FOREIGN PERIODICALS REFERRED TO IN THIS VOLUME.

NEW-YORK

THE

AMERICAN ECLECTIC.

JANUARY, 18 4 2.

VOL. III., NO. VII.

ARTICLE I.

THE CATHOLIC TONE OF SEVERAL RECENT POETICAL WORKS, IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

THE history of literature in all lands proves the power which poets possess to diffuse their own sentiments into those of the public, and to fix the public eye on themselves. "It is," as one has well expressed it,* "the power of an ardent, bold, creative nature over spirits that cannot follow its march, but still bow to the dominion which attends it-the power of a high-reaching, imaginative intellect over a passive one, yielded to the beautiful illusion which is thrown around it." Dim and distant deeds and virtues, whether.real or imagined, of which the common mind possesses but a dull conception or a drowsy remembrance, are thus, by the power of poetry, rendered irresistibly fascinating. And poetry, we readily admit, is allied to religion, and may become the language of high religious feeling, as it is of emotion generally. But it is not, on that account, itself religion. It is also often leagued with superstition. It is the language of imagination, in its wildest, most daring, most unauthorized flights, as well as in its legitimate exercise under the control of an enlightened understanding and a pure heart:

"And, as imagination bodies forth

The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them to shape, and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name."

This it does among the dreamy superstitions of heathen Mythology, and of Romanism, as well as amid the imagery which is associated with the grander and higher mysteries of revealed truth.

Of this easy alliance of poetry with superstition, with dreams and fancies, as well as with religion, the writer of the following article does

* Grenville Mellen. American Bib. Repos. July, 1840.

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not seem to be fully aware. At least he does not care to warn the reader of such a danger. He would rather identify the power of poetry with that of religion, and claim for the one almost the same homage which is due to the other. On this subject, therefore, it seems incumbent on us to offer a few remarks, that our readers may be apprised of what may strike some as an anti-Protestant tendency in this article, which we have selected, partly on this account,-to show how ingeniously the "Oxford Divines" are accustomed to insinuate their peculiar views, but especially for the beautiful style of the writer, and the many just sentiments it contains.

It has been shrewdly remarked that "poetry has had something to do with the new movement" at Oxford. "Professor Keble, one of the principal tractators, is a genuine child of song. His 'Christian Year' was, in one sense, a precursor of the Tracts. It strowed the way with the sweetest flowers of poesy. It burnished the Apostolical chain to a wonderful brightness. It intermingled and hallowed the usages of the Church with the most delicate affections of the heart, and the most musical cadences of the voice. It almost beguiled the stern nonconformist into a love for the feasts and the fasts of the usurping church. As we read the soothing and mellow verses of Keble, our affections flow, involuntarily, towards the objects of his passionate admiration. We cannot stop to analyze the sentiment which is couched beneath the delicious strain. It seems like Vandalism to hunt for heresy amid the flowers scattered along by one so gentle and so loving. With the poet, we can hardly forbear to loathe every thing which would interrupt the strains of melody that seem to have been caught near heaven's door. At the same time, it must be acknowledged that the volume contains not a little in which a zealous Papist would most cordially sympathize. Witness the following:

'Ave Maria! Thou whose name
All but adoring love may claim,
Yet may we reach thy shrine;
For He, thy Son and Saviour, vows
To crown all lowly, lofty brows
With love and joy like thine.'"

"The poetry of Wordsworth," says the same writer, "is not wholly free from expressions of the same general tenor with many in the 'Christian Year.' The general spirit is strikingly congenial with the tendencies of some of the writers of the Oxford Tracts. The poetry is meditative, calm, soothing, peaceful, utterly unallied to the noisy, forward, assuming spirit of the present times. It loves the past. Its voices lin

*The British Critic, from which the following article is selected, is the acknowledged organ of the Oxford writers, as we have had occasion to remark in previous Nos. of the Eclectic.

† See an article entitled Observations on the Religious and Ecclesiastical Condition of England, Am. Bib. Repository, Jan. 1841. Concerning this article a distinguished scholar in London writes as follows to his friend in New-York :"The article on the Religious Condition of England, in the 'Biblical Repository,' is as good, I think, as any thing I have met with on the subject of the Puseyite controversy. If it were generally read in this country, it would show that our condition is much better understood in America than we are apt to imagine."

