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by their sweet voices, enticed ashore those who were sailing by, and then killed them.

164 26. Triton, a fabled sea god, the son and trumpeter of Neptune, the chief god of the sea.

165. The Living Temple. It has been said that the practice of medicine has a tendency to make callous the feelings, and to blunt the imagination. Holmes, however, treats the human body reverently, as the mystic temple of the spirit.

167. Nearing the Snow-line. Holmes rarely handled the sonnet with skill, but in this one he shows unity of conception, a sustained flow of melodious verse, and undoubted nobility of feeling.

167. The Boys. This poem was read at a reunion of the Harvard class of 1829, on its thirtieth anniversary. It is a good example of Holmes's occasional verse, jocular at the beginning, but ending in seriousness and tender

ness.

Most of the men referred to were men of note at the time of this celebration, but the only name familiar to-day, outside of legal and academic circles, is that of the author of America -"Fate tried to conceal him by naming him Smith."

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

171. What is so rare as a day in June? (from The Vision of Sir Launfal). Lowell, as a poet of nature, is, perhaps, more spontaneous in these lines than in any he wrote. They are taken from the prelude of The Vision of Sir Launfal, a poem in which a young knight goes forth to seek for the Holy Grail, the cup which, according to tradition, our Lord drank from at the Last Supper. The blossoming June time typifies the young knight in the first flush of his powers.

173. The Courtin'. This back-kitchen pastoral of New England farm life was inserted in The Biglow Papers as a sort of prelude, and is in the same up-country Yankee dialect. Its charm lies in its simplicity and humor, and in its fidelity to local color and to human nature.

175 6. the sekle, the sequel, the outcome.

176 13. they was cried. The betrothal was announced in church.

176. A Vision of Peace (from The Biglow Papers). These stanzas were written near the close of the Civil War. The words are spoken by Hosea Biglow, a New England countryman, into whose mouth Lowell puts most of the words of The Biglow Papers. Lowell says, in the preface, that this upcountry Yankee was "capable of district-school English," but that, when deeply stirred, he was apt to lapse into his native dialect.

In the stanzas given here, Hosea Biglow, abiding quietly at home, pre

sumably too old to see active service, laments the loss in the war of "three likely lads" whom he once trundled on his knee, and wishes for that victorious peace which shall mean "a nation saved." Perhaps it is not too much to say that he speaks Lowell's own feelings, for three of the latter's young kinsmen fell in the war.

178. Lincoln (from an Ode recited at the Harvard Commemoration, July 21, 1865). When Lowell wrote this ode, from which is taken the stanza on Lincoln given here, his heart was still tender for the loss of those near him, and for the sorrows of many of his friends and acquaintances. The Ode is obscure in places, and seems lacking in passion; but in sustained nobility of thought and feeling it shows Lowell at his best, and seems to be gaining in favor as time passes. It is doubtful, too, if the character of Lincoln has ever been more truthfully portrayed. The wonder is that this portrayal is so entirely free from the blurs that partisan feeling was prone to give to any picture painted in 1865. Lowell shows himself the true poet when he draws a portrait which all time is likely to accept.

180. Virginia (from Under the Old Elm). When Washington took command of the American army at Cambridge, in 1775, a few days after the battle of Bunker Hill, he stood under an elm, near Cambridge Common, which is still well preserved. A stone at its base bears an inscription which tells of the event. In 1875, one hundred years after Washington had stood there, a celebration was held by the citizens of Cambridge, and Lowell read the poem from which these lines on Virginia are taken. Lowell pictures to the imagination the rude and disorganized army then gathered at Cambridge. He shows how Washington, in stature as well as in moral and intellectual qualities, towered above the other leaders gathered there, and how he infused his own spirit into the discordant elements, and made of them an effective American army. Then he praises the character of Washington in measured but exalted phrases, describing him as a

High-poised example of great duties done.

Finally, he breaks forth in words of generous praise for Virginia, who "gave us this imperial man." He takes occasion to make full and final reparation for anything harsh that he may have said against the South in The Biglow Papers, when partisan feeling ran strong, and makes an irresistible plea for the mutual good feeling that existed in "the dear old unestranged days." It is an interesting fact that Lowell and Whittier, the stoutest opponents of slavery among the New England men of letters, were the most magnanimous in their attitude toward the South after the war was fought and won. 181. To the Dandelion. In felicity of phrase and in melody of verse, lines show Lowell at his best as a poet of nature. His verse is often lacking

these

in smoothness, and many of his rhymes are not above reproach; but here he shows unusual perfection of form, united with an attractive play of the fancy. 182 1. Eldorado. This is a Spanish word meaning "the golden region"; a country fabled to be very rich in precious metals.

182 18. The golden cuirassed bee. The cuirass is a breastplate of metal. The reference here is, of course, to the yellow breast of the bee.

182 21. Sybaris was an ancient town of Italy, noted for its luxury.

183. Hebe. Hebe was, in ancient mythology, the cupbearer of the gods. In this poem she is thought of as one who distributes the prizes of life. Lowell's love of moralizing appears often in his verse, but rarely with such graceful effect as in these lines.

184. She Came and Went. Few poems of personal lament are so simple and sincere as this.

185. Auf Wiedersehen.

is hard to put into words.

