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Article EEVIEWS OF HEW BOOKS. ← Page 3 of 8 →
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Eeviews Of Hew Books.
The Song of Hiawatha . By Henry Wadsworth Lokg-fellow , London : Bogue . —The appearance of this new poem from the pen which has won a world-wide reputation , and belongs , par eminence ^ to the poet of the age , was certain to be hailed with excitement and enthusiasm . Strange to say , however , when the question , What do
you think of " Hiawatha ? " is asked , the response is by no means unfrequently , "I began , but did not go through it , " This speaks volumes . That Longfellow can write anything bad is impossible ; but it is equally certain he can produce a poem very inferior to his other works , and so unworthy the renown of some of them , that his admirers will perhaps regret it was ever given to . the world .
The name is an inauspicious one ; — Americo-Indian legends , accompanied by the sometimes sweet , sometimes antipoetical sobriquets attached to the characters , have had their day ; and there would be , from more than one cause , a degree of latent prejudice to the subject in many minds , and this the poem is too mediocre ( speaking relatively ) to remove upon perusal . Yet all
traditions must be interesting where w e can trace the connection . with the mythological , as well as revealed history of the old world ; and this is clearly visible in the present volume . But Longfellow is here sometimes tame and occasionally wordy ; a fault we never would have predicted of an author whose lines have been hitherto so many pregnant harmonies , instinct with thought and power , as well as beauty .
With the legends themselves we will not meddle , merely observing , the " Song of Hiawatha" has a melancholy ending , the pathos and gracefulness of which impress the reader forcibly . The Indian David can destroy the mighty Philistine of Fever , but fails to snatch his beautiful " Minnehaha" ( Anglice , " Laughing Water" ) from the not less terrible gripe of Famine . We extract this passage at length , premising only that Hiawatha is supposed to be rushing frantically through the thick woods , in the desperate hope of finding the food for want of which his wife is expiring : —
All day long roved Hiawatha In that melancholy forest , Through the shadow of whose thickets , In the pleasant days of Summer , Of that ne ' er forgotten Slimmer , He had Drought his young wife homeward From the land of the Dacotalis :
When the birds sang in the thickets , And the streamlets laughed and glistened ; And the air was fall of fragrance , And the lovely Laughing Water Said with voice that did not tremble , Ci I will follow you , my husband V
In the wigwam with Nbkomis , With those gloomy guests , that watched lies With the famine and the fever , She was lying , the beloved , She , the dying Minnehaha ..
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Eeviews Of Hew Books.
The Song of Hiawatha . By Henry Wadsworth Lokg-fellow , London : Bogue . —The appearance of this new poem from the pen which has won a world-wide reputation , and belongs , par eminence ^ to the poet of the age , was certain to be hailed with excitement and enthusiasm . Strange to say , however , when the question , What do
you think of " Hiawatha ? " is asked , the response is by no means unfrequently , "I began , but did not go through it , " This speaks volumes . That Longfellow can write anything bad is impossible ; but it is equally certain he can produce a poem very inferior to his other works , and so unworthy the renown of some of them , that his admirers will perhaps regret it was ever given to . the world .
The name is an inauspicious one ; — Americo-Indian legends , accompanied by the sometimes sweet , sometimes antipoetical sobriquets attached to the characters , have had their day ; and there would be , from more than one cause , a degree of latent prejudice to the subject in many minds , and this the poem is too mediocre ( speaking relatively ) to remove upon perusal . Yet all
traditions must be interesting where w e can trace the connection . with the mythological , as well as revealed history of the old world ; and this is clearly visible in the present volume . But Longfellow is here sometimes tame and occasionally wordy ; a fault we never would have predicted of an author whose lines have been hitherto so many pregnant harmonies , instinct with thought and power , as well as beauty .
With the legends themselves we will not meddle , merely observing , the " Song of Hiawatha" has a melancholy ending , the pathos and gracefulness of which impress the reader forcibly . The Indian David can destroy the mighty Philistine of Fever , but fails to snatch his beautiful " Minnehaha" ( Anglice , " Laughing Water" ) from the not less terrible gripe of Famine . We extract this passage at length , premising only that Hiawatha is supposed to be rushing frantically through the thick woods , in the desperate hope of finding the food for want of which his wife is expiring : —
All day long roved Hiawatha In that melancholy forest , Through the shadow of whose thickets , In the pleasant days of Summer , Of that ne ' er forgotten Slimmer , He had Drought his young wife homeward From the land of the Dacotalis :
When the birds sang in the thickets , And the streamlets laughed and glistened ; And the air was fall of fragrance , And the lovely Laughing Water Said with voice that did not tremble , Ci I will follow you , my husband V
In the wigwam with Nbkomis , With those gloomy guests , that watched lies With the famine and the fever , She was lying , the beloved , She , the dying Minnehaha ..