Chapter 8

And rivers singing all aloud tho’ still unseen.

Stanza the seventh begins thus

The Spirit lowers and speaks—tremble ye Wild Woods!

Here it must be observed that “wild woods” is not meant for a double rhyme. If scanned on the fingers (and we presume Mr. Mathews is in the practice of scanning thus) the line is a legitimate Alexandrine. Nevertheless, it cannot beread. It is like nothing under the sun; except, perhaps, Sir Philip Sidney’s attempt at English Hexameter in his “Arcadia.” Some one or two of his verses we remember. For example⁠—

With the aid of an additional spondee or dactyl Mr. Mathews’veryodd verse might be scanned in the same manner, and would, in fact, be a legitimate Hexameter⁠—

The Spi | rit lowers | and speaks | tremble ye | wild woods

Sometimes our poet takes even a higher flight anddropsa foot, or a half-foot, or, for the matter of that, a foot and a half. Here, for example, is a very singular verse to be introduced in a pentameter rhythm⁠—

Then shone Wakondah’s dreadful eyes.

Here another—

Yon full-orbed fire shall cease to shine.

Here, again, are lines in which the rhythm demands an accent on impossible syllables.

But ah wingedwithwhat agonies and pangs.Swiftly before menorcare I how vast.I seevisionsdenied to mortal eyes.Uplifted longerinheaven’s western glow.

But ah wingedwithwhat agonies and pangs.

Swiftly before menorcare I how vast.

I seevisionsdenied to mortal eyes.

Uplifted longerinheaven’s western glow.

But these are trifles. Mr. Mathews is young and we take it for granted that he will improve. In the meantime what does he mean by spelling lose,loose, and its (the possessive pronoun)it’s—re-iterated instances of which fashions are to be foundpassimin “Wakondah”? What does he mean by writingdare, the present, fordaredthe perfect?—see stanza the twelfth. And, as we are now in the catachetical vein, we may as well conclude our dissertation at once with a few other similar queries.

What do you mean, then, Mr. Mathews, by

A sudden silencelike a tempestfell?

What do you mean by “a quivered stream;” “a shapeless gloom;” a “habitable wish;” “natural blood;” “oak-shadowed air;” “customary peers” and “thunderous noises?”

What do you mean by

A sorrow mightier than the midnight skies?

What do you mean by

A bulk that swallows up the sea-blue sky?

Are you not aware that calling the sky as blue as the sea, is like saying of the snow that it is as white as a sheet of paper?

What do you mean, in short, by

Its feathers darker than a thousand fears?

Is not this something like “blacker than a dozen and a half of chimney-sweeps and a stack of black cats,” and are not the whole of these illustrative observations of yours somewhat upon the plan of that of the witness who described a certain article stolen as being of the size and shape of a bit of chalk? What do youmeanby them we say?

And here notwithstanding our earnest wish to satisfy the author of Wakondah, it is indispensable that we bring our notice of the poem to a close. We feel grieved that our observations have been so much at random:—but at random, after all, is it alone possible to convey either the letter or the spirit of that, which, a mere jumble of incongruous nonsense, has neither beginning, middle, nor end. We should be delighted to proceed—but how? to applaud—but what? Surely not this trumpery declamation, this maudlin sentiment, this metaphor run-mad, this twaddling verbiage, this halting and doggerel rhythm, this unintelligible rant and cant! “Slid, if these be your passados and montantes, we’ll have none of them.” Mr. Mathews, you have clearly mistaken your vocation, and your effusion as little deserves the title ofpoem, (oh sacred name!) as did the rocks of the royal forest of Fontainebleau that of “mes déserts” bestowed upon them by Francis the First. In bidding you adieu we commend to your careful consideration the remark of M. Timon “que le Ministre de l’Instruction Publique doit lui-même savoir parler Français.”

SPRING FASHIONS. 1842 IN ADVANCE.

Transcriber’s Notes:

Table of Contents has been added for reader convenience. Archaic spellings and hyphenation have been retained. Obvious punctuation and typesetting errors have been corrected without note. Other errors have been corrected as noted below.

A cover has been created for this ebook and is placed in the public domain.

page 97, joyous laugh, Miss Heyward resumed ==> joyous laugh,Mrs.Heyward resumed

[End ofGraham’s Magazine, Vol. XX, No. 2, February 1842, George R. Graham, Editor]

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