> - <div class='line'>How all our copper had gone for his service!</div> - <div class='line in2'>Rags—were they purple, his heart had been proud!</div> - <div class='line'>We that had loved him so, followed him, honoured him,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Lived in his mild and magnificent eye,</div> - <div class='line'>Learned his great language, caught his clear accents,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Made him our pattern to live and to die!</div> - <div class='line'>Shakespeare was of us, Milton was for us,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Burns, Shelley, were with us,—they watch from their graves!</div> - <div class='line'>He alone breaks from the van and the freemen,</div> - <div class='line in2'>He alone sinks to the rear and the slaves!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>II.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>We shall march prospering,—not thro’ his presence;</div> - <div class='line in2'>Songs may inspirit us,—not from his lyre;</div> - <div class='line'>Deeds will be done,—while he boasts his quiescence,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Still bidding crouch whom the rest bade aspire:</div> - <div class='line'>Blot out his name, then, record one lost soul more,</div> - <div class='line in2'>One task more declined, one more footpath untrod,</div> - <div class='line'>One more devil’s-triumph and sorrow for angels,</div> - <div class='line in2'>One more wrong to man, one more insult to God!</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>Life’s night begins: let him never come back to us!</div> - <div class='line in2'>There would be doubt, hesitation and pain,</div> - <div class='line'>Forced praise on our part—the glimmer of twilight,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Never glad confident morning again!</div> - <div class='line'>Best fight on well, for we taught him—strike gallantly,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Menace our heart ere we master his own;</div> - <div class='line'>Then let him receive the new knowledge and wait us,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Pardoned in heaven, the first by the throne!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>“The Lost Leader” is supposed to be the poet Wordsworth, who, on -accepting the laureateship, abandoned the party of distinguished literary -men who had enthusiastically supported the principles of the French -Revolution. It is necessary, of course, to enter into the lofty enthusiasm of -that party, and for the moment to identify ourselves with it, in order to -appreciate the wonderful power and pathos of this exquisite poem. (See -Wordsworth’s “French Revolution as it appeared to enthusiasts at its -commencement.”)</p> - -<p class='c007'>The contrasts are very powerful between the one (paltry) gift he gained, -and all the others (love, loyalty, life, &c.) they were privileged to <i>devote</i> (far -richer than mere possession); and again, between the niggardliness of his -new patrons with their dole of silver, contrasted with the enthusiastic -devotion of his own followers, who having nothing but “copper,” would -yet put it all at his service—having nothing but “rags,” were yet so liberal -with what they had, that had they been purple, he would have been proud -indeed, seeing that “a riband to stick in his coat” had proved so great an -attraction.</p> - -<p class='c007'>In the second stanza the fountains of the great deep of human feeling -are broken up. “Life’s night begins” suggests at once the strength -of the previous attachment, and the hopelessness of the broken tie being ever -knit again on earth. The best thing is to be counted enemies now, and fight -against each other as gallantly as they would have fought together. At the -same time there is absolute confidence in the ultimate triumph of the party of -freedom—he may “menace our hearts,” but we shall “master his”—and -in the ultimate recovery of the lost leader himself, whom he hopes to find -“pardoned in heaven, the first by the throne.”</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span> - <h2 class='c005'>LOVE AMONG THE RUINS.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>I.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Where the quiet coloured end of evening smiles,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Miles and miles,</div> - <div class='line'>On the solitary pastures where our sheep</div> - <div class='line in6'>Half-asleep</div> - <div class='line'>Tinkle homeward thro’ the twilight, stray or stop</div> - <div class='line in6'>As they crop—</div> - <div class='line'>Was the site once of a city great and gay,</div> - <div class='line in6'>(So they say)</div> - <div class='line'>Of our country’s very capital, its prince,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Ages since,</div> - <div class='line'>Held his court in, gathered councils, wielding far</div> - <div class='line in6'>Peace or war.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>II.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Now,—the country does not even boast a tree,</div> - <div class='line in6'>As you see,</div> - <div class='line'>To distinguish slopes of verdure, certain rills</div> - <div class='line in6'>From the hills</div> - <div class='line'>Intersect and give a name to, (else they run</div> - <div class='line in6'>Into one)</div> - <div class='line'>Where the domed and daring palace shot its spires</div> - <div class='line in6'>Up like fires</div> - <div class='line'>O’er the hundred-gated circuit of a wall</div> - <div class='line in6'>Bounding all,</div> - <div class='line'>Made of marble, men might march on nor be pressed</div> - <div class='line in6'>Twelve abreast.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>III.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And such plenty and perfection, see, of grass</div> - <div class='line in6'>Never was!</div> - <div class='line'>Such a carpet as, this summer-time, o’erspreads</div> - <div class='line in6'>And embeds</div> - <div class='line'>Every vestige of the city, guessed alone,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Stock or stone—</div> - <div class='line'>Where a multitude of men breathed joy and woe</div> - <div class='line in6'>Long ago;</div> - <div class='line'>Lust of glory pricked their hearts up, dread of shame</div> - <div class='line in6'>Struck them tame;</div> - <div class='line'>And that glory and that shame alike, the gold</div> - <div class='line in6'>Bought and sold.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>IV.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Now,—the single little turret that remains</div> - <div class='line in6'>On the plains,</div> - <div class='line'>By the caper overrooted, by the gourd</div> - <div class='line in6'>Overscored,</div> - <div class='line'>While the patching houseleek’s head of blossom winks</div> - <div class='line in6'>Through the chinks—</div> - <div class='line'>Marks the basement whence a tower in ancient time</div> - <div class='line in6'>Sprang sublime,</div> - <div class='line'>And a burning ring, all round, the chariots traced</div> - <div class='line in6'>As they raced,</div> - <div class='line'>And the monarch and his minions and his dames</div> - <div class='line in6'>Viewed the games.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>V.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And I know—while thus the quiet-coloured eve</div> - <div class='line in6'>Smiles to leave</div> - <div class='line'>To their folding, all our many tinkling fleece</div> - <div class='line in6'>In such peace,</div> - <div class='line'>And the slopes and rills in undistinguished grey</div> - <div class='line in6'>Melt away—</div> - <div class='line'>That a girl with eager eyes and yellow hair</div> - <div class='line in6'>Waits me there</div> - <div class='line'>In the turret whence the charioteers caught soul</div> - <div class='line in6'>For the goal,</div> - <div class='line'>When the king looked, where she looks now, breathless, dumb</div> - <div class='line in6'>Till I come.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>VI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But he looked upon the city, every side,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Far and wide,</div> - <div class='line'>All the mountains topped with temples, all the glades</div> - <div class='line in6'>Colonnades,</div> - <div class='line'>All the causeys, bridges, aqueducts,—and then,</div> - <div class='line in6'>All the men!</div> - <div class='line'>When I do come, she will speak not, she will stand</div> - <div class='line in6'>Either hand</div> - <div class='line'>On my shoulder, give her eyes the first embrace</div> - <div class='line in6'>Of my face,</div> - <div class='line'>Ere we rush, ere we extinguish sight and speech</div> - <div class='line in6'>Each on each.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>VII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>In one year they sent a million fighters forth</div> - <div class='line in6'>South and North,</div> - <div class='line'>And they built their gods a brazen pillar high</div> - <div class='line in6'>As the sky,</div> - <div class='line'>Yet reserved a thousand chariots in full force—</div> - <div class='line in6'>Gold, of course.</div> - <div class='line'>Oh heart! oh blood that freezes, blood that burns!</div> - <div class='line in6'>Earth’s returns</div> - <div class='line'>For whole centuries of folly, noise and sin!</div> - <div class='line in6'>Shut them in,</div> - <div class='line'>With their triumphs and their glories and the rest!</div> - <div class='line in6'>Love is best.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>The supreme value of love is a constantly recurring thought in the poems -of our author. We shall meet it in its higher ranges in selections to come. -Here we are still in the sphere of the mere earthly affection, with only the -suggestion, in contrast with the transitoriness of earthly glory, of its indestructibility.</p> - -<p class='c007'>No explanation seems needed, excepting perhaps to call attention to this, -that the “little turret” in stanza 4 is not a bartizan, but a staircase turret, -or it could not “mark the basement, whence a tower in ancient time sprang -sublime.”</p> - -<p class='c007'>Observe, in each stanza, the striking contrast between the former and the -latter half, so balanced that the poem might be divided into fourteen single -or six double stanzas.</p> - -<p class='c007'>There is not much of the descriptive in the poems of our author; he is -the poet, not of Nature, but of Human Nature; but when he does touch -landscape, as here, it is with the hand of a master.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span> - <h2 class='c005'>MY STAR.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>All that I know</div> - <div class='line in2'>Of a certain star</div> - <div class='line'>Is, it can throw</div> - <div class='line in2'>(Like the angled spar)</div> - <div class='line'>Now a dart of red,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Now a dart of blue;</div> - <div class='line'>Till my friends have said</div> - <div class='line in2'>They would fain see, too,</div> - <div class='line'>My star that dartles the red and the blue!</div> - <div class='line'>Then it stops like a bird; like a flower, hangs furled:</div> - <div class='line in2'>They must solace themselves with the Saturn above it.</div> - <div class='line'>What matter to me if their star is a world?</div> - <div class='line in2'>Mine has opened its soul to me; therefore I love it.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>The following sentence, from Walter Besant, in “All Sorts and Conditions -of Men,” well expresses the key-thought of this little gem of a poem: “So -great is the beauty of human nature, even in its second rate or third rate -productions, that love generally follows when one of the two, by confession -or unconscious self-betrayal, stands revealed to the other.”</p> - -<p class='c007'>Compare also the closing stanzas of “One Word More,” especially -stanza 18.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span> - <h2 class='c005'>RUDEL TO THE LADY OF TRIPOLI</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>I.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>I know a Mount, the gracious Sun perceives</div> - <div class='line'>First, when he visits, last, too, when he leaves</div> - <div class='line'>The world; and, vainly favoured, it repays</div> - <div class='line'>The day-long glory of his steadfast gaze</div> - <div class='line'>By no change of its large calm front of snow.</div> - <div class='line'>And, underneath the Mount, a Flower I know,</div> - <div class='line'>He cannot have perceived, that changes ever</div> - <div class='line'>At his approach; and, in the lost endeavour</div> - <div class='line'>To live his life, has parted, one by one,</div> - <div class='line'>With all a flower’s true graces, for the grace</div> - <div class='line'>Of being but a foolish mimic sun,</div> - <div class='line'>With ray-like florets round a disk-like face.</div> - <div class='line'>Men nobly call by many a name the Mount</div> - <div class='line'>As over many a land of theirs its large</div> - <div class='line'>Calm front of snow like a triumphal targe</div> - <div class='line'>Is reared, and still with old names, fresh names vie,</div> - <div class='line'>Each to its proper praise and own account:</div> - <div class='line'>Men call the Flower, the Sunflower, sportively.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>II.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Oh, Angel of the East, one, one gold look</div> - <div class='line'>Across the waters to this twilight nook,</div> - <div class='line'>—The far sad waters, Angel, to this nook!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>III.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Dear Pilgrim, art thou for the East indeed?</div> - <div class='line'>Go!—saying ever as thou dost proceed,</div> - <div class='line'>That I, French Rudel, choose for my device</div> - <div class='line'>A sunflower outspread like a sacrifice</div> - <div class='line'>Before its idol. See! These inexpert</div> - <div class='line'>And hurried fingers could not fail to hurt</div> - <div class='line'>The woven picture; ’tis a woman’s skill</div> - <div class='line'>Indeed; but nothing baffled me, so, ill</div> - <div class='line'>Or well, the work is finished. Say, men feed</div> - <div class='line'>On songs I sing, and therefore bask the bees</div> - <div class='line'>On my flower’s breast as on a platform broad:</div> - <div class='line'>But, as the flower’s concern is not for these</div> - <div class='line'>But solely for the sun, so men applaud</div> - <div class='line'>In vain this Rudel, he not looking here</div> - <div class='line'>But to the East—the East! Go, say this, Pilgrim dear!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>This poem was first published in “Bells and Pomegranates” under the -head of “Queen Worship.” How exquisite the plea of the unnoticed -Flower, with no pretence to vie with the Mountain in its claim upon the -Sun’s attention, except this, that the great unchanging Mountain is -“vainly favoured,” while the Flower yields itself up in ceaseless and self-forgetting -devotion to an imitation, however feeble and foolish, of the great -Sun Life.</p> - -<p class='c007'>The second stanza is very rich. There is no mention in it of Sun or -Mountain or Flower; but as the Flower looks up to the Sun from its nook -at the Mountain’s base, so Rudel yearns for “one gold look” from his Sun, -the “Angel of the East.”</p> - -<p class='c007'>The meaning of the third stanza will be apparent when it is remembered -that “French Rudel” was a troubadour of the 12th century—the days of -the Crusades, and of the romance of chivalry. In those days the best way -to communicate with the East would be through some pilgrim passing -thither: and nothing would be more natural than such a reference to the -“device” which he had patiently, and in spite of difficulty, worked so as to -wear it as her “favour:” and once more, it is eminently natural to represent -the troubadour, not as sending a written message, but as finding a sympathetic -pilgrim to burden his memory with it—charging him to keep it fresh -by repetition till it had been duly delivered.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span> - <h2 class='c005'>NEVER THE TIME AND THE PLACE.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Never the time and the place</div> - <div class='line in2'>And the loved one all together!</div> - <div class='line'>This path—how soft to pace!</div> - <div class='line in2'>This May—what magic weather!</div> - <div class='line'>Where is the loved one’s face?</div> - <div class='line'>In a dream that loved one’s face meets mine,</div> - <div class='line in2'>But the house is narrow, the place is bleak</div> - <div class='line'>Where, outside, rain and wind combine</div> - <div class='line in2'>With a furtive ear, if I strive to speak</div> - <div class='line in2'>With a hostile eye at my flushing cheek,</div> - <div class='line'>With a malice that marks each word, each sign!</div> - <div class='line'>O enemy sly and serpentine</div> - <div class='line in2'>Uncoil thee from the waking man!</div> - <div class='line in8'>Do I hold the Past</div> - <div class='line in8'>Thus firm and fast</div> - <div class='line in2'>Yet doubt if the Future hold I can?</div> - <div class='line in2'>This path so soft to pace shall lead</div> - <div class='line in2'>Through the magic of May to herself indeed!</div> - <div class='line in2'>Or narrow if needs the house must be,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Outside are the storms and strangers: we—</div> - <div class='line in2'>Oh, close, safe, warm sleep I and she,</div> - <div class='line in2'>—I and she!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>This poem, published in “Jocoseria” in 1883, has no connection with -“Rudel,” published in “Bells and Pomegranates” in 1842; but it will -naturally follow it as “another of the same,” only with a happier ending; -for though we learn from history that poor Rudel did one day reach Tripoli, -it was only to die there,—let us hope still looking “to the East—the -East!”</p> - -<p class='c007'>We get a glimpse here of the shifting moods of a lover’s soul. First, there -are the thoughts connected with the present experience—time and place all -that could be desired, but the loved one, absent, (lines 1-5); next, thoughts -arising from a dark dream or foreboding of the future when he and his loved -one shall meet, but under circumstances cruelly unpropitious, the house -narrow, the weather stormy, unsympathetic strangers by with furtive ears -and hostile eyes, and even malice in their hearts (6-11); and last, the man -within him rises to shake off the horrid serpent-like dream, and look forward -with a healthy hope that time and place and all will be well; or, if the house -must be narrow, (compare the Latin, “res angusta domi”) it will be a -Home, storms and strangers without, peace and rest within!</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span> - <h2 class='c005'>WANTING IS—WHAT?</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Wanting is—what?</div> - <div class='line'>Summer redundant,</div> - <div class='line'>Blueness abundant,</div> - <div class='line'>—Where is the spot?</div> - <div class='line'>Beamy the world, yet a blank all the same,</div> - <div class='line'>—Framework which waits for a picture to frame:</div> - <div class='line'>What of the leafage, what of the flower?</div> - <div class='line'>Roses embowering with nought they embower!</div> - <div class='line'>Come then, complete incompletion, O comer,</div> - <div class='line'>Pant through the blueness, perfect the Summer!</div> - <div class='line'>Breathe but one breath</div> - <div class='line'>Rose-beauty above,</div> - <div class='line'>And all that was death</div> - <div class='line'>Grows life, grows love,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Grows love!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>This is still the love of earth; but dealt with so grandly, that it is no -wonder that some have understood it of the higher love, and to the question -of the first line would give the answer, “God.” Nor can it be said that the -thought is alien—rather is it close akin; for is not the earthly love, when -pure and true, an image of the heavenly? It would be well, indeed, if love -songs were oftener written in such a way as to suggest thoughts of the love -of Heaven. The Bible is especially fearless in its use of the one to illustrate -the other. With the higher thought in view, we are reminded of the closing -lines of “The Rhyme of the Duchess May,” by Mrs. Browning—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“And I smiled to think God’s greatness flowed around our incompleteness—</div> - <div class='line in8'>Round our restlessness, His rest.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>Compare “By the Fireside,” especially stanza 39.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span> - <h2 class='c005'>EVELYN HOPE.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>I.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Beautiful Evelyn Hope is dead!</div> - <div class='line in2'>Sit and watch by her side an hour.</div> - <div class='line'>That is her book-shelf, this her bed;</div> - <div class='line in2'>She plucked that piece of geranium-flower,</div> - <div class='line'>Beginning to die too, in the glass;</div> - <div class='line in2'>Little has yet been changed, I think:</div> - <div class='line'>The shutters are shut, no light may pass</div> - <div class='line in2'>Save two long rays through the hinge’s chink.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>II.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Sixteen years old when she died!</div> - <div class='line in2'>Perhaps she had scarcely heard my name;</div> - <div class='line'>It was not her time to love; beside,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Her life had many a hope and aim,</div> - <div class='line'>Duties enough and little cares,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And now was quiet, now astir,</div> - <div class='line'>Till God’s hand beckoned unawares,—</div> - <div class='line in2'>And the sweet white brow is all of her.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>III.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Is it too late then, Evelyn Hope?</div> - <div class='line in2'>What, your soul was pure and true,</div> - <div class='line'>The good stars met in your horoscope,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Made you of spirit, fire and dew—</div> - <div class='line'>And, just because I was thrice as old,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And our paths in the world diverged so wide.</div> - <div class='line'>Each was nought to each, must I be told?</div> - <div class='line in2'>We were fellow mortals, nought beside?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>IV.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>No, indeed! for God above</div> - <div class='line in2'>Is great to grant, as mighty to make,</div> - <div class='line'>And creates the love to reward the love:</div> - <div class='line in2'>I claim you still, for my own love’s sake!</div> - <div class='line'>Delayed it may be for more lives yet,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Through worlds I shall traverse, not a few:</div> - <div class='line'>Much is to learn, much to forget</div> - <div class='line in2'>Ere the time be come for taking you.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>V.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But the time will come, at last it will,</div> - <div class='line in2'>When, Evelyn Hope, what meant (I shall say)</div> - <div class='line'>In the lower earth, in the years long still,</div> - <div class='line in2'>That body and soul so pure and gay?</div> - <div class='line'>Why your hair was amber, I shall divine,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And your mouth of your own geranium’s red—</div> - <div class='line'>And what you would do with me, in fine,</div> - <div class='line in2'>In the new life come in the old one’s stead.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>VI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>I have lived (I shall say) so much since then,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Given up myself so many times,</div> - <div class='line'>Gained me the gains of various men,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Ransacked the ages, spoiled the climes;</div> - <div class='line'>Yet one thing, one, in my soul’s full scope,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Either I missed or itself missed me:</div> - <div class='line'>And I want and find you, Evelyn Hope!</div> - <div class='line in2'>What is the issue? let us see!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>VII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>I loved you, Evelyn, all the while!</div> - <div class='line in2'>My heart seemed full as it could hold;</div> - <div class='line'>There was place and to spare for the frank young smile</div> - <div class='line in2'>And the red young mouth, and the hair’s young gold.</div> - <div class='line'>So hush,—I will give you this leaf to keep:</div> - <div class='line in2'>See, I shut it inside the sweet cold hand!</div> - <div class='line'>There, that is our secret: go to sleep!</div> - <div class='line in2'>You will wake, and remember, and understand.