登陆注册
15446200000013

第13章 II(7)

Some twenty or thirty years ago, I said to Longfellow that certain statistical tables I had seen went to show that poets were not a long-lived race. He doubted whether there was anything to prove they were particularly short-lived. Soon after this, he handed me a list he had drawn up. I cannot lay my hand upon it at this moment, but I remember that Metastasio was the oldest of them all. He died at the age of eighty-four. I have had some tables made out, which I have every reason to believe are correct so far as they go. From these, it appears that twenty English poets lived to the average age of fifty-six years and a little over. The eight American poets on the list averaged seventy-three and a half, nearly, and they are not all dead yet. The list including Greek, Latin, Italian, and German poets, with American and English, gave an average of a little over sixty-two years. Our young poets need not be alarmed. They can remember that Bryant lived to be eighty-three years old, that Longfellow reached seventy-five and Halleck seventy-seven, while Whittier is living at the age of nearly eighty-two. Tennyson is still writing at eighty, and Browning reached the age of seventy-seven.

Shall a man who in his younger days has written poetry, or what passed for it, continue to attempt it in his later years? Certainly, if it amuses or interests him, no one would object to his writing in verse as much as he likes. Whether he should continue to write for the public is another question. Poetry is a good deal a matter of heart-beats, and the circulation is more languid in the later period of life. The joints are less supple; the arteries are more or less "ossified." Something like these changes has taken place in the mind. It has lost the flexibility, the plastic docility, which it had in youth and early manhood, when the gristle had but just become hardened into bone. It is the nature of poetry to writhe itself along through the tangled growths of the vocabulary, as a snake winds through the grass, in sinuous, complex, and unexpected curves, which crack every joint that is not supple as india-rubber.

I had a poem that I wanted to print just here. But after what I have this moment said, I hesitated, thinking that I might provoke the obvious remark that I exemplified the unfitness of which I had been speaking. I remembered the advice I had given to a poetical aspirant not long since, which I think deserves a paragraph to itself.

My friend, I said, I hope you will not write in verse. When you write in prose you say what you mean. When you write in rhyme you say what you must.

Should I send this poem to the publishers, or not?

"Some said, 'John, print it;' others said, 'Not so.'"

I did not ask "some" or "others." Perhaps I should have thought it best to keep my poem to myself and the few friends for whom it was written. All at once, my daimon--that other Me over whom I button my waistcoat when I button it over my own person--put it into my head to look up the story of Madame Saqui. She was a famous danseuse, who danced Napoleon in and out, and several other dynasties besides. Her last appearance was at the age of seventy-six, which is rather late in life for the tight rope, one of her specialties. Jules Janin mummified her when she died in 1866, at the age of eighty. He spiced her up in his eulogy as if she had been the queen of a modern Pharaoh. His foamy and flowery rhetoric put me into such a state of good-nature that I said, I will print my poem, and let the critical Gil Blas handle it as he did the archbishop's sermon, or would have done, if he had been a writer for the "Salamanca Weekly."

It must be premised that a very beautiful loving cup was presented to me on my recent birthday, by eleven ladies of my acquaintance. This was the most costly and notable of all the many tributes I received, and for which in different forms I expressed my gratitude.

TO THE ELEVEN LADIES WHO PRESENTED ME WITH A SILVER LOVING CUP ON THE TWENTY-NINTH OF AUGUST, M DCCC LXXXIX.

"Who gave this cup?" The secret thou wouldst steal Its brimming flood forbids it to reveal:

No mortal's eye shall read it till he first Cool the red throat of thirst.

If on the golden floor one draught remain, Trust me, thy careful search will be in vain;

Not till the bowl is emptied shalt thou know The names enrolled below.

Deeper than Truth lies buried in her well Those modest names the graven letters spell Hide from the sight; but, wait, and thou shalt see Who the good angels be Whose bounty glistens in the beauteous gift That friendly hands to loving lips shall lift:

Turn the fair goblet when its floor is dry, Their names shall meet thine eye.

