Among the lesser lights how Lucy' shines! Of coarsest household stuff And is not CLARE for love excuse enough? SWIMMING.2 CHEERED by the milder beam, the sprightly youth Instant emerge; and through the obedient wave, Lamb. (1) Lucy-from the Latin lux, lucis, light. The graceful ingenuity displayed in this and the next two lines well deserves attention. "Among the lesser lights how Lucy shines," is exceedingly apt; and scarcely less so, "What air of fragrance Rosamond (from the Latin rosa, rose, and munda, pure or sweet) throws round." (2) This passage is extracted from the "Summer" of Thomson's "Seasons." (3) Gazing-i. e. gazing at. This licence of leaving out words is very frequently employed by Thomson. See below, "headlong down the circling flood," i. e. into the flood; and "the limbs knit," i. e. became knit or compacted into strength. E Thus life redoubles; and is oft preserved (1) Illapse-sliding into, occurrence. This "swift illapse of accident disastrous," is a very pedantic and unpleasing expression. (2) Even-The word "even" belongs to the next clause, though for convenience' sake placed here. The construction in prose would be, From the body's purity, even the mind, &c. (3) Rays of virtue shine-because tears are frequently the indication of repent ance. (4) Love or pity, &c.-all which passions, though so diverse in their character, nd relief through the same natural channel. The sage's and the poet's theme,1 That very law which moulds a tear, Rogers. A PSALM OF LIFE.3 "Be up and doing." TELL me not, in mournful numbers, Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Art is long, and Time is fleeting, And our hearts, though stout and brave, (1) The sages, &c.-The tear which stimulates the poet's fancy, impels the philosopher to inquire scientifically into its origin, the cause of its shape, trickling down, &c. (2) Law-the law of gravitation. (3) "No poet has more beautifully expressed the depth of his conviction, that, life is an earnest reality, something with eternal issues and dependencies; that this earth is no scene of revelry, a market of sale, but an arena of contest, and a hall of doom. This is the inspiration of his [Longfellow's] Psalm of Life.'"Gilfillan. In the world's broad field of battle, Longfellow. EXCELSIOR.1 "Onward and upward." THE shades of night were falling fast, His brow was sad; his eye beneath The accents of that unknown tongue, (1) "Excelsior' is Life and its Psalm personified. Longfellow has written in it his glowing hopes of the future, as well as his theory of the past. That figure climbing the evening Alps, in defiance of danger, of man's remonstrance, and the far deeper fascination of woman's love, is a type of man struggling, triumphing, purified by suffering, perfected in death."-Gilfillan. In happy homes he saw the light "Try not the pass!" the old man said, "O stay!" the maiden said, "and rest "Beware the pine-tree's withered branch! This was the peasant's last good-night! At break of day, as heavenward, A traveller, by the faithful hound, Still grasping in his hand of ice There, in the twilight, cold and gray, Excelsior!" Longfellow. |