There is an elusive charm about these stanzas that Auf Wiedersehen is a German phrase equivalent to the French au revoir. There is no exact English equivalent. It means good-by, with the hope of meeting again.

II

Additional Poets

WALT WHITMAN

186. O Captain! My Captain! Even Whitman's severest critics are willing to give hearty praise to this poem, which sets forth simply, fitly, and nobly the poet's intense personal loyalty to Lincoln, and his deep and sincere lament for the death of his great captain. The poem shows, too, that Whitman was a master of poetic form whenever he cared to be. Many of his admirers wish that he had put into proper metrical garb those bursts of noble feeling and those flights of the imagination which he chose to clothe in ragged language and formless meter.

187. As Toilsome I wander'd Virginia's Woods. Tender human feeling and a spirit of comradeship are two of Whitman's most admirable traits.

188. When Lilacs last in the Door-yard Bloom'd. This is Lincoln's burial hymn. It lacks the finish, directness, and exalted emotion of O Captain! My Captain! but it has an idyllic charm of its own. In a vague way, Whitman likens the elemental simplicity of Lincoln to the everlasting simplicity of nature. Mr. Stedman regards this hymn and Lowell's Commemoration Ode as the two noblest elegies growing out of the events of the Civil War. 189 II. blows, blossoms.

HENRY PETERSON

193. From an Ode for Decoration Day. Such a poem as this marks the slow but sure growth of the spirit of reconciliation between the North and the South which sprang up after the Civil War. Its patriotic and generous spirit cappeals to all minds, -a spirit which says: —

A brave man's hatred pauses at the tomb.

193 4. By Yorktown's field and Montezuma's clime. The Revolution and the Mexican War are referred to.

WILLIAM WETMORE STORY

194. Io Victis. The commonplace thought, that those who are seemingly defeated in any given struggle are sometimes the real moral victors, has rarely been more impressively expressed than in this poem.

195. 16. The martyrs, the early Christian martyrs in Rome. Nero, a base and cruel Roman emperor, who condemned many Christian martyrs to death during his reign. The Spartans, a brave band of Greeks, led by Leonidas, who withstood the Persians under Xerxes at Thermopyla.

195 17. Socrates, an Athenian philosopher, condemned to death for teaching what was considered false doctrine. Pilate. Pontius Pilate, a Roman governor in Judea, under whom Christ was crucified.

JULIA WARD HOWE

196. Battle-Hymn of the Republic. These verses, written in 1861, were inspired by the sight of soldiers marching through Washington to the front. They have a moral and patriotic elevation of feeling, expressed with poetic grace and imagination, which places them far above most of the poetry of the period; and it seems likely that their popularity will endure.

THOMAS WILLIAM PARSONS

197. On a Bust of Dante. Mr. Stedman says that this poem, "in structure, diction, loftiness of thought, is the peer of any modern lyric in our tongue." This praise may be too high, but the poem has admirable compactness, directness, and elevation of thought.

Dr. Parsons belonged to an enthusiastic band of Dante scholars in America, eminent among whom should be mentioned Longfellow, Lowell, and Professor Charles Eliot Norton.

Dante (1265-1331) was an Italian poet and soldier. He was the greatest of Italian poets, and his poetry takes rank with the great poetry of the

world. His best-known work is the Divine Comedy, a vision of purgatory and paradise. In this vision he sees the good and the bad who have gone before him.

Dante's spirit was embittered in his later years by political turmoil and exile.

197 1. this counterfeit. This bust of marble.

197 2. Arno, a river in Italy, on which Florence is situated.

197 4. Tuscan. Dante was born at Florence, in the district of Tuscany, which was long preeminent in letters and art. It is famous to-day for its art treasures.

197 11. Beatrice, the heroine of Dante's Divine Comedy. She represents his lofty conception of womanhood.

197 12. Anchorite. Dante was not a monk, but his thin, stern, ascetic face gave him the appearance of a half-famished religious recluse who cared only for things of the spirit.

197 13. Ghibelline's. The Ghibellines were, in Dante's day, a political party in Italy who took the side of the emperors in their struggles against the popes. Their opponents were the Guelfs, who sided with the popes in their attempts to increase the temporal power of the Church. Dante was a Ghibelline. This was also the popular party.

197 17. Cuma's cavern. Cuma was an early fortified town in Campania, Italy. The remains of subterranean passages and caverns may be seen there to-day.

198 8. Corvo's hushed monastic shade.

Dante may have sought refuge and rest at Corvo for a time during his exile. Sighs for peace and rest occur frequently in his poems.

1989. the Benedictine. In the Middle Ages, one of the most prominent of the monkish orders was the Benedictine, founded by St. Benedict.

198 20. Dread scourge of many a guilty line. In his vision Dante places in hell and purgatory not only those who deserved ill of God in their lifetime, but also many of his own political enemies.

198 25. He used Rome's harlot for his mirth. He laughed to scorn the debaucheries of Rome.

198: 32. Latium's other Virgil. Latium stands here for Rome or Italy. The line means that Dante occupied the literary position in the Italy of his day that Virgil occupied in the old days of Rome.

THEODORE O'HARA

199. The Bivouac of the Dead was written to commemorate the Kentuckians who fell at the battle of Buena Vista in the Mexican War. It falls short of the best poetry by reason of its somewhat hackneyed phrase

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