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>This poem, so exquisite in finish, well-nigh perfect in form, is one of the -few works of our author, almost universally known and admired. It is -doubtful, however, if all its admirers look beneath the form and finish, or -understand much more of it than they do of other poems, the crabbed style -of which repels admiration as strongly as this attracts it. The tender pathos -of the “geranium leaf” in the first and last stanzas, touches a chord in every -heart; but <i>the</i> thought of the piece is something far deeper and stronger, -namely this, that true love is immortal, and that, therefore, however much -it may fail of its object here, or even (if possible) in lives that follow this, it -cannot fail for ever, it <i>must</i> find its object and be satisfied. It is a poem, -not of the pathos of death, but of the promise of Life!</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span> - <h2 class='c005'>PROSPICE.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Fear death?—to feel the fog in my throat,</div> - <div class='line in2'>The mist in my face,</div> - <div class='line'>When the snows begin, and the blasts denote</div> - <div class='line in2'>I am nearing the place,</div> - <div class='line'>The power of the night, the press of the storm,</div> - <div class='line in2'>The post of the foe;</div> - <div class='line'>Where he stands the Arch Fear in a visible form,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Yet the strong man must go:</div> - <div class='line'>For the journey is done and the summit attained,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And the barriers fall,</div> - <div class='line'>Though a battle’s to fight ere the guerdon be gained,</div> - <div class='line in2'>The reward of it all.</div> - <div class='line'>I was ever a fighter, so—one fight more,</div> - <div class='line in2'>The best and the last!</div> - <div class='line'>I would hate that death bandaged my eyes, and forebore,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And bade me creep past.</div> - <div class='line'>No! let me taste the whole of it, fare like my peers</div> - <div class='line in2'>The heroes of old,</div> - <div class='line'>Bear the brunt, in a minute pay glad life’s arrears</div> - <div class='line in2'>Of pain, darkness and cold.</div> - <div class='line'>For sudden the worst turns the best to the brave,</div> - <div class='line in2'>The black minute’s at end,</div> - <div class='line'>And the elements’ rage, the fiend-voices that rave,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Shall dwindle, shall blend,</div> - <div class='line'>Shall change, shall become first a peace out of pain,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Then a light, then thy breast,</div> - <div class='line'>O thou soul of my soul! I shall clasp thee again,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And with God be the rest!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span> - <h2 class='c005'>GOOD, TO FORGIVE.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>I.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Good, to forgive;</div> - <div class='line in2'>Best, to forget!</div> - <div class='line in2'>Living, we fret;</div> - <div class='line'>Dying, we live.</div> - <div class='line'>Fretless and free,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Soul, clap thy pinion!</div> - <div class='line in2'>Earth have dominion,</div> - <div class='line'>Body, o’er thee!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>II.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Wander at will,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Day after day,—</div> - <div class='line in2'>Wander away,</div> - <div class='line'>Wandering still—</div> - <div class='line'>Soul that canst soar!</div> - <div class='line in2'>Body may slumber:</div> - <div class='line in2'>Body shall cumber</div> - <div class='line'>Soul-flight no more</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>III.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Waft of soul’s wing!</div> - <div class='line in2'>What lies above?</div> - <div class='line in2'>Sunshine and Love,</div> - <div class='line'>Sky-blue and Spring!</div> - <div class='line'>Body hides—where?</div> - <div class='line in2'>Ferns of all feather,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Mosses and heather,</div> - <div class='line'>Yours be the care!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>This is the proem to “La Saisiaz,” one of the most remarkable of the -poet’s works, in which the doctrine of immortality is argued with a profundity -of thought that has perhaps never been surpassed, even in language -freed from the fetters of verse. It also appears as No. III. of “Pisgah -Sights” in the second English series of selections. Both of these connections -suggest the key-note.</p> - -<p class='c007'>Observe the progress in the thought. In the first stanza the soul is -“fretless and free”; in the second it moves onward and upward; in the -third it has reached the region of “Sunshine and Love, Sky-blue and -Spring!” Similarly as to the body—in the first stanza there is the apparent -victory of the grave, “dust to dust”; in the next comes the thought that, -after all, the body may only be slumbering; in the last, there is the -beautiful suggestion that it is only hiding where it is tenderly cared for, -till</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in2'>“——with the morn those angel faces smile</div> - <div class='line'>Which we have loved long since, and lost awhile.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span> - <h2 class='c005'>TOUCH HIM NE’ER SO LIGHTLY.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Touch him ne’er so lightly, into song he broke:</div> - <div class='line'>Soil so quick-receptive,—not one feather-seed,</div> - <div class='line'>Not one flower-dust fell but straight its fall awoke</div> - <div class='line'>Vitalizing Virtue: song would song succeed</div> - <div class='line'>Sudden as spontaneous—prove a poet-soul!”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in46'>Indeed?</div> - <div class='line'>Rock’s the song-soil rather, surface hard and bare:</div> - <div class='line'>Sun and dew their mildness, storm and frost their rage</div> - <div class='line'>Vainly both expend,—few flowers awaken there:</div> - <div class='line'>Quiet in its cleft broods—what the after age</div> - <div class='line'>Knows and names a pine, a nation’s heritage.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>These lines appeared first as the Epilogue to the second series of -Dramatic Idyls, published in 1880. In October of the same year, the poet -wrote, in the Album of a young American lady, a sequel to them, which -appeared (in fac-simile) in the <i>Century Magazine</i> of November, 1882. -They are given here, with the kind consent of the publishers of that -magazine:—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Thus I wrote in London, musing on my betters,</div> - <div class='line'>Poets dead and gone: and lo, the critics cried</div> - <div class='line'>“Out on such a boast!”—as if I dreamed that fetters</div> - <div class='line'>Binding Dante, bind up—me! as if true pride</div> - <div class='line'>Were not also humble!</div> - <div class='line in24'>So I smiled and sighed</div> - <div class='line'>As I ope’d your book in Venice this bright morning,</div> - <div class='line'>Sweet new friend of mine! and felt tho’ clay or sand—</div> - <div class='line'>Whatsoe’er my soil be,—break—for praise or scorning—</div> - <div class='line'>Out in grateful fancies—weeds, but weeds expand</div> - <div class='line'>Almost into flowers, held by such a kindly hand!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span> - <h2 class='c005'>POPULARITY.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>I.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Stand still, true poet that you are!</div> - <div class='line in2'>I know you; let me try and draw you.</div> - <div class='line'>Some night you’ll fail us: when afar</div> - <div class='line in2'>You rise, remember one man saw you,</div> - <div class='line'>Knew you, and named a star!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>II.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>My star, God’s glow-worm! Why extend</div> - <div class='line in2'>That loving hand of His which leads you,</div> - <div class='line'>Yet locks you safe from end to end</div> - <div class='line in2'>Of this dark world, unless He needs you,</div> - <div class='line'>Just saves your light to spend?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>III.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>His clenched hand shall unclose at last,</div> - <div class='line in2'>I know, and let out all the beauty:</div> - <div class='line'>My poet holds the future fast,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Accepts the coming ages’ duty,</div> - <div class='line'>Their present for this past.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>IV.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>That day, the earth’s feast-master’s brow</div> - <div class='line in2'>Shall clear, to God the chalice raising;</div> - <div class='line'>“Others give best at first, but Thou</div> - <div class='line in2'>“Forever set’st our table praising,</div> - <div class='line'>“Keep’st the good wine till now!”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>V.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Meantime, I’ll draw you as you stand,</div> - <div class='line in2'>With few or none to watch and wonder:</div> - <div class='line'>I’ll say—a fisher, on the sand</div> - <div class='line in2'>By Tyre the old, with ocean-plunder,</div> - <div class='line'>A netful, brought to land.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>VI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Who has not heard how Tyrian shells</div> - <div class='line in2'>Enclosed the blue, that dye of dyes</div> - <div class='line'>Whereof one drop worked miracles,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And coloured like Astarte’s eyes</div> - <div class='line'>Raw silk the merchant sells?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>VII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And each bystander of them all</div> - <div class='line in2'>Could criticize, and quote tradition</div> - <div class='line'>How depths of blue sublimed some pall</div> - <div class='line in2'>—To get which, pricked a king’s ambition;</div> - <div class='line'>Worth sceptre, crown and ball.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>VIII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yet there’s the dye, in that rough mesh,</div> - <div class='line in2'>The sea has only just o’er-whispered!</div> - <div class='line'>Live whelks, each lip’s beard dripping fresh,</div> - <div class='line in2'>As if they still the water’s lisp heard</div> - <div class='line'>Through foam the rock-weeds thresh.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>IX.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Enough to furnish Solomon</div> - <div class='line in2'>Such hangings for his cedar-house,</div> - <div class='line'>That, when gold-robed he took the throne</div> - <div class='line in2'>In that abyss of blue, the Spouse</div> - <div class='line'>Might swear his presence shone.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>X.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Most like the centre-spike of gold</div> - <div class='line in2'>Which burns deep in the blue-bell’s womb</div> - <div class='line'>What time, with ardours manifold,</div> - <div class='line in2'>The bee goes singing to her groom,</div> - <div class='line'>Drunken and overbold.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Mere conchs! not fit for warp or woof!</div> - <div class='line in2'>Till cunning come to pound and squeeze</div> - <div class='line'>And clarify,—refine to proof</div> - <div class='line in2'>The liquor filtered by degrees,</div> - <div class='line'>While the world stands aloof.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And there’s the extract, flasked and fine,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And priced and saleable at last!</div> - <div class='line'>And Hobbs, Nobbs, Stokes and Nokes combine</div> - <div class='line in2'>To paint the future from the past,</div> - <div class='line'>Put blue into their line.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>XIII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Hobbs hints blue,—straight he turtle eats:</div> - <div class='line in2'>Nobbs prints blue,—claret crowns his cup:</div> - <div class='line'>Nokes outdares Stokes in azure feats,—</div> - <div class='line in2'>Both gorge. Who fished the murex up?</div> - <div class='line'>What porridge had John Keats?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>The true poet is he who discovers and discloses, for man’s recognition -and enjoyment, the hidden beauties which abound everywhere in the great -kingdom of God. These beauties may be unrecognised at first, so that the -poet is not known as a poet, except to such as the speaker here is supposed -to be (“I know you”). He recognises in him a star. How is it, then, that -his light is hidden? The hand of God, who looks down on him from far -above (“God’s glow-worm”) as I look up to him from far below (“my -star”), has closed around him to keep him and his light safe till the time -shall come for discovery (Stanza 3) and for recognition (4). The drawing, -or simile follows, of a Tyrian fisherman (5), who brings from the great sea -the common-looking little whelk, from which, by a secret process, is -obtained that wonderful dye which out-dazzles art, and almost equals -Nature’s most exquisite tints (6-10). While the process is going on, the -world stands aloof (11); but as soon as the extract is “priced and saleable,” -the commonest people (12) can recognise it and make it pay (13); -while the man who fished it up remains poor and unknown to fame.</p> - -<p class='c007'>The application is made with characteristic brevity, oddity, and antithetic -power: Nokes, Stokes, & Co., gorging turtle; John Keats wanting -porridge!</p> - -<p class='c007'>In connection with “Popularity” should be studied “The Two Poets of -Croisic,” far too long to be inserted here. An interesting comparison, also, -may be made with a little poem of Tennyson’s called “The Flower,” -beginning—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Once in a golden hour</div> - <div class='line in2'>I cast to earth a seed,</div> - <div class='line'>Up there came a flower,</div> - <div class='line in2'>The people said, a weed.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span> - <h2 class='c005'>THE GUARDIAN-ANGEL.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c013'> - <div>A PICTURE AT FANO.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>I.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Dear and great Angel, wouldst thou only leave</div> - <div class='line in2'>That child, when thou hast done with him, for me!</div> - <div class='line'>Let me sit all the day here, that when eve</div> - <div class='line in2'>Shall find performed thy special ministry,</div> - <div class='line'>And time come for departure, thou, suspending</div> - <div class='line'>Thy flight, may’st see another child for tending,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Another still, to quiet and retrieve.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>II.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Then I shall feel thee step one step, no more,</div> - <div class='line in2'>From where thou standest now, to where I gaze.</div> - <div class='line'>—And suddenly my head is covered o’er</div> - <div class='line in2'>With those wings, white above the child who prays</div> - <div class='line'>Now on that tomb—and I shall feel thee guarding</div> - <div class='line'>Me, out of all the world; for me, discarding</div> - <div class='line in2'>Yon heaven thy home, that waits and opes its door.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>III.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>I would not look up thither past thy head</div> - <div class='line in2'>Because the door opes, like that child, I know,</div> - <div class='line'>For I should have thy gracious face instead,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Thou bird of God! And wilt thou bend me low</div> - <div class='line'>Like him, and lay, like his, my hands together,</div> - <div class='line'>And lift them up to pray, and gently tether</div> - <div class='line in2'>Me, as thy lamb there, with thy garment’s spread?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>IV.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>If this was ever granted, I would rest</div> - <div class='line in2'>My head beneath thine, while thy healing hands</div> - <div class='line'>Close-covered both my eyes beside thy breast,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Pressing the brain which too much thought expands,</div> - <div class='line'>Back to its proper size again, and smoothing</div> - <div class='line'>Distortion down till every nerve had soothing,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And all lay quiet, happy and suppressed.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>V.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>How soon all worldly wrong would be repaired!</div> - <div class='line in2'>I think how I should view the earth and skies</div> - <div class='line'>And sea, when once again my brow was bared</div> - <div class='line in2'>After thy healing, with such different eyes.</div> - <div class='line'>O world, as God has made it! All is beauty:</div> - <div class='line'>And knowing this, is love, and love is duty.</div> - <div class='line in2'>What further may be sought for or declared?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>VI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Guercino drew this angel I saw teach</div> - <div class='line in2'>(Alfred, dear friend!)—that little child to pray,</div> - <div class='line'>Holding the little hands up, each to each</div> - <div class='line in2'>Pressed gently,—with his own head turned away</div> - <div class='line'>Over the earth where so much lay before him</div> - <div class='line'>Of work to do, though heaven was opening o’er him,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And he was left at Fano by the beach.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>VII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>We were at Fano, and three times we went</div> - <div class='line in2'>To sit and see him in his chapel there,</div> - <div class='line'>And drink his beauty to our soul’s content</div> - <div class='line in2'>—My angel with me too: and since I care</div> - <div class='line'>For dear Guercino’s fame (to which in power</div> - <div class='line'>And glory comes this picture for a dower,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Fraught with a pathos so magnificent),</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>VIII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And since he did not work thus earnestly</div> - <div class='line in2'>At all times, and has else endured some wrong—</div> - <div class='line'>I took one thought his picture struck from me,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And spread it out, translating it to song.</div> - <div class='line'>My love is here. Where are you, dear old friend?</div> - <div class='line'>How rolls the Wairoa at your world’s far end?</div> - <div class='line in2'>This is Ancona, yonder is the sea.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>“The Guardian Angel” is given as a slight specimen of an important -class, dealing with painting and painters. In the lovely poem, “One -Word More,” Browning disclaims all ability to paint; but no one could -have a more exquisite appreciation of the art.</p> - -<p class='c007'>Has the tender pathos of these verses ever been surpassed? The calm -of heaven is in this thought spread out—translated into song. Let it -be read in connection with Spenser’s exquisite lines, beginning “And is -there care in heaven?”</p> - -<p class='c007'>“Alfred, dear friend,” is Mr. Alfred Domett, who was then Prime -Minister of New Zealand, at which far end of the world the Wairoa rolls -to the sea.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span> - <h2 class='c005'>DEAF AND DUMB.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c013'> - <div>A GROUP BY WOOLNER.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Only the prism’s obstruction shows aright</div> - <div class='line'>The secret of a sunbeam, breaks its light</div> - <div class='line'>Into the jewelled bow from blankest white;</div> - <div class='line in4'>So may a glory from defect arise:</div> - <div class='line'>Only by Deafness may the vexed love wreak</div> - <div class='line'>Its insuppressive sense on brow and cheek,</div> - <div class='line'>Only by Dumbness adequately speak</div> - <div class='line in4'>As favoured mouth could never, through the eyes.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>This is a “gem of purest ray.” In order to understand it fully, it is -necessary to know that the “group by Woolner” is of two deaf and dumb -children—the one as if speaking, the other in the attitude of listening. -The speech denied passage through the lips, breaks out in rarer beauty -from the eyes; and for the hearing denied entrance by the ears, there is, -instead, a subtle responsiveness of brow and cheek to the spirit utterance -from the soul of the other; so that love, though “vexed,” is not suppressed.</p> - -<p class='c007'>The exquisite beauty of the illustration of “the prism’s obstruction,” -and the tender pathos of the thought, will be manifest to every reader.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span> - <h2 class='c005'>ABT VOGLER.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c013'> - <div>(AFTER HE HAS BEEN EXTEMPORIZING UPON THE MUSICAL</div> - <div>INSTRUMENT OF HIS INVENTION.)</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>I.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Would that the structure brave, the manifold music I build,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Bidding my organ obey, calling its keys to their work,</div> - <div class='line'>Claiming each slave of the sound, at a touch, as when Solomon willed</div> - <div class='line in2'>Armies of angels that soar, legions of demons that lurk,</div> - <div class='line'>Man, brute, reptile, fly,—alien of end and of aim,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Adverse, each from the other heaven-high, hell-deep removed,—</div> - <div class='line'>Should rush into sight at once as he named the ineffable Name,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And pile him a palace straight, to pleasure the princess he loved!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>II.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Would it might tarry like his, the beautiful building of mine,</div> - <div class='line in2'>This which my keys in a crowd pressed and importuned to raise!</div> - <div class='line'>Ah, one and all, how they helped, would dispart now and now combine,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Zealous to hasten the work, heighten their master his praise!</div> - <div class='line'>And one would bury his brow with a blind plunge down to hell,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Burrow awhile and build, broad on the roots of things,</div> - <div class='line'>Then up again swim into sight, having based me my palace well,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Founded it, fearless of flame, flat on the nether springs.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>III.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And another would mount and march, like the excellent minion he was,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Ay, another and yet another, one crowd but with many a crest,</div> - <div class='line'>Raising my rampired walls of gold as transparent as glass,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Eager to do and die, yield each his place to the rest:</div> - <div class='line'>For higher still and higher (as a runner tips with fire,</div> - <div class='line in2'>When a great illumination surprises a festal night—</div> - <div class='line'>Outlining round and round Rome’s dome from space to spire)</div> - <div class='line in2'>Up, the pinnacled glory reached, and the pride of my soul was in sight.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>IV.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>In sight? Not half! for it seemed, it was certain, to match man’s birth,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Nature in turn conceived, obeying an impulse as I;</div> - <div class='line'>And the emulous heaven yearned down, made effort to reach the earth,</div> - <div class='line in2'>As the earth had done her best, in my passion, to scale the sky:</div> - <div class='line'>Novel splendours burst forth, grew familiar and dwelt with mine,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Not a point nor peak but found, but fixed its wandering star;</div> - <div class='line'>Meteor-moons, balls of blaze: and they did not pale nor pine,</div> - <div class='line in2'>For earth had attained to heaven, there was no more near nor far.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>V.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Nay more; for there wanted not who walked in the glare and glow,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Presences plain in the place; or, fresh from the Protoplast,</div> - <div class='line'>Furnished for ages to come, when a kindlier wind should blow,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Lured now to begin and live, in a house to their liking at last;</div> - <div class='line'>Or else the wonderful Dead who have passed through the body and gone,</div> - <div class='line in2'>But were back once more to breathe in an old world worth their new:</div> - <div class='line'>What never had been, was now; what was, as it shall be anon;</div> - <div class='line in2'>And what is,—shall I say, matched both? for I was made perfect too.