Show FELL FELLON fELLON FELLON ON LARGE THEMES Rev Frank Fay Eddy Says He Scored as and Simple Poet NOT THE POET LAUREATE s Sho Signal Failure of Trilogy Which Was us Expected to 10 He lie the tile Masterpiece ln c. At t the services of or the First Unitarian society yesterday Rev fie Frank Fay Pay l Eddy dd gave e a a n brief study of Longfellow In place vInce or of the regular sermon serman Tho Time Sunda Sunday school also held a special Longfellow v service The Tho music Included the lie usual anthem by 11 Unity quartet and a solo b by Mr Poll entitled I 1 am aln a n Pilgrim In lii which his Ills fine tenor was heard to tho llo best an ad tn tage e. e Mr Ir Eddy said that he would deviate somewhat from time the theme which he had hac at al first announce announced and ancl instead enstead o of making an In study of or the faith of or Longfellow Long Long- fellow use the time to make a n hast hasty character char char- actor acter study of oC the he poet as reflected In his work leaving his faith to be Inferred As we understand a noole character we understand tnt i outlook on life lift and destiny destiny des des- Un tiny which we codify In set fOet terms and called a creed cred but hut this after all but bitt hat hal express the man At un any rate ato the character charac charac- ter stud study comes first For this let Longfellow Long Long- f fellow lIow give he us a text All AIh great reat achievements are the lie natura fruits nil a Of or a great real character r As M trees bear helf not Their fruits of the same size and atilt quality But nul each on one In its kind in equal case So are Ire great t deeds as natural to great men menAs mens As s mean things are arc to small ones ll By his hits work c 0 know lenow the master In Tn another place In the lie same samo poem from which I quote Michael Angelo elo he says as a's J th nn hia nail I m then lieu le ftH loaves leavea ji It It Those Tho-lC that come COmO after rafter him will mato mate His Ills Influence on the a age e in which he lie II lived Tho The character of or Ton Longfellow shines forth unreservedly edly and anti transparent in his an and the subtle aroma aronin of or his faith faiths Is s as ins inseparably connected with hat thit l character as the perfume is with the rose Won Popular NTo Xo study character of a man Is com com- p et unless made In iii the Ii light hl of his work I If we see what is attempted h by a man manIn manIn In the transient days of life we have ha some Seine inkling of what life meant to him hini The work of or Lon Longfellow snows shows him to lo us in several se aspects In at least 1 two wo phases of hl his endeavors he hI was able I to win n popular popular pop pop- ular as as as a teacher an and as aH 41 IL troubadour lie He could do both of these thes s lie v nse lie he wa n a master of his craft As a literary craftsman an Poe alon amon among literary men Is to he be compared to him And lh those these two are arc not really comparable com corn parable for Cor the wild and v wierd themes of or Poc Poe were beyond the thc dreams of ol Longfellow Long Long- fellow while Poe was no less shut out from all understanding of oC the simple the dic- and pastoral subjects Longfellow managed 1 wit with Ii such feud felicity ty Ton Longfellow puts In graceful verse erse tIn tho common things of ever evera everyday every a living and nov never r can the they seem scorn mean menu and ami sot soi- or-I or dl did So simple his song son and FO so clear chal hl his note not the time children n read and love his lays I Without conscious effort he has hns become the childrens children's poet If In his sometImes sometimes some some- times limes are arc glided gilded over platitudes it Is al always al ways with graceful Imagery so that they live Ii a again aln not riot in dead maxims but in thought vivified rc In Ju new and pleasant forms So he teaches The Tho scholar cholar Is In charmed with the ease case of his kiln style tillman time till theman man of few books with the lie simplicity of his meaning Each reads and understand under tinder stands stand And Longfellow was a n troubadour In the time modern world who told and retold tales and san sang legends and myths in a way wiy to appeal to the dullest As AH the tho wan ivan dering minstrels sang l In days of old the deeds o of heroes and th the fame of fair air ladles so 50 this graceful sinner singer catches the ear cat of oC an all age beset with man many cares and lulls to calm the too excited mind until the noise of or lifes life's harsh larsh struggle Is forgotten forg as aM we listen n no to o his lowing flowing verse CIse When hen we se analyze we e sometimes wonder r ho hio hov we e ve wee captivated for few rew story tellers ever posse possessed Md so little of tho the dramatic faculty faculty fac fac- but charm us he lie ICes does even as we e arc borne awa away from froni tho world orid of potty