—OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
Born in Boston, Mass., of a family with some literary attainments, he showed little promise of unusual ability during his years at Harvard. He became pastor of the Second Church in Boston for a time and later settled in Concord. He lectured extensively and wrote much, living a quiet, isolated life.
The poems by Emerson are used by permission of, and by special arrangement with, Houghton Mifflin Company, authorized publishers of his works.
GOOD-BYE
"Good-Bye" was written in 1823 when Emerson, a young boy, was teaching in Boston. It does not refer to his retirement to the country twelve years later, but seems a kind of prophecy.
27. lore: learning.
28. sophist: a professed teacher of wisdom.
EACH AND ALL
26. noisome offensive.
THE PROBLEM
18. canticles: hymns belonging to church service.
19. The dome of St. Peter's was the largest in the world at the time of its construction and was a great architectural achievement. Emerson feels that it, like every other work that is worth-while, was the result of a sincere heart.
20. groined: made the roofs inside the churches according to a complicated, intersecting pattern.
28. Notice the figure of speech here. Is it effective?
39-40. All the mighty buildings of the world were made first in the minds of the builder or architect, and then took form.
44. The Andes and Mt. Ararat are very ancient formations and belong to Nature at her beginning on the earth. These great buildings are so in keeping with Nature that she accepts them and forgets how modern they are.
51. Pentecost: Whitsunday, when the descent of the Holy Spirit is celebrated. Emerson says here that this spirit animates all beautiful music and sincere preaching, as it does we do at our noblest.
65. Chrysostom, Augustine, and the more modern Taylor are all great religious teachers of the world, and all urged men enter the service of the church. Augustine: Saint Augustine, the great African bishop (354- 430). He was influential mainly through his numerous writings, which are still read. His greatest work was his Confessions.
68. Taylor: Dr. Jeremy Taylor, English bishop and author (1613-1667). One writer assigns to him "the good humour of gentleman, the eloquence of an orator, the fancy of a poet, acuteness of a schoolman, the profoundness of a philosopher, the wisdom of a chancellor, the sagacity of a prophet, reason of an angel, and the piety of a saint." Why should a man so endowed be compared to Shakespeare?
THE HUMBLE-BEE
6. What characteristics of the bumblebee make animated torrid-zone applicable? Why doesn't he need to seek a milder climate in Porto Rico?
16. Epicurean: one addicted to pleasure of senses, specially eating and drinking. How does it apply to the bee?
THE SNOW-STORM
Emerson called this poem "a lecture on God's architecture, one of his beautiful works, a Day."
9. This picture is strikingly like Whittier's description of a similar day in "Snow-Bound."
13. bastions: sections of fortifications.
18. Parian wreaths were very white because the marble of Paros was pure.
21. Maugre: in spite of.
FABLE
This fable was written some years before its merits were recognized. Since then it has steadily grown in popularity.
BOSTON HYMN
16. fend: defend.
24. boreal: northern.
80. behemoth: very large beast.
THE TITMOUSE
76. impregnably: so that it can resist attack.
97. wold: Rood, forest.
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL (1819-1891)
"As political reformer, as editor, as teacher, above all as an example of the type of scholarly gentleman that the new world was able to produce, he perhaps did more than any of his contemporaries to dignify American literature at home and to win for it respect abroad."
—W. B. CAIRNS.
Born at Cambridge, Mass., he early showed a love of literature and says that while he was a student at Harvard he read everything except the prescribed textbooks. He opened a law office in Boston, but spent his time largely in reading and writing poetry. He became professor of literature at Harvard in 1854 and later edited the Atlantic Monthly. Later he was minister to Spain and to England. In 1885 he returned to his work at Harvard, where he remained until his death in the very house in which he was born.
The poems by Lowell are used by permission of, and by special arrangement with, Houghton Mifflin Company, authorized publishers of his works.
HAKON's LAY
This poem is here given in its original form as published by Lowell in Graham's Magazine in January, 1855. It was afterwards expanded into the second canto of "The Voyage to Vinland."
With what other poems in this book may "Hakon's Lay" be compared?