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>VI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>All through my keys that gave their sounds to a wish of my soul,</div> - <div class='line in2'>All through my soul that praised as its wish flowed visibly forth,</div> - <div class='line'>All through music and me! For think, had I painted the whole,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Why, there it had stood, to see, nor the process so wonder-worth.</div> - <div class='line'>Had I written the same, made verse—still, effect proceeds from cause,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Ye know why the forms are fair, ye hear how the tale is told;</div> - <div class='line'>It is all triumphant art, but art in obedience to laws</div> - <div class='line in2'>Painter and poet are proud, in the artist-list enrolled:—</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>VII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But here is the finger of God, a flash of the will that can,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Existent behind all laws: that made them, and, lo, they are!</div> - <div class='line'>And I know not if, save in this, such gift be allowed to man,</div> - <div class='line in2'>That out of three sounds he frame, not a fourth sound, but a star.</div> - <div class='line'>Consider it well: each tone of our scale in itself is nought;</div> - <div class='line in2'>It is everywhere in the world—loud, soft, and all is said:</div> - <div class='line'>Give it to me to use! I mix it with two in my thought,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And, there! Ye have heard and seen: consider and bow the head!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>VIII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Well, it is gone at last, the palace of music I reared;</div> - <div class='line in2'>Gone! and the good tears start, the praises that come too slow;</div> - <div class='line'>For one is assured at first, one scarce can say that he feared,</div> - <div class='line in2'>That he even gave it a thought, the gone thing was to go.</div> - <div class='line'>Never to be again! But many more of the kind</div> - <div class='line in2'>As good, nay, better perchance: is this your comfort to me?</div> - <div class='line'>To me, who must be saved because I cling with my mind</div> - <div class='line in2'>To the same, same self, same love, same God: ay, what was, shall be.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>IX.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Therefore to whom turn I but to Thee, the ineffable Name?</div> - <div class='line in2'>Builder and maker, thou, of houses not made with hands!</div> - <div class='line'>What, have fear of change from thee who art ever the same?</div> - <div class='line in2'>Doubt that thy power can fill the heart that thy power expands?</div> - <div class='line'>There shall never be one lost good! What was, shall live as before;</div> - <div class='line in2'>The evil is null, is nought, is silence implying sound;</div> - <div class='line'>What was good, shall be good, with, for evil, so much good more;</div> - <div class='line in2'>On the earth the broken arcs; in the heaven, a perfect round.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>X.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>All we have willed or hoped or dreamed of good, shall exist;</div> - <div class='line in2'>Not its semblance, but itself; no beauty, nor good, nor power</div> - <div class='line'>Whose voice has gone forth, but each survives for the melodist,</div> - <div class='line in2'>When eternity affirms the conception of an hour.</div> - <div class='line'>The high that proved too high, the heroic for earth too hard,</div> - <div class='line in2'>The passion that left the ground to lose itself in the sky,</div> - <div class='line'>Are music sent up to God by the lover and the bard;</div> - <div class='line in2'>Enough that he heard it once: we shall hear it by-and-by.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>XI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And what is our failure here but a triumph’s evidence</div> - <div class='line in2'>For the fulness of the days? Have we withered or agonized?</div> - <div class='line'>Why else was the pause prolonged but that singing might issue thence?</div> - <div class='line in2'>Why rushed the discords in, but that harmony should be prized?</div> - <div class='line'>Sorrow is hard to bear, and doubt is slow to clear,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Each sufferer says his say, his scheme of the weal and woe:</div> - <div class='line'>But God has a few of us whom he whispers in the ear;</div> - <div class='line in2'>The rest may reason and welcome; ’tis we musicians know.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Well, it is earth with me; silence resumes her reign:</div> - <div class='line in2'>I will be patient and proud, and soberly acquiesce.</div> - <div class='line'>Give me the keys. I feel for the common chord again,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Sliding by semitones, till I sink to the minor,—yes,</div> - <div class='line'>And I blunt it into a ninth, and I stand on alien ground,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Surveying awhile the heights I rolled from into the deep</div> - <div class='line'>Which, hark, I have dared and done, for my resting-place is found,</div> - <div class='line in2'>The C major of this life: so, now I will try to sleep.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>Having given specimen poems dealing with the arts of poetry, painting, -and sculpture, we add one on the subject of music, which, though difficult -to understand fully, has beauties which are apparent even to those who do -not enter into its deepest thought. Vogler is not known as a composer of -the first rank, having left no works behind him which entitle him to a place -among the great masters; but, for this very reason, he is better suited for -<span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span>the poet’s purpose, which is to deal with music, not as represented by printed -notes, but as existing for the moment in all its perfection, and at once -melting away into silence and apparent nothingness. It is as extemporizer, -not as author, he is chosen, and as Abbé (<i>Ger.</i> Abt) he appropriately thinks -of those deep spiritual truths on which the loftier hopes of the latter part of -the poem are founded.</p> - -<p class='c007'>The musician “has been extemporizing,”—pouring out his whole soul -through the keys of his organ, and from that state of ecstasy he suddenly -awakes and cries out, “Would that the structure brave, the manifold music -I build ... might tarry!” It has been no mere “volume,” but a -“palace” of sound. As Solomon (according to the well-known legend) -summoned all spirits from above and from below, and all creatures of the -earth, to build him a palace at once, so by a touch, “calling the keys to -their work,” he has summoned demons of the bass, angels of the treble, -earth creatures of the middle tones, who, by eager and tumultuous and yet -harmoniously united efforts, have caused “the pinnacled glory” to “rush -into sight” (stanzas 1-3).</p> - -<p class='c007'>Into sight? There was far more in it than could be seen. As the soul -of the musician ascended from earth, heaven descended on him; its stars -crowned his work; its moons, its suns were close beside him—“there was -no more near nor far” (4). And the boundaries of time, as well as the limits -of space, were gone. The <i>absolute</i>, the <i>perfect</i> was reached; and to this -palace of perfection had flocked “presences plain in the place,” from the -far Future and from the mystic Past. “There was no more sea”—no -more distance or separation—all one, together, perfect (5). Reached how? -Through music—the only one of the arts that leads into the region of the -absolute and perfect, its effects not springing from causes the operation of -which can be traced, and the law of their production defined, but responding -directly to the will, even as creation responded to the <i>fiat</i> of God. Out -of such simple elements can that be evoked, which should lead those who -“consider” these things to “bow the head” (6, 7).</p> - -<p class='c007'>But was it only for a moment? Is it gone? Forever? (8).</p> - -<p class='c007'>I turn to God, and know it cannot be. Then follows that glorious -passage, one of the finest in any language, every word of which should be -studied, beginning—“There shall never be one lost good!” on to the end -of stanza 11, which is the true climax of the poem.</p> - -<p class='c007'>The last stanza may be compared to the closing one of “Saul.” It is the -return from the empyrean to the plain of common life. Let some musical -friend show how at the cadence of a very grand piece he would feel his way -<span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>down the chromatic scale, and then pause on that poignant discord, known -as “the minor ninth,” effecting, as it were, a separation (“alien ground”) -from the heights just descended, and giving thus the opportunity of looking -up once more before a resting-place is found in “the common chord,”—“the -C major of this life.”</p> - -<p class='c007'>This is a poem which should be read over and over till the music of it has -fairly entered the soul.</p> - -<p class='c007'>It has become common now to speak slightingly of those representations -of heaven which make large use of music to give them body in our thought, -as if the idea intended to be conveyed were that the joy of heaven was to -consist in an endless idle singing, a concert without a finale; but this easy -criticism is surely too disregardful of the distinctive feature of music so -strikingly set forth in this poem—viz., that it is the only one of the arts -which while strongly appealing to sense, yet in its essence belongs to the -realm of the unseen, so that it is in fact the only symbol within the range of -man’s experience which can even suggest the absolute, the perfect, the pure -heavenly.</p> - -<p class='c007'>The following passage, from the “Memorials of Frances Ridley Havergal,” -(p. 151) is so strikingly illustrative of “Abt Vogler,” that we cannot forbear -quoting it:—</p> - -<p class='c007'>“In the train I had one of those curious musical visions which only very -rarely visit me. I hear strange and very beautiful chords, generally full, -slow and grand, succeeding each other in most interesting sequences. I do -not invent them, I could not; they pass before my mind, and I only listen. -Now and then my will seems aroused when I see ahead how some fine -resolution might follow, and I seem to <i>will</i> that certain chords should come, -and then they do come; but then my will seems suspended again, and they -go on quite independently. It is so interesting, the chords seem to <i>fold -over each other</i>, and die away down into music of infinite softness, and then -they <i>un</i>fold and open out, as if great curtains were being withdrawn one -after another, widening the view, till, with a gathering power and intensity -and fulness, it seems as if the very skies were being opened out before one, -and a sort of great blaze and glory of music, such as my outward ears never -heard, gradually swells out in perfectly sublime splendour. This time there -was an added feature; I seemed to hear depths and heights of sound -beyond the scale which human ears can receive, keen, far-up octaves, like -vividly twinkling <i>starlight</i> of music, and mighty slow vibrations of gigantic -strings going down into grand thunders of depths, octaves below anything -otherwise appreciable as musical notes. Then, all at once, it seemed as if -my soul had got a new sense, and I could <i>see</i> this inner music as well as -hear it; and then it was like gazing down into marvellous <i>abysses of sound</i>, -and up into dazzling regions of what, to the eye, would have been light and -colour, but to this new sense was <i>sound</i>.”</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span> - <h2 class='c005'>ONE WORD MORE.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c013'> - <div>TO E. B. B.</div> - <div class='c001'><i>London, September, 1855.</i></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>I.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>There they are, my fifty men and women</div> - <div class='line'>Naming me the fifty poems finished!</div> - <div class='line'>Take them, love, the book and me together:</div> - <div class='line'>Where the heart lies, let the brain lie also.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>II.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Rafael made a century of sonnets,</div> - <div class='line'>Made and wrote them in a certain volume</div> - <div class='line'>Dinted with the silver-pointed pencil</div> - <div class='line'>Else he only used to draw Madonnas:</div> - <div class='line'>These, the world might view—but one, the volume.</div> - <div class='line'>Who that one, you ask? Your heart instructs you.</div> - <div class='line'>Did she live and love it all her life-time?</div> - <div class='line'>Did she drop, his lady of the sonnets,</div> - <div class='line'>Die and let it drop beside her pillow</div> - <div class='line'>Where it lay in place of Rafael’s glory,</div> - <div class='line'>Rafael’s cheek so duteous and so loving—</div> - <div class='line'>Cheek, the world was wont to hail a painter’s,</div> - <div class='line'>Rafael’s cheek, her love had turned a poet’s?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>III.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>You and I would rather read that volume,</div> - <div class='line'>(Taken to his beating bosom by it)</div> - <div class='line'>Lean and list the bosom-beats of Rafael,</div> - <div class='line'>Would we not? than wonder at Madonnas—</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>Her, San Sisto names, and Her, Foligno,</div> - <div class='line'>Her, that visits Florence in a vision,</div> - <div class='line'>Her, that’s left with lilies in the Louvre—</div> - <div class='line'>Seen by us and all the world in circle.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>IV.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>You and I will never read that volume.</div> - <div class='line'>Guido Reni, like his own eye’s apple,</div> - <div class='line'>Guarded long the treasure-book and loved it.</div> - <div class='line'>Guido Reni dying, all Bologna</div> - <div class='line'>Cried, and the world cried too “Ours, the treasure!”</div> - <div class='line'>Suddenly, as rare things will, it vanished.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>V.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Dante once prepared to paint an angel:</div> - <div class='line'>Whom to please? You whisper “Beatrice.”</div> - <div class='line'>While he mused and traced it and retraced it,</div> - <div class='line'>(Peradventure with a pen corroded</div> - <div class='line'>Still by drops of that hot ink he dipped for,</div> - <div class='line'>When, his left hand i’ the hair o’ the wicked,</div> - <div class='line'>Back he held the brow and pricked its stigma,</div> - <div class='line'>Bit into the live man’s flesh for parchment,</div> - <div class='line'>Loosed him, laughed to see the writing rankle,</div> - <div class='line'>Let the wretch go festering through Florence)—</div> - <div class='line'>Dante, who loved well because he hated,</div> - <div class='line'>Hated wickedness that hinders loving,</div> - <div class='line'>Dante standing, studying his angel,—</div> - <div class='line'>In there broke the folk of his Inferno.</div> - <div class='line'>Says he—“Certain people of importance”</div> - <div class='line'>(Such he gave his daily dreadful line to)</div> - <div class='line'>“Entered and would seize, forsooth, the poet.”</div> - <div class='line'>Says the poet—“Then I stopped my painting.”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>VI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>You and I would rather see that angel,</div> - <div class='line'>Painted by the tenderness of Dante,</div> - <div class='line'>Would we not?—than read a fresh Inferno.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>VII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>You and I will never see that picture.</div> - <div class='line'>While he mused on love and Beatrice,</div> - <div class='line'>While he softened o’er his outlined angel,</div> - <div class='line'>In they broke, those “people of importance:”</div> - <div class='line'>We and Bice bear the loss for ever.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>VIII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>What of Rafael’s sonnets, Dante’s picture?</div> - <div class='line'>This: no artist lives and loves, that longs not</div> - <div class='line'>Once, and only once, and for one only,</div> - <div class='line'>(Ah, the prize!) to find his love a language</div> - <div class='line'>Fit and fair and simple and sufficient—</div> - <div class='line'>Using nature that’s an art to others,</div> - <div class='line'>Not, this one time, art that’s turned his nature.</div> - <div class='line'>Ay, of all the artists living, loving,</div> - <div class='line'>None but would forego his proper dowry,—</div> - <div class='line'>Does he paint? he fain would write a poem,—</div> - <div class='line'>Does he write? he fain would paint a picture,</div> - <div class='line'>Put to proof art alien to the artist’s,</div> - <div class='line'>Once, and only once, and for one only.</div> - <div class='line'>So to be the man and leave the artist,</div> - <div class='line'>Gain the man’s joy, miss the artist’s sorrow.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>IX.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Wherefore? Heaven’s gift takes earth’s abatement.</div> - <div class='line'>He who smites the rock and spreads the water,</div> - <div class='line'>Bidding drink and live a crowd beneath him,</div> - <div class='line'>Even he, the minute makes immortal,</div> - <div class='line'>Proves, perchance, but mortal in the minute.</div> - <div class='line'>Desecrates, belike, the deed in doing.</div> - <div class='line'>While he smites, how can he but remember,</div> - <div class='line'>So he smote before, in such a peril,</div> - <div class='line'>When they stood and mocked—“Shall smiting help us?”</div> - <div class='line'>When they drank and sneered—“A stroke is easy!”</div> - <div class='line'>When they wiped their mouths and went their journey,</div> - <div class='line'>Throwing him for thanks—“But drought was pleasant.”</div> - <div class='line'>Thus old memories mar the actual triumph;</div> - <div class='line'>Thus the doing savours of disrelish;</div> - <div class='line'>Thus achievement lacks a gracious somewhat;</div> - <div class='line'>O’er-importuned brows becloud the mandate,</div> - <div class='line'>Carelessness or consciousness—the gesture.</div> - <div class='line'>For he bears an ancient wrong about him,</div> - <div class='line'>Sees and knows again those phalanxed faces,</div> - <div class='line'>Hears, yet one time more, the ’customed prelude—</div> - <div class='line'>“How should’st thou, of all men, smite, and save us?”</div> - <div class='line'>Guesses what is like to prove the sequel—</div> - <div class='line'>“Egypt’s flesh-pots—nay, the drought was better.”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>X.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Oh, the crowd must have emphatic warrant!</div> - <div class='line'>Theirs, the Sinai-forehead’s cloven brilliance,</div> - <div class='line'>Right-arm’s rod-sweep, tongue’s imperial fiat.</div> - <div class='line'>Never dares the man put off the prophet.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>XI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Did he love one face from out the thousands,</div> - <div class='line'>(Were she Jethro’s daughter, white and wifely,</div> - <div class='line'>Were she but the Æthiopian bond-slave,)</div> - <div class='line'>He would envy yon dumb patient camel,</div> - <div class='line'>Keeping a reserve of scanty water</div> - <div class='line'>Meant to save his own life in the desert;</div> - <div class='line'>Ready in the desert to deliver</div> - <div class='line'>(Kneeling down to let his breast be opened)</div> - <div class='line'>Hoard and life together for his mistress.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>I shall never, in the years remaining,</div> - <div class='line'>Paint you pictures, no, nor carve you statues,</div> - <div class='line'>Make you music that should all-express me;</div> - <div class='line'>So it seems: I stand on my attainment.</div> - <div class='line'>This of verse alone, one life allows me;</div> - <div class='line'>Verse and nothing else have I to give you.</div> - <div class='line'>Other heights in other lives, God willing:</div> - <div class='line'>All the gifts from all the heights, your own, love!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XIII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yet a semblance of resource avails us—</div> - <div class='line'>Shade so finely touched, love’s sense must seize it.</div> - <div class='line'>Take these lines, look lovingly and nearly,</div> - <div class='line'>Lines I write the first time and the last time.</div> - <div class='line'>He who works in fresco, steals a hair-brush,</div> - <div class='line'>Curbs the liberal hand, subservient proudly,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span>Cramps his spirit, crowds its all in little,</div> - <div class='line'>Makes a strange art of an art familiar,</div> - <div class='line'>Fills his lady’s missal-marge with flowerets.</div> - <div class='line'>He who blows through bronze, may breathe through silver,</div> - <div class='line'>Fitly serenade a slumbrous princess.</div> - <div class='line'>He who writes, may write for once as I do.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XIV.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Love, you saw me gather men and women,</div> - <div class='line'>Live or dead or fashioned by my fancy,</div> - <div class='line'>Enter each and all, and use their service,</div> - <div class='line'>Speak from every mouth,—the speech, a poem.</div> - <div class='line'>Hardly shall I tell my joys and sorrows,</div> - <div class='line'>Hopes and fears, belief and disbelieving:</div> - <div class='line'>I am mine and yours—the rest be all men’s,</div> - <div class='line'>Karshish, Cleon, Norbert and the fifty.</div> - <div class='line'>Let me speak this once in my true person,</div> - <div class='line'>Not as Lippo, Roland or Andrea,</div> - <div class='line'>Though the fruit of speech be just this sentence—</div> - <div class='line'>Pray you, look on these my men and women,</div> - <div class='line'>Take and keep my fifty poems finished;</div> - <div class='line'>Where my heart lies, let my brain lie also!</div> - <div class='line'>Poor the speech; be how I speak, for all things.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XV.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Not but that you know me! Lo, the moon’s self!</div> - <div class='line'>Here in London, yonder late in Florence,</div> - <div class='line'>Still we find her face, the thrice-transfigured.</div> - <div class='line'>Curving on a sky imbrued with colour,</div> - <div class='line'>Drifted over Fiesole by twilight,</div> - <div class='line'>Came she, our new crescent of a hair’s-breadth.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>Full she flared it, lamping Samminiato,</div> - <div class='line'>Rounder ’twixt the cypresses and rounder,</div> - <div class='line'>Perfect till the nightingales applauded.</div> - <div class='line'>Now, a piece of her old self, impoverished.</div> - <div class='line'>Hard to greet, she traverses the houseroofs.</div> - <div class='line'>Hurries with unhandsome thrift of silver,</div> - <div class='line'>Goes dispiritedly, glad to finish.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XVI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>What, there’s nothing in the moon note-worthy?</div> - <div class='line'>Nay: for if that moon could love a mortal,</div> - <div class='line'>Use, to charm him (so to fit a fancy)</div> - <div class='line'>All her magic (’tis the old sweet mythos)</div> - <div class='line'>She would turn a new side to her mortal,</div> - <div class='line'>Side unseen of herdsman, huntsman, steersman—</div> - <div class='line'>Blank to Zoroaster on his terrace,</div> - <div class='line'>Blind to Galileo on his turret,</div> - <div class='line'>Dumb to Homer, dumb to Keats—him, even!</div> - <div class='line'>Think, the wonder of the moon-struck mortal—</div> - <div class='line'>When she turns round, comes again in heaven,</div> - <div class='line'>Opens out anew for worse or better!</div> - <div class='line'>Proves she like some portent of an iceberg</div> - <div class='line'>Swimming full upon the ship it founders,</div> - <div class='line'>Hungry with huge teeth of splintered crystals?</div> - <div class='line'>Proves she as the paved work of a sapphire</div> - <div class='line'>Seen by Moses when he climbed the mountain?</div> - <div class='line'>Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu</div> - <div class='line'>Climbed and saw the very God, the Highest,</div> - <div class='line'>Stand upon the paved work of a sapphire.</div> - <div class='line'>Like the bodied heaven in his clearness</div> - <div class='line'>Shone the stone, the sapphire of that paved work,</div> - <div class='line'>When they ate and drank and saw God also!