"The tide's at full: the marsh with flooded streams

Glimmers a limpid labyrinth of dreams;"*6*



and of the heavens reflected in the marsh waters:

"Each winding creek in grave entrancement lies



A rhapsody of morning-stars. The skies

Shine scant with one forked galaxy, --



The marsh brags ten: looped on his breast they lie."*7*

Later, as the ebb-tide flows from marsh to sea, we are parenthetically treated



to these two lines:

"Run home, little streams,



With your lapfuls of stars and dreams."*8*

Finally, the heaven itself is thus pictured:



"Now in each pettiest personal sphere of dew

The summ'd morn shines complete as in the blue



Big dew-drop of all heaven;"*9*

beside which must be hung this exquisite picture:



"The dew-drop morn may fall from off the petal of the sky."*10*

--



*1* In `Clover'.

*2* `Corn', ll. 185-187.



*3* See on this point the remarks of Professor Trent

in his admirable life of `Simms' (Boston, 1892), p. 149.



*4* `June Dreams', l. 21 ff.

*5* `Psalm of the West', l. 183 ff.



*6* `Sunrise', ll. 80-81.

*7* Ibid., ll. 82-85.



*8* Ibid., ll. 114-115.

*9* Ibid., ll. 134-136.



*10* `The Ship of Earth', l. 5.

--



As to versification, Lanier uses almost all the types of verse

-- iambic, trochaic, blank, the sonnet, etc. -- and with about equal skill.



Three features, however, speciallycharacterize his verse:

the careful distribution of vowel-colors and the frequent use



of alliteration and of phonetic syzygy,*1* by which last is meant

a combination or succession of identical or similar consonants,



whether initially, medially, or finally, as for instance

the succession of M's in Tennyson's



"The moan of doves in immemorial elms

And murmuring of innumerable bees."



All of these phenomena are illustrated in Lanier's

`Song of the Chattahoochee', which has often been compared



to Tennyson's `The Brook', and which alone proves the author

a master in versification. To be sure, Lanier occasionally" target="_blank" title="ad.偶然地；非经常地">occasionally gives us



an improper rhyme, as `thwart: heart',*2* etc., but so does every poet.

No doubt, too, his love of music sometimes led him,



not "to strain for form effects", but to indulge too much therein,

or, in the words of Mr. Stedman, "to essay in language



feats that only the gamut can render possible."*3* But, as Professor Kent

admirably puts it, "Lanier was a poet as well as an artist,



and if at times his artistictemperament seemed to eclipse his poetic thought,

grant that to the poet mind the very manner of expression



may indicate the thought that lies beneath, while to the duller ear

the thought must come in completed form."*4* Moreover, as we shall see later,



this extraordinarymusicalendowment gave Lanier a unique position

among English poets.



--

*1* See `The Science of English Verse', p. 306 ff.



*2* `In the Foam', ll. 6, 8. See, too, Kent's `Study of Lanier's Poems',

which gives an exhaustive treatment of Lanier's versification.



*3* Stedman's `Poets of America', p. 449.

*4* `Kent', p. 60.



--

After what has been said the qualities of style may be briefly handled.



As we have already seen, Lanier sometimes fails in clearness,

or, more precisely, in simplicity. This comes partly



from infelicitous sentence-construction, partly, perhaps,

from Lanier's extraordinarymusicalendowment, but chiefly, I think,



from over-luxuriance of imagination. But this occasionaldefect

has been unduly exaggerated. Thus Mr. Gosse*1* declares



that Lanier is "never simple, never easy, never in one single lyric

natural and spontaneous for more than one stanza," -- a statement

• christ [kraist] n.基督 int.天啊! (初中英语单词)


• outline [´autlain] n.外形 vt.画出…轮廓 (初中英语单词)


• violet [´vaiələt] n.&a.紫罗兰(的)；紫色 (初中英语单词)


• florida [´flɔridə] n.佛罗里达 (初中英语单词)


• paragraph [´pærəgrɑ:f] n.段；节 vt.将…分段 (初中英语单词)


• elaborate [i´læbərət, -reit] a.精心设计的 (初中英语单词)


• butcher [´butʃə] n.屠夫，刽子手 (初中英语单词)


• poetry [´pəuitri] n.诗；诗意 (初中英语单词)


• argument [´ɑ:gjumənt] n.辩论；争论；论证 (初中英语单词)


• prairie [´preəri] n.大草原 (初中英语单词)


• mississippi [,misi´sipi] n.密西西比(河) (初中英语单词)


• pointed [´pɔintid] a.尖(锐)的；中肯的 (初中英语单词)


• wisdom [´wizdəm] n.智慧，聪明，才智 (初中英语单词)


• register [´redʒistə] n.&v.登记簿 (初中英语单词)


• literary [´litərəri] a.文学(上)的 (初中英语单词)


• illustration [,ilə´streiʃən] n.插图，图解，例证 (初中英语单词)


• desirable [di´zaiərəbəl] a.向往的；极好的 (初中英语单词)


• genius [´dʒi:niəs] n.天才(人物)；天赋 (初中英语单词)


• description [di´skripʃən] n.描写 (初中英语单词)


