lOo ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE IN SOUTH AFRICA. ^ 



\\'liat does that mean to the South African ? 

 " A noise like of a hidden brook 

 In the leafy month of June, 

 That to the sleeping woods all night 

 Singeth a quiet tune." 



What of that ? 



No doul^t the poems ot the sea can appeal with more force^ 

 for the sea, though ever restless, is unchanging from age to age^ 

 and is for the most part the same all the world over. 



The sea 



" Doth with his eternal motion make 

 A sound like thunder — everlastingly." 



But there are sea-scapes in England which we canj^never get 

 here. I have never seen here as I have seen in the Menai Straits 

 in North Wales. 



" Such a tide as moving seems asleep. 

 Too full for sound and foam, 

 When that which drew from out the boundless dee]) 

 Turns again home." 



Again. Tennyson's In Metnoriam is essentially English in its^ 

 scenic setting, and no colonial-born student can realise the ' curious 

 felicity ' of its English touches, though he may appreciate the 

 intellectual and spiritual quality of the poem. 



I will quote from it two passages, one to show how intensely 

 English is the scener}'. and one to remind you that we havcMio- 

 Oxford or Cambridge atmosphere here. 



No gray old grange, or lonely fold, 



Or low morass and whispering reed. 

 Or simple stile from mead to mead, 

 Or sheepwalk up the windy wold. 

 " No hoary knoll of ash and haw 



That hears the latest linnet trill. 

 Nor quarry trench'd along the hill 

 And haunted by the wrangling daw." 



And now for Cambridge : — 



1 passed beside the reverend walls 



In which of old I wore the gown : 



1 roved at random thro' the town. 

 And saw the tumult of the halls ; 

 And heard once more in college fanes 



The storm their high-built organs make, 



And thunder-music, rolling, shake 

 The prophet blazon'd on the panes." 



As there is at present in this country a mania for rinking. I 

 will quote some lines of Wordsworth which will show how different 

 the old-fashioned English environment is from that of our South 

 African skating : — 



" So thi-ough the darkness and the cold we flew. 

 And not a voice was idle : with the din 

 Meanwhile the precipices rang aloud ; 

 The leafless trees and every icy crag 

 Tinkled like iron ; while the distant hills " 

 Into the tumult sent an alien sound 



Of melancholy, not unnoticed, while the stars ■ ' | 



Eastward were sparkling clear, and in the west 

 The orange sky of e\'ening died away." 



(ItiflticiiCL of Xatiiral Objects.) 