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>XVII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>What were seen? None knows, none ever shall know</div> - <div class='line'>Only this is sure—the sight were other,</div> - <div class='line'>Not the moon’s same side, born late in Florence,</div> - <div class='line'>Dying now impoverished here in London.</div> - <div class='line'>God be thanked, the meanest of his creatures</div> - <div class='line'>Boasts two soul-sides, one to face the world with,</div> - <div class='line'>One to show a woman when he loves her!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XVIII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>This I say of me, but think of you, Love!</div> - <div class='line'>This to you—yourself my moon of poets!</div> - <div class='line'>Ah, but that’s the world’s side, there’s the wonder,</div> - <div class='line'>Thus they see you, praise you, think they know you!</div> - <div class='line'>There, in turn I stand with them and praise you—</div> - <div class='line'>Out of my own self, I dare to phrase it.</div> - <div class='line'>But the best is when I glide from out them,</div> - <div class='line'>Cross a step or two of dubious twilight,</div> - <div class='line'>Come out on the other side, the novel</div> - <div class='line'>Silent silver lights and darks undreamed of,</div> - <div class='line'>Where I hush and bless myself with silence.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XIX.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Oh, their Rafael of the dear Madonnas,</div> - <div class='line'>Oh, their Dante of the dread Inferno,</div> - <div class='line'>Wrote one song—and in my brain I sing it,</div> - <div class='line'>Drew one angel—borne, see, on my bosom!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>“Men and Women,” a collection of fifty poems, first published in 1855, -is probably the best known of our author’s numerous volumes. Some of -the very finest of his work is in it. To this collection “One Word More” -<span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>is an appendix, in the form of a dedication of the fifty poems to his wife, -Elizabeth Barrett Browning. As we learn from stanza 13, this work differs -from all others in having been dashed off, the first time of writing being -also the last time; and yet (such is the inspiration of love) it stands with -the very highest of his works. It needs careful reading, but presents no -such difficulties as “Abt Vogler.”</p> - -<p class='c007'>Rafael, painter for the world, becomes for once a poet for his dearest. -If only these wonderful sonnets could be found, how we should prize them; -but the volume is hopelessly lost (stanzas 2-4).</p> - -<p class='c007'>Dante, poet for the world, prepares for once to paint an angel for <i>his</i> -dearest. But, alas! he is hindered by the breaking in of some “people of -importance” of the city, the sort of people who served as character models -for “the folk of his Inferno” (5-7).</p> - -<p class='c007'>There would evidently be less of art and more of nature in such an outpouring -of soul; and, therefore, the true artist would long to do it “once, -and only once, and for one only.” “The man’s joy” would be found in -the mere utterance of his soul to his dearest, without any thought of art, -which, to the true artist, lifts so high an ideal that his shortcoming is -always a “sorrow” (8).</p> - -<p class='c007'>So is it with the prophet, the exercise of whose high calling can never be -dissociated from its burdens and cares (9). If he dared, which he may not -(10), how gladly for the one that he loved would he “put off the prophet” -and provide water, not by the forth putting of power, but simply as the -man, through the self-denial of love (11).</p> - -<p class='c007'>Browning himself has only the one art, so cannot leave his poetry to -paint, or carve, or “make music” (12); but as the nearest equivalent -possible to him will write “once, and only once, and for one only,” a -purely extemporaneous production (13), which shall not, like his other -works, be dramatic in principle, but spoken in his own “true person” (14).</p> - -<p class='c007'>Then follows the wonderful moon illustration, so marvellously wrought -out, based upon the familiar astronomical fact that, through all her phases -and movements she always presents exactly the same face to the earth (15), -the other remaining entirely concealed (“unseen of herdsman, huntsman, -steersman,” &c.), and therefore available as a new revelation (who knows of -what grandeur?) for the loved and specially-favoured mortal (16).</p> - -<p class='c007'>The application of the illustration in stanzas 17 and 18 is exquisitely -beautiful, as is the gem-like quatrain with which the poem closes.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span> - <h2 class='c005'>SAUL.</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c006'>[The three selections which fill up the rest of this little volume are given -as specimens of the distinctively Christian poems of our author. The first -gives us Christ in the Old Testament; the second, Christ in the New; the -third, Christianity in its essential truth and practical application. As only -a portion of “Saul” can be given, a few words will be necessary to prepare -the reader unacquainted with the whole for taking up the thread at the 14th -stanza, from which, in the selection, the poem is continued uninterruptedly -to the end.]</p> - -<p class='c007'>Young David is telling over to himself (see “my voice to my heart,” in -stanza 14) the story of his mission to Saul, when, as an inspired poet-musician, -he charmed the evil spirit away from him. Stanza 16, consisting -of one line, is the hinge of the entire poem; for David has just reached -the point where, after several unsuccessful, or very partially successful, -attempts—first, by playing one and another and another tune, which might -awaken some chord in the apathetic spirit of the king, and then by singing, -accompanied by the harp, first, of the joy of life, then of the splendid -results of a royal life like Saul’s in the great future of the world—he at -last, the truth coming upon him, strikes the high key where full relief is -found. As he approaches this crisis in the tale, he cannot go on without -an earnest invocation for help to tell what he had been so wonderfully led -to sing:—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XIV.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And behold while I sang ... but O Thou who didst grant me, that day,</div> - <div class='line'>And, before it, not seldom hast granted thy help to essay,</div> - <div class='line'>Carry on and complete an adventure,—my shield and my sword</div> - <div class='line'>In that act where my soul was thy servant, thy word was my word,—</div> - <div class='line'>Still help me, who then at the summit of human endeavour</div> - <div class='line'>And scaling the highest, man’s thought could, gazed hopeless as ever</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>On the new stretch of heaven above me—till, mighty to save,</div> - <div class='line'>Just one lift of thy hand cleared that distance—God’s throne from man’s grave!</div> - <div class='line'>Let me tell out my tale to its ending—my voice to my heart</div> - <div class='line'>Which scarce dares believe in what marvels last night I took part,</div> - <div class='line'>As this morning I gather the fragments, alone with my sheep!</div> - <div class='line'>And fear lest the terrible glory evanish like sleep,</div> - <div class='line'>For I wake in the grey dewy covert, while Hebron upheaves</div> - <div class='line'>Dawn struggling with night on his shoulder, and Kidron retrieves</div> - <div class='line'>Slow the damage of yesterday’s sunshine.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XV.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in20'>I say then,—my song</div> - <div class='line'>While I sang thus, assuring the monarch, and, ever more strong,</div> - <div class='line'>Made a proffer of good to console him—he slowly resumed</div> - <div class='line'>His old motions and habitudes kingly. The right hand replumed</div> - <div class='line'>His black locks to their wonted composure, adjusted the swathes</div> - <div class='line'>Of his turban, and see—the huge sweat that his countenance bathes,</div> - <div class='line'>He wipes off with the robe; and he girds now his loins as of yore,</div> - <div class='line'>And feels slow for the armlets of price, with the clasp set before.</div> - <div class='line'>He is Saul, ye remember in glory,—ere error had bent</div> - <div class='line'>The broad brow from the daily communion; and still, though much spent</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>Be the life and the bearing that front you, the same, God did choose,</div> - <div class='line'>To receive what a man may waste, desecrate, never quite lose.</div> - <div class='line'>So sank he along by the tent-prop, still, stayed by the pile</div> - <div class='line'>Of his armour and war-cloak and garments, he leaned there awhile,</div> - <div class='line'>And sat out my singing,—one arm round the tent-prop, to raise</div> - <div class='line'>His bent head, and the other hung slack—till I touched on the praise</div> - <div class='line'>I foresaw from all men in all time, to the man patient there;</div> - <div class='line'>And thus ended, the harp falling forward. Then first I was ’ware</div> - <div class='line'>That he sat, as I say, with my head just above his vast knees</div> - <div class='line'>Which were thrust out on each side around me, like oak roots which please</div> - <div class='line'>To encircle a lamb when it slumbers. I looked up to know</div> - <div class='line'>If the best I could do had brought solace: he spoke not, but slow</div> - <div class='line'>Lifted up the hand slack at his side, till he laid it with care</div> - <div class='line'>Soft and grave, but in mild settled will, on my brow: thro’ my hair</div> - <div class='line'>The large fingers were pushed, and he bent back my head, with kind power—</div> - <div class='line'>All my face back, intent to peruse it, as men do a flower.</div> - <div class='line'>Thus held he me there with his great eyes that scrutinized mine—</div> - <div class='line'>And oh, all my heart how it loved him! but where was the sign?</div> - <div class='line'>I yearned—“Could I help thee, my father, inventing a bliss,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>“I would add, to that life of the past, both the future and this;</div> - <div class='line'>“I would give thee new life altogether, as good, ages hence,</div> - <div class='line'>“As this moment,—had love but the warrant, love’s heart to dispense!”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XVI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Then the truth came upon me. No harp more—no song more! outbroke—</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XVII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“I have gone the whole round of creation: I saw and I spoke;</div> - <div class='line'>“I, a work of God’s hand for that purpose, received in my brain</div> - <div class='line'>“And pronounced on the rest of his handwork—returned him again</div> - <div class='line'>“His creation’s approval or censure: I spoke as I saw,</div> - <div class='line'>“Reported, as man may of God’s work—all’s love, yet all’s law.</div> - <div class='line'>“Now I lay down the judgeship he lent me. Each faculty tasked</div> - <div class='line'>“To perceive him has gained an abyss, where a dew-drop was asked.</div> - <div class='line'>“Have I knowledge? confounded it shrivels at Wisdom laid bare.</div> - <div class='line'>“Have I forethought? how purblind, how blank, to the Infinite Care!</div> - <div class='line'>“Do I task any faculty highest, to image success?</div> - <div class='line'>“I but open my eyes,—and perfection, no more and no less,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>“In the kind I imagined, full-fronts me, and God is seen God</div> - <div class='line'>“In the star, in the stone, in the flesh, in the soul and the clod.</div> - <div class='line'>“And thus looking within and around me, I ever renew</div> - <div class='line'>“(With that stoop of the soul which in bending upraises it too)</div> - <div class='line'>“The submission of man’s nothing-perfect to God’s all-complete,</div> - <div class='line'>“As by each new obeisance in spirit, I climb to his feet.</div> - <div class='line'>“Yet with all this abounding experience, this deity known,</div> - <div class='line'>“I shall dare to discover some province, some gift of my own.</div> - <div class='line'>“There’s a faculty pleasant to exercise, hard to hood-wink,</div> - <div class='line'>“I am fain to keep still in abeyance, (I laugh as I think)</div> - <div class='line'>“Lest, insisting to claim and parade in it, wot ye, I worst</div> - <div class='line'>“E’en the Giver in one gift.—Behold, I could love if I durst!</div> - <div class='line'>“But I sink the pretension as fearing a man may o’ertake</div> - <div class='line'>“God’s own speed in the one way of love: I abstain for love’s sake.</div> - <div class='line'>—“What, my soul? see thus far and no farther? when doors great and small,</div> - <div class='line'>“Nine-and-ninety flew ope at our touch, should the hundredth appal?</div> - <div class='line'>“In the least things have faith, yet distrust in the greatest of all?</div> - <div class='line'>“Do I find love so full in my nature, God’s ultimate gift,</div> - <div class='line'>“That I doubt his own love can compete with it? Here, the parts shift?</div> - <div class='line'>“Here, the creature surpass the Creator,—the end what began?</div> - <div class='line'>“Would I fain in my impotent yearning do all for this man,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>“And dare doubt he alone shall not help him, who yet alone can?</div> - <div class='line'>“Would it ever have entered my mind, the bare will, much less power,</div> - <div class='line'>“To bestow on this Saul what I sang of, the marvellous dower</div> - <div class='line'>“Of the life he was gifted and filled with? to make such a soul,</div> - <div class='line'>“Such a body, and then such an earth for insphering the whole?</div> - <div class='line'>“And doth it not enter my mind (as my warm tears attest),</div> - <div class='line'>“These good things being given, to go on, and give one more, the best?</div> - <div class='line'>“Ay, to save and redeem and restore him, maintain at the height</div> - <div class='line'>“This perfection,—succeed, with life’s dayspring, death’s minute of night:</div> - <div class='line'>“Interpose at the difficult minute, snatch Saul, the mistake,</div> - <div class='line'>“Saul, the failure, the ruin he seems now,—and bid him awake</div> - <div class='line'>“From the dream, the probation, the prelude, to find himself set</div> - <div class='line'>“Clear and safe in new light and new life,—a new harmony yet</div> - <div class='line'>“To be run and continued, and ended—who knows?—or endure!</div> - <div class='line'>“The man taught enough by life’s dream, of the rest to make sure;</div> - <div class='line'>“By the pain-throb, triumphantly winning intensified bliss,</div> - <div class='line'>“And the next world’s reward and repose, by the struggles in this.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>XVIII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“I believe it! ’Tis thou, God, that givest, ’tis I who receive:</div> - <div class='line'>“In the first is the last, in thy will is my powder to believe.</div> - <div class='line'>“All’s one gift: thou canst grant it, moreover, as prompt to my prayer,</div> - <div class='line'>“As I breathe out this breath, as I open these arms to the air.</div> - <div class='line'>“From thy will, stream the worlds, life and nature, thy dread Sabaoth:</div> - <div class='line'>“<i>I</i> will?—the mere atoms despise me! Why am I not loth</div> - <div class='line'>“To look that, even that in the face too? Why is it I dare</div> - <div class='line'>“Think but lightly of such impuissance? What stops my despair?</div> - <div class='line'>“This;—’tis not what man Does which exalts him, but what man Would do!</div> - <div class='line'>“See the King—I would help him, but cannot, the wishes fall through.</div> - <div class='line'>“Could I wrestle to raise him from sorrow, grow poor to enrich,</div> - <div class='line'>“To fill up his life, starve my own out, I would—knowing which,</div> - <div class='line'>“I know that my service is perfect. Oh, speak through me now!</div> - <div class='line'>“Would I suffer for him that I love? So wouldst thou—so wilt thou!</div> - <div class='line'>“So shall crown thee the topmost, ineffablest, uttermost crown—</div> - <div class='line'>“And thy love fill infinitude wholly, nor leave up nor down</div> - <div class='line'>“One spot for the creature to stand in! It is by no breath,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>“Turn of eye, wave of hand, that salvation joins issue with death!</div> - <div class='line'>“As thy love is discovered almighty, almighty be proved</div> - <div class='line'>“Thy power, that exists with and for it, of being beloved!</div> - <div class='line'>“He who did most shall bear most; the strongest shall stand the most weak.</div> - <div class='line'>“’Tis the weakness in strength that I cry for! my flesh that I seek</div> - <div class='line'>“In the Godhead! I seek and I find it. O Saul, it shall be</div> - <div class='line'>“A Face like my face that receives thee; a Man like to me,</div> - <div class='line'>“Thou shalt love and be loved by, for ever: a Hand like this hand</div> - <div class='line'>“Shall throw open the gates of new life to thee! See the Christ stand!”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XIX.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>I know not too well how I found my way home in the night.</div> - <div class='line'>There were witnesses, cohorts about me, to left and to right,</div> - <div class='line'>Angels, powers, the unuttered, unseen, the alive, the aware:</div> - <div class='line'>I repressed, I got through them as hardly, as strugglingly there,</div> - <div class='line'>As a runner beset by the populace famished for news—</div> - <div class='line'>Life or death. The whole earth was awakened, hell loosed with her crews;</div> - <div class='line'>And the stars of night beat with emotion, and tingled and shot</div> - <div class='line'>Out in fire the strong pain of pent knowledge: but I fainted not,</div> - <div class='line'>For the Hand still impelled me at once and supported, suppressed</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>All the tumult, and quenched it with quiet, and holy behest,</div> - <div class='line'>Till the rapture was shut in itself, and the earth sank to rest.</div> - <div class='line'>Anon at the dawn, all that trouble had withered from earth—</div> - <div class='line'>Not so much, but I saw it die out in the day’s tender birth;</div> - <div class='line'>In the gathered intensity brought to the grey of the hills;</div> - <div class='line'>In the shuddering forests’ held breath; in the sudden wind-thrills;</div> - <div class='line'>In the startled wild beasts that bore off, each with eye sidling still,</div> - <div class='line'>Though averted with wonder and dread; in the birds stiff and chill</div> - <div class='line'>That rose heavily as I approached them, made stupid with awe:</div> - <div class='line'>E’en the serpent that slid away silent—he felt the new law.</div> - <div class='line'>The same stared in the white humid faces upturned by the flowers;</div> - <div class='line'>The same worked in the heart of the cedar and moved the vine-bowers:</div> - <div class='line'>And the little brooks witnessing murmured, persistent and low,</div> - <div class='line'>With their obstinate, all but hushed voices—“E’en so, it is so!”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'><i>Stanza 14.</i>—Observe the meeting of the human and divine in the poet-prophet’s -inspiration. As poet, his powers were in their fullest exercise, -and still there was an unfathomable heaven of the unknown above him, till -“one lift of Thy hand cleared that distance.”</p> - -<p class='c007'>The close of this stanza sets before us the scene of the writing of this -reminiscence.</p> - -<hr class='c008' /> - -<p class='c007'><i>Stanza 15.</i>—The soothing influence of the singing begins to appear. Be -sure to keep in mind the picture, so wonderfully illustrated, of the attitude -of the two; and mark the words of David, “All my heart how it loved -<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>him,” connecting them carefully with the next stanza (16), “<i>Then</i> the truth -came upon me.” It is only to the earnestly-loving heart that such a revelation -of God could be given. “God is Love, and he that loveth not -knoweth not God.” Observe, also, in this short stanza the effect of the -intense earnestness of his soul, leading him to lay aside his harp and cease -his singing, and simply break out in impassioned speech.</p> - -<hr class='c008' /> - -<p class='c007'><i>Stanza 17.</i>—Shall God be infinitely above his creature man, in all -faculties except one, and that “the greatest of all,” viz., Love? (Note, in -passing, the exquisite beauty of the lines: “With that stoop of the soul -which in bending upraises it too,” and “As by each new obeisance in spirit, -I climb to his feet.” The passage immediately following this line is of -course ironical at his own expense, which is indicated by the parenthetical -“I laugh as I think”; as if to say “how utterly foolish the thought that -such a wide province, such a grand gift, as Love, should be mine quite -apart from God, the great Ruler and Giver of all!”)</p> - -<hr class='c008' /> - -<p class='c007'><i>Stanza 18.</i>—Impossible! God is the giver: all that I have—Love, as -well as everything else—is from him; I can wish, but cannot will the -thing I would; but God can, therefore God will; his love cannot be -frustrated as mine is; it must even for such as “Saul, the failure, the ruin -he seems now,” find Salvation; being infinite it must have its will, and find -a way, however hard it be (see the striking line “it is by no breath,” &c.); -and <i>there it is</i>! See <span class='sc'>the Christ</span> stand!</p> - -<p class='c007'>Remember carefully the position as explained in the 15th stanza as -you read the magnificent climax, beginning—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>“O Saul, it shall be</div> - <div class='line'>A Face like my face that receives thee;”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>observe also the effect of the spondee with which stanza 18 closes, instead -of the usual anapæst; it gives wonderful dignity and strength to the -thought. The same effect is produced several times in the early part of the -poem by the same means, but nowhere with such power as in this, the -grand climax.</p> - -<hr class='c008' /> - -<p class='c007'>What a contrast here to the petty mechanical notions of inspiration -which have so often degraded the loftiest subject of human thought; and -how marvellously is the presence and the power of the Unseen on such a -soul as David’s imaged forth in the lines of the closing stanza, in words -which seem almost to utter the unutterable.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span> - <h2 class='c005'>AN EPISTLE</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c013'> - <div>CONTAINING THE</div> - <div>STRANGE MEDICAL EXPERIENCE OF KARSHISH,</div> - <div>THE ARAB PHYSICIAN.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Karshish, the picker-up of learning’s crumbs,</div> - <div class='line'>The not-incurious in God’s handiwork</div> - <div class='line'>(This man’s-flesh he hath admirably made,</div> - <div class='line'>Blown like a bubble, kneaded like a paste,</div> - <div class='line'>To coop up and keep down on earth a space</div> - <div class='line'>That puff of vapour from his mouth, man’s soul)</div> - <div class='line'>—To Abib, all-sagacious in our art,</div> - <div class='line'>Breeder in me of what poor skill I boast,</div> - <div class='line'>Like me inquisitive how pricks and cracks</div> - <div class='line'>Befall the flesh through too much stress and strain,</div> - <div class='line'>Whereby the wily vapour fain would slip</div> - <div class='line'>Back and rejoin its source before the term,—</div> - <div class='line'>And aptest in contrivance (under God)</div> - <div class='line'>To baffle it by deftly stopping such:—</div> - <div class='line'>The vagrant Scholar to his Sage at home</div> - <div class='line'>Sends greeting (health and knowledge, fame with peace)</div> - <div class='line'>Three samples of true snake-stone—rarer still,</div> - <div class='line'>One of the other sort, the melon-shaped,</div> - <div class='line'>(But fitter, pounded fine, for charms than drugs)</div> - <div class='line'>And writeth now the twenty-second time.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>My journeyings were brought to Jericho:</div> - <div class='line'>Thus I resume. Who studious in our art</div> - <div class='line'>Shall count a little labour unrepaid?</div> - <div class='line'>I have shed sweat enough, left flesh and bone</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>On many a flinty furlong of this land.</div> - <div class='line'>Also, the country-side is all on fire</div> - <div class='line'>With rumours of a marching hitherward:</div> - <div class='line'>Some say Vespasian cometh, some, his son.</div> - <div class='line'>A black lynx snarled and pricked a tufted ear:</div> - <div class='line'>Lust of my blood inflamed his yellow balls:</div> - <div class='line'>I cried and threw my staff and he was gone.</div> - <div class='line'>Twice have the robbers stripped and beaten me,</div> - <div class='line'>And once a town declared me for a spy;</div> - <div class='line'>But at the end, I reach Jerusalem,</div> - <div class='line'>Since this poor covert where I pass the night,</div> - <div class='line'>This Bethany, lies scarce the distance thence</div> - <div class='line'>A man with plague-sores at the third degree</div> - <div class='line'>Runs till he drops down dead. Thou laughest here!</div> - <div class='line'>’Sooth, it elates me, thus reposed and safe,</div> - <div class='line'>To void the stuffing of my travel-scrip</div> - <div class='line'>And share with thee whatever Jewry yields.</div> - <div class='line'>A viscid choler is observable</div> - <div class='line'>In tertians, I was nearly bold to say;</div> - <div class='line'>And falling-sickness hath a happier cure</div> - <div class='line'>Than our school wots of: there’s a spider here</div> - <div class='line'>Weaves no web, watches on the ledge of tombs,</div> - <div class='line'>Sprinkled with mottles on an ash-grey back;</div> - <div class='line'>Take five and drop them ... but who knows his mind,</div> - <div class='line'>The Syrian run-a-gate I trust this to?</div> - <div class='line'>His service payeth me a sublimate</div> - <div class='line'>Blown up his nose to help the ailing eye.</div> - <div class='line'>Best wait: I reach Jerusalem at morn,</div> - <div class='line'>There set in order my experiences,</div> - <div class='line'>Gather what most deserves, and give thee all—</div> - <div class='line'>Or I might add, Judæa’s gum-tragacanth</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>Scales off in purer flakes, shines clearer-grained,</div> - <div class='line'>Cracks ’twixt the pestle and the porphyry,</div> - <div class='line'>In fine exceeds our produce. Scalp-disease</div> - <div class='line'>Confounds me, crossing so with leprosy:</div> - <div class='line'>Thou hadst admired one sort I gained at Zoar—</div> - <div class='line'>But zeal outruns discretion. Here I end.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in2'>Yet stay! my Syrian blinketh gratefully,</div> - <div class='line'>Protesteth his devotion is my price—</div> - <div class='line'>Suppose I write what harms not, though he steal?</div> - <div class='line'>I half resolve to tell thee, yet I blush,</div> - <div class='line'>What set me off a-writing first of all.</div> - <div class='line'>An itch I had, a sting to write, a tang!</div> - <div class='line'>For, be it this town’s barrenness—or else</div> - <div class='line'>The Man had something in the look of him—</div> - <div class='line'>His case has struck me far more than ’tis worth.</div> - <div class='line'>So, pardon if—(lest presently I lose,</div> - <div class='line'>In the great press of novelty at hand,</div> - <div class='line'>The care and pains this somehow stole from me)</div> - <div class='line'>I bid thee take the thing while fresh in mind,</div> - <div class='line'>Almost in sight—for, wilt thou have the truth?</div> - <div class='line'>The very man is gone from me but now,</div> - <div class='line'>Whose ailment is the subject of discourse.</div> - <div class='line'>Thus then, and let thy better wit help all!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in2'>’Tis but a case of mania: subinduced</div> - <div class='line'>By epilepsy, at the turning-point</div> - <div class='line'>Of trance prolonged unduly some three days</div> - <div class='line'>When, by the exhibition of some drug</div> - <div class='line'>Or spell, exorcisation, stroke of art</div> - <div class='line'>Unknown to me and which ’twere well to know,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span>The evil thing, out-breaking, all at once,</div> - <div class='line'>Left the man whole and sound of body indeed,—</div> - <div class='line'>But, flinging (so to speak) life’s gates too wide,</div> - <div class='line'>Making a clear house of it too suddenly,</div> - <div class='line'>The first conceit that entered might inscribe</div> - <div class='line'>Whatever it was minded on the wall</div> - <div class='line'>So plainly at that vantage, as it were,</div> - <div class='line'>(First come, first served) that nothing subsequent</div> - <div class='line'>Attaineth to erase those fancy-scrawls</div> - <div class='line'>The just-returned and new-established soul</div> - <div class='line'>Hath gotten now so thoroughly by heart</div> - <div class='line'>That henceforth she will read or these or none.</div> - <div class='line'>And first—the man’s own firm conviction rests</div> - <div class='line'>That he was dead (in fact they buried him)</div> - <div class='line'>—That he was dead and then restored to life</div> - <div class='line'>By a Nazarene physician of his tribe:</div> - <div class='line'>—’Sayeth, the same bade “Rise,” and he did rise.</div> - <div class='line'>“Such cases are diurnal,” thou wilt cry.</div> - <div class='line'>Not so this figment!—not, that such a fume,</div> - <div class='line'>Instead of giving way to time and health,</div> - <div class='line'>Should eat itself into the life of life,</div> - <div class='line'>As saffron tingeth flesh, blood, bones, and all!</div> - <div class='line'>For see, how he takes up the after-life.</div> - <div class='line'>The man—it is one Lazarus a Jew,</div> - <div class='line'>Sanguine, proportioned, fifty years of age,</div> - <div class='line'>The body’s habit wholly laudable,</div> - <div class='line'>As much, indeed, beyond the common health</div> - <div class='line'>As he were made and put aside to show.</div> - <div class='line'>Think, could we penetrate by any drug</div> - <div class='line'>And bathe the wearied soul and worried flesh,</div> - <div class='line'>And bring it clear and fair, by three days’ sleep!</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>Whence has the man the balm that brightens all?</div> - <div class='line'>This grown man eyes the world now like a child.</div> - <div class='line'>Some elders of his tribe, I should premise,</div> - <div class='line'>Led in their friend, obedient as a sheep,</div> - <div class='line'>To bear my inquisition. While they spoke,</div> - <div class='line'>Now sharply, now with sorrow,—told the case,—</div> - <div class='line'>He listened not except I spoke to him,</div> - <div class='line'>But folded his two hands and let them talk,</div> - <div class='line'>Watching the flies that buzzed: and yet no fool.</div> - <div class='line'>And that’s a sample how his years must go.</div> - <div class='line'>Look if a beggar, in fixed middle-life,</div> - <div class='line'>Should find a treasure,—can he use the same</div> - <div class='line'>With straitened habitude and tastes starved small,</div> - <div class='line'>And take at once to his impoverished brain</div> - <div class='line'>The sudden element that changes things,</div> - <div class='line'>That sets the undreamed-of rapture at his hand,</div> - <div class='line'>And puts the cheap old joy in the scorned dust?</div> - <div class='line'>Is he not such an one as moves to mirth—</div> - <div class='line'>Warily parsimonious, when no need,</div> - <div class='line'>Wasteful as drunkenness at undue times?</div> - <div class='line'>All prudent counsel as to what befits</div> - <div class='line'>The golden mean, is lost on such an one:</div> - <div class='line'>The man’s fantastic will is the man’s law.</div> - <div class='line'>So here—we call the treasure knowledge, say,</div> - <div class='line'>Increased beyond the fleshly faculty—</div> - <div class='line'>Heaven opened to a soul while yet on earth,</div> - <div class='line'>Earth forced on a soul’s use while seeing heaven:</div> - <div class='line'>The man is witless of the size, the sum,</div> - <div class='line'>The value in proportion of all things,</div> - <div class='line'>Or whether it be little or be much.</div> - <div class='line'>Discourse to him of prodigious armaments</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>Assembled to besiege his city now,</div> - <div class='line'>And of the passing of a mule with gourds—</div> - <div class='line'>’Tis one! Then take it on the other side,</div> - <div class='line'>Speak of some trifling fact,—he will gaze rapt</div> - <div class='line'>With stupor at its very littleness,</div> - <div class='line'>(Far as I see) as if in that indeed</div> - <div class='line'>He caught prodigious import, whole results;</div> - <div class='line'>And so will turn to us the bystanders</div> - <div class='line'>In ever the same stupor (note this point)</div> - <div class='line'>That we too see not with his opened eyes.</div> - <div class='line'>Wonder and doubt come wrongly into play,</div> - <div class='line'>Preposterously, at cross purposes.</div> - <div class='line'>Should his child sicken unto death,—why, look</div> - <div class='line'>For scarce abatement of his cheerfulness,</div> - <div class='line'>Or pretermission of the daily craft!</div> - <div class='line'>While a word, gesture, glance from that same child</div> - <div class='line'>At play or in the school or laid asleep,</div> - <div class='line'>Will startle him to an agony of fear,</div> - <div class='line'>Exasperation, just as like. Demand</div> - <div class='line'>The reason why—“’tis but a word,” object—</div> - <div class='line'>“A gesture”—he regards thee as our lord</div> - <div class='line'>Who lived there in the pyramid alone,</div> - <div class='line'>Looked at us (dost thou mind?) when, being young,</div> - <div class='line'>We both would unadvisedly recite</div> - <div class='line'>Some charm’s beginning, from that book of his,</div> - <div class='line'>Able to bid the sun throb wide and burst</div> - <div class='line'>All into stars, as suns grown old are wont.</div> - <div class='line'>Thou and the child have each a veil alike</div> - <div class='line'>Thrown o’er your heads, from under which ye both</div> - <div class='line'>Stretch your blind hands and trifle with a match</div> - <div class='line'>Over a mine of Greek fire, did ye know!</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>He holds on firmly to some thread of life—</div> - <div class='line'>(It is the life to lead perforcedly)</div> - <div class='line'>Which runs across some vast distracting orb</div> - <div class='line'>Of glory on either side that meagre thread,</div> - <div class='line'>Which, conscious of, he must not enter yet—</div> - <div class='line'>The spiritual life around the earthly life:</div> - <div class='line'>The law of that is known to him as this,</div> - <div class='line'>His heart and brain move there, his feet stay here.</div> - <div class='line'>So is the man perplext with impulses</div> - <div class='line'>Sudden to start off crosswise, not straight on,</div> - <div class='line'>Proclaiming what is right and wrong across,</div> - <div class='line'>And not along, this black thread through the blaze—</div> - <div class='line'>“It should be” baulked by “here it cannot be.”</div> - <div class='line'>And oft the man’s soul springs into his face</div> - <div class='line'>As if he saw again and heard again</div> - <div class='line'>His sage that bade him “Rise,” and he did rise.</div> - <div class='line'>Something, a word, a tick o’ the blood within</div> - <div class='line'>Admonishes: then back he sinks at once</div> - <div class='line'>To ashes, who was very fire before,</div> - <div class='line'>In sedulous recurrence to his trade</div> - <div class='line'>Whereby he earneth him the daily bread;</div> - <div class='line'>And studiously the humbler for that pride,</div> - <div class='line'>Professedly the faultier that he knows</div> - <div class='line'>God’s secret, while he holds the thread of life.</div> - <div class='line'>Indeed the especial marking of the man</div> - <div class='line'>Is prone submission to the heavenly will—</div> - <div class='line'>Seeing it, what it is, and why it is.</div> - <div class='line'>’Sayeth, he will wait patient to the last</div> - <div class='line'>For that same death which must restore his being</div> - <div class='line'>To equilibrium, body loosening soul</div> - <div class='line'>Divorced even now by premature full growth:</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>He will live, nay, it pleaseth him to live</div> - <div class='line'>So long as God please, and just how God please.</div> - <div class='line'>He even seeketh not to please God more</div> - <div class='line'>(Which meaneth, otherwise) than as God please.</div> - <div class='line'>Hence, I perceive not he affects to preach</div> - <div class='line'>The doctrine of his sect whate’er it be,</div> - <div class='line'>Make proselytes as madmen thirst to do:</div> - <div class='line'>How can he give his neighbour the real ground,</div> - <div class='line'>His own conviction? Ardent as he is—</div> - <div class='line'>Call his great truth a lie, why, still the old</div> - <div class='line'>“Be it as God please” reassureth him.</div> - <div class='line'>I probed the sore as thy disciple should:</div> - <div class='line'>“How, beast,” said I, “this stolid carelessness</div> - <div class='line'>“Sufficeth thee, when Rome is on her march</div> - <div class='line'>“To stamp out like a little spark thy town,</div> - <div class='line'>“Thy tribe, thy crazy tale and thee at once?”</div> - <div class='line'>He merely looked with his large eyes on me.</div> - <div class='line'>The man is apathetic, you deduce?</div> - <div class='line'>Contrariwise, he loves both old and young,</div> - <div class='line'>Able and weak, affects the very brutes</div> - <div class='line'>And birds—how say I? flowers of the field—</div> - <div class='line'>As a wise workman recognises tools</div> - <div class='line'>In a master’s workshop, loving what they make.</div> - <div class='line'>Thus is the man as harmless as a lamb:</div> - <div class='line'>Only impatient, let him do his best,</div> - <div class='line'>At ignorance and carelessness and sin—</div> - <div class='line'>An indignation which is promptly curbed:</div> - <div class='line'>As when in certain travel I have feigned</div> - <div class='line'>To be an ignoramus in our art</div> - <div class='line'>According to some preconceived design</div> - <div class='line'>And happed to hear the land’s practitioners</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>Steeped in conceit sublimed by ignorance,</div> - <div class='line'>Prattle fantastically on disease,</div> - <div class='line'>Its cause and cure—and I must hold my peace!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in2'>Thou wilt object—Why have I not ere this</div> - <div class='line'>Sought out the sage himself, the Nazarene</div> - <div class='line'>Who wrought this cure, inquiring at the source,</div> - <div class='line'>Conferring with the frankness that befits?</div> - <div class='line'>Alas! it grieveth me, the learned leech</div> - <div class='line'>Perished in a tumult many years ago,</div> - <div class='line'>Accused,—our learning’s fate,—of wizardry,</div> - <div class='line'>Rebellion, to the setting up a rule</div> - <div class='line'>And creed prodigious as described to me.</div> - <div class='line'>His death, which happened when the earthquake fell</div> - <div class='line'>(Prefiguring, as soon appeared, the loss</div> - <div class='line'>To occult learning in our lord the sage</div> - <div class='line'>Who lived there in the pyramid alone)</div> - <div class='line'>Was wrought by the mad people—that’s their wont!</div> - <div class='line'>On vain recourse, as I conjecture it,</div> - <div class='line'>To his tried virtue, for miraculous help—</div> - <div class='line'>How could he stop the earthquake? That’s their way!</div> - <div class='line'>The other imputations must be lies:</div> - <div class='line'>But take one, though I loathe to give it thee,</div> - <div class='line'>In mere respect for any good man’s fame.</div> - <div class='line'>(And after all, our patient Lazarus</div> - <div class='line'>Is stark mad; should we count on what he says?</div> - <div class='line'>Perhaps not: though in writing to a leech</div> - <div class='line'>’Tis well to keep back nothing of a case.)</div> - <div class='line'>This man so cured regards the curer, then,</div> - <div class='line'>As—God forgive me! who but God himself,</div> - <div class='line'>Creator and sustainer of the world,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>That came and dwelt in flesh on it awhile.</div> - <div class='line'>—’Sayeth that such an one was born and lived,</div> - <div class='line'>Taught, healed the sick, broke bread at his own house,</div> - <div class='line'>Then died, with Lazarus by, for aught I know,</div> - <div class='line'>And yet was ... what I said nor choose repeat,</div> - <div class='line'>And must have so avouched himself, in fact,</div> - <div class='line'>In hearing of this very Lazarus</div> - <div class='line'>Who saith—but why all this of what he saith?</div> - <div class='line'>Why write of trivial matters, things of price</div> - <div class='line'>Calling at every moment for remark?</div> - <div class='line'>I noticed on the margin of a pool</div> - <div class='line'>Blue-flowering borage, the Aleppo sort,</div> - <div class='line'>Aboundeth, very nitrous. It is strange!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in2'>Thy pardon for this long and tedious case,</div> - <div class='line'>Which, now that I review it, needs must seem</div> - <div class='line'>Unduly dwelt on, prolixly set forth!</div> - <div class='line'>Nor I myself discern in what is writ</div> - <div class='line'>Good cause for the peculiar interest</div> - <div class='line'>And awe indeed this man has touched me with.</div> - <div class='line'>Perhaps the journey’s end, the weariness</div> - <div class='line'>Had wrought upon me first. I met him thus:</div> - <div class='line'>I crossed a ridge of short sharp broken hills</div> - <div class='line'>Like an old lion’s cheek teeth. Out there came</div> - <div class='line'>A moon made like a face with certain spots</div> - <div class='line'>Multiform, manifold and menacing:</div> - <div class='line'>Then a wind rose behind me. So we met</div> - <div class='line'>In this old sleepy town at unawares,</div> - <div class='line'>The man and I. I send thee what is writ.</div> - <div class='line'>Regard it as a chance, a matter risked</div> - <div class='line'>To this ambiguous Syrian: he may lose,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span>Or steal, or give it thee with equal good.</div> - <div class='line'>Jerusalem’s repose shall make amends</div> - <div class='line'>For time this letter wastes, thy time and mine;</div> - <div class='line'>Till when, once more thy pardon and farewell!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in2'>The very God! think, Abib; dost thou think?</div> - <div class='line'>So, the All-Great were the All-Loving too—</div> - <div class='line'>So, through the thunder comes a human voice</div> - <div class='line'>Saying, “O heart I made, a heart beats here!</div> - <div class='line'>“Face, my hands fashioned, see it in myself!</div> - <div class='line'>“Thou hast no power nor may’st conceive of mine:</div> - <div class='line'>“But love I gave thee, with myself to love,</div> - <div class='line'>“And thou must love me who have died for thee!”</div> - <div class='line'>The madman saith He said so: it is strange.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>This most interesting and beautiful poem will afford a good illustration of -one of the cases of difficulty referred to in the Introduction. The reader is -placed in the position of one who has just found this Arabian epistle, and -must decipher and interpret it without any extraneous aid.</p> - -<p class='c007'>First comes, according to Eastern custom, the name (line 1), then the -address (7), with the greeting (15), and mention of articles sent with the -letter—all in true Eastern style—with such adjuncts as give a general idea of -the school of physiology and medicine to which the writer belongs.</p> - -<p class='c007'>The twenty-first letter had ended at Jericho, and here, accordingly, the -twenty-second begins. The date appears as we read on, marked by the -expedition of Vespasian and his son Titus against Jerusalem. When -Bethany is mentioned, our interest is awakened, and we wonder what is -coming; but to the writer Bethany has no such associations, as is indicated -by the light and jocular way in which he marks its distance from Jerusalem, -and carelessly proceeds to record the observations it is his main business to -make wherever he goes.</p> - -<p class='c007'>Further on, however, we discover that there is something of importance -weighing on his mind, which makes him hesitate and debate as to the trustworthiness -<span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span>of the messenger he intends to employ; while, at the same -time, he is evidently ashamed to tell his master what is troubling him. This -accounts for his abruptly ending his letter (determining, for the moment, to -say nothing about it); then, unable to refrain, beginning again, yet still -trying to conceal the depth of his feeling, and to apologize for what appears -in spite of himself.</p> - -<p class='c007'>A long account of the case follows. By this time the reader has begun -to have a pretty good idea who “the man” is that “had something in the -look of him,” and knows that it is a veritable case of one raised from the -dead. But Karshish cannot, of course, except under strong compulsion, -be expected to take this view; and, accordingly, he begins by looking at it -in a strictly professional light—“’Tis but a case of mania,” &c. He -naturally supposes that his master will set it down as an ordinary instance -of hallucination: “Such cases are diurnal, thou wilt cry.” Then he -mentions points which strike him as altogether peculiar, certain features of -the “after life” which are quite inconsistent with the idea of mania. -Instead of being the worse for his mania, this man is immeasurably the -better. Could Karshish and his master but penetrate the secret, what -physicians they would be! The scene when Lazarus is brought in by the -Elders of his tribe—who regard him as a madman, because he is living a -life so far above anything they can understand—is inimitable.</p> - -<p class='c007'>In the illustration of the beggar suddenly become rich, Karshish lets -out at last that he suspects there must be some truth in the man’s story. -His patient, he observes, now measures things with no earthly measure, -seeing often the small in the great and the great in the small; looking at -everything “with larger, other eyes than ours”; accepting with perfect -equanimity the very greatest <i>sorrow</i>, yet filled with alarm at the least -gesture or look which gives token of <i>sin</i>, because to him it was like -trifling with a match over a mine of Greek fire!</p> - -<p class='c007'>In the next illustration, of the thread of life across an orb of glory, the -writer seems to get still fuller insight into the reality of the case—the little -thread being, of course, the poor life in Bethany, and the vast orb of glory, -the great eternity of God, in which Lazarus was consciously living. And -here, again, we have the same lesson as in “The Boy and the Angel.” -Though conscious of the glory of the great orb, Lazarus does not despise -the little duties belonging to the thread of his earthly life. He sedulously -follows his trade whereby he earns his daily bread; indeed, the special -<span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span>characteristic of the man is “prone submission to the Heavenly will.” -Mark the profound suggestiveness of the lines—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“He even seeketh not to please God more</div> - <div class='line'>(Which meaneth, otherwise) than as God please.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>He is so calm as to be provoking. At his inquisitor’s burst of indignation, -he shows no sign of anger or impatience—“He merely looked with his -large eyes on me.” And yet no apathy about him; a man full of loving -interest in all things. (Compare Coleridge’s well-known lines: “He -prayeth best who loveth best,” &c.)</p> - -<p class='c007'>The paragraph which follows introduces us to a region familiar and -sacred to us, but foreign and inexplicable to our physician, who refers to it -from his own point of view, stigmatizing the claim of “the Nazarene who -wrought this cure” as not only false, but monstrous; and yet—and yet—and -yet—he cannot get over it; it haunts him. But still he is ashamed -to acknowledge it, and so turns abruptly from what he affects to call -“trivial matters” to “things of price,” like “blue-flowering borage”!</p> - -<p class='c007'>Then he gives another elaborate apology, and tries to account for the -hold the phenomenon has taken of him by a reference to his state of body -and surroundings when first he met this Lazarus; and, accordingly, professing -to care little whether the letter reaches or not, again he closes.</p> - -<p class='c007'>Yet still he cannot rest. The great thought haunts him. “The very -God! <i>think</i>, Abib.” Then follows that consummate passage with which -this magnificent poem closes.</p> - -<p class='c007'>After this “Epistle” should by all means be read “A Death in the -Desert,” too long and too difficult to be inserted here. The surprise -awaiting the reader of the parchment “supposed of Pamphylax the -Antiochene” will add to the interest of a poem so full of beauty and -power.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHRISTMAS-EVE & EASTER-DAY.</h2> -</div> - -<h3 class='c014'>CHRISTMAS-EVE.</h3> - -<p class='c015'>Between Christmas-Eve and Easter-Morn lies the earth history of the -Incarnate Son of God. Into the shadows of our world He came; and, -after a brief night amid its darkness, rose again into the light of heaven. -These titles then may well include the whole substance of Christianity. -Christmas suggests the thought of heaven come down to earth; Easter, -of earth raised up to heaven. “Christmas-Eve” leads naturally to the -contemplation of the Christian Faith; “Easter-Day,” to the contemplation -of the Christian Life.</p> - -<p class='c007'>Each poem turns on an impressive natural phenomenon which suggests -the blending of heaven and earth—the one, of the night, a lunar rainbow; -the other, of the dawn, the aurora borealis.