Part 19

37. middle: as the cloud seems to be between us and the blue sky, so the snowflakes before they fell occupied a middle position.

ROBERT of LINCOLN

"Robert of Lincoln" is the happiest, merriest poem written by Bryant. It is characteristic of the man that it should deal with a nature topic. In what ways does he secure the merriment?

Analyze each stanza as to structure. Does the punctuation help to indicate the speaker?

Look up the Bobolink in the Bird Guide or some similar book. How much actual information did Bryant have about the bird? Compare the amount of bird-lore given here with that of Shelley's or Wordsworth's "To a Skylark." Which is more poetic? Which interests you more?

THE POET

5. deem: consider. Compare with the use in the "Song of Marion's Men," 1.21.

8. wreak: carry them out in your verse. The word usually has an angry idea associated with it. The suggestion may be here of the frenzy of a poet.

26. unaptly: not suitable to the occasion.

30. Only in a moment of great emotion (rapture) should the poet revise a poem which was penned when his heart was on fire with the idea of the poem.

38. limn: describe vividly.

54. By this test where would you place Bryant himself? Did he do what he here advises? In what poems do you see evidences of such a method? Compare your idea of him with Lowell's estimate in "A Fable for Critics," ll. 35-56.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

In connection with this poem the following stanza from "The Battle-Field" seems very appropriate:

"Truth, crushed to Earth, shill rise again; The eternal years of God are hers; But Error, wounded, writhes with pain, And dies among his worshippers."

The American people certainly felt that Truth was Brushed to Earth with Lincoln's death, but believed that it would triumph.

FRANCIS SCOTT KEY (1780-1843)

Born in Maryland, he graduated from St. John's College, Md., and practiced law in Frederick City, Md. He was district attorney for the District of Columbia during the War of 1812 and while imprisoned by the British on board the ship Minden, Sept. 13, 1814, he witnessed the British attack on Fort McHenry and wrote this national anthem.

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER

30. Why is this mentioned as our motto?

JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE (1795-1820)

The "Culprit Fay" is so much better than American poetry had previously been that one is at first disposed to speak of it enthusiastically. An obvious comparison puts it in true perspective. Drake's life happened nearly to coincide with that of Keats.... Amid the full fervor of European experience Keats produced immortal work; Drake, whose whole life was passed amid the national inexperience of New York, produced only pretty fancies."

--BARRETT WENDELL.

Born in New York, he practiced medicine there. He died of tuberculosis at the age of twenty-five, and left behind him manuscript verses which were later published by his daughter. "The Culprit Fay," from which selections are here given, is generally considered one of the best productions of early American literature.

THE AMERICAN FLAG

6. milky baldric: the white band supposed by the ancients to circle the earth and called the zodiac. He may here mean the Milky Way as part of this band.

46. careering: rushing swiftly.

47. bellied: rounded, filled out by the gale.

56. welkin: sky.

THE CULPRIT FAY

25. ising-stars: particles of mica.

30. minim: smallest. What objection may be made to this word?

37. Ouphe: elf or goblin.

45. behest: command.

78. shandy: resembling a shell or a scale.

94. oozy: muddy.

107. colen-bell: coined by Drake, probably the columbine.

114. nightshade: a flower also called henbane or belladonna. dern: drear.

119. thrids: threads, makes his way through.

160. prong: probably a prawn; used in this sense only in this one passage.

165. quarl: jelly fish.

178. wake-line: showing by a line of foam the course over which he has passed.

193. amain: at full speed.

210. banned: cursed as by a supernatural power.

216. henbane: see note on line 114.

223. fatal: destined to determine his fate.

245. sculler's notch: depression in which the oar rested.

255. wimpled: undulated.

257. athwart: across.

306. glossed: having gloss, or brightness.

329. This is only the first of the exploits of the Culprit Fay. The second quest is described by the monarch as follows

"If the spray-bead gem be won, The stain of thy wing is washed away, But another errand must be done Ere thy crime be lost for aye; Thy flame-wood lamp is quenched and dark, Thou must re-illume its spark. Mount thy steed and spur him high To the heaven's blue canopy; And when thou seest a shooting star, Follow it fast, and follow it far The last feint spark of its burning train Shall light the elfin lamp again."

