The Knickerbocker | Page 2

New Year. By Mrs. R. S. NICHOLS, 25 Stanzas suggested
by GLIDDON'S Lectures, 29 Sketches of East Florida: St. Augustine,
45 Sonnet to the Old Year, 53 Some Thoughts on the Country, 70
Scenes and Scenery in the Sandwich Islands, 77 Sicilian Scenery and
Antiquities. By THOMAS COLE, 103, 236 Some Sentiments on
Sonnets, with Sundry Specimens, 283 Stanzas to MARY. By Mrs. M. E.
HEWITT, 348 Stanzas on the Burial of an Infant, 460 Stanzas to
Niagara. By CLAUDE HALCRO, 489 Stanzas to my Three Departed
Sisters, 556 Stanzas Written in Indisposition. By the late WILLIS
GAYLORD CLARK, 569
T.
The Idleberg Papers: a Christmas Yarn, 11 Thoughts on Color. By
JOHN WATERS, 26 The Quod Correspondence, 30, 120, 245, 368,
473, 529 Thoughts from Bulwer. By Mrs. M. T. W. CHANDLER, 52
The Mail Robber, 53 The Æneid of Virgil: with Notes by CHAS.
ANTHON, 76 The Sacrifice, 127 The Death-Bed. By the 'COUNTRY
DOCTOR,' 128 The Ruins of Burnside. By JAMES LAWSON, Esq.,
137 The Smithy. By ALFRED B. STREET, Esq., 155 Two Pictures:
Love Celestial and Love Terrestrial, 160 The Hermit of the Prairie, 161
Translation from CATULLUS. By Rev. Geo. W. BETHUNE, 166 The

Painted Rock, 167 Thirty Years among the Players of England and
America, 175 The Study of Woman's Life, 179 The American Review,
179 The North American Review, for January, 183 The Alms-House: a
New-England Sketch, 212 The Tyranny of Affection, 222 The
Fratricide's Death, 232 The Spectre Imp. By Mr. GEORGE HARVEY,
338 The Church Bell, 368 The Inner Life of Man. By Mr. CHARLES
HOOVER, 389, 599 The Floral Resurrection, 417 The Dog-Star Spirit:
or, Tray's Reflections, 431 The Poet Halleck: Epistle to the Editor, 437
The Plague at Constantinople in 1837, 511 The Song of Death. By
MISS MARY GARDINER, 523 The Householder. by JOHN
WATERS, 528 The Hearth of Home, 548
V.
Vicissitudes, 10 Voices of Affection, 336
W.
Winter Evening: an Extract. By J. G. PERCIVAL, Esq., 24 What is
Transcendentalism? 205 Wanderings of a Journeyman Tailor, 281
What is It? A Lover's Query, 489
+-------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's Note: The
page numbers in the | | index convert to issues in the following way: | | |
| January, 1844 1-102 | | February 103-204 | | March 205-306 | | April
307-408 | | May 409-510 | | June 511-608 |
+-------------------------------------------------+

T H E K N I C K E R B O C K E R.
VOL. XXIII. JANUARY, 1844. NO. 1.

DESCRIPTIVE POETRY.
BY A NEW CONTRIBUTOR.

Whatever the poets may say, it is incontrovertible that the great
majority of men look upon the beauties and glories of Nature that
surround them with almost entire indifference. We shall not inquire
whether this is the result of a natural incapacity to perceive and admire
the beautiful and sublime, or whether it is that their impressions are so
deadened by familiarity as to be passed by unnoticed. Probably the
former is the case with the greater number; although we cannot believe
with some writers, that all our ideas of beauty are but the results of
association, or of our perceptions of the proportion, or fitness, or utility
of things. When we say that some things are naturally agreeable, and
others naturally disagreeable, we have said all that we know about the
matter; and this amounts to nothing more than a confession of our
ignorance. Yet, if we admit in all men the existence of a natural sense
of beauty, daily observation shows us that the pleasure arising from it is
in most cases very feeble and evanescent. How many live in the midst
of the most magnificent natural scenery, and never perceive its beauties
until they are pointed out to them by some intelligent traveller! And
often if admiration be professed, it is of that vague, undistinguishing
kind, which indicates little knowledge of the causes why they admire.
Even among men of cultivated tastes, there is much more of affected
than real enthusiasm.
If what we have said be true, it is a curious subject of inquiry why
descriptive poetry has been so popular. How happens it that so many
who have looked upon Nature herself with great indifference, have
been so much delighted with the reflection of her image in the pages of
the poets? We suspect, indeed, that a part of the popularity of this class
of writers is factitious. THOMSON, the most popular, is we suspect
oftener purchased than read; and his 'Seasons' are not unfrequently
spoken of with admiration by those who know little of them but the
episodes. The chief interest of the 'Task' is to be sought for in other
sources than its descriptions, notwithstanding the curiosa felicitas of
Cowper's diction.
The pleasure which we feel in reading descriptive