</p> - -<p class='c007'>The speaker (who is the same throughout the former poem) begins his -Christmas-Eve experiences with the flock assembling in “Zion Chapel,” a -congregation of rude, unlettered people, worshipping with heart and soul -indeed, but with little mind and less taste. It is not from choice that -he is there. It is a stormy night of wind and rain, from which he has -taken shelter in the “lath and plaster entry” of the little meeting house.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>I.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'> * * * * *</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Five minutes full, I waited first!</div> - <div class='line'>In the doorway, to escape the rain</div> - <div class='line'>That drove in gusts down the common’s centre,</div> - <div class='line'>At the edge of which the chapel stands,</div> - <div class='line'>Before I plucked up heart to enter.</div> - <div class='line'>Heaven knows how many sorts of hands</div> - <div class='line'>Reached past me, groping for the latch</div> - <div class='line'>Of the inner door that hung on catch</div> - <div class='line'>More obstinate the more they fumbled,</div> - <div class='line'>Till, giving way at last with a scold</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>Of the crazy hinge, in squeezed or tumbled</div> - <div class='line'>One sheep more to the rest in fold,</div> - <div class='line'>And left me irresolute, standing sentry</div> - <div class='line'>In the sheepfold’s lath-and-plaster entry,</div> - <div class='line'>Four feet long by two feet wide,</div> - <div class='line'>Partitioned off from the vast inside—</div> - <div class='line'>I blocked up half of it at least.</div> - <div class='line'>No remedy; the rain kept driving.</div> - <div class='line'>They eyed me much as some wild beast,</div> - <div class='line'>That congregation, still arriving,</div> - <div class='line'>Some of them by the main road, white</div> - <div class='line'>A long way past me into the night,</div> - <div class='line'>Skirting the common, then diverging;</div> - <div class='line'>Not a few suddenly emerging</div> - <div class='line'>From the common’s self through the paling-gaps,</div> - <div class='line'>—They house in the gravel-pits perhaps,</div> - <div class='line'>Where the road stops short with its safeguard border</div> - <div class='line'>Of lamps, as tired of such disorder;—</div> - <div class='line'>But the most turned in yet more abruptly</div> - <div class='line'>From a certain squalid knot of alleys,</div> - <div class='line'>Where the town’s bad blood once slept corruptly,</div> - <div class='line'>Which now the little chapel rallies</div> - <div class='line'>And leads into day again,—its priestliness</div> - <div class='line'>Lending itself to hide their beastliness</div> - <div class='line'>So cleverly (thanks in part to the mason),</div> - <div class='line'>And putting so cheery a whitewashed face on</div> - <div class='line'>Those neophytes too much in lack of it,</div> - <div class='line'>That, where you cross the common as I did,</div> - <div class='line'>And meet the party thus presided,</div> - <div class='line'>“Mount Zion” with Love-lane at the back of it,</div> - <div class='line'>They front you as little disconcerted</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span>As, bound for the hills, her fate averted,</div> - <div class='line'>And her wicked people made to mind him,</div> - <div class='line'>Lot might have marched with Gomorrah behind him.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>In the same light and humorous, half irreverent style, he proceeds to a -somewhat detailed description of the people and their uncouth worship—not -altogether a caricature, but evidently wanting in that sympathy with -the good at the heart of it, the thought of which was afterwards so strongly -borne in upon his soul. So, he “very soon had enough of it,” and gladly -“flung out of the little chapel” “into the fresh night air again.”</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>IV.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>There was a lull in the rain, a lull</div> - <div class='line'>In the wind too; the moon was risen,</div> - <div class='line'>And would have shone out pure and full,</div> - <div class='line'>But for the ramparted cloud-prison,</div> - <div class='line'>Block on block built up in the West,</div> - <div class='line'>For what purpose the wind knows best,</div> - <div class='line'>Who changes his mind continually.</div> - <div class='line'>And the empty other half of the sky</div> - <div class='line'>Seemed in its silence as if it knew</div> - <div class='line'>What, any moment, might look through</div> - <div class='line'>A chance gap in that fortress massy:—</div> - <div class='line'>Through its fissures you got hints</div> - <div class='line'>Of the flying moon, by the shifting tints,</div> - <div class='line'>Now, a dull lion-colour, now, brassy</div> - <div class='line'>Burning to yellow, and whitest yellow,</div> - <div class='line'>Like furnace-smoke just ere the flames bellow,</div> - <div class='line'>All a-simmer with intense strain</div> - <div class='line'>To let her through,—then blank again,</div> - <div class='line'>At the hope of her appearance failing.</div> - <div class='line'>Just by the chapel, a break in the railing</div> - <div class='line'>Shows a narrow path directly across;</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>’Tis ever dry walking there, on the moss—</div> - <div class='line'>Besides, you go gently all the way uphill</div> - <div class='line'>I stooped under and soon felt better;</div> - <div class='line'>My head grew lighter, my limbs more supple,</div> - <div class='line'>As I walked on, glad to have slipt the fetter.</div> - <div class='line'>My mind was full of the scene I had left,</div> - <div class='line'>That placid flock, that pastor vociferant,</div> - <div class='line'>—How this outside was pure and different!</div> - <div class='line'>The sermon, now—what a mingled weft</div> - <div class='line'>Of good and ill! Were either less,</div> - <div class='line'>Its fellow had coloured the whole distinctly;</div> - <div class='line'>But alas for the excellent earnestness,</div> - <div class='line'>And the truths, quite true if stated succinctly,</div> - <div class='line'>But as surely false, in their quaint presentment,</div> - <div class='line'>However to pastor and flock’s contentment!</div> - <div class='line'>Say rather, such truths looked false to your eyes,</div> - <div class='line'>With his provings and parallels twisted and twined,</div> - <div class='line'>Till how could you know them, grown double their size</div> - <div class='line'>In the natural fog of the good man’s mind,</div> - <div class='line'>Like yonder spots of our roadside lamps,</div> - <div class='line'>Haloed about with the common’s damps?</div> - <div class='line'>Truth remains true, the fault’s in the prover;</div> - <div class='line'>The zeal was good, and the aspiration;</div> - <div class='line'>And yet, and yet, yet, fifty times over,</div> - <div class='line'>Pharaoh received no demonstration,</div> - <div class='line'>By his Baker’s dream of Baskets Three,</div> - <div class='line'>Of the doctrine of the Trinity,—</div> - <div class='line'>Although, as our preacher thus embellished it,</div> - <div class='line'>Apparently his hearers relished it</div> - <div class='line'>With so unfeigned a gust—who knows if</div> - <div class='line'>They did not prefer our friend to Joseph?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'> * * * * *</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span>V.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But wherefore be harsh on a single case?</div> - <div class='line'>After how many modes, this Christmas-Eve,</div> - <div class='line'>Does the selfsame weary thing take place?</div> - <div class='line'>The same endeavour to make you believe,</div> - <div class='line'>And with much the same effect, no more:</div> - <div class='line'>Each method abundantly convincing,</div> - <div class='line'>As I say, to those convinced before,</div> - <div class='line'>But scarce to be swallowed without wincing</div> - <div class='line'>By the not-as-yet-convinced. For me,</div> - <div class='line'>I have my own church equally:</div> - <div class='line'>And in this church my faith sprang first!</div> - <div class='line'>(I said, as I reached the rising ground,</div> - <div class='line'>And the wind began again, with a burst</div> - <div class='line'>Of rain in my face, and a glad rebound</div> - <div class='line'>From the heart beneath, as if, God speeding me,</div> - <div class='line'>I entered his church-door, nature leading me)</div> - <div class='line'>—In youth I looked to these very skies,</div> - <div class='line'>And probing their immensities,</div> - <div class='line'>I found God there, his visible power;</div> - <div class='line'>Yet felt in my heart, amid all its sense</div> - <div class='line'>Of the power, an equal evidence</div> - <div class='line'>That his love, there too, was the nobler dower.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>Then follows a long and rather abstruse passage, leading up to the following -lofty and inspiring conclusion:—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>So, gazing up, in my youth, at love</div> - <div class='line'>As seen through power, ever above</div> - <div class='line'>All modes which make it manifest,</div> - <div class='line'>My soul brought all to a single test—</div> - <div class='line'>That he, the Eternal First and Last,</div> - <div class='line'>Who, in his power, had so surpassed</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>All man conceives of what is might,—</div> - <div class='line'>Whose wisdom, too, showed infinite,</div> - <div class='line'>—Would prove as infinitely good;</div> - <div class='line'>Would never, (my soul understood,)</div> - <div class='line'>With power to work all love desires,</div> - <div class='line'>Bestow e’en less than man requires;</div> - <div class='line'>That he who endlessly was teaching,</div> - <div class='line'>Above my spirit’s utmost reaching,</div> - <div class='line'>What love can do in the leaf or stone,</div> - <div class='line'>(So that to master this alone,</div> - <div class='line'>This done in the stone or leaf for me,</div> - <div class='line'>I must go on learning endlessly)</div> - <div class='line'>Would never need that I, in turn,</div> - <div class='line'>Should point him out defect unheeded,</div> - <div class='line'>And show that God had yet to learn</div> - <div class='line'>What the meanest human creature needed,</div> - <div class='line'>—Not life, to wit, for a few short years,</div> - <div class='line'>Tracking his way through doubts and fears,</div> - <div class='line'>While the stupid earth on which I stay</div> - <div class='line'>Suffers no change, but passive adds</div> - <div class='line'>Its myriad years to myriads,</div> - <div class='line'>Though I, he gave it to, decay,</div> - <div class='line'>Seeing death come and choose about me,</div> - <div class='line'>And my dearest ones depart without me.</div> - <div class='line'>No: love which, on earth, amid all the shows of it,</div> - <div class='line'>Has ever been seen the sole good of life in it,</div> - <div class='line'>The love, ever growing there, spite of the strife in it,</div> - <div class='line'>Shall arise, made perfect, from death’s repose of it.</div> - <div class='line'>And I shall behold thee, face to face,</div> - <div class='line'>O God, and in thy light retrace</div> - <div class='line'>How in all I loved here, still wast thou!</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>Whom pressing to, then, as I fain would now,</div> - <div class='line'>I shall find as able to satiate</div> - <div class='line'>The love, thy gift, as my spirit’s wonder</div> - <div class='line'>Thou art able to quicken and sublimate,</div> - <div class='line'>With this sky of thine, that I now walk under,</div> - <div class='line'>And glory in thee for, as I gaze</div> - <div class='line'>Thus, thus! Oh, let men keep their ways</div> - <div class='line'>Of seeking thee in a narrow shrine—</div> - <div class='line'>Be this my way! And this is mine!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>The lunar rainbow, so wonderfully described in the next stanza, is the -occasion and point of departure of the poetic vision or ecstasy which -occupies the remainder of the poem—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>VI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>For lo, what think you? suddenly</div> - <div class='line'>The rain and the wind ceased, and the sky</div> - <div class='line'>Received at once the full fruition</div> - <div class='line'>Of the moon’s consummate apparition.</div> - <div class='line'>The black cloud-barricade was riven,</div> - <div class='line'>Ruined beneath her feet, and driven</div> - <div class='line'>Deep in the West; while, bare and breathless,</div> - <div class='line'>North and South and East lay ready</div> - <div class='line'>For a glorious thing that, dauntless, deathless,</div> - <div class='line'>Sprang across them and stood steady.</div> - <div class='line'>’Twas a moon-rainbow, vast and perfect,</div> - <div class='line'>From heaven to heaven extending, perfect</div> - <div class='line'>As the mother-moon’s self, full in face.</div> - <div class='line'>It rose, distinctly at the base</div> - <div class='line'>With its seven proper colours chorded,</div> - <div class='line'>Which still, in the rising, were compressed,</div> - <div class='line'>Until at last they coalesced,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>And supreme the spectral creature lorded</div> - <div class='line'>In a triumph of whitest white,—</div> - <div class='line'>Above which intervened the night.</div> - <div class='line'>But above night too, like only the next,</div> - <div class='line'>The second of a wondrous sequence,</div> - <div class='line'>Reaching in rare and rarer frequence,</div> - <div class='line'>Till the heaven of heavens were circumflexed,</div> - <div class='line'>Another rainbow rose, a mightier,</div> - <div class='line'>Fainter, flushier and flightier,—</div> - <div class='line'>Rapture dying along its verge.</div> - <div class='line'>Oh, whose foot shall I see emerge,</div> - <div class='line'>Whose, from the straining topmost dark,</div> - <div class='line'>On to the keystone of that arc?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>He did see One emerging from the glory—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>VIII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>All at once I looked up with terror.</div> - <div class='line'>He was there,</div> - <div class='line'>He himself with his human air,</div> - <div class='line'>On the narrow pathway, just before.</div> - <div class='line'>I saw the back of him, no more—</div> - <div class='line'>He had left the chapel, then, as I.</div> - <div class='line'>I forgot all about the sky.</div> - <div class='line'>No face: only the sight</div> - <div class='line'>Of a sweepy garment, vast and white,</div> - <div class='line'>With a hem that I could recognise.</div> - <div class='line'>I felt terror, no surprise;</div> - <div class='line'>My mind filled with the cataract,</div> - <div class='line'>At one bound of the mighty fact.</div> - <div class='line'>“I remember, he did say</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>“Doubtless, that, to this world’s end,</div> - <div class='line'>“Where two or three should meet and pray,</div> - <div class='line'>“He would be in the midst, their friend;</div> - <div class='line'>“Certainly he was there with them!”</div> - <div class='line'>And my pulses leaped for joy</div> - <div class='line'>Of the golden thought without alloy,</div> - <div class='line'>That I saw his very vesture’s hem.</div> - <div class='line'>Then rushed the blood black, cold and clear,</div> - <div class='line'>With a fresh enhancing shiver of fear;</div> - <div class='line'>And I hastened, cried out while I pressed</div> - <div class='line'>To the salvation of the vest,</div> - <div class='line'>“But not so, Lord! It cannot be</div> - <div class='line'>“That thou, indeed, art leaving me—</div> - <div class='line'>“Me, that have despised thy friends!”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>The confession of his sin in despising <i>His</i> friends in the little chapel is -speedily followed by a gracious token of forgiveness:—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>IX.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'> * * * * *</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The whole face turned upon me full.</div> - <div class='line'>And I spread myself beneath it,</div> - <div class='line'>As when the bleacher spreads, to seethe it</div> - <div class='line'>In the cleansing sun, his wool,—</div> - <div class='line'>Steeps in the flood of noontide whiteness</div> - <div class='line'>Some defiled, discoloured web—</div> - <div class='line'>So lay I, saturate with brightness.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>His sin thus purged (how exquisitely wrought out the lovely simile of the -sun-cleansed wool!), he is “caught up in the whirl and drift of the -vesture’s amplitude,” and thus clinging to the garment’s hem, is carried -across land and sea—to a scene so complete a contrast to the one he has -just left that he is confused, and some time elapses before he discovers that -he is in front of St. Peter’s at Rome:—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span>X.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And so we crossed the world and stopped.</div> - <div class='line'>For where am I, in city or plain,</div> - <div class='line'>Since I am ’ware of the world again?</div> - <div class='line'>And what is this that rises propped</div> - <div class='line'>With pillars of prodigious girth?</div> - <div class='line'>Is it really on the earth,</div> - <div class='line'>This miraculous Dome of God?</div> - <div class='line'>Has the angel’s measuring-rod</div> - <div class='line'>Which numbered cubits, gem from gem,</div> - <div class='line'>’Twixt the gates of the New Jerusalem,</div> - <div class='line'>Meted it out,—and what he meted,</div> - <div class='line'>Have the sons of men completed?</div> - <div class='line'>—Binding, ever as he bade,</div> - <div class='line'>Columns in the colonnade</div> - <div class='line'>With arms wide open to embrace</div> - <div class='line'>The entry of the human race</div> - <div class='line'>To the breast of ... what is it, yon building,</div> - <div class='line'>Ablaze in front, all paint and gilding,</div> - <div class='line'>With marble for brick, and stones of price</div> - <div class='line'>For garniture of the edifice?</div> - <div class='line'>Now I see; it is no dream;</div> - <div class='line'>It stands there and it does not seem:</div> - <div class='line'>For ever, in pictures, thus it looks,</div> - <div class='line'>And thus I have read of it in books</div> - <div class='line'>Often in England, leagues away,</div> - <div class='line'>And wondered how these fountains play,</div> - <div class='line'>Growing up eternally</div> - <div class='line'>Each to a musical water-tree,</div> - <div class='line'>Whose blossoms drop, a glittering boon,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span>Before my eyes, in the light of the moon,</div> - <div class='line'>To the granite layers underneath.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>There follows a description of the worship in the great cathedral—not -now, as before, unsympathetic and merely critical, but giving evidence of -the liveliest appreciation of the feelings of the intelligent and devout -ritualist, as in the following passage:—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Earth breaks up, time drops away,</div> - <div class='line'>In flows heaven, with its new day</div> - <div class='line'>Of endless life, when he who trod,</div> - <div class='line'>Very man and very God,</div> - <div class='line'>This earth in weakness, shame and pain,</div> - <div class='line'>Dying the death whose signs remain</div> - <div class='line'>Up yonder on the accursed tree,—</div> - <div class='line'>Shall come again, no more to be</div> - <div class='line'>Of captivity the thrall,</div> - <div class='line'>But the one God, All in all,</div> - <div class='line'>King of kings, Lord of lords,</div> - <div class='line'>As his servant John received the words,</div> - <div class='line'>“I died, and live for evermore!”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>Still he cannot enter into it. He is left outside the door. Distracted -with conflicting emotions, his reason repelled by the superstition, his spirit -attracted by the lofty devotion which he discovers at the heart of the too -gorgeous ritual—he cannot make up his mind whether he should join them -for the one reason, or shun them for the other—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'> * * * * *</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in12'>Though Rome’s gross yoke</div> - <div class='line'>Drops off, no more to be endured,</div> - <div class='line'>Her teaching is not so obscured</div> - <div class='line'>By errors and perversities,</div> - <div class='line'>That no truth shines athwart the lies:</div> - <div class='line'>And he, whose eye detects a spark</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span>Even where, to man’s, the whole seems dark,</div> - <div class='line'>May well see flame where each beholder</div> - <div class='line'>Acknowledges the embers smoulder.</div> - <div class='line'>But I, a mere man, fear to quit</div> - <div class='line'>The clue God gave me as most fit</div> - <div class='line'>To guide my footsteps through life’s maze,</div> - <div class='line'>Because himself discerns all ways</div> - <div class='line'>Open to reach him: I, a man</div> - <div class='line'>Able to mark where faith began</div> - <div class='line'>To swerve aside, till from its summit</div> - <div class='line'>Judgment drops her damning plummet,</div> - <div class='line'>Pronouncing such a fatal space</div> - <div class='line'>Departed from the founder’s base:</div> - <div class='line'>He will not bid me enter too,</div> - <div class='line'>But rather sit, as now I do,</div> - <div class='line'>Awaiting his return outside.</div> - <div class='line'>—’Twas thus my reason straight replied</div> - <div class='line'>And joyously I turned, and pressed</div> - <div class='line'>The garment’s skirt upon my breast,</div> - <div class='line'>Until, afresh its light suffusing me,</div> - <div class='line'>My heart cried “What has been abusing me</div> - <div class='line'>That I should wait here lonely and coldly,</div> - <div class='line'>Instead of rising, entering boldly,</div> - <div class='line'>Baring truth’s face, and letting drift</div> - <div class='line'>Her veils of lies as they choose to shift?</div> - <div class='line'>Do these men praise him? I will raise</div> - <div class='line'>My voice up to their point of praise!</div> - <div class='line'>I see the error; but above</div> - <div class='line'>The scope of error, see the love.—</div> - <div class='line'>Oh, love of those first Christian days!</div> - <div class='line'>—Fanned so soon into a blaze,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span>From the spark preserved by the trampled sect,</div> - <div class='line'>That the antique sovereign Intellect</div> - <div class='line'>Which then sat ruling in the world,</div> - <div class='line'>Like a change in dreams, was hurled</div> - <div class='line'>From the throne he reigned upon:</div> - <div class='line'>You looked up and he was gone.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>The remainder of the stanza is taken up with a most eloquent, but somewhat -difficult passage, illustrating the triumph of the new Love over the -old Culture. In the following stanza he makes up his mind that he “will feast -his love, then depart elsewhere, that his intellect may find its share”; so -the next transition, by the same mode of rapture, is to a German University. -What he sees there provokes again his latent humour:—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XIV.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Alone! I am left alone once more—</div> - <div class='line'>(Save for the garment’s extreme fold</div> - <div class='line'>Abandoned still to bless my hold)</div> - <div class='line'>Alone, beside the entrance-door</div> - <div class='line'>Of a sort of temple,—perhaps a college,</div> - <div class='line'>—Like nothing I ever saw before</div> - <div class='line'>At home in England, to my knowledge.</div> - <div class='line'>The tall old quaint irregular town!</div> - <div class='line'>It may be ... though which, I can’t affirm ... any</div> - <div class='line'>Of the famous middle-age towns of Germany;</div> - <div class='line'>And this flight of stairs where I sit down,</div> - <div class='line'>Is it Halle, Weimar, Cassel, Frankfort,</div> - <div class='line'>Or Göttingen, I have to thank for ’t?</div> - <div class='line'>It may be Göttingen,—most likely.</div> - <div class='line'>Through the open door I catch obliquely</div> - <div class='line'>Glimpses of a lecture-hall;</div> - <div class='line'>And not a bad assembly neither,</div> - <div class='line'>Ranged decent and symmetrical</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span>On benches, waiting what’s to see there;</div> - <div class='line'>Which, holding still by the vesture’s hem,</div> - <div class='line'>I also resolve to see with them,</div> - <div class='line'>Cautious this time how I suffer to slip</div> - <div class='line'>The chance of joining in fellowship</div> - <div class='line'>With any that call themselves his friends;</div> - <div class='line'>As these folks do, I have a notion.