Count thou their number on the beads of Heaven, Alas! the clustered Pleiads are but seven;

Nay, the nine sister Muses are too few,--The Graces must add two.

"For whom this gift?" For one who all too long Clings to his bough among the groves of song;

Autumn's last leaf, that spreads its faded wing To greet a second spring.

Dear friends, kind friends, whate'er the cup may hold, Bathing its burnished depths, will change to gold Its last bright drop let thirsty Maenads drain, Its fragrance will remain.

Better love's perfume in the empty bowl Than wine's nepenthe for the aching soul Sweeter than song that ever poet sung, It makes an old heart young!

同类推荐
  • 论语点睛补注

    论语点睛补注

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 朱子家训

    朱子家训

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 看命一掌金

    看命一掌金

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 黄庭外景经

    黄庭外景经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 书生初见

    书生初见

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 名侦探柯南之默默守护

    名侦探柯南之默默守护

    发现他的真实身份却没有说出来,默默的守护他,被他发现,那会发生什么呢?
  • EXO记忆的迷宫出口是他

    EXO记忆的迷宫出口是他

    女猪脚是一个大红大紫的明星,但是历经坎坷,失忆、背叛、亲人的离去……世上只有他边伯贤,是她世上唯一的亲人。她与EXO中一成员的关系,会变怎样呢?还有她的队员,会和EXO们擦出怎样的火花呢?
  • 生化危机:当丧尸逆袭时

    生化危机:当丧尸逆袭时

    她,刚刚出场便成为到处吃人的丧尸炮灰女配角,开启了系统,想尽办法做好系统任务回到现实世界,与女主斗智斗勇,男主们却开始频频放电。“乖乖躺好我就让你逆袭。”沈未伤挑眉。”我是最喜欢你的人,一直都是。“苏子辰轻笑。”你要是只看着我就好了。“白书恒咬唇。做得了系统任务,虐得了完美女主,关键是招了一身桃花债,白晗可不管丧尸不丧尸,炮灰女配要翻身!------该书首发云起书院群号:554111570求敲人气啊!!
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • 王源,是你给了我温暖

    王源,是你给了我温暖

    妈妈突然的去世使马思源伤心,在伤心中碰到了帅哥王源,在他的照顾下,俩人成了情侣。
  • 羽皇释心记

    羽皇释心记

    为王又作皇,杀尽天下只为令她重生魔羽问世,责问她,将她封入无间虚空,一万年后重生,失去曾经无人能及的力量魔羽说:失去远悲惨于死亡。
  • 国王君临

    国王君临

    想要万人瞩目,有着篮球梦想的少年。曾经比肩乔丹的天之骄子,伦·拜亚斯的不屈之魂。当两人合二为一……战斗!率领球队驰骋世界舞台,完成对“上帝”的超越。冠军!“让我们山呼海啸,欢迎黄色上帝,我们唯一挚爱的国王——圣乔治!”PS:目前计划每天两更,早上11点,下午6点。PS-2:新人新书,满地卖萌打滚求留言,求推荐,求点击,求收藏各种求!
  • 耀世灵域

    耀世灵域

    无极之道,唯我独尊!天地之间,谁主浮沉?混沌源生出,万世哭;域外异族侵,天下劫。应运而生,耀世临天下!
  • 命苍天

    命苍天

    岁月埋葬了过去的秘密,一切被时光掩埋,一个少年从边陲小地开始,一路高歌,柳阳:“我誓要站在巅峰之地,纵观千古,吾命苍天!”
  • 驿路仙踪

    驿路仙踪

    作为一个炼气士,丘哲一直谨遵师命,老老实实躲在城市的角落里修行。直到有一天,他发现这个世界跟过去不一样了。一座六朝时代的古墓出土,引来各方势力的角逐,为了得到蕴含强大力量的秘宝,无数人陷入了惨烈的厮杀。然而秘宝之中另有玄机,想成为它主人的人,最后都变成了力量的奴隶。一心远离是非的丘哲,身不由己地卷入了漩涡中心,一直到他成为真正的仙人,他才知道,这一切的因果,早在他拜师的那一刻,就已经种下。