The Arena | Page 3

man that Doctor Holmes may be discussed in this paper. We have to deal altogether with his literary career,--a career, which for its brilliancy has not been surpassed on this side of the Atlantic.
As a poet he differs much from his contemporaries, but the standard he has reached is as high as that which has been attained by Lowell and Longfellow. In lofty verse he is strong and unconventional, writing always with a firm grasp on his subject, and emphasizing his perfect knowledge of melody and metre. As a writer of occasional verse he has not had an equal in our time, and his pen for threescore years has been put to frequent use in celebration of all sorts of events, whether military, literary, or scientific. Bayard Taylor said, "He lifted the 'occasional' into the 'classic'," and the phrase happily expresses the truth. The vivacious character of his nature readily lends itself to work of this sort, and though the printed page gives the reader the sparkling epigram and the graceful lines, clear-cut always and full of soul, the pleasure is not quite the same as seeing and hearing him recite his own poems, in the company of congenial friends. His songs are full of sunshine and heart, and his literary manner wins by its simplicity and tenderness. Years ago, Miss Mitford said that she knew no one so thoroughly original. For him she could find no living prototype. And so she went back to the time of John Dryden to find a man to whom she might compare him. And Lowell in his "Fable for Critics," describes Holmes as
"A Leyden-jar full-charged, from which flit The electrical tingles, of hit after hit."
His lyrical pieces are among the best of his compositions, and his ballads, too few in number, betray that love which he has always felt for the melodious minstrelsy of the ancient bards. Whittier thought that the "Chambered Nautilus" was "booked for immortality." In the same list may be put the "One-Hoss Shay," "Contentment," "Destination," "How the Old Horse Won the Bet," "The Broomstick Train," and that lovely family portrait, "Dorothy Q----," a poem with a history. Dorothy Quincy's picture, cold and hard, painted by an unknown artist, hangs on the wall of the poet's home in Beacon Street. A hole in the canvas marks the spot where one of King George's soldiers thrust his bayonet. The lady was Dr. Holmes' grandmother's mother, and she is represented as being about thirteen years of age, with
Girlish bust, but womanly air; Smooth, square forehead, with uprolled hair; Lips that lover has never kissed; Taper fingers and slender wrist; Hanging sleeves of stiff brocade; So they painted the little maid.
And the poet goes on:--
What if a hundred years ago Those close-shut lips had answered no, When forth the tremulous question came That cost the maiden her Norman name, And under the folds that look so still, The bodice swelled with the bosom's thrill! Should I be I, or would it be One tenth another, to nine tenths me?
Soft is the breath of a maiden's yes, Not the light gossamer stirs with less; But never a cable that holds so fast Through all the battles of wave and blast, And never an echo of speech or song That lives in the babbling air so long! There were tones in the voice that whispered then, You may hear to-day in a hundred men.
O lady and lover, how faint and far Your images hover, and here we are, Solid and stirring in flesh and bone, Edward's and Dorothy's--all their own, A goodly record for time to show Of a syllable spoken so long ago! Shall I bless you, Dorothy, or forgive For the tender whisper that bade me live?
It shall be a blessing, my little maid! I will heal the stab of the red-coat's blade, And freshen the gold of the tarnished frame, And gild with a rhyme your household name; So you shall smile on us brave and bright, As first you greeted the morning's light, And live untroubled by woes and fears Through a second youth of a hundred years.
Dr. Holmes' coloring is invariably artistic. Nothing in his verse offends the eye or grates unpleasantly on the ear. He is a true musician, and his story, joke, or passing fancy is always joined to a measure which never halts. "The Voiceless," perhaps, as well as "Under the Violets," ought to be mentioned among the more tender verses which we have from his pen, in his higher mood.
His novels are object lessons, each one having been written with a well-defined purpose in view. But unlike most novels with a purpose, the three which he has written are nowise dull. The first of the set is "The Professor's Story; or, Elsie Venner," the second is