FITZ-GREENE HALLECK (1790-1867)

"The poems of Halleck are written with great care and finish, and manifest the possession of a fine sense of harmony and of genial and elevated sentiments."

--ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA.

Born in Guilford, Conn., he was the closest friend of Drake, at whose death he wrote his best poem, which is given in this collection. "Marco Bozzaris" aroused great enthusiasm, which has now waned in favor of his simple lines, "On the Death of Joseph Rodman Drake."

MARCO BOZZAARIS

Marco Bozzaris (c. 1790-1823) was a prominent leader in the struggle for Greek liberty and won many victories from the Turks. During the night of August 20, 1823, the Greeks won a complete victory which was saddened by the loss of Bozzaris, who fell while leading his men to the final attack.

13. Suliote: a tribe of Turkish subjects of mixed Greek and Albanian blood, who steadily opposed Turkish rule and won for themselves a reputation for bravery. They fought for Grecian independence under Marco Bozzaris.

16-22. These lines refer to the military history of Greece. See Encyclopedia Britannica--article on Greece (Persian Wars subtitle) for account of the Persian invasion and battle of Plataea.

79. What land did Columbus see first? Where did he from? Why then is he called a Genoese?

107. pilgrim-circled: visited by pilgrims as are shrines.

JOHN HOWARD PAYNE (1791--1802)

Born in New York, he graduated from Union College and later went on the stage. He was appointed U.S. Consul to Tunis, where he died. He is now best remembered by "home Sweet Home" from one of his operas.

EDGAR ALLAN POE (1809-1849)

"Small as the quantity of his true verse is, it more sustains his peculiar genius in American eyes than does his prose; and this is because it is so unique. He stands absolutely alone as a poet, with none like him." --GEORGE E. WOODBURY

Born in Boston, he spent most of his literary years in New York. His parents, both actors, died when he was still a little child, and he was adopted by Mr. Allan, who educated him in Europe. He served as literary editor and hack writer for several journals and finally died in poverty.

TO HELEN

"To Helen" is said to have been written in 1823, when Poe was only fourteen years old. It refers to Mrs. Jane Stith Stanard, the mother of one of his school friends, whose death was a terrible blow to the sensitive lad. This loss was the cause of numerous poems of sorrow for death and permanently influenced his work.

2. Nicean: Nicaea, the modern Iznik in Turkey, was anciently a Greek province.

2. Nicean barks: the Greek ships that bore the wanderer, Ulysses, from Phaeacia to his home. Read "The Wanderings of Ulysses" in Gayley's Classic Myths, Chapter XXVII.

7. hyacinth: like Hyacinthus, the fabled favorite of Apollo; hence lovely, beautiful.

8. Naiad: a nymph presiding over fountains, lakes, brooks, and wells.

14. Psyche, a beautiful maiden beloved of Cupid, whose adventure with the lamp is told in all classical mythologies.

ISRAFEL

Israfel, according to the Koran, is the angel with the sweetest voice among God's creatures. He will blow the trump on the day of resurrection.

2. The idea that Israfel's lute was more than human is taken from Moore's "Lalla Rookh," although these very words do not occur there. The reference will be found in the last hundred lines of the poem.

12. levin: lightning.

26. Houri: one of the beautiful girls who, according to the Moslem faith, are to be companions of the faithful in paradise.

LENORE

13. Peccavimus: we have sinned.

20. Avaunt: Begone! Away!

26. Paean: song of joy or triumph.

THE COLISEUM

10. Eld: antiquity.

14. See Matthew 26: 36-56.

16. The Chaldxans were the world's greatest astrologers.

26-29. Poe here uses technical architectural terms with success.

plinth: the block upon which a column or a statue rests.

shafts: the main part of a column between the base and the capital.

entablatures: the part of a building borne by the columns.

frieze: an ornamented horizontal band in the entablature.

cornices: the horizontal molded top of the entablatures.

32. corrosive: worn away by degrees; used figuratively of time.

36. At Thebes there is a statue which is supposed to be Memnon, the mythical king of Ethiopia, and which at daybreak was said to emit the music of the lyre.

EULALIE.--A SONG

19. Astarte: the Phoenician goddess of love.

THE RAVEN

41. Pallas: Greek goddess of wisdom.

46-47. Night's Plutonian shore: Pluto ruled over the powers of the lower world and over the dead. Darkness and gloom are constantly associated with him; the cypress tree was sacred to him and black victims were sacrificed to him. Why does the coming of the raven suggest this realm to the poet?