3. Skald. See Longfellow, 'The Skeleton in Armor,' note on I. 19.
10. Hair and beard were both white, we are told. Who is suggested in this line as white?
17. eyried. An eagle builds its aerie or nest upon a crag or inaccessible height above ordinary birds. The simile here begun before the eagle is mentioned, and the minstrel's thoughts are spoken of as born in the aerie of his brain, high above his companions.
20. One of the finest pictures of the singing of a minstrel before his lord is found in Scott's "Waverly."
21. fletcher: arrow-maker.
31. The work of Fate cannot be done by a reed which is proverbially weak or by a stick which is cut cross-grained and hence will split easily. She does not take her arrow at random from all the poor and weak weapons which life offers, but she chooses carefully.
35. sapwood: the new wood next the bark, which is not yet hardened.
37. Much of the value of an arrow lies in its being properly feathered. So when Fate chooses, she removes all valueless feathers which will hinder success.
40. In these ways her aim Would be injured.
43. butt's: target's.
52. frothy: trivial.
64. Leif, the son of Eric, near the end of the tenth century went from Greenland to Norway and was converted to Christianity. About 1000 he sailed southward and landed at what is perhaps now Newfoundland, then went on to some part of the New England coast and there spent the winter.
61. The coming of Leif Ericson with his brave ship to Vinland was the first happening in the story of America.
61. rune: a character in the ancient alphabet.
FLOWERS
"Flowers" is another very early poem, but it was included by Lowell in his first volume, "A Year's Life," in 1841. Compare this idea of a poet's duty and opportunity with that of other American writers.
12. Look up Matthew 13: 3-9.
18. Condensed expression; for some of that seed shall surely fall in such ground that it shall bloom forever.
THE SHEPHERD OF KING ADMETUS
16. viceroy: ruler in place of the king.
44. Apollo, while he was still young, killed one of the Cyclops of Zeus and Zeus condemned him to serve a mortal Man as a shepherd. He served Admetus, as is here described, and secured many special favors for him from the gods.
COMMEMORATION ODE
3. The men who fought for the cause they loved expressed their love in the forming of a squadron instead of a poem, and wrote their praise of battle in fighting-lines instead of tetrameters.
17. guerdon: reward.
36. A creed without defenders is lifeless. When to belief in a cause is added action in its behalf, the creed lives.
60. This is as life would be without live creeds and results that will endure. Compare Whittier's "Raphael."
67. aftermath: a second crop.
79. Baal's: belonging to the local deities of the ancient Semitic race.
105. With this stanza may well be compared "The Present Crisis."
113. dote: have the intellect weakened by age.
146. Plutarch's men. Plutarch wrote the lives of the greatest men of Greece and Rome.
THE VISION of SIR LAUNFAL (PRELUDE)
7. auroral: morning.
12. Sinais. Read Exodus, Chapter 19. Why did Moses climb Mount Sinai? What would be the advantage to us if we knew when we climbed a Mount Sinai?
9-20. Wordsworth says:
"Heaven lies about us in our infancy!Shades of the prison-house begin to closeUpon the growing boy," etc.
Lowell does not agree with him, and in these lines he declares that heaven is as near to the aged man as to the child, since the skies, the winds, the wood, and the sea have lessons for us always.
28. bubbles: things as useless and perishable as the child's soap-bubbles.
20-32. The great contrast! What does Lowell mean by Earth? Does he define it? Which does he love better?
79. Notice how details are accumulated to prove the hightide. Are his points definite?
91. sulphurous: so terrible as to suggest the lower world.
BIGLOW PAPERS
Lowell attempted a large task in the "Biglow Papers," and on the whole he succeeded well. He wished to discuss the current question in America under the guise of humorous Yankee attack. The first series appeared in 1848 and dealt with the problem of the Mexican War; the second series in 1866 and refers to the Civil War. From the two series are given here only three which are perhaps the best known. Mr. Hosea Biglow purports to be the writer. He is an uneducated Yankee boy who "com home (from Boston) considerabul riled." His father in No. 1, a letter, describes the process of composition as follows: "Arter I'd gone to bed I hearn Him a thrashin round like a shoot-tailed bull in flitime. The old woman ses she to me ses she, Zekle, sos she, our Hosie's gut the drollery or suthin anuther, ses she, don't you be skeered, ses I, he's oney a-makin poetery; ses I, he's ollers on hand at that ere busyness like Da & martin, and Shure enuf, cum mornin, Hosy he cum down stares full chizzle, hare on eend and cote tales flyin, and sot rite of to go reed his varses to Parson Wilbur."