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ger and quiver among the Gothic aisles, and towers, and arches of the old cathedrals. It is full of ecclesiastical sympathies and recollections. One of the prominent effects of the immortal Excursion' is to hallow in the reader's mind the observances of the church of England, and, in no small degree, of the church of Rome; for the English ritual is a transcript, in many respects, of that used by the earlier communion. The poet does not stop with the present life; in the 'Church-yard among the Mountains,' we are carried forward to the life beyond the grave. Our dearest hopes are indissolubly linked with the solemn words of the prayer-book, words imperishably associated with the sublime cadence of the faithful poet. The same remarks, in a certain degree, are applicable to his great cotemporaries, Southey and Coleridge. All have contributed, in no slight measure, to awaken a fondness for antiquity, a reverence for the noble army of martyrs, an undying attachment to what is time-worn and venerable in the church. We can trace an intimate acquaintance with their works in some of the Oxford theologians. There is a grace and a freshness in the style, a rhythm in the periods, a delicacy and a thoughtfulness in the observations, and a correspondence in the spirit, which prove that the prose writers have sat at the feet of the poets."

The characteristics of style and tendency alluded to, in the last remarks above quoted, we think are manifest in the article which we here introduce; while the writer not only commends the "Catholic tone" of the poetical works named at the head of his review, but claims it as strongly indicative of the tendency of the age. The undisguised admissions and avowals of our author on this subject not only confirm our opinion of the fact of the influence of poetry in shaping the sentiments of the Oxford writers, but make it apparent that they have designed to avail themselves of this influence, to the greatest possible extent, in the propagation of their views. It is the medium through which they confidently expect to ensnare and lead away" the public mind. "The Catholic system," says our author, "is the true development of the heavenly grace. As far as we depart from it, so far does the whole nature seem to deteriorate, and to become in course of time dull, dead, graceless, unimaginative and unspiritual." If this were so, the whole Protestant world would have reason to be alarmed at the power which is thus arrayed against them. But we are not convinced that the true spirit of poetry is dependent for its development on the "Catholic system," as adopted and defended by these writers. To us it appears equally and still more congenial with the more simple and sublime conceptions of the truth, as it is revealed in the gospel, apart from the traditions and commandments of men. And we cannot but think that, in their admiration of ancient customs and usages, the Oxford writers have misjudged as to the mode in which the poetic influence is hereafter to exert its power upon enlightened men, if not upon the mass of mankind. In the simplicity of early times, and the comparatively moral inaction of the middle ages, it was a necessary consequence of the state of society, that the poet should hold a more discernible elevation above the mass of minds around him. Poetry was then leagued with superstitious dread. "It was a thing to wonder and tremble at,—to be heard in terrible distinctness as a revelation, amid the forests and sacred groves of the gods,"

-to be listened to and obeyed, as if it were the breathing of prophecy. Then the poet was honored as almost a deity, and lorded it over the kingdom of unawakened intellect. But with the changes of time and things, there has come also a change of the mode in which the power of poetry may be efficiently exerted on the minds of men. Society has advanced in intelligence. It has emerged from the mist and darkness of mediæval times; and the poet, while he retains his essential power, has lost his once elevated superiority among men. He is no longer to be deified and idolized. His productions are no longer to be dreamed over, but to be studied,—to be admired and cherished for their beautiful and kindly influences upon the charities of life, and for the aids which they supply to the strength of faith and piety in the soul.

We have said enough to direct the attention of the reader to those passages in the following article, and in the quoted specimens of the works reviewed, which may serve to justify our opinion that poetry has exerted no inconsiderable influence to encourage and strengthen the Oxford writers in their peculiar views, and in the confident hope which they cherish of their successful inculcation and ultimate triumph in the church of England. It is worthy of remark also that the two American works enumerated in this review are hailed as indications that the same "Catholic tone" is about to pervade the poetry, and accordingly to modify the doctrines and usages of the daughter church in America. How far this encouragement may be justified by the youthful and respectable productions here referred to, we leave it for our Episcopal brethren to judge. We will only add that, whatever may be the "Americanism" of our young poet's style, the true spirit of song which it breathes is not, in our opinion, surpassed by any of the specimens selected from the other poems embraced in this review.

We ask the reader's pardon for having detained him so long from an article, which, notwithstanding our differences with the writer, we have read with unusual delight.-SR. ED.

From the British Critic, October, 1841.

NEW POETRY.

1. England's Trust, and other Poems. By Lord John Manners. London Rivingtons. 1841.

2. Miscellaneous Poetry. By the Rev. Herbert Kynaston, M. A., late Student of Christ Church, and now High Master of St. Paul's. London: Fellowes. 1841.

3. Sacred Fountains and Waters versified. By Lady S. Burns. 1841. 4. The Hymns of the Church, mostly Primitive, collected, translated and arranged for Public Use. By the Rev. J. Chandler, M. A., Vicar of Witley. London: J. W. Parker.

1841.

5. Christian Ballads. By A. Cleaveland Coxe. New-York, and 35 Paternoster Row, London. 1840.

6. Sacred Melodies, or Hymns for Youth; with appropriate Selections from Scriptures. New-York. 1841.