His muse chose for theme no deep dramatic moments of the soul. He had not the intensity nor the insight of the great masters; had little of the grand manner, little of the creative imagination. He was, also, a stranger to the Byronic rebellion, the Shelleyan rapture. Yet the common experiences of life, the old regrets and longings of the soul, the discipline of patience, the grace of resignation, the heroism of self-surrender-these he knew and these he sang of with a sweet, tender beauty. Yes, if there are no quick flashes of insight in his song, no rebellion in his blood-if he lacks the sacred rage of Whittier, the lip-curled scorn of Lowell, still he brings us something precious to the heart, something that supports the hopes and fortifies the faith of the people. Longfellow went to the past, to the distant and the old, not, like Rossetti, as a refuge from the ugliness of the present, but rather to bring the beautiful from far and eld to cheer and refresh the labor-worn To-day. EDWIN MARKHAM. XIII. Blessing the Cornfields 195 XIV. Picture Writing...... 199 XVIII. The Death of Kwasind. 211 POEMS ON SLAVERY. To William E. Channing...... 229 The Slave in the Dismal Swamp 230 To an Old Danish Song-Book.. 295 Walter von der Vogelweid.... 296 The Old Clock on the Stairs... 298 ... .... |