petty cares h by sweet music music- Indeed it Is IsIt P It partly the music of hl lila his verse We c read pa page e after page oC Hiawatha tha from sheer delight In Its Its' rhythm as we do 10 with Evangeline that both hoth styles styleN of cr verse c were condemned b by the critics dl disturbs us UR not at a all Where ITc Failed It Is when Lon Longfellow essays 8 the thu larger themes of or a great reat artist t that we 1 must admit his failure even evon our heart icart protests 1 Hl us trilogy consisting t i of f Time The Golden legend and New England Englund rm Tragedies is little read flue and deserves little lUle reading Yet on on this book he lie hoped to lo found round his hla enduring fame HI HIt ills Is 11 perhaps the weakest thing he lie over ever produced The Legend standing by Itself lit is a dell story with s lt Its Ils scenes laid in the middle ages but hut as Its a U part o of an scheme of portraying th the epic flow of religious lous thought from n age e to age it too ton is a failure Ills His New v England Tragedies deal with early curly persecutions per per- of tho time Quakers and supposed witches hut but almost I i iii t end In I n gly I Longfellow has hus been called the poet laureate of America h by some ome who say nay his hiM universal popularity Indicated that he la I a spokesman for fOl certain sweet and noble characteristics which lie In thin tho h heart of our American manhood and womanhood One such sueh commentator whom I have read recently compares him with Whitman to the thi disparagement disparage disparage- ment uncut of or the tho latter because e foreign critIcs crit crit- ics insist on rc regarding Whitman with his barbaric Yawp an as being the representative American poet Such a critic reads Whitman without lie IIo I Is uncouth and ond untamed but hut big and auli genuinely powerful Ion Longfellow rellow unquestionably eXpressed H ed something sweet and noble which Is In our life but Whitman al also alHo o expressed something else IRe even en more significant Our national life IM Is as aM yet too complex and und disordered for nn any aimy one man mun to lo express It fully Whitman and I Longfellow each expressed the phase the Hicy saw and understood Our poet laureate ate however In iii yet et to lo be he born The Time poem In which Longfellow Y ro- ro venla caIM most of himself I Is probably Michael Angelo J This poem ho left Incomplete but bUl It waK VU nev never r designed to be he completed apparently It laid in his ills desk leuk Hk year after year and from Cram time limo timeto to lo time h he adieu added to It fl It Il can not nOl be doubted that he saw In the heroic figure fig fig- ure url of nf thin the great greut rat artist as he lived lit anti and lov loved d anti and struggled through the ln last t years of oC his hi career one whom he lie fondly likened to lo himself And in this poem we catch hints hint of ot a n. sadness and a too clear understanding of or the futility of or lifes life's heat best endeavors greatly at vanance variance variance vari van ance with the sentiment of el some of oC his lila more read and more marc popular po poems m I Is It not Dot Io possible that here hem we have suggested an Inner tragedy ely in the life of our poet The poets poet's vision was waif hi his hll and carefully he lie had selected and mastered mas mits- his tool tools but the tho rude nude wild strength to handle with the careless pla play of or a K slant giant the big bl themes theme of epic r f to tn siz the till tragic great and dramatic Interests was WAtS denied him Do you not think that limit this sense cn c of failure allure I ma made le an Inner tragedy which he locked deep In lila his heart But nut If IC the pot poet failed ailed In hl hits his more amI ambitious am- am dream he lie succeeded succeed tl wonderfully r I I Inn afi a singer of oC sweet lIons songs a as aM a u story I teller and a a. weaver o of pleasant spells i r I He lie succeeded an as a a. teacher lencher of or truth In all nil Its ltd simplicity lie He made beautiful the hue day every Interests and the tho com com- of or dally daily living hiving To tb do this Is Is Is- much If Ir the tIme praise of oC tho the critics critic does doe not nut swell sell in unison until It becomes becomes be be- comes come u a poun the hearts ts of or the lowly the voices of the tIle children and the Joy- Joy out recon recognition I of or all who ho lovo a u tale well told or a simple 1 lesson well put acclaim hIm him a n g gentle teacher and ancI a it c 15 sweet et singer r. r If It he lIed filled In hl his dream of being H it muster mastor and a n genius he lie became a lovIng lov lov- ing teacher message WNM tas the this beauty ut of or righteousness It if ho lie at attempted attempted at- at I tempted In vain the tIme role rolt of oC a prophet h hw a latter day to oh I charm the world from rom submersion In I Its anxious care cares |