• midnight [´midnait] n.午夜；漆黑 (初中英语单词)


• opening [´əupəniŋ] n.开放；开端 a.开始的 (初中英语单词)


• imagination [i,mædʒi´neiʃən] n.想象(力) (初中英语单词)


• divine [di´vain] a.神圣的 v.预言 (初中英语单词)


• consequence [´kɔnsikwəns] n.结果；后果；推断 (初中英语单词)


• brilliant [´briliənt] a.灿烂的；杰出的 (初中英语单词)


• riches [´ritʃiz] n.房地产；丰富 (初中英语单词)


• poverty [´pɔvəti] n.贫穷(乏，瘠)；不足 (初中英语单词)


• distribution [,distri´bju:ʃən] n.分配；分布(状态) (初中英语单词)


• frequent [´fri:kwənt] a.常见的，频繁的 (初中英语单词)


• combination [,kɔmbi´neiʃən] n.结合；联合；团体 (初中英语单词)


• succession [sək´seʃən] n.继任；继承(权) (初中英语单词)


• occasionally [ə´keiʒənəli] ad.偶然地；非经常地 (初中英语单词)


• moreover [mɔ:´rəuvə] ad.再者，此外，而且 (初中英语单词)


• extraordinary [ik´strɔ:dinəri] a.非常的；额外的 (初中英语单词)


• musical [´mju:zikəl] a.音乐的；悦耳的 (初中英语单词)


• treatment [´tri:tmənt] n.待遇；对待；治疗 (初中英语单词)


• briefly [´bri:fli] ad.简短地；简略地 (初中英语单词)


• partly [´pɑ:tli] ad.部分地；不完全地 (初中英语单词)


• chiefly [´tʃi:fli] ad.主要地；尤其 (初中英语单词)


• occasional [ə´keiʒənəl] a.偶然的；临时的 (初中英语单词)


• apparently [ə´pærəntli] ad.显然，表面上地 (高中英语单词)


• ladder [´lædə] n.梯子；阶梯 (高中英语单词)


• admirable [´ædmərəbəl] a.极佳的，值得赞美的 (高中英语单词)


• defect [di´fekt, ´di:fekt] n.缺点，不足 (高中英语单词)


• finding [´faindiŋ] n.发现物；判断；结果 (高中英语单词)


• bucket [´bʌkit] n.水桶 (高中英语单词)


• delicacy [´delikəsi] n.精美；娇弱，微妙 (高中英语单词)


• georgia [´dʒɔ:dʒjə] n.乔治亚 (高中英语单词)


• vainly [´veinli] ad.虚荣地；自负地 (高中英语单词)


• strive [straiv] vi.争取；努力；奋斗 (高中英语单词)


• sphere [sfiə] n.圆体；天体；范围 (高中英语单词)


• exquisite [ik´skwizit] a.精巧的；敏锐的 (高中英语单词)


• specially [´speʃəli] ad.专门地；特别地 (高中英语单词)


• identical [ai´dentikəl] a.完全相同的 (高中英语单词)


• innumerable [i´nju:mərəbəl] a.无数的，数不清的 (高中英语单词)


• strain [strein] vt.拉紧 vi.拖 n.张力 (高中英语单词)


• indulge [in´dʌldʒ] v.(使)沉迷；沉溺；放任 (高中英语单词)


• artistic [ɑ:´tistik] a.艺术的；有美感的 (高中英语单词)


• temperament [´tempərəmənt] n.气质；性格 (高中英语单词)


• unique [ju:´ni:k] a.唯一的 n.独一无二 (高中英语单词)


• precisely [pri´saisli] ad.精确地；刻板地 (高中英语单词)


• simplicity [sim´plisiti] n.简单；朴素 (高中英语单词)


• whereof [weər´ɔv] ad.关于什么；关于那事 (英语四级单词)


• incapable [in´keipəbəl] a.无能力的；不能的 (英语四级单词)


• embarrassment [im´bærəsmənt] n.窘迫；困惑；为难 (英语四级单词)


• sonnet [´sɔnit] n.十四行诗 (英语四级单词)


• characterize [´kæriktəraiz] v.描绘；具有…特征 (英语四级单词)


• eclipse [i´klips] n.丧失 vt.食；蒙蔽 (英语四级单词)


• beating [´bi:tiŋ] n.敲；搅打；失败 (英语六级单词)


• calling [´kɔ:liŋ] n.点名；职业；欲望 (英语六级单词)


• outburst [´autbə:st] n.喷发；爆发；激增 (英语六级单词)


• clearness [´kliənis] n.清楚；明白；明确 (英语六级单词)


• labyrinth [´læbərinθ] 迷宫；错综复杂之事件 (英语六级单词)


• immemorial [,imi´mɔ:riəl] a.太古的，极古的 (英语六级单词)


• phenomena [fi´nɔminə] phenomenon的复数 (英语六级单词)


• improper [im´prɔpə] a.不恰当的；不正确的 (英语六级单词)


• poetic [pəu´etik] a.理想化了的 (英语六级单词)


• endowment [in´daumənt] n.捐赠；天才 (英语六级单词)


• spontaneous [spɔn´teiniəs] a.自发的；自然的 (英语六级单词)