Part 14 (1/2)

CHAPTER X

THE TRUEST POETRY

While Lowell was becoming famous indirectly as the anonymous author of the ”Biglow Papers” and ”A Fable for Critics,” he was writing and publis.h.i.+ng over his own name sweet, simple lines that came straight from his heart and which will no doubt be remembered when the uncouth Yankee dialect of Hosea Biglow and the hard rhymes of the ”Fable” are forgotten. The simpler a true poet is the more beautiful and really poetic he is likely to be. The simplest thing Lowell ever wrote was ”The First Snow-Fall,” composed in 1847 after the death of his little daughter Blanche, with the sorrow for whose loss was mingled the joy at the coming of another child.

THE FIRST SNOW-FALL.

The snow had begun in the gloaming, And busily all the night Had been heaping field and highway With a silence deep and white.

I stood and watched by the window The noiseless work of the sky, And the sudden flurries of snow-birds, Like brown leaves whirling by.

I thought of a mound in sweet Auburn Where a little headstone stood; How the flakes were folding it gently, As did robins the babes in the wood.

Up spoke our own little Mabel, Saying, ”Father, who makes it snow?”

And I told of the good All-father Who cares for us here below.

Again I looked at the snow-fall, And thought of the leaden sky That arched o'er our first great sorrow, When that mound was heaped so high.

I remembered the gradual patience That fell from that cloud like snow, Flake by flake, healing and hiding The scar that renewed our woe.

And again to the child I whispered, ”The snow that husheth all, Darling, the merciful Father Alone can make it fall!”

Then with eyes that saw not, I kissed her; And she, kissing back, could not know That my kiss was given to her sister, Folded close under deepening snow.

Lowell's greatest poem, ”The Vision of Sir Launfal,” was written in the same simple, beautiful spirit of ”The First Snow-Fall,” and that is why we all like to read it over and over again. ”Sir Launfal” was a favorite with Mrs. Lowell from the beginning. She probably knew better that it was a great poem than the poet himself did.

The ”Prelude” to the first part is beautiful because it contains so much that cannot but touch the heart of every one, however he may dislike poetry. A great poem like this cannot be read hastily, nor must we stop with reading it once. Great poetry must be read so many times that it is committed entirely to memory before we begin to reach the end of the beauties in it. Each time we reread we see new beauties, we feel new thrills.

Over his keys the musing organist, Beginning doubtfully and far away, First lets his fingers wander as they list, And builds a bridge from Dreamland for his lay; Then, as the touch of his loved instrument Gives hope and fervor, nearer draws his theme, First guessed by faint auroral flashes sent Along the wavering vista of his dream.

The first time you read this pa.s.sage it may mean little to you; but as you read again and again you gradually picture in your mind a grand cathedral, just filling with people for the morning wors.h.i.+p. The organist begins with a few light notes, fanciful, merely suggestive; then louder and louder swells the strain; the music begins to bring up before your mind pictures of waterfalls, cities, men and women with pa.s.sionate hearts; at last, in the grand flood of the music, you forget yourself, the world around you, the church, the thronging congregation, everything.

After this pretty and suggestive prelude, describing the musician, we read such pa.s.sages as this, which suggest the theme as by a ”faint auroral flash”:

And what is so rare as a day in June?

Then, if ever, come perfect days; Then Heaven tries earth if it be in tune, And over it softly her warm ear lays.

A little farther along the music seems to broaden and deepen:

Now is the high-tide of the year, And whatever of life hath ebbed away Comes flooding back with a ripply cheer, Into every bare inlet and creek and bay; Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it, We are happy now because G.o.d wills it.

You must read the rest of the poem for yourself, ever remembering that to read poetry so that you understand it and love it means that you yourself are a poet at heart; and if you come to love a great poem you may be proud of your achievement.

CHAPTER XI

PROFESSOR, EDITOR, AND DIPLOMAT

There was a touching and very warm affection between Longfellow and Lowell. Mrs. Lowell says of it, ”I have never seen such a beautiful friends.h.i.+p between men of such distinct personalities, though closely linked together by mutual tastes and affections. They criticise and praise each other's performances with frankness not to be surpa.s.sed, and seem to have attained that happy height of faith where no misunderstanding, no jealousy, no reserve exists.” Often in his diary Longfellow speaks of ”walking to see Lowell,” who was either ”musing before his fire in his study,” or occupied in his ”celestial study, with its pleasant prospect through the small square windows.”