WHAT MR. ROBINSON THINKS
1. Guvener B.: George Nixon Briggs of Massachusetts.
6. John P. Robinson was a lawyer (1. 59) of Lowell, Mass. Mr. Lowell had no intention of attacking the individual here; Mr. Robinson changed his party allegiance and the letter published over his signature called Lowell's attention to him.
lb. Gineral C.: General Caleb Gushing, who took a prominent part in the Mexican War, and was at this time the candidate for governor opposed to Governor Briggs.
16. pelf: money.
23. vally: value.
32. eppyletts: epaulets, the mark of an officer in the army or navy.
39. debit, per contry: makes him the debtor and on the other side credits us.
THE COURTIN'
17. crook-necks: gourds.
19. queen's-arm: musket.
33-34. He had taken at least twenty girls to the social events of the town.
68. sekle: sequel, result.
94. The Bay of Fundy has an exceptionally high tide which rises with great rapidity.
SUNTHIN' IN THE PASTORAL LINE
2. precerdents: legal decisions previously made which serve as models for later decisions.
4. this-worldify. The women in early New England dressed very simply and sternly, but the odor of musk would make them seem to belong to this world, which has beauty as well as severity.
7. clawfoot: a piece of furniture, here a chest, having clawfeet.
38. pithed with hardihood. New England people had hardihood at the center of their lives.
50. The bloodroot leaf is curled round the tiny write flower bud to protect it.
56. haggle: move slowly and with difficulty.
100. vendoo: vendue, public sale.
117. What American poets express a similar need of nearness to nature?
144. Lowell's own education was four-story: grammar school, high school, college, law school.
165. A good application of the old story of the man who killed the goose that laid the golden eggs.
157. Cap-sheaf: the top sheaf on a stack and hence the completion of any act.
165. Lowell, himself, seems to be talking in these last lines, and not young Hosea Biglow.
209. English Civil War (1642-1649), which ended in the establishment of the Commonwealth.
241. As Adam's fall "Brought death into the world, and all our woe," it was considered by all Puritans as an event of highest importance; most men agree that their wives' bonnets stand at the other end of the scale.
2&I. Crommle: Oliver Cromwell, under whom the English fought for a Commonwealth. See note on line 219.
270. After the short period of the Commonwealth, Charles II became ruler of England (1660-1685).
272. Millennium: a period when all government will be free from wickedness.
AN INDIAN-SUMMER REVERIE
5. Autumn personified as Hebe, the cupbearer of the Greek gods.
11. projected spirit. The poet's own spirit seems to take on material form in the landscape before him.
28. See the book of Ruth in the Old Testament for this exquisite story.
32. Magellan's Strait: passage discovered by Magellan when he sailed around the southern end of South America.
51. retrieves: remedies.
59. lapt: wrapped.
77. Explain this simile. Has color any part in it?
83. ensanguined: made blood-red by frost.
92. The Charles is so placid and blue that it resembles a line of the sky.
99. In connection with this description of the marshes. Lanier's "The Marshes of Glynn" may well be read, as it is the best description of marshes in American literature.
133. Compare Bryant's "Robert of Lincoln."
140. Compare this figure with Bryant's in "To a Waterfowl," 1. 2.
157. Compare with the Prelude to the Second Part of "The Vision of Sir Launfal."
163. The river Charles near its mouth is affected by the ocean tides.
178. Why is the river pictured as dumb and blind?
182. Compare Whittier's "Snow-Bound."
187. gyves: fetters.
190. Druid-like device. At Stonehenge (1. 192) in England is a confused mass of stones, some of which are in their original positions and which are supposed to have been placed by the Druids. It is possible that the sun was worshiped here, but everything about the Druids is conjecture.
201. A view near at hand is usually too detailed to be attractive. But in the twilight, near-by objects become softened, the distance fades into the horizon, and a soothing picture is formed.
