MAUD MULLER

This is, perhaps, the most popular of Whittier's poems. It is remarkably clear throughout. It illustrates the thoughtful moral tone of the poet; and the last stanzas, with their touching sadness, seem to have sprung from his own experience. This fact gives them an additional interest. The poet has been mildly criticised for calling the heroine, a plain New England country girl, by the name of Maud; but it is not easy to think of any other name that would have suited better.

1. Spinnet = a musical instrument resembling the harpsichord, but of smaller size and lighter tone.

2. Astral

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astral lamp; a lamp with a ring-shaped reservoir so placed that its shadow does not fall directly below the flame.

TAULER

"The religious element in Whittier's poems," says Underwood, "is something vital and inseparable. The supremacy of moral ideas is indeed inculcated by almost all great poets, and at no time more than in the present. And in almost all modern verse the filial relation of man to his Creator, and the immanence of the Spirit in the human heart, are at least tacitly recognized. The leading poets of America are, one and all, reverent in feeling and tone. But it is quite evident that Whittier alone is religious in a high and inward sense." His deep religious feeling is exhibited in this poem.

1. John Tauler (1290-1361) was born at Strasburg, where he spent most of his life. He was one of the most prominent representatives of mediæval German mysticism, and one of the greatest preachers of his time. His words came home to the heart of both high and low, spreading light everywhere, and justly procuring for him the title of doctor illuminatus."

2. Plinth

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"the square member at the bottom of the base of a column. Also the plain projecting band forming a base of a wall." - CHAMBERS. 3. Pediment the triangular ornamental space over a portico, or over doors, windows, and gates. 4. Architrave the part of an entablature that rests immediately on the column. Above the architrave is the frieze. See Dictionary for illustration. 5. Erwin of Steinbach was one of the architects of the Strasburg Cathedral, which was four centuries in building.

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6. This tower reaches to a height of 465 feet.

XVI

SELECTIONS FROM HOLMES

OLD IRONSIDES

Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!
Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky;
Beneath it rung the battle shout,
And burst the cannon's roar;

The meteor of the ocean air

Shall sweep the clouds no more!

Her deck, once red with heroes' blood,
Where knelt the vanquished foe,
When winds were hurrying o'er the flood
And waves were white below,

No more shall feel the victor's tread,
Or know the conquered knee;
The harpies 2 of the shore shall pluck
The eagle of the sea.

O better that her shattered hulk

Should sink beneath the wave; Her thunders shook the mighty deep, And there should be her grave; Nail to the mast her holy flag,

Set every threadbare sail,

And give her to the god of storms,3

The lightning and the gale.

THE LAST LEAF

I SAW him once before,

As he passed by the door,
And again

The pavement stones resound,

As he totters o'er the ground
With his cane.

They say that in his prime,
Ere the pruning-knife of Time
Cut him down,

Not a better man was found
By the Crier on his round
Through the town.

But now he walks the streets,
And he looks at all he meets
Sad and wan,

And he shakes his feeble head,
That it seems as if he said,
"They are gone."

The mossy marbles rest

On the lips that he has prest

In their bloom,

And the names he loved to hear

Have been carved for many a year

On the tomb.

My grandmamma has said

Poor old lady, she is dead

Long ago

That he had a Roman nose,

And his cheek was like a rose

In the snow.

But now his nose is thin,

And it rests upon his chin

Like a staff,

He took the paper, and I watched,
And saw him peep within;
At the first line he read, his face
Was all upon the grin.

He read the next; the grin grew broad,

And shot from ear to ear;

He read the third; a chuckling noise

I now began to hear.

The fourth; he broke into a roar;
The fifth; his waistband split;
The sixth; he burst five buttons off,
And tumbled in a fit.

Ten days and nights, with sleepless eye,
I watched that wretched man;

And since, I never dare to write

As funny as I can.

THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS

THIS is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,
Sails the unshadowed main,

The venturous bark that flings

On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings
In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren 1 sings,

And coral reefs lie bare,

Where the cold sea-maids 2 rise to sun their streaming hair.

Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl; 3

Wrecked is the ship of pearl!

And every chambered cell,

Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell,
As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell,
Before thee lies revealed,

Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed!