Selections from American poetry Part 46

56. Tilly: Johann Tserklaes, Count von Tilly, a German imperial commander in the Thirty Years' War.

57. Walloon: a people akin to the French, inhabiting Belgium and some districts of Prussia. They have great vivacity than the Flemish, and more endurance than the French.

66. Jewry: Judea.

76. reeve: a bailiff or overseer.

31. snooded. The unmarried women of Scotland formerly wore a band around their heads to distinguish them from married women.

99. Tolbooth: Scotch word for prison.

126. This idea is expanded in the poem "Seed-time and Harvest."

RAPHAEL

Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520), the great Italian painter. Trained first by his father, later by the great Perugino. His work was done mainly in Florence and Rome.

6. This picture is the portrait of Raphael when scarcely more than a boy.

17. Gothland's sage: Sweden's wise man, Emanuel Swedenborg.

36. Raphael painted many madonnas, but the word "drooped" limits this description. Several might be included under this: "The Small Holy Family," "The Virgin with the Rose," or, most probable of all to me, "The Madonna of the Chair."

37. the Desert John: John the Baptist.

40. "The Transfiguration" is not as well known as some of the madonnas, but shows in wonderful manner Raphael's ability to handle a large group of people, without detracting from the central figure. It is now in the Vatican Gallery, at Rome.

42. There are few great Old Testament stories which are not depicted by Raphael. Among them are The Pa.s.sage Through Jordan, The Fall of Jericho, Joshua Staying the Sun, David and Goliath, The Judgment of Solomon, The Building of the Temple, Moses Bringing the Tables of the Law, the Golden Calf, and many others equally well known.

45. Fornarina. This well-known portrait is now in the Palazzo Barberini in Rome.

70. holy song on Milton's tuneful ear. Poetry and painting are here spoken of together as producing permanent effects, and from the figure he uses we may add music to the list. Compare Longfellow's "The Arrow and the Song." In the last stanza the field is still further broadened until his thought is that all we do lives after us.

SEED-TIME AND HARVEST

Whittier's intense interest in Freedom is here apparent. His earlier poems were largely on the slavery question in America. His best work was not done until he began to devote his poetic ability to a wider range of subjects.

26. See Longfellow, "A Psalm of Life," 11. 9-12 and note.

THE PROPHECY of SAMUEL SEWALL

12. Samuel Sewall is one of the most interesting characters in colonial American history. He was born in England in 1652, but came to America while still a child. He graduated from Harvard College in 1671 and finally became a justice of the peace. He was instrumental in the Salem witchcraft decision, but later bitterly repented. He made in 1697 a public confession of his share in the matter and begged that G.o.d would "not visit the sin...

upon the Land."

28. Hales Reports. Sir Matthew Hale (1609-1676) was one of the most eminent judges of England. From 1671 to 1676 he occupied the position of Chief Justice of the King's Bench, the highest judicial position in England. Sewall was depending upon an authority of the day.

32. warlock's: a wizard, one who deals in incantations; synonymous with witch.

46. Theocracy: a state governed directly by the ministers of G.o.d.

58. hand-grenade: a hollow sh.e.l.l, filled with explosives, arranged to be thrown by hand among the enemy and to explode on impact.

73. Koordish robber. The Kurds were a nomadic people living in Kurdistan, Persia, and Caucasia. They were very savage and vindictive, specially towards Armenians. The Sheik was the leader of a clan or town and as such had great power.

81. Newbury, Ma.s.s. Judge Sewall's father was one of the founders of the town.

130-156. This prophecy is most effective in its use of local color for a spiritual purpose. Beginning with local conditions which might be changed, it broadens to include all nature which shall never grow old.

SKIPPER IRESON'S RIDE

Skipper Ireson's Ride. Whittier was told after this poem was published that it was not historically accurate, since the crew and not Skipper Ireson was to blame for the desertion of the wreck. He stated that he had founded his poem on a song sung to him when he was a boy.

3. Apuleius's Golden a.s.s. Apuleius was a Latin satirical writer whose greatest work was a romance or novel called "The Golden a.s.s." The hero is by chance changed into an a.s.s,, and has all sorts of adventures until he is finally freed from the magic by eating roses in the hands of a priest of Isis.

3. one-eyed Calendar's horse of bra.s.s. See the Arabian Nights'

Entertainments for the story of the one-eyed beggar.

6. Al-Borak: according to the Moslem creed the animal brought by Gabriel to carry Mohammed to the seventh heaven. It had the face of a man, the body of a horse, the wings of an eagle, and spoke with a human voice.

11. Marblehead, in Ma.s.sachusetts.

30. Maenads: the nymphs who danced and sang in honor of Bacchus, the G.o.d of vegetation and the vine.

35. Chalettr Bay, in Newfoundland, a part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

THE DOUBLE-HEADED SNAKE of NEWBURY

6. Deucalion flood. The python was a monstrous serpent which arose from the mud left after the flood in which Deucalion survived. The python lived in a cave on Mount Parna.s.sus and there Apollo slew him. Deucalion and his wife, Pyrrha were saved from the flood because Zeus respected their piety. They obeyed the oracle and threw stones behind them from which sprang men and women to repopulate the earth.

9. See "The Prophecy of Samuel Sewall" for another story of Newbury town.

22. stones of Cheops: an Egyptian king, about 2900 b.c.; built the great pyramid, which is called by his name.

59. Each town in colonial days set aside certain land for free pasture-land for the inhabitants.

80. double-ganger: a double or apparition of a person; here, a reptile moving in double form.

76. Cotton Mather (1663-1728). This precocious boy entered Harvard College at eleven and graduated at fifteen. At seventeen he preached his first sermon and all his life was a zealous divine. He was undoubtedly sincere in his judgments in the cases of witchcraft and was not thoughtlessly cruel. He was a great writer and politician and a public- minded citizen.

85. Wonder-Book of Cotton Mather is his story of early New England life called Magnalia Christi Americana.

MAUD MULLER