50. relevancy: appropriateness.

80. Seraphim: one of the highest orders of angels

82. respite and nepenthe: period of peace and forgetting.

89. balm in Gilead. See Jeremiah 8: 22; 46: 11 and Genesis 37: 25.

93. Aideen, fanciful spelling of Eden.

106. This line has been often criticized on the ground that a lamp could not cause any shadow on the floor if the bird sat above the door. Poe answered this charge by saying: "My conception was that of the bracket candelabrum affixed against the wall, high up above the door and bust, as is often seen in English palaces, and even in some of the better houses of New York."

What effect does this poem have upon you? Work out the rhyme scheme in the first and second stanzas. Are they alike? Does this rhyme scheme help to produce the effect of the poem? Have you noticed a similar use of "more" in any other poem? Point out striking examples of repetition, of alliteration. Are there many figures of speech here?

TO HELEN

This Helen is Mrs. Whitman.

15. parterre: a flower garden whose beds are arranged in a pattern and separated by walks.

48. Dian: Roman goddess representing the moon.

60. elysian: supremely happy.

65. scintillant: sending forth flashes of light.

66. Venuses: morning stars.

THE BELLS

"The Bells" originally consisted of eighteen lines, and was gradually enlarged to its present form.

10. Runic: secret, mysterious.

11. Why does Poe use this peculiar word? Compare its use with that of "euphony," 1. 26, "jangling," 1. 62, "moLotone" 1. 8'3.

26. euphony: the quality of having a pleasant sound.

72. monody: a musical composition in which some one voice-part predominates.

88. Ghouls: imaginary evil beings of the East who rob graves.

ELDORADO

6. Eldorado: any region where wealth may be obtained is abundance; hence, figuratively, the source of any abundance, as here.

21. "Valley of the Shadow" suggests death and is a fitting close to Poe's poetic work.

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW (1807-1882)

"His verse blooms like a flower, night and day; Bees cluster round his rhymes; and twitterings Of lark and swallow, in an endless May, Are mingling with the tender songs he sings. Nor shall he cease to sing--in every lay Of Nature's voice he sings--and will alway."

--JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY.

Born in Portland, Maine, he graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825 and went abroad to prepare himself to teach the modern languages. He taught until 1854, when he became a professional author. During the remaining years of his fife he lived quietly at Craigie House in Cambridge and there he died.

The poems by Longfellow are used by permission of, and by special arrangement with, Houghton Mifflin Company, authorized publishers of his works.

HYMN To THE NIGHT

"Night, thrice welcome." "Night, undesired by Troy, but to the Greeks Thrice welcome for its interposing gloom."

-COWPER, TRANS. OF ILIAD VIII, 488.

21. Orestes-like. Orestes, the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, avenged the death of his father by killing his mother. The Furies chased him for many years through the world until at last he found pardon and peace. The story is told in several Greek plays, but perhaps best in AEschylus' "Libation Pourers" and "Furies"

A PSALM of LIFE

"I kept it," he said, "some time in manuscript, unwilling to show it to any one, it being a voice from my inmost heart."

7. "Dust thou art": quoted from Genesis 3:19, "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

10. Pope in Epistle IV of his "Essay on Man" says: "0 happiness! our being's end and aim." How does Longfellow differ with him?

THE SKELETON IN ARMOR

The Skeleton in Armor. "The following Ballad was suggested to me while riding on the seashore at Newport. A year or two previous a skeleton had been dug up at Fall River, clad in broken and corroded armor; and the idea occurred to me of connecting it with the Round Tower at Newport, generally known hitherto as the Old Windmill, though now claimed by the Danes as a work of their early ancestors."

19. Skald: a Scandinavian minstrel who composed and sang or recited verses in celebration of famous deeds, heroes, and events.

"And there, in many a stormy vale, The Scald had told his wondrous tale."

--SCOTT, Lay of the Last Minstrel, can. 6, St. 22.

20. Saga: myth or heroic story.

28. ger-falcon: large falcon, much used in northern Europe in falconry.

38. were-wolf: a person who had taken the form of a wolf and had become a cannibal. The superstition was that those who had voluntarily become wolves could become men again at will.

42. corsair: pirate. Originally "corsair" was applied to privateers off the Barbary Coast who preyed upon Christian shipping under the authority of their governments.

49. "wassail-bout": festivity at which healths are drunk.

53. Berserk. Berserker was a legendary Scandinavian hero who never wore a shirt of mail. In general, a warrior who could assume the form and ferocity of wild beasts, and whom fire and iron could not harm.

94. Sea-mew: a kind of European gull.

110. Skaw: a cape on the coast of Denmark.

159. Skoal!: Hail! a toast or friendly greeting used by the Norse especially in poetry.

THE WRECK of THE HESPERUS

On Dec. 17, 1839, Longfellow wrote in his journal: "News of shipwrecks horrible, on the coast. Forty bodies washed ashore near Gloucester, one lashed to a piece of the wreck. There is a reef called Norman's Woe, where many of these took place; among others the schooner Hesperus."

On Dec. 30 he added: "Sat till one o'clock by the fire, smoking, when suddenly it came into my head to write the Ballad of the schooner Hesperus, which I accordingly did. Then went o bed, but could not sleep. New thoughts were running in my mind, and I got up to add them to the ballad. It was three by the clock."... "I feel pleased with the ballad. it hardly cost mean effort. It did not come into my mind by lines but by stanzas."

In a letter to Mr. Charles Lanman on Nov. 24, 1871, Mr. Longfellow said: "I had quite forgotten about its first publication; but I find a letter from Park Benjamin, dated Jan. 7, 1840, beginning...as follows:--

"'Your ballad, The Wreck of the Hesperus, is grand. Enclosed are twenty- five dollars (the sum you mentioned) for it, paid by the proprietors of The New World, in which glorious paper it will resplendently coruscate on Saturday next.'"

11. flaw: a sudden puff of wind.

14. Spanish Main: a term applied to that portion of the Caribbean Sea near the northeast coast of South America, including the route followed by Spanish merchant ships traveling between Europe and America.

37-48. This little dialogue reminds us of the "Erlkonig," a ballad by Goethe.

66. See Luke 8: 22-25.

60. Norman's Woe: a reef in", W. Glouster harbor, Mass.

70. carded wool. The process of carding wool, cotton, flax, etc. removes by a wire-toothed brush foreign matter and dirt, and leaves it combed out and cleansed.

THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH

7. Crisp, and black, and long. Mr. Longfellow says that before this poem was published, he read it to his barber. The man objected that crisp black hair was never long, and as a result the author delayed publication until be was convinced in his own mind that no other adjectives would give a truer picture of the blacksmith as he saw him.

39-42. Mr. Longfellow's friends agree that these lines depict his own industry and temperament better than any others can.

IT IS NOT ALWAYS MAY

No hay pajaros en los nidos de antano. Translated in lines 12 and 24.

8. freighted: heavily laden.

EXCELSIOR

Mr. Longfellow explained fully the allegory of this poem in a letter to Mr. Henry T. Tuckerman. He said: "This (his intention) was no more than to display, in a series of pictures, the life of a man of genius, resisting all temptations, laying aside all fears, heedless of all warnings, and pressing right on to accomplish his purpose. His motto is Excelsior, 'higher.' He passes through the Alpine village,--through the rough, cold paths of the world--where the peasants cannot understand him, and where his watchword is 'an unknown tongue.' He disregards the happiness of domestic peace, and sees the glaciers--his fate--before him. He disregards the warnings of the old man's wisdom.... He answers to all, 'Higher yet'! The monks of St. Bernard are the representatives of religious forms and ceremonies, and with their oft-repeated prayer mingles the sound of his voice, telling them there is something higher than forms and ceremonies. Filled with these aspirations he perishes without having reached the perfection he longed for; and the voice heard in the air is the promise of immortality and progress ever upward."

Compare with this Tennyson's "Merlin and The Gleam," in which he tells his own experience.

7. falchion: a sword with a broad and slightly curved blade, used in the Middle Ages; hence, poetically, any type of sword.

THE DAY IS DOUR

26. In this stanza and the two following Longfellow describes what his poems have come to mean to us and the place they hold in American life. Compare with Whittier's "Dedication" to "Songs of Labor," Il. 26-36.