</div> - <div class='line'>But hist—a buzzing and emotion!</div> - <div class='line'>All settle themselves, the while ascends</div> - <div class='line'>By the creaking rail to the lecture-desk,</div> - <div class='line'>Step by step, deliberate</div> - <div class='line'>Because of his cranium’s over-freight,</div> - <div class='line'>Three parts sublime to one grotesque,</div> - <div class='line'>If I have proved an accurate guesser,</div> - <div class='line'>The hawk-nosed, high-cheek-boned Professor.</div> - <div class='line'>I felt at once as if there ran</div> - <div class='line'>A shoot of love from my heart to the man—</div> - <div class='line'>That sallow virgin-minded studious</div> - <div class='line'>Martyr to mild enthusiasm,</div> - <div class='line'>As he uttered a kind of cough-preludious</div> - <div class='line'>That woke my sympathetic spasm,</div> - <div class='line'>(Beside some spitting that made me sorry)</div> - <div class='line'>And stood, surveying his auditory</div> - <div class='line'>With a wan pure look, well nigh celestial,—</div> - <div class='line'>Those blue eyes had survived so much!</div> - <div class='line'>While, under the foot they could not smutch,</div> - <div class='line'>Lay all the fleshly and the bestial.</div> - <div class='line'>Over he bowed, and arranged his notes,</div> - <div class='line'>Till the auditory’s clearing of throats</div> - <div class='line'>Was done with, died into a silence;</div> - <div class='line'>And, when each glance was upward sent,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>Each bearded mouth composed intent,</div> - <div class='line'>And a pin might be heard drop half a mile hence</div> - <div class='line'>He pushed back higher his spectacles,</div> - <div class='line'>Let the eyes stream out like lamps from cells,</div> - <div class='line'>And giving his head of hair—a hake</div> - <div class='line'>Of undressed tow, for colour and quantity—</div> - <div class='line'>One rapid and impatient shake,</div> - <div class='line'>(As our own young England adjusts a jaunty tie</div> - <div class='line'>When about to impart, on mature digestion,</div> - <div class='line'>Some thrilling view of the surplice-question)</div> - <div class='line'>—The Professor’s grave voice, sweet though hoarse,</div> - <div class='line'>Broke into his Christmas-Eve discourse.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>The stanza which follows gives an account of the discourse, which is a -learned discussion of “this Myth of Christ,” “which, when reason had -strained and abated it of foreign matter, left, for residuum, a man!—a -right true man,” but nothing more. He has no difficulty in determining -his duty here (“this time He would not bid me enter.”) The religious -atmosphere in which Papist and Dissenter live may be far from pure, in the -one case for one reason, and in the other for the opposite; but either of -the two is immeasurably better than the vacuum left when the Critic has -done his work of destruction. Then follows a long argument to show the -unreasonableness of denying the divinity of Christ, only a part of which -can be given here.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XVI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'> * * * * *</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>This time he would not bid me enter</div> - <div class='line'>The exhausted air-bell of the Critic.</div> - <div class='line'>Truth’s atmosphere may grow mephitic</div> - <div class='line'>When Papist struggles with Dissenter,</div> - <div class='line'>Impregnating its pristine clarity,</div> - <div class='line'>—One, by his daily fare’s vulgarity,</div> - <div class='line'>Its gust of broken meat and garlic;</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span>—One, by his soul’s too-much presuming</div> - <div class='line'>To turn the frankincense’s fuming</div> - <div class='line'>And vapours of the candle starlike</div> - <div class='line'>Into the cloud her wings she buoys on.</div> - <div class='line'>Each, that thus sets the pure air seething,</div> - <div class='line'>May poison it for healthy breathing—</div> - <div class='line'>But the Critic leaves no air to poison;</div> - <div class='line'>Pumps out with ruthless ingenuity</div> - <div class='line'>Atom by atom, and leaves you—vacuity.</div> - <div class='line'>Thus much of Christ, does he reject?</div> - <div class='line'>And what retain? His intellect?</div> - <div class='line'>What is it I must reverence duly?</div> - <div class='line'>Poor intellect for worship, truly,</div> - <div class='line'>Which tells me simply what was told</div> - <div class='line'>(If mere morality, bereft</div> - <div class='line'>Of the God in Christ, be all that’s left)</div> - <div class='line'>Elsewhere by voices manifold;</div> - <div class='line'>With this advantage, that the stater</div> - <div class='line'>Made nowise the important stumble</div> - <div class='line'>Of adding, he, the sage and humble,</div> - <div class='line'>Was also one with the Creator.</div> - <div class='line'>You urge Christ’s followers’ simplicity:</div> - <div class='line'>But how does shifting blame, evade it?</div> - <div class='line'>Have wisdom’s words no more felicity?</div> - <div class='line'>The stumbling-block, his speech—who laid it?</div> - <div class='line'>How comes it that for one found able</div> - <div class='line'>To sift the truth of it from fable,</div> - <div class='line'>Millions believe it to the letter?</div> - <div class='line'>Christ’s goodness, then—does that fare better?</div> - <div class='line'>Strange goodness, which upon the score</div> - <div class='line'>Of being goodness, the mere due</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>Of man to fellow-man, much more</div> - <div class='line'>To God,—should take another view</div> - <div class='line'>Of its possessor’s privilege,</div> - <div class='line'>And bid him rule his race! You pledge</div> - <div class='line'>Your fealty to such rule? What, all—</div> - <div class='line'>From heavenly John and Attic Paul,</div> - <div class='line'>And that brave weather-battered Peter</div> - <div class='line'>Whose stout faith only stood completer</div> - <div class='line'>For buffets, sinning to be pardoned,</div> - <div class='line'>As, more his hands hauled nets, they hardened,—</div> - <div class='line'>All, down to you, the man of men,</div> - <div class='line'>Professing here at Göttingen,</div> - <div class='line'>Compose Christ’s flock! They, you and I,</div> - <div class='line'>Are sheep of a good man!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>Reasonings that grow out of the main discussion are continued throughout -stanzas 17-20, till once more he is caught up and carried back to his -original starting point. The remainder of the poem can now be given -without interruption, and will be readily understood. (The exquisite -development of the simile of the cup and the water will be specially noted, -as also the charitable wish so strikingly expressed on behalf of the poor -Professor, that before the end comes he may know Christ as “the God of -salvation.”)</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XXI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in18'>And I caught</div> - <div class='line'>At the flying robe, and unrepelled</div> - <div class='line'>Was lapped again in its folds full-fraught</div> - <div class='line'>With warmth and wonder and delight,</div> - <div class='line'>God’s mercy being infinite.</div> - <div class='line'>For scarce had the words escaped my tongue,</div> - <div class='line'>When, at a passionate bound, I sprung</div> - <div class='line'>Out of the wandering world of rain,</div> - <div class='line'>Into the little chapel again.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span>XXII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>How else was I found there, bolt upright.</div> - <div class='line'>On my bench, as if I had never left it?</div> - <div class='line'>—Never flung out on the common at night</div> - <div class='line'>Nor met the storm and wedge-like cleft it,</div> - <div class='line'>Seen the raree-show of Peter’s successor,</div> - <div class='line'>Or the laboratory of the Professor!</div> - <div class='line'>For the Vision, that was true, I wist,</div> - <div class='line'>True as that heaven and earth exist.</div> - <div class='line'>There sat my friend, the yellow and tall,</div> - <div class='line'>With his neck and its wen in the selfsame place;</div> - <div class='line'>Yet my nearest neighbour’s cheek showed gall.</div> - <div class='line'>She had slid away a contemptuous space:</div> - <div class='line'>And the old fat woman, late so placable,</div> - <div class='line'>Eyed me with symptoms, hardly mistakable,</div> - <div class='line'>Of her milk of kindness turning rancid.</div> - <div class='line'>In short, a spectator might have fancied</div> - <div class='line'>That I had nodded, betrayed by slumber,</div> - <div class='line'>Yet kept my seat, a warning ghastly,</div> - <div class='line'>Through the heads of the sermon, nine in number,</div> - <div class='line'>And woke up now at the tenth and lastly.</div> - <div class='line'>But again, could such disgrace have happened?</div> - <div class='line'>Each friend at my elbow had surely nudged it;</div> - <div class='line'>And, as for the sermon, where did my nap end?</div> - <div class='line'>Unless I heard it, could I have judged it?</div> - <div class='line'>Could I report as I do at the close,</div> - <div class='line'>First, the preacher speaks through his nose:</div> - <div class='line'>Second, his gesture is too emphatic:</div> - <div class='line'>Thirdly, to waive what’s pedagogic,</div> - <div class='line'>The subject-matter itself lacks logic:</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>Fourthly, the English is ungrammatic.</div> - <div class='line'>Great news! the preacher is found no Pascal,</div> - <div class='line'>Whom, if I pleased, I might to the task call</div> - <div class='line'>Of making square to a finite eye</div> - <div class='line'>The circle of infinity,</div> - <div class='line'>And find so all-but-just-succeeding!</div> - <div class='line'>Great news! the sermon proves no reading</div> - <div class='line'>Where bee-like in the flowers I may bury me,</div> - <div class='line'>Like Taylor’s the immortal Jeremy!</div> - <div class='line'>And now that I know the very worst of him,</div> - <div class='line'>What was it I thought to obtain at first of him?</div> - <div class='line'>Ha! Is God mocked, as he asks?</div> - <div class='line'>Shall I take on me to change his tasks,</div> - <div class='line'>And dare, despatched to a river-head</div> - <div class='line'>For a simple draught of the element,</div> - <div class='line'>Neglect the thing for which he sent,</div> - <div class='line'>And return with another thing instead?—</div> - <div class='line'>Saying, “Because the water found</div> - <div class='line'>“Welling up from underground,</div> - <div class='line'>“Is mingled with the taints of earth,</div> - <div class='line'>“While thou, I know, dost laugh at dearth,</div> - <div class='line'>“And couldst, at wink or word, convulse</div> - <div class='line'>“The world with the leap of a river-pulse,—</div> - <div class='line'>“Therefore, I turned from the oozings muddy,</div> - <div class='line'>“And bring thee a chalice I found, instead:</div> - <div class='line'>“See the brave veins in the breccia ruddy!</div> - <div class='line'>“One would suppose that the marble bled.</div> - <div class='line'>“What matters the water? A hope I have nursed</div> - <div class='line'>“The waterless cup will quench my thirst.”</div> - <div class='line'>—Better have knelt at the poorest stream</div> - <div class='line'>That trickles in pain from the straitest rift!</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span>For the less or the more is all God’s gift,</div> - <div class='line'>Who blocks up or breaks wide the granite-seam.</div> - <div class='line'>And here, is there water or not, to drink?</div> - <div class='line'>I then, in ignorance and weakness,</div> - <div class='line'>Taking God’s help, have attained to think</div> - <div class='line'>My heart does best to receive in meekness</div> - <div class='line'>That mode of worship, as most to his mind,</div> - <div class='line'>Where, earthly aids being cast behind,</div> - <div class='line'>His All in All appears serene</div> - <div class='line'>With the thinnest human veil between,</div> - <div class='line'>Letting the mystic lamps, the seven,</div> - <div class='line'>The many motions of his spirit,</div> - <div class='line'>Pass, as they list, to earth from heaven.</div> - <div class='line'>For the preacher’s merit or demerit,</div> - <div class='line'>It were to be wished the flaws were fewer</div> - <div class='line'>In the earthern vessel, holding treasure,</div> - <div class='line'>Which lies as safe in a golden ewer;</div> - <div class='line'>But the main thing is, does it hold good measure?</div> - <div class='line'>Heaven soon sets right all other matters!—</div> - <div class='line'>Ask, else, these ruins of humanity,</div> - <div class='line'>This flesh worn out to rags and tatters,</div> - <div class='line'>This soul at struggle with insanity,</div> - <div class='line'>Who thence take comfort, can I doubt?</div> - <div class='line'>Which an empire gained, were a loss without.</div> - <div class='line'>May it be mine! And let us hope</div> - <div class='line'>That no worse blessing befall the Pope,</div> - <div class='line'>Turn’d sick at last of to-day’s buffoonery,</div> - <div class='line'>Of posturings and petticoatings,</div> - <div class='line'>Beside his Bourbon bully’s gloatings</div> - <div class='line'>In the bloody orgies of drunk poltroonery!</div> - <div class='line'>Nor may the Professor forego its peace</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>At Göttingen presently, when, in the dusk</div> - <div class='line'>Of his life, if his cough, as I fear, should increase</div> - <div class='line'>Prophesied of by that horrible husk—</div> - <div class='line'>When thicker and thicker the darkness fills</div> - <div class='line'>The world through his misty spectacles,</div> - <div class='line'>And he gropes for something more substantial</div> - <div class='line'>Than a fable, myth or personification,—</div> - <div class='line'>May Christ do for him what no mere man shall,</div> - <div class='line'>And stand confessed as the God of salvation!</div> - <div class='line'>Meantime, in the still recurring fear</div> - <div class='line'>Lest myself, at unawares, be found,</div> - <div class='line'>While attacking the choice of my neighbours round,</div> - <div class='line'>With none of my own made—I choose here!</div> - <div class='line'>The giving out of the hymn reclaims me;</div> - <div class='line'>I have done: and if any blames me,</div> - <div class='line'>Thinking that merely to touch in brevity</div> - <div class='line'>The topics I dwell on, were unlawful,—</div> - <div class='line'>Or worse, that I trench, with undue levity,</div> - <div class='line'>On the bounds of the holy and the awful,—</div> - <div class='line'>I praise the heart, and pity the head of him,</div> - <div class='line'>And refer myself to <span class='sc'>Thee</span>, instead of him,</div> - <div class='line'>Who head and heart alike discernest,</div> - <div class='line'>Looking below light speech we utter,</div> - <div class='line'>When frothy spume and frequent sputter</div> - <div class='line'>Prove that the soul’s depths boil in earnest!</div> - <div class='line'>May truth shine out, stand ever before us!</div> - <div class='line'>I put up pencil and join chorus</div> - <div class='line'>To Hepzibah tune, without further apology,</div> - <div class='line'>The last five verses of the third section</div> - <div class='line'>Of the seventeenth hymn of Whitfield’s Collection,</div> - <div class='line'>To conclude with the doxology.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span> - <h3 class='c014'>EASTER-DAY.</h3> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>As Christmas-Eve has suggested the subject of the Christian Faith, -Easter-Day gives occasion to a discussion concerning the Christian Life—the -life of those who are “risen with Christ.” The poem is in substance a -conversation or discussion between two persons, one of whom (a thorough -Christian) finds it very hard, while the other (who takes a much lower and -more common-place view of spiritual things) thinks it quite easy, to be a -Christian. It is not, however, in the form of a conversation. As usual in -Browning’s work, one speaks, stating his own views and quoting the other’s, -which are therefore distinguished from his own (except when he quotes, as -he sometimes does, from himself) by quotation marks. The argument is -too abstruse to be followed out in all its ramifications; but enough of it -can be given to render quite intelligible the extracts from it which we find it -possible to give. The opening sentence will give the theme:—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>I.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>How very hard it is to be</div> - <div class='line'>A Christian! Hard for you and me,</div> - <div class='line'>—Not the mere task of making real</div> - <div class='line'>That duty up to its ideal,</div> - <div class='line'>Effecting thus, complete and whole,</div> - <div class='line'>A purpose of the human soul—</div> - <div class='line'>For that is always hard to do;</div> - <div class='line'>But hard, I mean, for me and you</div> - <div class='line'>To realize it, more or less,</div> - <div class='line'>With even the moderate success</div> - <div class='line'>Which commonly repays our strife</div> - <div class='line'>To carry out the aims of life.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>After some preliminary discussion about faith in its relation to life, the -easy-going friend takes this position:—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span>VI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'> * * * * *</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>“Renounce the world!</div> - <div class='line'>“Were that a mighty hardship? Plan</div> - <div class='line'>“A pleasant life, and straight some man</div> - <div class='line'>“Beside you, with, if he thought fit,</div> - <div class='line'>“Abundant means to compass it,</div> - <div class='line'>“Shall turn deliberate aside</div> - <div class='line'>“To try and live as, if you tried</div> - <div class='line'>“You clearly might, yet most despise.</div> - <div class='line'>“One friend of mine wears out his eyes,</div> - <div class='line'>“Slighting the stupid joys of sense,</div> - <div class='line'>“In patient hope that, ten years hence,</div> - <div class='line'>“‘Somewhat completer,’ he may say,</div> - <div class='line'>“‘My list of <i>coleoptera</i>!’</div> - <div class='line'>“While just the other who most laughs</div> - <div class='line'>“At him, above all epitaphs</div> - <div class='line'>“Aspires to have his tomb describe</div> - <div class='line'>“Himself as sole among the tribe</div> - <div class='line'>“Of snuffbox-fanciers, who possessed</div> - <div class='line'>“A Grignon with the Regent’s crest.</div> - <div class='line'>“So that, subduing, as you want,</div> - <div class='line'>“Whatever stands predominant</div> - <div class='line'>“Among my earthly appetites</div> - <div class='line'>“For tastes and smells and sounds and sights,</div> - <div class='line'>“I shall be doing that alone,</div> - <div class='line'>“To gain a palm-branch and a throne,</div> - <div class='line'>“Which fifty people undertake</div> - <div class='line'>“To do, and gladly, for the sake</div> - <div class='line'>“Of giving a Semitic guess,</div> - <div class='line'>“Or playing pawns at blindfold chess.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>The stanza which follows gives the speaker’s answer, ending with this -striking passage:—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Renounce the world!”—Ah, were it done</div> - <div class='line'>By merely cutting one by one</div> - <div class='line'>Your limbs off, with your wise head last,</div> - <div class='line'>How easy were it!—how soon past,</div> - <div class='line'>If once in the believing mood!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>To which the other replies by reproaching him for ingratitude to God, -who really asks us to give up nothing that is good, but only to observe such -moderation in our pleasures that life is all the more enjoyable, while sorrow -almost disappears, transfigured in the light of love. This answer has such -a ring of the true metal in it, that the speaker begins his rejoinder with the -question, “Do you say this, or I?” and then proceeds (in a passage of -wonderful power) to expose the superficiality of the view he is endeavouring -to support.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>VIII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Do you say this, or I?—Oh, you!</div> - <div class='line'>Then, what, my friend?—(thus I pursue</div> - <div class='line'>Our parley)—you indeed opine</div> - <div class='line'>That the Eternal and Divine</div> - <div class='line'>Did, eighteen centuries ago,</div> - <div class='line'>In very truth.... Enough! you know</div> - <div class='line'>The all-stupendous tale,—that Birth,</div> - <div class='line'>That Life, that Death! And all, the earth</div> - <div class='line'>Shuddered at,—all, the heavens grew black</div> - <div class='line'>Rather than see; all, nature’s rack</div> - <div class='line'>And throe at dissolution’s brink</div> - <div class='line'>Attested,—all took place, you think,</div> - <div class='line'>Only to give our joys a zest,</div> - <div class='line'>And prove our sorrows for the best?</div> - <div class='line'>We differ, then! Were I, still pale</div> - <div class='line'>And heartstruck at the dreadful tale,</div> - <div class='line'>Waiting to hear God’s voice declare</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>What horror followed for my share,</div> - <div class='line'>As implicated in the deed,</div> - <div class='line'>Apart from other sins,—concede</div> - <div class='line'>That if he blacked out in a blot</div> - <div class='line'>My brief life’s pleasantness, ’twere not</div> - <div class='line'>So very disproportionate!</div> - <div class='line'>Or there might be another fate—</div> - <div class='line'>I certainly could understand</div> - <div class='line'>(If fancies were the thing in hand)</div> - <div class='line'>How God might save, at that day’s price,</div> - <div class='line'>The impure in their impurities,</div> - <div class='line'>Give formal licence and complete</div> - <div class='line'>To choose the fair and pick the sweet.</div> - <div class='line'>But there be certain words, broad, plain,</div> - <div class='line'>Uttered again and yet again,</div> - <div class='line'>Hard to mistake or overgloss—</div> - <div class='line'>Announcing this world’s gain for loss,</div> - <div class='line'>And bidding us reject the same:</div> - <div class='line'>The whole world lieth (they proclaim)</div> - <div class='line'>In wickedness,—come out of it!</div> - <div class='line'>Turn a deaf ear, if you think fit,</div> - <div class='line'>But I who thrill through every nerve</div> - <div class='line'>At thought of what deaf ears deserve,—</div> - <div class='line'>How do you counsel in the case?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>The counsel was, to choose by all means the safe side, by giving up everything -as literally as did the martyrs in the early days of persecution; at -which a shudder of doubt comes over him, and he answers (note the very -remarkable illustration of the moles and the grasshoppers):—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>X.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'> * * * * *</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>If after all we should mistake,</div> - <div class='line'>And so renounce life for the sake</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span>Of death and nothing else? You hear</div> - <div class='line'>Our friends we jeered at, send the jeer</div> - <div class='line'>Back to ourselves with good effect—</div> - <div class='line'>“There were my beetles to collect!</div> - <div class='line'>“My box—a trifle, I confess,</div> - <div class='line'>“But here I hold it, ne’ertheless!”</div> - <div class='line'>Poor idiots, (let us pluck up heart</div> - <div class='line'>And answer) we, the better part</div> - <div class='line'>Have chosen, though ’twere only hope,—</div> - <div class='line'>Nor envy moles like you that grope</div> - <div class='line'>Amid your veritable muck,</div> - <div class='line'>More than the grasshoppers would truck,</div> - <div class='line'>For yours, their passionate life away,</div> - <div class='line'>That spends itself in leaps all day</div> - <div class='line'>To reach the sun, you want the eyes</div> - <div class='line'>To see, as they the wings to rise</div> - <div class='line'>And match the noble hearts of them!</div> - <div class='line'>Thus the contemner we contemn,—</div> - <div class='line'>And, when doubt strikes us, thus we ward</div> - <div class='line'>Its stroke off, caught upon our guard,</div> - <div class='line'>—Not struck enough to overturn</div> - <div class='line'>Our faith, but shake it—make us learn</div> - <div class='line'>What I began with, and, I wis,</div> - <div class='line'>End, having proved,—how hard it is</div> - <div class='line'>To be a Christian!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>His friend now reproaches him with the thanklessness of the task he is -undertaking, in trying to so little purpose to disturb the peace of a man -who has no such high-flown views of duty; whereupon he relates to him a -wonderful experience he had on Easter-morn three years before:—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XIV.