209. The schools and colleges. Probably Harvard College is here included, as Lowell graduated there.
217. Compare this idea with that in the following lines from Wordsworth's "The Daffodils":
"I gazed—and gazed—but little thoughtWhat wealth the show to me had brought;For oft, when on my couch I lieIn vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eyeWhich is the bliss of solitude;And then my heart with pleasure fills,And dances with the daffodils."
The justice of these opinions should be tested by each student from his own experience.
A FABLE FOR CRITICS
36. ignified: melted.
40. An example of Lowell's puns, which are generally critcized as belonging to a low order of humor.
41. Parnassus: a mountain in Greece, sacred to Apollo and the Muses, and hence the domain of the arts in general.
49. inter nos: between us.
bl. ices. Isis was the Egyptian goddess of the arts and of agriculture.
60. bemummying: a word coined by Lowell to mean causing one to dry up like a mummy.
68.. Pythoness: woman with power of prophecy.
69. tripod: a bronze altar over which the Pythoness at Delphi uttered her oracles.
"Most of his judgments are, however, those of posterity though often, as in the case of Hawthorns, he was characterizing writers who had not done their best work." —CAIRNS.
92. scathe: injury.
93. rathe: early in the season.
96. John Bunyan Fouque is an extraordinary combination of names as of characteristics. Bunyan is known everywhere for his devotion to truth as he saw it; the oak in character. Friederich Heinrich Karl, Baron de Lamotte-Fouque, was a German soldier, but is better known as a romantic writer. His best-known work is "Undine," the anemone in daintiness of fancy and delicacy of expression.
A Puritan Tieck is another anomaly. From the early poems in this anthology the Puritan type is evident; Tieck was a German writer who revolted against the sternness of life and believed in beauty and romance.
110. In 1821 Scott published The Pilot, a novel of the sea, which was very popular. Cooper, however, thought he could improve upon it and so in 1823 he published "The Pilot," hoping to show his superiority.
112. The bay was used for a garland of honor to a poet.
124. Nathaniel Bumpo was "Leatherstocking," who gave his name to the series of Cooper s novels.
126. Long Tom Coffin was the hero in The Pilot.
130. derniere chemise. A pun upon the word "shift," which here means stratagem.
148. Parson Adams is one of the most delightful of all notion characters. Fielding pictures him in his novel Joseph Andrews in such a manner that you always sympathize with him even if you must laugh at his simplicity.
Dr. Primrose in Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield is a direct literary descendant of Parson Adams. He is one of the best-known characters in English fiction. To be classed with these two men is high praise for Natty Bumpo.
161. Barnaby Rudge, the hero of Dickens's novel of that name, kept a tame raven.
162. fudge: nonsense, rubbish.
180. Collins and Gray: English poets. William Collins, an English lyric poet (1721-1759) was a friend of Dr. Johnson. Thomas Gray (1716-1771) is best known by his "Elegy in a Country Churchyard."
182. Theocritus, a Greek poet of the third century B.C., was the founder of pastoral poetry. Since his idea was the original one, his judgment of his followers would be better than that of any one else.
190. Irving had been so long a resident in Europe that America almost despaired of reclaiming him. He did return, however, in 1832, after making himself an authority on Spanish affairs.
196. Cervantes: the author of Don Quixote, and the most famous of all Spanish authors. He died on the same day as Shakespeare, April 23, 1616.
200. Addison and Steele together wrote the Spectator Papers (1711-1712), which had a great influence on the English reading public. The Sir Roger de Coverley papers are the most widely read of these essays at the present time.
224. New Timon, published in 1846; a satire in which Tennyson among others was severely lampooned.
237. The comparison suggests Bunyan's journey with his bundle of sin.
252. no clipper and meter: no person who could cut short or measure the moods of the poet.
271. The story of Orpheus and Eurydice may be found in any Greek mythology.
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES (1809-1894)
[In 1830] most of our writers were sentimental; a few were profound; and the nation at large began to be deeply agitated over social reforms and political problems. The man who in such a period showed the possibilities of humor, and whose humor was invariably tempered by culture and flavored with kindness, did a service to our literature that can hardly be overestimated."
