The English Lyric 1 3 



indeed Arnold had given, instances of the luminous mode from 

 other than classical sources. And nigh the verses of Aeschylus 

 I think we may not unworthily set this Red Indian song on the 

 like theme : 



There is no evading death ; 



The old men have not told that any has found a way to pass beyond it; 



The career of a Leader is difficult of accomplishment. 



Here, as there, is terse and simple directness ; here, as there, is 

 force through force repressed. But in the Grek instances there 

 is something more than the naked qualities, a something gained 

 through composition — psychical composition. It is the wonderful 

 balance of emotion and sense, both true at the highest pitch, which 

 we see in Creusa ; it is the temper of enduring wisdom which we 

 feel through the hurt in Aeschylus. 



It is, of course, trite saying that we owe literary form to the 

 classic mode. Yet I think it may be worth the saying this once 

 again if we may understand by form this subtle balance — vivid 

 mood and temperate control of all the senses with which nature 

 has endowed us. Expression so moulded will be bright with the 

 illumination of reason and of sense and strong with the power 

 of inner mastership. 



IV. THE SAXON AND CELTIC MODES 



Zeus, Father of Gods and Men, in whose presidency over the 

 games at Olympia as in his supremacy in the divine council at 

 Olympus is made visible the spirit of Pan-Hellenism, — Zeus, the 

 clear and glowing Heaven, is undisputed lord of the sunny South. 

 His namesake of the North, Norse Tyr and Saxon Tiw, sinks to> 

 a wholly secondary place in the pantheon. Other gods of the- 

 upper elements rise above him, gods no longer derived from the 

 tranquil-shining aether, but embodiments of storm and turmoil. 

 Mid the dim and dank German forests, it is Woden of the wind 

 and rain, haunted by croaking raven and snarling wolf, Woden,, 

 the bellowing leader of the Wild Hunt of souls athwart the 

 nightly sky. In Scandinavia, where the shadows are deep and! 

 chill and Nature colors with cold purples and bloody crimsons in 



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