LOWELL, JAMES RUSSELL. 



451 



definite purpose. In 1H-W, in connection with 



( 'artiT. In- c.-tablished "The 1'ioneer. u 



literan ami critical magazine." Hawthorne, 



\Vhitiier. Kli/alx'th Baneit, Poo. Dwight, Story, 



md I'ar-ons wen- among tin- contributors, 

 hut tin- publishers failed in their portion of the 

 contract, mid t lit- hopeful vent lire soon came to 

 an end. In the following year Lowell brought 

 out a second volume of verse, containing "A 

 d of Brittany," and lie ami his wile, who 

 :i anleul aholit ioni-t, liecanie regular i-oii- 

 t nl in t .1 >r- to "The Liberty Hell " and (lie " Anti- 

 slavery Standard," in one or the other of which 

 many of hi- poems had a|)|iean-(l. This second 

 volume includes his first great |>oem, "Tiie Pres- 

 ent Crisis," inspire*! by the events that i-nded in 

 the proclamation of war with .Mexico. It is of in- 

 terest to trace the sentiments and expressions in 

 the earlier poems that found adequate utterance 

 in this. The poet at last caught a movement and 

 melody that alone will make poetic thought and 

 feeling of lasting beauty and effect. 'Ihe first 

 -tion i> in this ode: 



Great truths are portions of the soul of man; 



(in-iit souls are jxirtious of eternity ; 

 Ka-li drop of bl'od that e'er through true heart ran 



With lfty message ran for tliee and me; 

 For G(M.l's law, since the starry song began, 



Hath been, and still for evermore must he, 

 That every deed which shall outlast Time's span 



Mu-t spur the soul to be ereet and tree ; 

 Slave is no word of deathless lineage sprung; 



Too many noble souls have thought and died, 

 Too many mighty poets lived and sung, 



And our good Saxon, from lips puritird 

 With martyr lire, throughout the world hath rung 



Too long to have God's holy cause denied. 



The sentiments contained in the sonnets to 

 Wendell Phillips and Joshua R. Giddings, 

 though apt, are too familiar to need repetition. 

 The following lines from " L'Envoi " are better : 

 Who speaks the truth stabs falsehood to the heart, 

 And his mere word makes despots tremble more 

 Than ever Brutus with his dagger could. 



Spirit supreme of Freedom ! not for this 

 l>i<l irreat Columbus tame his eagle soul 



-tie with the daws that peck at courts ; 

 Not for this, friendless, on an unknown sea, 

 Coping with mad waves and more mutinous spirits, 

 Battled he with the dreadful aehe at heart 

 Which tempts, with devilish subtleties of doubt, 

 The hermit of that loneliest solitude, 

 The silent desert of a great new thought. 

 The higli evangel to our country granted 

 Could make apostles, yea, with tongues of fire, 

 Of hearts half darkened back again to clay ! 

 'Tis the soul only that is national, 

 And he who pays true loyally to that 

 Alone can claim the wreath of patriotism. 



In the ' Capture of Fugitive Slaves near Wash- 

 ington " the same measure is used as in " The 

 Crisis." Here are four stanzas : 



\ve break our fathers' promise, we have nobler 

 dut'u-s tir 

 The traitor to humanity is the traitor most accursed ; 



Man is more than constitutions ; better rot beneath 



the sod 

 Than he true to church and state while wo are 



doubly false to God ! 



Put golden padlocks on Truth's lips, be callous if ye 



will, 

 From soul to soul, o'er all the world, leaps one electric 



thrill. 



Hut if beli in- hi- duty man with liHtlcmt Hpirit 

 Kre lung the dr. m A'M ngcr taken the work from oul 

 our hand.-. 



" The Pi is " is one of the ; 



that .-land fon-\cr as in<piiers of lofty M-M jim-nt 

 and imlile action. Such truth and melody apply- 

 to more wrongs than the one thai inspired them. 

 The following an- three stanzas from it : 



When a deed i* dune fur frcnloin through the broad 



earth's aching hreaxt 

 Huns a thrill of joy prophetic, trembling on from eat 



to we.-t, 

 And the hlave, where'er he cowers, fuel* the itoul 



within him climli 

 To the awful verge of manhood, OB the energy nub- 



lime 

 Of a century bursts full blossomed on the thorny 



stem of Time. 



CaivKs.- .-xiiis the (in-lit Avenger; history's pages 



but record 

 One death grapple in the darkness 'twixt old systems 



and the \\ ord ; 

 Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the 



throne 

 Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the 



dim unknown 

 Standeth God within the shadow keeping watch 



above his own. 



For Humanity sweeps onward; where to-day the 



martyr stands, 

 On the morrow crouches Judas with the silver in his 



hands ; 

 Far in front the cross stands ready and the crackling 



fagots burn, 

 While the hooting mob of yesterday in silent awe 



return 

 To glean up the scattered ashes into History's golden 



urn. 



The next notable poem in the volume is " Ex- 

 treme Unction." It is the broken utterance of 

 a dying man, half to the priest, who has come to 

 offer him spiritual consolation, and half to his 

 own too conscious soul. The evolution of imag- 

 inative thought on this theme can be traced much 

 j:s in the case of "The Present Crisis." " Kx- 

 tiemc Unction" opens with the lines: 



Go ! leave me, priest, mv soul would be 



Alone with tne consoler, Death ; 

 Far sadder eyes than thine will see 



This crum'bling clay yield up iU* breath ; 

 These shriveled hands have deeper stains 



Than holy oil can cleanse away. 

 Hands that have plucked the world's coarse 

 gains, 



As erst they plucked the flowers of May. 



And continues: 



Men think it is an awful sight 



To see a soul just set adrift 

 On that drear voyage from whose night 

 ' The ominous shadows never lift; 

 But 'tis more awful to behold 



A helpless infant newly Ixini. 

 Whose little hands unconscious hold 



The keys of darkness and of morn. 



This volume contains " The Changeling,'' 

 "Longing." and the j>oem perhaps most popular 

 of all that Lowell has written. "The Vision of 

 Sir Ijaunfal." The first two are but rhymed 

 pro-e. and the last is little better than that, 

 save for the opening address to the day in June, 

 in which, once more, the poet has put into melo- 

 dious rhyme thedeep love for nature that found 

 half expression time and again. Lowell is an 