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in16'>I commence</div> - <div class='line'>By trying to inform you, whence</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>It comes that every Easter-night</div> - <div class='line'>As now, I sit up, watch, till light,</div> - <div class='line'>Upon those chimney-stacks and roofs,</div> - <div class='line'>Give, through my window-pane, grey proofs</div> - <div class='line'>That Easter-day is breaking slow.</div> - <div class='line'>On such a night three years ago,</div> - <div class='line'>It chanced that I had cause to cross</div> - <div class='line'>The common, where the chapel was,</div> - <div class='line'>Our friend spoke of, the other day—</div> - <div class='line'>You’ve not forgotten, I dare say.</div> - <div class='line'>I fell to musing of the time</div> - <div class='line'>So close, the blessed matin-prime</div> - <div class='line'>All hearts leap up at, in some guise—</div> - <div class='line'>One could not well do otherwise.</div> - <div class='line'>Insensibly my thoughts were bent</div> - <div class='line'>Toward the main point; I overwent</div> - <div class='line'>Much the same ground of reasoning</div> - <div class='line'>As you and I just now. One thing</div> - <div class='line'>Remained, however—one that tasked</div> - <div class='line'>My soul to answer; and I asked,</div> - <div class='line'>Fairly and frankly, what might be</div> - <div class='line'>That History, that Faith, to me</div> - <div class='line'>—Me there—not me in some domain</div> - <div class='line'>Built up and peopled by my brain,</div> - <div class='line'>Weighing its merits as one weighs</div> - <div class='line'>Mere theories for blame or praise,</div> - <div class='line'>—The kingcraft of the Lucumons,</div> - <div class='line'>Or Fourier’s scheme, its pros and cons,—</div> - <div class='line'>But my faith there, or none at all.</div> - <div class='line'>“How were my case, now, did I fall</div> - <div class='line'>“Dead here, this minute—should I lie</div> - <div class='line'>“Faithful or faithless?”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>To this solemn question a friendly answer seems to come from Common -Sense, assuring him that all would be right; for, though his ship might not -sail very grandly into the eternal haven, it was enough if, in whatever state -of wreck, it arrived at all; which leads him to utter the deepest wish and -expectation of his heart:—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in10'>Would the ship reach home!</div> - <div class='line'>I wish indeed “God’s kingdom come—”</div> - <div class='line'>The day when I shall see appear</div> - <div class='line'>His bidding, as my duty, clear</div> - <div class='line'>From doubt! And it shall dawn, that day,</div> - <div class='line'>Some future season; Easter may</div> - <div class='line'>Prove, not impossibly, the time—</div> - <div class='line'>Yes, that were striking—fates would chime</div> - <div class='line'>So aptly! Easter-morn, to bring</div> - <div class='line'>The Judgment!—deeper in the spring</div> - <div class='line'>Than now, however, when there’s snow</div> - <div class='line'>Capping the hills; for earth must show</div> - <div class='line'>All signs of meaning to pursue</div> - <div class='line'>Her tasks as she was wont to do</div> - <div class='line'>—The skylark, taken by surprise</div> - <div class='line'>As we ourselves, shall recognise</div> - <div class='line'>Sudden the end. For suddenly</div> - <div class='line'>It comes; the dreadfulness must be</div> - <div class='line'>In that; all warrants the belief—</div> - <div class='line'>“At night it cometh like a thief,”</div> - <div class='line'>I fancy why the trumpet blows;</div> - <div class='line'>—Plainly, to wake one. From repose</div> - <div class='line'>We shall start up, at last awake</div> - <div class='line'>From life, that insane dream we take</div> - <div class='line'>For waking now.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'> * * * * *</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>The next stanza gives the famous description of the fiery aurora, when -even “the south firmament with north-fire did its wings refledge!” (Compare -description of lunar rainbow in “Christmas-Eve.”) He feels sure -that his wish is realized, and the Judgment Day has come!</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'><span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>XV.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'> * * * * *</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in24'>I found</div> - <div class='line'>Suddenly all the midnight round</div> - <div class='line'>One fire. The dome of heaven had stood</div> - <div class='line'>As made up of a multitude</div> - <div class='line'>Of handbreadth cloudlets, one vast rack</div> - <div class='line'>Of ripples infinite and black,</div> - <div class='line'>From sky to sky. Sudden there went,</div> - <div class='line'>Like horror and astonishment,</div> - <div class='line'>A fierce vindictive scribble of red</div> - <div class='line'>Quick flame across, as if one said</div> - <div class='line'>(The angry scribe of Judgment) “There—</div> - <div class='line'>“Burn it!” And straight I was aware</div> - <div class='line'>That the whole ribwork round, minute</div> - <div class='line'>Cloud touching cloud beyond compute,</div> - <div class='line'>Was tinted, each with its own spot</div> - <div class='line'>Of burning at the core, till clot</div> - <div class='line'>Jammed against clot, and spilt its fire</div> - <div class='line'>Over all heaven, which ’gan suspire</div> - <div class='line'>As fanned to measure equable,—</div> - <div class='line'>Just so great conflagrations kill</div> - <div class='line'>Night overhead, and rise and sink,</div> - <div class='line'>Reflected. Now the fire would shrink</div> - <div class='line'>And wither off the blasted face</div> - <div class='line'>Of heaven, and I distinct might trace</div> - <div class='line'>The sharp black ridgy outlines left</div> - <div class='line'>Unburned like network—then, each cleft</div> - <div class='line'>The fire had been sucked back into,</div> - <div class='line'>Regorged, and out it surging flew</div> - <div class='line'>Furiously, and night writhed inflamed,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span>Till, tolerating to be tamed</div> - <div class='line'>No longer, certain rays world-wide</div> - <div class='line'>Shot downwardly. On every side</div> - <div class='line'>Caught past escape, the earth was lit;</div> - <div class='line'>As if a dragon’s nostril split,</div> - <div class='line'>And all his famished ire o’erflowed;</div> - <div class='line'>Then as he winced at his lord’s goad,</div> - <div class='line'>Back he inhaled: whereat I found</div> - <div class='line'>The clouds into vast pillars bound,</div> - <div class='line'>Based on the corners of the earth,</div> - <div class='line'>Propping the skies at top: a dearth</div> - <div class='line'>Of fire i’ the violet intervals,</div> - <div class='line'>Leaving exposed the utmost walls</div> - <div class='line'>Of time, about to tumble in</div> - <div class='line'>And end the world.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XVI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in18'>I felt begin</div> - <div class='line'>The Judgment-Day: to retrocede</div> - <div class='line'>Was too late now. “In very deed,”</div> - <div class='line'>(I uttered to myself) “that Day!”</div> - <div class='line'>The intuition burned away</div> - <div class='line'>All darkness from my spirit too:</div> - <div class='line'>There, stood I, found and fixed, I knew,</div> - <div class='line'>Choosing the world. The choice was made;</div> - <div class='line'>And naked and disguiseless stayed,</div> - <div class='line'>And unevadable, the fact.</div> - <div class='line'>My brain held ne’ertheless compact</div> - <div class='line'>Its senses, nor my heart declined</div> - <div class='line'>Its office; rather, both combined</div> - <div class='line'>To help me in this juncture. I</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span>Lost not a second,—agony</div> - <div class='line'>Gave boldness: since my life had end</div> - <div class='line'>And my choice with it—best defend,</div> - <div class='line'>Applaud both! I resolved to say,</div> - <div class='line'>“So was I framed by thee, such way</div> - <div class='line'>“I put to use thy senses here!</div> - <div class='line'>“It was so beautiful, so near,</div> - <div class='line'>“Thy world,—what could I then but choose</div> - <div class='line'>“My part there? Nor did I refuse</div> - <div class='line'>“To look above the transient boon</div> - <div class='line'>“Of time; but it was hard so soon</div> - <div class='line'>“As in a short life, to give up</div> - <div class='line'>“Such beauty: I could put the cup</div> - <div class='line'>“Undrained of half its fulness, by;</div> - <div class='line'>“But, to renounce it utterly,</div> - <div class='line'>“—That was too hard! Nor did the cry</div> - <div class='line'>“Which bade renounce it, touch my brain</div> - <div class='line'>“Authentically deep and plain</div> - <div class='line'>“Enough to make my lips let go.</div> - <div class='line'>“But thou, who knowest all, dost know</div> - <div class='line'>“Whether I was not, life’s brief while,</div> - <div class='line'>“Endeavouring to reconcile</div> - <div class='line'>“Those lips (too tardily, alas!)</div> - <div class='line'>“To letting the dear remnant pass,</div> - <div class='line'>“One day,—some drops of earthly good</div> - <div class='line'>“Untasted! Is it for this mood,</div> - <div class='line'>“That thou, whose earth delights so well,</div> - <div class='line'>“Hast made its complement a hell?”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XVII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>A final belch of fire like blood,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span>Overbroke all heaven in one flood</div> - <div class='line'>Of doom. Then fire was sky, and sky</div> - <div class='line'>Fire, and both, one brief ecstasy,</div> - <div class='line'>Then ashes. But I heard no noise</div> - <div class='line'>(Whatever was) because a voice</div> - <div class='line'>Beside me spoke thus, “Life is done,</div> - <div class='line'>“Time ends, Eternity’s begun,</div> - <div class='line'>“And thou art judged for evermore.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>As in “Christmas-Eve,” the question rises of a Presence in the awful -scene.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XIX.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'> * * * * *</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in16'>What if, ’twixt skies</div> - <div class='line'>And prostrate earth, he should surprise</div> - <div class='line'>The imaged vapour, head to foot,</div> - <div class='line'>Surveying, motionless and mute,</div> - <div class='line'>Its work, ere, in a whirlwind rapt</div> - <div class='line'>It vanish up again?—So hapt</div> - <div class='line'>My chance. <span class='sc'>He</span> stood there. Like the smoke</div> - <div class='line'>Pillared o’er Sodom, when day broke,—</div> - <div class='line'>I saw him. One magnific pall</div> - <div class='line'>Mantled in massive fold and fall</div> - <div class='line'>His head, and coiled in snaky swathes</div> - <div class='line'>About his feet: night’s black, that bathes</div> - <div class='line'>All else, broke, grizzled with despair,</div> - <div class='line'>Against the soul of blackness there.</div> - <div class='line'>A gesture told the mood within—</div> - <div class='line'>That wrapped right hand which based the chin</div> - <div class='line'>That intense meditation fixed</div> - <div class='line'>On his procedure,—pity mixed</div> - <div class='line'>With the fulfilment of decree.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span>Motionless, thus, he spoke to me,</div> - <div class='line'>Who fell before his feet, a mass,</div> - <div class='line'>No man now.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>Then follows the Sentence, excluding him from the heaven of spirit, and -leaving him to the world of sense, hopeless for ever of anything higher—a -sentence which seemed to him at first to be rather a reward than a punishment, -as he thought of “earth’s resources—vast exhaustless beauty, endless -change of wonder!” Even a fern-leaf a museum in itself!</p> - -<p class='c007'>The answer of the Voice to this shallow thought leads us into the very -loftiest regions of the imagination, suggesting views of the future of the -redeemed which make the soul thrill with eager expectancy—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XXIV.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Then the Voice, “Welcome so to rate</div> - <div class='line'>“The arras-folds that variegate</div> - <div class='line'>“The earth, God’s antechamber, well!</div> - <div class='line'>“The wise, who waited there, could tell</div> - <div class='line'>“By these, what royalties in store</div> - <div class='line'>“Lay one step past the entrance-door.</div> - <div class='line'>“For whom, was reckoned, not too much,</div> - <div class='line'>“This life’s munificence? For such</div> - <div class='line'>“As thou,—a race, whereof scarce one</div> - <div class='line'>“Was able, in a million,</div> - <div class='line'>“To feel that any marvel lay</div> - <div class='line'>“In objects round his feet all day;</div> - <div class='line'>“Scarce one in many millions more,</div> - <div class='line'>“Willing, if able, to explore</div> - <div class='line'>“The secreter, minuter charm!</div> - <div class='line'>“—Brave souls, a fern-leaf could disarm</div> - <div class='line'>“Of power to cope with God’s intent,—</div> - <div class='line'>“Or scared if the south firmament</div> - <div class='line'>“With north-fire did its wings refledge!</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span>“All partial beauty was a pledge</div> - <div class='line'>“Of beauty in its plenitude:</div> - <div class='line'>“But since the pledge sufficed thy mood,</div> - <div class='line'>“Retain it! plenitude be theirs</div> - <div class='line'>“Who looked above!”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>At this answer “sharp despairs shot through” him, at the thought of -what he had missed; but on reflection he finds comfort in the prospect of the -possibilities of Art. Again the inexorable voice is heard, pronouncing loss -unspeakable. Even if he could be a Michelangelo (Buonarroti), it would -be only the initial earthly stage of his development that was possible for -him. (The whole passage is magnificent; but perhaps the exquisitely -wrought-out illustration of the lizard in its narrow rock-chamber will be -most enjoyed.)</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XXVI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'> * * * * *</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“If such his soul’s capacities,</div> - <div class='line'>“Even while he trod the earth,—think, now,</div> - <div class='line'>“What pomp in Buonarroti’s brow,</div> - <div class='line'>“With its new palace-brain where dwells</div> - <div class='line'>“Superb the soul, unvexed by cells</div> - <div class='line'>“That crumbled with the transient clay!</div> - <div class='line'>“What visions will his right hand’s sway</div> - <div class='line'>“Still turn to form, as still they burst</div> - <div class='line'>“Upon him? How will he quench thirst,</div> - <div class='line'>“Titanically infantine,</div> - <div class='line'>“Laid at the breast of the Divine?</div> - <div class='line'>“Does it confound thee,—this first page</div> - <div class='line'>“Emblazoning man’s heritage?—</div> - <div class='line'>“Can this alone absorb thy sight,</div> - <div class='line'>“As pages were not infinite,—</div> - <div class='line'>“Like the omnipotence which tasks</div> - <div class='line'>“Itself, to furnish all that asks</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span>“The soul it means to satiate?</div> - <div class='line'>“What was the world, the starry state</div> - <div class='line'>“Of the broad skies,—what, all displays</div> - <div class='line'>“Of power and beauty intermixed,</div> - <div class='line'>“Which now thy soul is chained betwixt,—</div> - <div class='line'>“What else than needful furniture</div> - <div class='line'>“For life’s first stage? God’s work, be sure,</div> - <div class='line'>“No more spreads wasted, than falls scant!</div> - <div class='line'>“He filled, did not exceed, man’s want</div> - <div class='line'>“Of beauty in this life. But through</div> - <div class='line'>“Life pierce,—and what has earth to do,</div> - <div class='line'>“Its utmost beauty’s appanage,</div> - <div class='line'>“With the requirement of next stage?</div> - <div class='line'>“Did God pronounce earth ‘very good’?</div> - <div class='line'>“Needs must it be, while understood</div> - <div class='line'>“For man’s preparatory state;</div> - <div class='line'>“Nothing to heighten nor abate:</div> - <div class='line'>“Transfer the same completeness here,</div> - <div class='line'>“To serve a new state’s use,—and drear</div> - <div class='line'>“Deficiency gapes every side!</div> - <div class='line'>“The good, tried once, were bad, retried.</div> - <div class='line'>“See the enwrapping rocky niche,</div> - <div class='line'>“Sufficient for the sleep, in which</div> - <div class='line'>“The lizard breathes for ages safe:</div> - <div class='line'>“Split the mould—and as this would chafe</div> - <div class='line'>“The creature’s new world-widened sense,</div> - <div class='line'>“One minute after day dispense</div> - <div class='line'>“The thousand sounds and sights that broke</div> - <div class='line'>“In on him at the chisel’s stroke,—</div> - <div class='line'>“So, in God’s eye, the earth’s first stuff</div> - <div class='line'>“Was, neither more nor less, enough</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span>“To house man’s soul, man’s need fulfil.</div> - <div class='line'>“Man reckoned it immeasurable?</div> - <div class='line'>“So thinks the lizard of his vault!</div> - <div class='line'>“Could God be taken in default,</div> - <div class='line'>“Short of contrivances, by you,—</div> - <div class='line'>“Or reached, ere ready to pursue</div> - <div class='line'>“His progress through eternity?</div> - <div class='line'>“That chambered rock, the lizard’s world,</div> - <div class='line'>“Your easy mallet’s blow has hurled</div> - <div class='line'>“To nothingness for ever; so,</div> - <div class='line'>“Has God abolished at a blow</div> - <div class='line'>“This world, wherein his saints were pent,—</div> - <div class='line'>“Who, though found grateful and content,</div> - <div class='line'>“With the provision there, as thou,</div> - <div class='line'>“Yet knew he would not disallow</div> - <div class='line'>“Their spirit’s hunger, felt as well,—</div> - <div class='line'>“Unsated,—not unsatable,</div> - <div class='line'>“As paradise gives proof. Deride</div> - <div class='line'>“Their choice now, thou who sit’st outside!”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>The poem proceeds in the same lofty strain, till—humbled to the dust at -the thought of the unutterable folly of his choice, especially in view of the -love of God expressed on Calvary, a love which he had slighted in the -happy days gone by—he presents the touching plea of the 31st stanza, the -result of which appears in what follows, spoken of by Professor Kirkman -of Cambridge, as “the splendid consummation of Easter-Day so closely -resembling the well-known crisis in Faust.”</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XXXI.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And I cowered deprecatingly—</div> - <div class='line'>“Thou Love of God! Or let me die,</div> - <div class='line'>“Or grant what shall seem heaven almost!</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span>“Let me not know that all is lost,</div> - <div class='line'>“Though lost it be—leave me not tied</div> - <div class='line'>“To this despair, this corpse-like bride!</div> - <div class='line'>“Let that old life seem mine—no more—</div> - <div class='line'>“With limitation as before,</div> - <div class='line'>“With darkness, hunger, toil, distress:</div> - <div class='line'>“Be all the earth a wilderness!</div> - <div class='line'>“Only let me go on, go on,</div> - <div class='line'>“Still hoping ever and anon</div> - <div class='line'>“To reach one eve the Better Land!”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XXXII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Then did the form expand, expand—</div> - <div class='line'>I knew him through the dread disguise</div> - <div class='line'>As the whole God within his eyes</div> - <div class='line'>Embraced me.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>XXXIII.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in10'>When I lived again,</div> - <div class='line'>The day was breaking,—the grey plain</div> - <div class='line'>I rose from, silvered thick with dew.</div> - <div class='line'>Was this a vision? False or true?</div> - <div class='line'>Since then, three varied years are spent,</div> - <div class='line'>And commonly my mind is bent</div> - <div class='line'>To think it was a dream—be sure</div> - <div class='line'>A mere dream and distemperature—</div> - <div class='line'>The last day’s watching: then the night,—</div> - <div class='line'>The shock of that strange Northern Light</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span>Set my head swimming, bred in me</div> - <div class='line'>A dream. And so I live, you see,</div> - <div class='line'>Go through the world, try, prove, reject,</div> - <div class='line'>Prefer, still struggling to effect</div> - <div class='line'>My warfare; happy that I can</div> - <div class='line'>Be crossed and thwarted as a man,</div> - <div class='line'>Not left in God’s contempt apart,</div> - <div class='line'>With ghastly smooth life, dead at heart,</div> - <div class='line'>Tame in earth’s paddock as her prize.</div> - <div class='line'>Thank God, she still each method tries</div> - <div class='line'>To catch me, who may yet escape,</div> - <div class='line'>She knows, the fiend in angel’s shape!</div> - <div class='line'>Thank God, no paradise stands barred</div> - <div class='line'>To entry, and I find it hard</div> - <div class='line'>To be a Christian, as I said!</div> - <div class='line'>Still every now and then my head</div> - <div class='line'>Raised glad, sinks mournful—all grows drear</div> - <div class='line'>Spite of the sunshine, while I fear</div> - <div class='line'>And think, “How dreadful to be grudged</div> - <div class='line'>“No ease henceforth, as one that’s judged,</div> - <div class='line'>“Condemned to earth for ever, shut</div> - <div class='line'>“From heaven!”</div> - <div class='line in20'>But Easter-Day breaks! But</div> - <div class='line'>Christ rises! Mercy every way</div> - <div class='line'>Is infinite,—and who can say?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/endpiece.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c003'> - <div>AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT.</div> - <div class='c001'><span class='xlarge'>THE CHAUTAUQUA PRESS.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>In order to create a permanent library of useful and standard -books for the homes of our C. L. S. 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Beers</span>, Professor of English Literature</div> - <div>in Yale College.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>This volume contains chapters from Ruskin on “The Poetry of -Architecture,” “The Cottage—English, French, and Italian,” “The -Villa—Italian,” and “St. Mark’s,” from “Stones of Venice.”</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><span class='xlarge'>READINGS FROM MACAULAY.</span></div> - <div class='c001'>With an Introduction by <span class='sc'>Donald G. 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DUPPA [<span class='sc'>Bohn’s Edition</span>].</div> - <div class='c001'>With an Introduction by <span class='sc'>Charles G. Whiting</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>Any graduate or undergraduate of the C. L. S. C. reading the four -volumes of the <span class='sc'>Chautauqua Library Garnet Series</span> will be -entitled to the new Garnet Seal (University Seal) on his diploma.</p> - -<p class='c007'>These volumes are designed as much for the general market as for -members of the C. L. S. 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In those days”</p> - -<p class='c016'>Page 50, double quote inserted after ‘awhile,’ “since, and lost awhile.””</p> - -<p class='c016'>Page 51, single quote changed to double quote before ‘Touch,’ ““Touch him ne’er so”</p> - -<p class='c016'>Page 54, full stop inserted after ‘shone,’ “his presence shone.”</p> - -<p class='c016'>Page 61, full stop inserted after ‘sight,’ “soul was in sight.”</p> - -<p class='c016'>Page 67, double quote inserted after ‘sound,’ “new sense was sound.””</p> - -<p class='c016'>Page 77, full stop inserted after ‘end,’ “uninterruptedly to the end.”</p> - -<p class='c016'>Page 81, single quote changed to double quote before ‘Here,’ ““Here, the creature”</p> - -<p class='c016'>Page 108, quoting regularized in stanza VIII.</p> - -<p class='c016'>Page 122, single quote inserted before ‘My,’ “‘My list of coleoptera!”</p> - -<p class='c016'>Page 133, ‘omipotence’ changed to ‘omnipotence,’ “Like the omnipotence which”</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Pomegranates from an English Garden, by -Robert Browning - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POMEGRANATES FROM AN ENGLISH GARDEN *** - -***** This file should be named 53335-h.htm or 53335-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/3/3/53335/ - -Produced by Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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