Poetical Works of Mrs. Hemans (Classic Reprint)
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| Hersteller: | Forgotten Books (Hemans, Felicia Dorothea Browne) |
| Stand: | 2015-08-04 03:50:33 |
Produktbeschreibung
Excerpt from Poetical Works of Mrs. Hemans It has been said by a fine writer, that, although genius is the heir of fame, the loss of life is the condition on which the bright reversion must be earned; that fame is the recompense not of the living, but of the dead, - its temple standing over the grave, and the flame of its altar kindled from the ashes of the great. There is truth in the thought, as well as beauty in the expression of it, though, like most general remarks of the same description, it is open to both qualification and exception. It is true that fame is not popularity merely. It is not the shout of the multitude. It is not ´the idle buzz of fashion, the venal puff, the soothing flattery of favour or of friendship.´ But is it alone, on the other hand, the spirit of a man surviving himself, as Hazlitt describes it, in the minds and thoughts of other men? Or, as he splendidly represents it again, is it only ´the sound which the stream of high thoughts, carried down to future ages, makes as it flows - deep, distant, murmuring evermore like the waters of the mighty ocean?´ This is fame, indeed. No reputation can be called such, that will not endure that test. But may it not begin also in the life of him that earns it? May it not begin, and continue, coincident with the mere popularity which is so often mistaken for itself, - as the immortal soul disdains not the envelope of perishing humanity, which it is destined so soon to leave, and to outlive so long? May not the spirit of a man transfuse its influence into the spirits of other men, without the mythological transmigration which, according to this theory, death implies; - and the force of that influence be felt, and recognized, and acknowledged, - imperfectly and tardily we admit that it generally is, - ere yet the ´swift decay´ of him that so works for the world, and for posterity, shall quite release him from his toils? It is truly a ´weary life´ - "A wasting task, and lone -" as that of the diver, in Eastern Seas, for the gem that, gleam as it may, ´a star to all the festive hall´, - " - Not one ´midst throngs will say, ´A life has been, like a rain-drop, shed, For that pale quivering ray,"´ A weary life! And who will think, the mournful fancy adds, "When the strain is sung, Till a thousand hearts are stirr´d, What life-drops, from the minstrel wrung, Have gush´d with every word?" "None! none! - his treasures live like thine, He strives and dies like thee, - Thou that hast been to the pearl´s dark shrine, O wrestler with the sea!" And this also is doubtless true, - that, weary and wasting as it is, - this diving for the gems of thought, - the world, that is to wear the rich results, does not and cannot appreciate, or but slowly and slightly at the best, the exhausting effort which it costs. That can be understood only by him who suffers it, and it is the province of the one party even to enjoy ´the price of the bitter tears´ of the other. But it is enjoyed; and that is fame. It is the influence of mind upon mind, independently of every personal consideration; and that is fame, - however much those considerations, or some of them, were they known and felt, as they cannot be, might add to the interest of that influence, and even to its force. The best confirmation, melancholy though it be, of the truth of these remarks, is furnished by the case of the gifted, accomplished, and amiable writer whose beautiful illustration of her own career - not to call it a prediction of her own destiny - we have borrowed, and whose works are now for the first time gathered together, in the following pages, we trust w
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