Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, Leave thy low-vaulted past! Let each new temple, nobler than the last, Till thou at length art free, Leaving thine out-grown shell by Life's unresting sea! In this one effort Holmes has contributed as worthy a principle to the guide for life, which our poets are attempting to write, as any singer of America. This is a message that every practical man may, and indeed must, take to himself-soul-endeavor. And what has Lowell, the brilliant, the learned, the cosmopolitan, brought back from his wide journeys into book-land and earth-land to tell sorrowing, laboring humanity? At least four well-stated principles, it would seem, have, through his contributions, been inserted into our poetic philosophy: the equality of all men, devotion to duty, the necessity for the destruction of pride, and the value of living for others. Perhaps, for sufficient evidences of these beliefs, it would be unnecessary to investigate any other production than "The Vision of Sir Launfal." Here the knight' is compelled at last to recognize that the grewsome, loathsome leper is his equal, while the revised idea of charity: Not what we give but what we share is but another expression of equality. of the final words: And note the meaning The meanest serf on Sir Launfal's land Has hall and bower at his command; And there's no poor man in the North Countree Again, the devotion to duty is the motive sending Sir Launfal forth; he feels compelled to seek the Grail. It is a far cry from "The Vision of Sir Launfal" to Lowell's dialect poems; but still, the latter, in their rebukes to the shirker of duty have placed before the American people a very practical and emphatic doctrine. "What Mr. Robinson Thinks," with its mock ing refrain, But John P Robinson he Sez he wunt vote fer Guverner B. is a vigorous example. It is evidently a heart-felt conviction that compelled Lowell to say: Obedience,-'tis the great tap-root that still, Knit round the rock of Duty, is not stirred. Though Heaven-loosed tempests spend their utmost skill. Turning again to "The Vision of Sir Launfal," we have a picture of the destruction of pride. Here is a proud knight, a former scorner of the ugly and the lowly, sitting and eating, like the Knight of Israel, with the despised of the land. And what a song of humility is "The Changeling!" And I feel as weak as a violet Still worked for the love of me. As a corollary to these principles of philosophy, Lowell naturally voices that sentiment, hackneyed perhaps in word, but alas! how far from hackneyed in deed: "We must live for others." His "Biglow Papers" are, in substance, but this one message; "The Vision of Sir Launfal" speaks the same words; "The Present Crisis" sounds, in one "dolorous and jarring blast," the same command: Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side. In spite of his too showy qualities, in spite of the fact that the sum-total of his literary work was a disappointment to himself, Lowell has not infrequently reached far down into the depths of the soul's experience and brought forth for you and for me a living, practical, and needed thought and guide. Lastly, let us listen to the half-wild utterances of a man who indeed seems destined to be "the puzzle of the ages ❞— Walt Whitman. Perhaps Lowell's words about Poe may truthfully be applied to Whitman : Three-fifths of him genius and two-fifths sheer fudge Who talks like a book of iambs and pentameters, In a way to make people of common sense damn meters. But what a world of suggestiveness and philosophy is in that three-fifths! Here is a man who knows men. He is rough, perhaps uncouth. He is intimately acquainted with the deck-hand and the college professor, and he likes them both. He has worked among many classes and under many conditions. Surely, his words, if based on experience, should be of exceptional value. Stripped of all affectations, superfluous words, "barbaric yawps," and Whitmanian rhythm, these doctrines seem most clearly expressed: the absolute equality of men of all kinds, colors, natures, and occupations; the rational, healthy life based on actual contact with Nature; the call for individual independence; the demand for indomitable optimism; and an unwavering faith in a great future for mankind. No argument seems able to move Whitman from the opinion that one man is as good as another. "No dainty dolce affettuoso I," he cries, and he immediately proceeds to make the first last and the last first. Allons! Whoever you are, come travel with me. Time after time he repeats the declaration: None but are accepted, none but shall be dear to me. He asks: What is it I interchange so suddenly with strangers? What with some driver as I ride on the seat by his side? What with some fisherman drawing his seine by the shore as I walk by and pause? and throughout all his poems he answers,-the recognition of soul-equality. Surely, a man who has reached such a noble stage in the growth of his soul has been touched by some vastly effectual influence. What is it? Whitman declares it to be actual, daily contact with Nature. And by Nature he means, not the great general conception that Bryant had in mind, but rather the objects which go to make up the whole,-trees, fruit, grass, and dirt. His plea for Nature is firm and without semblance of doubt: Whoever you are, come forth! or man or woman, come forth! Here indeed is a poet who has taught what science is teaching at this hour, the doctrine that the wild-wood and the far scene and the open sky will cure the ills of body and soul: Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road, Healthy, free, the world before me, The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose. Peace is there, and there only. The city may be attractive: Smartly attired, countenance smiling, form upright, death under Under the broad-cloth and gloves, under the ribbons and artificial but far in the forest are Lilac and star and bird twined with the chant of my soul, There in the fragrant pines and the cedars dusk and dim. Every man, believes Whitman, must work out his own guide and destiny: for Wisdom is of the soul, is not susceptible of proof, is its own proof. As for himself he has declared that From this hour I ordain myself loosed of limits and imaginary lines. But, says It is a wonderful philosophy-for a strong man. Whitman, every man may be strong if he will but go back to the concrete elements of Nature; for therefrom come "health, defiance, gayety, self-esteem, curiosity." Only dare to go forth, seeking and welcoming the inevitable results of natural thinking and natural doing, and you shall be free: Darest thou now, O soul, Walk out with me toward the unknown region, Where neither ground is for the feet, nor any path to follow? It is unnecessary to attempt a proof of Whitman's optimism; every word quoted above shows clearly his hopeful, joyful faith. He declares that everything, every person, in the natural state, is good: I think whatever I shall meet on the road I shall like, and whoever beholds me shall like me, I think whoever I see must be happy. Nowhere is his hopefulness shown better than in his visions of our nation's greatness; for, in spite of his eccentricities and lack of coherence, his view of democracy and nationalism is broader than that of any other American poet. He seemed to see at one glance My own Manhattan with spires, and the sparkling and hurrying tides, and the ships, The varied and ample land, the South and the North in the light, Ohio's shores and flashing Missouri, And ever the far-spreading prairies covered with grass and corn. But even this view is not broad enough; he must needs include every human being, the world. All things, all beings are growing better. What a faith it is, to be able to say that this is the best day the world has ever known! Yet it is the prevailing tone of Whitman's philosophy: Of life immense in passion, pulse, and power, Cheerful, for freest action formed under the laws divine, Such, then, it would seem, are the leading phases of the philosophy set forth by American poets. Only the very greatest of these musical thinkers have been selected; for these are representative of all who have contributed to this guide for living. Briefly the page containing America's gift to the Book of Thought, which the world is yet writing, may be summarized thus: Bryant The healing power of Nature. The excellence of purity. The absolute power of God over man's destiny. Emerson The teaching power of Nature. The usefulness of everything. Individual independence. Longfellow "Thy fate is the common fate of all." The invincible power of human love. |