—WILLIAM J. LONG
Born at Cambridge, Mass., he was brought up under the sternest type of New England theology. He graduated from Harvard College in 1829 after writing much college verse. It was Lowell who stimulated him to his best work. He himself says, "Remembering some crude contributions of mine to an old magazine, it occurred to me that their title might serve for some fresh papers, and so I sat down and wrote off what came into my head under the title, 'The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table.'" He practiced medicine in Boston and taught Anatomy and Physiology in Harvard until 1882. The latter years of his life were spent happily in Boston, where he died.
The poems by Holmes are used by permission of, and by special arrangement with, Houghton Mifflin Company, authorized publishers of his works.
OLD IRONSIDES
The frigate Constitution was popularly known as "Old Ironsides" and this poem was written when the naval authorities proposed to break it up as unfit for service.
THE LAST LEAF
Holmes says this poem was suggested by the appearance in Boston of an old man said to be a Revolutionary soldier.
THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS
14. irised: having colors like those in a rainbow.
14. crypt: secret recess.
CONTENTMENT
3. In 1857-1858, when this poem was written, the ideal of elegance in eastern cities of America was a "brown stone front" house. The possession of such a mansion indicated large wealth. In the light of this fact the humor of the verse is evident. The same principle is used throughout.
22. The position of Minister Plenipotentiary to the court of St. James— England—was considered the highest diplomatic position in the disposal of the United States. How would such a position compare with filling the governor's chair of any state?
35. marrowy: rich.
48. The paintings of Raphael and Titian are beyond purchase price now. Most of them belong to the great galleries of Europe. Turner is a modern painter whose work is greatly admired and held almost above price.
64. vellum: fine parchment made of the skin of calves and used for manuscripts. It turns cream-color with age.
59. Stradivarius: a violin made by Antonio Stradivari, who lived (1644- 1737) in Cremona, Italy. These instruments created a standard so that they are now the most highly prized violins in existence.
64. buhl: brass, white metal, or tortoise shell inlaid in patterns is the wood of furniture. So named from the French woodworker who perfected it.
THE DEACON'S MASTERPIECE
10. Georgius Secundus: King George II of England. He was the son of George I, who was elector of Hanover, as well as king of England.
20, felloe: a part of the rim of a wooden wheel in which the spokes are inserted.
92. encore: we can say the same thing about their strength.
THOMAS BUCHANAN READ (1822-1872)
Born in Pennsylvania, he was early apprenticed to a tailor. He drifted until at last he made his way to Italy, where he studied and painted for several years. Later he made Rome his permanent residence, and died there. He was known as a clever artist and sculptor, but his best work is the two poem; here quoted.
The poems by Read are used by special permission of J. B. Lippincott Company, the authorized publishers of the poems.
STORM ON ST. BERNARD
Storm on St. Bernard may be compared with Excelsior in general subject matter. Do they affect you in the same way? Are they alike in purpose? Which seems most real to you? Why is "Excelsior" the more familiar?
DRIFTING
Read was essentially an artist, and in this poem he expressed his artistic soul more truly than in anything else he ever did.
19. Ischia: an island in the bay of Naples.
22. Capri: an island in the Mediterranean, best known for the Blue Grotto.
WALT WHITMAN (1819-1891)
"Walt Whitman...the chanter of adhesiveness, of the love of man for man,may not be attractive to some of us... But Walt Whitman the tender nurse,the cheerer of hospitals, the saver of soldier lives, is much more thanattractive he is inspiring."—W. P. TRENT.
Born on Long Island, he entered a printer's office when he was thirteen. By the time he was twenty, he was editing his own paper, but he soon gave it up for work on a New York newspaper. When he was thirty, he traveled through the west; in "Pioneers" we have a part of the result. During
the Civil War he gave himself up to nursing as long as his strength lasted. From 1873 to the time of his death he was a great invalid and poor, but every trial was nobly borne.
The selections from Walt Whitman are included by special permission of Mitchell Kennerley, the publisher of the complete authorized editions of Walt Whitman's Works.
PIONEERS! O PIONEERS
18. debouch: go out into.
O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!
Written to express the grief of the nation over the death of Abraham Lincoln at the time when the joy over the saving of the union was most intense. intense.