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Article HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. Page 1 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW .
f j iHAT in the passing away of Henry WadsAvorth Longfellow , m a - * - ripe old age , the world has lost a true poet , and a great poet too , is , we venture to think , both a reality and a certainty . We are , of course , aware that some timid critics have hesitated to give the departed "Minnesinger" the epithet of "great , " and have sought
industriously to minimize his claims to the admiration and gratitude of their contemporaries and mankind . They have admitted , almost reluctantly , that his poetry has been read greatly , admired intensely , is consequently quoted , is not unfrequently lectured upon , and is the daily companion of very many in the " hours of their pilgrimage " in
all English-speaking lands . But this fact they seem to Avish to explain ; this undoubted truth they apparently hasten to modify by an assertion of the harmony of his metre , the softness and gentleness of his ideas , that commingling of sentiment and " gush " which they assert mark always Longfellow ' s words , and which appeal so greatly in their pleasant and graceful "outcome" to the weaker minds or the tenderer
imaginations of young and old . But the truth is , that while they assert this in complacent glibness they forget two things , the first is , that they are doing injustice to society and the reading Avorld ; the other is , that they are underrating the rig htful claims of Longfellow to poetic fame and celebrity . For after all , lay down the law as we
will , dogmatically or othervfise , the only available test of greatness and value for the " poiesis" and the " poietes , " is to be found in the admiration and suffrages of the world . There are , there have been , there probably ever will be , certain Avriters whose meaning is understood , whose beauties are appreciated , whose real value is rightly
appraised alone by a select circle ; but , as a rule , the general taste of men reflects what is worthy of applause and admiration , inasmuch as that general consent has some basis on which it founds its kindly criticism and its favourable judgment . And when we turn over the pages of Longfellow we soon find out both the secret of his gTeat success and the real grounds of contemporary and , we believe , future assent and approval .
LongfelloAV is a humanitarian poet of large-hearted sympathies , tolerant outlook , and compassionate yearnings and disposition . He is to uo an unconscious Masonic poet , as no one that we know of has more beautifully illustrated the joys and sorrows , the hopes and fears , the onAvard march , the future reunion of our severed and suffering
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW .
f j iHAT in the passing away of Henry WadsAvorth Longfellow , m a - * - ripe old age , the world has lost a true poet , and a great poet too , is , we venture to think , both a reality and a certainty . We are , of course , aware that some timid critics have hesitated to give the departed "Minnesinger" the epithet of "great , " and have sought
industriously to minimize his claims to the admiration and gratitude of their contemporaries and mankind . They have admitted , almost reluctantly , that his poetry has been read greatly , admired intensely , is consequently quoted , is not unfrequently lectured upon , and is the daily companion of very many in the " hours of their pilgrimage " in
all English-speaking lands . But this fact they seem to Avish to explain ; this undoubted truth they apparently hasten to modify by an assertion of the harmony of his metre , the softness and gentleness of his ideas , that commingling of sentiment and " gush " which they assert mark always Longfellow ' s words , and which appeal so greatly in their pleasant and graceful "outcome" to the weaker minds or the tenderer
imaginations of young and old . But the truth is , that while they assert this in complacent glibness they forget two things , the first is , that they are doing injustice to society and the reading Avorld ; the other is , that they are underrating the rig htful claims of Longfellow to poetic fame and celebrity . For after all , lay down the law as we
will , dogmatically or othervfise , the only available test of greatness and value for the " poiesis" and the " poietes , " is to be found in the admiration and suffrages of the world . There are , there have been , there probably ever will be , certain Avriters whose meaning is understood , whose beauties are appreciated , whose real value is rightly
appraised alone by a select circle ; but , as a rule , the general taste of men reflects what is worthy of applause and admiration , inasmuch as that general consent has some basis on which it founds its kindly criticism and its favourable judgment . And when we turn over the pages of Longfellow we soon find out both the secret of his gTeat success and the real grounds of contemporary and , we believe , future assent and approval .
LongfelloAV is a humanitarian poet of large-hearted sympathies , tolerant outlook , and compassionate yearnings and disposition . He is to uo an unconscious Masonic poet , as no one that we know of has more beautifully illustrated the joys and sorrows , the hopes and fears , the onAvard march , the future reunion of our severed and suffering