WALTER VON DER VOGELWEIDE

Walter von der Vogelweide: the most celebrated of medieval German lyric poets, who lived about the year 1200. He belonged to the lower order of "nobility of service." He livedin Tyrol, then the home of famous minnesingers from whom he learned his art.

4. Walter von der Vogelweide is buried in the cloisters adjoining the Neumunster church in Wurtzburg, which dates from the eleventh century.

10. The debt of the poet to the birds has been dwelt upon in many poems, the best known of which are Shelley's "Skylark" and Wordsworth's "To the Cuckoo."

27. War of Wartburg. In 1207 there occurred in this German castle, the Wartburg, a contest of the minstrels of the time. Wagner has immortalized this contest in "Tannhauser," in which he describes the victory of Walter von der Vogelweide over all the other singers.

42. Gothic spire. See note on "The Builders" 11. 17-19.

THE BUILDERS

17-19. The perfection of detail in the structure and sculpture of Gothic cathedrals may be seen in the cathedrals of Chartres and Amiens. Numerous beautiful illustrations may be found in Marriage, "The Sculptures of Chartres Cathedral," and in Ruskin, "The Bible of Amiens."

SANTA FILOMENA

Santa Filomena stands for Miss Florence Nightingale, who did remarkable work among the soldiers wounded in the Crimean War (1854-56). This poem was published in 1857 while the story of her aid was fresh in the minds of the world.

42. The palm, the lily, and the spear: St. Filomena is represented in many Catholic churches and usually with these three emblems to signify her victory, purity, and martyrdom. Sometimes an anchor replaces the palm.

THE DISCOVERER OF THE NORTH CAPE

King Alfred's Orosius. Orosius, a Spaniard of the fifth century A.D., wrote at the request of the church a history of the world down to 414 A.D. King Alfred (849-901) translated this work and added at least one important story, that of the voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan. The part of the story used by Longfellow may be found in Cook and Tinkers's Translations from Old English Prose, in Bosworth's, and in Sweet's editions.

2. Helgoland: an island in the North Sea, belonging to Prussia.

42. Hebrides: islands west of Scotland.

90. a nameless sea. They sailed along the coast of Lapland and into the White Sea.

96-100. Alfred reports simply, "He says he was one of a party of six who killed sixty of these in two days."

116. The original says: "He made this voyage, in addition to his purpose of seeing the country, chiefly for walruses, for they have very good bone in their teeth--they brought some of these teeth to the king--and their hides are very good for ship-ropes."

SANDALPHON

Sandalphon: one of the oldest angel figures in the Jewish system. In the second century a Jewish writing described him as follows: "He is an angel who stands on the earth;.. he is taller than his fellows by the length of a journey of 500 years; he binds crowns for his Creator." These crowns are symbols of praise, and with them he brings before the Deity the prayers of men. See the Jewish Encyclopaedia for further particulars.

1. Talmud: the work which embodies the Jewish law of church and state. It consists of texts, and many commentaries and illustrations.

12. Refers to Genesis 28: 10-21.

39. Rabbinical: pertaining to Jewish rabbis or teachers of law.

44. welkin: poetical term for the sky.

48. nebulous: indistinct.

THE LANDLORD'S TALE

The "Tales of a Wayside Inn" were series of stories told on three separate days by the travelers at the Inn at Sudbury, Mass. It is the same device used by writers since the days of Chaucer, but cleverly handled furnishes an interesting setting for a variety of tales. Some of Longfellow's best-known narratives are in these series, among them the following selections.

The story is self-explanatory. It is probably the best example of the simple poetic narrative of an historic event.

107-110. The reference is to one of the seven men who were killed at Lexington--possibly to Jonathan Harrington, Jr., who dragged himself to his own door-step before he died. Many books tell the story, but the following are the most interesting; Gettemy, Chas. F. True "Story of Paul Revere:" Colburn, F., The Battle of April 19, 1775.

THE SICILIAN'S TALE

This story of King Robert of Sicily is very old, as it is found among the short stories of the Gesta Romanorum written in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

17. seditious: tending towards disorder and treason.

52. besprent: poetic for besprinkled.

66. seneschal: the official in the household of a prince of high noble who had the supervision of feasts and ceremonies.

106. Saturnian: the fabled reign of the god Saturn was the golden age of the world, characterized by simplicity, virtue, and happiness.