The Worlds Best Poetry, Volume 8 | Page 6

intellectual side? What light is thrown on the character of his
love by his outbursts against Amy? Would it be fair to judge of Amy
and her husband by what he says of them in his first anguish? Does he

ever admit that he judged them harshly? If so, do you agree with him
altogether? Was it well for Amy to marry as she did? When obedience
to parental wishes and love are in conflict, which should be followed?
Did the hero's evil prophecies come true? Whose love do you think was
the greatest, Amy's, or his, or the Squire's?
(4) How does Tennyson all through the poem make it a parable of
human life?
(C) The emotional influence of the poem. How has this poem
influenced you? For many persons, Tennyson, out of a simple
love-story, has made a prophecy of ideal love. Has he for you? For
many persons Tennyson made poetry out of this simple story when he
paralleled the tale of earthly passion with a vision of completer life, so
vivid that the pain and tragedy of this present life come to be for us but
the preparation for the better life to come, as the poet sings to us that
"Through the ages one increasing purpose runs And the thoughts of
men are widened with the process of the suns."
Has he to you in like manner through his poem given a truer conception
of the nature and use of poetry?
Systematic study such as that suggested above will help in answering
the questions, "What charm has this poem for us?" and "How does it
put a deeper meaning into the events it records?" But it is difficult to
frame formal questions the answers to which will show how a poem
quickens life. The influence of a poem is so much a matter of
temperament and of emotion, both of the author and of the reader, that
one has to feel its power rather than to work it out logically. Poetry
passes beyond prose in that it quickens life by moving us to feel its
nobler emotions. It will teach its own lesson to the appreciative reader,
and the student who gets fully into sympathy with a great poem will
have his whole life made brighter. Class work, done sympathetically
and sincerely, will aid in finding the truest interpretations. Yet studies
teach not their own use. The higher blessings come to us unbidden if
we as little children hope for them. We shall find the highest uses of
poetry in remembering always that it may at its best come to us as an
"Angel of light Singing to welcome the pilgrims of the night."
[Signature: Francis Hovey Stoddard]

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY: "THE STUDY OF POETRY." By
Francis Hovey Stoddard POEMS OF NATIONAL SPIRIT:
PATRIOTISM FREEDOM WAR PEACE
INDEX: AUTHORS AND TITLES

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER _Photogravure from a
life-photograph by Notman, Boston_.
QUEEN ELIZABETH KNIGHTING FRANCIS DRAKE "When our
Drake has the luck to make their pride duck. And stoop to the lads of
the Island!"
_From engraving after the drawing by Sir John Gilbert, R.A_.
WILLIAM WATSON _After a life-photograph by Elliott and Fry,
London_.
SAMUEL FRANCIS SMITH _After a life-photograph by Notman,
Boston_.
THOMAS CAMPBELL _From an engraving after the portrait by
James Lonsdale._
WILLIAM COWPER From an engraving.
THE AUTHOR'S FIRST SINGING OF THE MARSEILLAISE "To
arms! to arms! ye brave! The avenging sword unsheathe."
_From a photogravure after the painting by J.A.A. Pils_.
A CAVALRY CHARGE "My darling! ah, the glass is out! The bullets
ring, the riders shout-- No time for wine or sighing! There! bring my
love the shattered glass-- Charge! On the foe! No joys surpass Such
dying!"
_From photogravure by Goupil, after a painting by Édouard Détaille_.
NATHAN HALE "'Neath the blue morn, the sunny morn, He dies upon
the tree, And he mourns that he can lose But one life for liberty."
_From photograph of the Statue by Frederick Macmonnies, in New
York City Hall Park_.
EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN After a photograph from life.
THOMAS BUCHANAN READ After a photograph from life.

POEMS OF NATIONAL SPIRIT.
* * * * *

I.
PATRIOTISM.
* * * * *

WHAT CONSTITUTES A STATE?
What constitutes a state? Not high-raised battlement or labored mound,
Thick wall or moated gate; Not cities proud with spires and turrets
crowned; Not bays and broad-armed ports, Where, laughing at the
storm, rich navies ride; Not starred and spangled courts, Where
low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride. No:--men, high-minded
men, With powers as far above dull brutes endued In forest, brake, or
den, As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude,-- Men who their
duties know, But know their rights, and, knowing, dare maintain,
Prevent the long-aimed blow,