"After consultation with Riley, the editor, in a subsequent issue, gave out, through his editorial columns, the facts connected with the first publication of 'Leonainie.' The literary gods who dwelt along the Atlantic coast were shocked, surprised, and a bit angry, but it was now too late. The poem had been extensively copied by both American and English reviewers, and had been frequently declared to be not only the genuine literary offspring of Poe, but one of his best, if not his very best. In fact, after the name of the real author was disclosed, so good an authority as Edmund Clarence Stedman maintained with considerable warmth that the poem was unquestionably written by Poe.

"Since that time the 'Hoosier Poet' has been warmly welcomed by those who once subscribed without reservation to the doctrine that no good poem can come from the pen of a native of the uncultured West."

LEONAINIE*

LEONAINIE-angels named her;

And they took the light

Of the laughing stars and framed her
In a smile of white;

And they made her hair of gloomy
Midnight, and her eyes of bloomy
Moonshine, and they brought her to me

In the solemn night.

*From Armazindy, by James Whitcomb Riley, copyright 1894. Used by special permission of the publishers, The Bobbs-Merrill Company.

In a solemn night of summer,
When my heart of gloom

Blossomed up to greet the comer
Like a rose in bloom;

All forebodings that distressed me
I forgot as Joy caressed me-

(Lying Joy! that caught and pressed me

In the arms of doom!)

Only spake the little lisper

In the Angel-tongue;

Yet I, listening, heard her whisper,—

"Songs are only sung

Here below that they may grieve you-
Tales but told you to deceive you,—
So must Leonainie leave you

While her love is young."

Then God smiled and it was morning.

Matchless and supreme
Heaven's glory seemed adorning
Earth with its esteem:

Every heart but mine seemed gifted
With the voice of prayer, and lifted
Where my Leonainie drifted

From me like a dream.

1. Leonainie

-James Whitcomb Riley.

NOTES

(lē' ô-nā' nê). Pronounce the name many times

until you can appreciate its real music.

2. Read and re-read the entire poem with no thought of analyzing

it closely. See how its meaning grows on you.

3. After you have become well acquainted with the message of the poem, read and study Eugene Field's Little Boy Blue.

4. Be prepared to give the meanings of the following words and expressions as here used: smile of white, gloomy midnight, bloomy moonshine, solemn night, blossomed up, forebodings, caressed, lying joy, arms of doom, lisper, Angel-tongue, matchless, supreme.

EXERCISES

1. Tell all you can of Leonainie as shown in this poem.

2. Explain the meaning of the first four lines.

3. What were the "forebodings that distressed me”?

4. Explain "Joy caressed me.”

5. Then, why say "Lying Joy!"?

6. What was the "Angel-tongue"?

7. In what sense did he hear her whisper the message?

8. Just what is the message whispered?

9. What is the meaning of the first line of the last stanza ?

10. What tells us of the nature of the morning?

11. What strong contrast in the last stanza?

12. Why was not the speaker's heart "gifted with the voice of prayer"? 13. What delicate touch closes the poem?

14. What in this poem shows Riley's deep love for children?

ADDITIONAL READINGS

TENNYSON: Sweet and Low.

FIELD: Little Boy Blue. The Lyttel Boy.

POE: Ulalume.

MACDONALD: Baby.

RANKIN: The Babe.

GILDER: A Child.

RILEY: Bereaved. The Lost Kiss.

LOWELL: The Changeling.

THAYER: The Waiting Choir.

GEORGE BARLOW: The Dead Child.

PIERPONT: My Child.

BROWNING: Evelyn Hope.

HOOD: The Deathbed.

REALF: The Children.

SWINBURNE: Mourning. A Baby's Death.

HOHENLINDEN

HOHENLINDEN' means tall linden trees.

It is the name of a great forest in upper Bavaria, in the midst of which stands the village of Hohenlinden.

The battle of Hohenlinden referred to in this poem occurred December 3, 1800, during one of Napoleon's campaigns. The battle was fought between the French under Moreau' on the one side, and the Austrians under Archduke John on the other side. A blinding snow-storm raged during the battle and covered, as a winding sheet, the thousands who were slain.

Charles A. Dana places this poem as one of the ten best poems in the language, and it is certainly one of the best of war poems. When one reads the history of the stirring campaigns of Napoleon, he can easily picture the vivid scenes set forth. Linden's hills of stained snow, the waving banners, the fierce charge of the cavalry, and the awful destruction of the fierce fires of death are vivid pictures artistically blended with an effect that thrills every heart.

1 Pronounced hō' ĕn-lin' den. Pronounced mo-rō'.

HOHENLINDEN

On Linden, when the sun was low,
All bloodless lay the untrodden snow;
And dark as winter was the flow
Of Iser, rolling rapidly:

But Linden saw another sight,
When the drum beat at dead of night,
Commanding fires of death to light
The darkness of her scenery.

By torch and trumpet fast arrayed,
Each horseman drew his battle blade,
And furious every charger neighed
To join the dreadful revelry.

Then shook the hills with thunder riven;
Then rushed the steed to battle driven;
And louder than the bolts of heaven
Far flashed the red artillery.

But redder yet that light shall glow
On Linden's hill of stained snow;
And bloodier yet the torrent flow
Of Iser, rolling rapidly.

'Tis morn; but scarce yon level sun Can pierce the war clouds, rolling dun, Where furious Frank and fiery Hun

Shout in their sulphurous canopy.