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    1170 THE LEADER. [Saturday ,

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    Aknoiid'h I'Okmm. J'Oems. L\ Y Miil,L,Lu...

    Study the Classics , and beware of the syren-charms which enervate the Moderns ! that is the text from which he preaches . The logical conse quence is Imitation . Study the Classics , and the Moderns tooj but beware of the rudeness and baldness of the one , no less than of the rhetoric and glitter of the other ! That is our text . For we believe tile Ancients to have had every virtue and every vice conspicuous in the Moderns , over and above the remoteness of their ideas and feelings , which to us moderns becomes a vice When the Classics are good , they are so by virtue of qualities essential in all excellent works of Art ; when they are bad , which is mostly the case they are so by vice of qualities noticeable in every age—rudeness , incongruity , untruth , greater regard for manner than for matter , and for the mere fopperies of manner . Homer , with all his fine qualities , is as rude as hemp ; -ZEschylus is often as fantastic , obscure , and incongruous , and Yirgil as feeble , affected , and tmpictorial as the very worst specimens which can be selected from eminent poets of Modern times . To deny this would be to deny evidence . It is not the traditional belief , but it is a fact . Such being our critical faith , instead of Imitation we counsel Emulation ; instead of following the mere fashions of Greek Art , follow no fashions but those which bear the general verdict of your age , and while learning from the G-reelcs the lessons they and all great artists have to teach , beware , above all tilings , of imitating them . Mr . Arnold , as a scholar , and one of poetical tendencies rather than of poetical genius , a man of culture , reflection , and sensibility , but not forming one of that small band of Singers who " sing as the birds sing , " naturally looks towards Greece for inspiration . His poems will delight scholars , who will with curious pleasure follow him in his undisguised imitations of works Avhich long have been their ideals ; they will note his curiosities of verse , and his Grsecism of imagery . TsTor will the larger public read without delight . Poems such as these are not common . Some of the qualities most easily appreciable these poems possess , and they will secure an audience . But the fit audience is that of the cultured few . The longest poem in the volume , Sohrab and Rustum , will be the greatest favourite , for it tells an intelligible and interesting story , and the story moves through pictures and pathos such as we rarely meet in " volumes of poetry . " It has its Grsecisms , but they are little more than ornaments of questionable taste ; the real attractiveness lies in the qualities just named . Let a brief analysis make this apparent . Sohrab , who is Rustum ' s son , unknown to Hustum , is everywhere seeking his father ; and the place most certain to find Rustum is . a battlefield . In order that his fame may reach his father ' s ear , Sohrab entreats to be allowed to challenge , in single combat , a champion from the Persian ranks . The request is granted . In the following graphic description of the filing hosts , the reader will have no difficulty in tracing Homer and Milton : — " The sun , by this , had risen , and clear'd the fog From the broad Oxus and the glittering sands : And from their tents the Tartar horsemen fil'd Into the open plain ; so Haman bade ; Haman , who next to Peran-Wisa rul'd The host , and still was in his lusty prime . From their black tents , long files of horse , they stream'd : As when , some grey November morn , the files , In marching order spread , of long-neck'd cranes , Stream over Cashin , and the southern slopes Of Elburz , from the Aralian estuaries , Or some frore Caspian reed-bed , southward bound For the warm Persian sea-board : ho they stream'd . The Tartars of the Oxus , the King ' s guard , First , with black rcheep-skin caps ; md with long spears ; Large men , large steeds ; who from Bokhara come Ami Khiva , and ferment the milk of marcs . Next the more temperate Toorkmuns of the south , The Tukaa , and tho lances of Salore , And those from . A thick and the ( Jaspian sands ; . Light men , and on light steedn , who only drink The acrid milk of camels , and their wells . And then a Hwarin of wandering horse , who came From far , and a more doubtful service own'd ; The Tartars of Ferghana , irony the banks Of the Jaxartes , intsii with scanty hoards And close-not Hkull-eapn ; and thorns wilder hordes Who roam o ' er Kipehak and the northern waste Kahiniks and unkeiup'd K . uzzaks , tribes who stray Nearest the Pole , and wandering Kirghi / . zes Who come on shaggy ponies from Paniere . These all ( il'd out from camp into tin ; plain . And on the other side tins PermiuiH form'd : First a light cloud of horse , Tartars they seem'd The Jlyats of Khorassan : and behind , The royal troops of I 'ersia , home and foot , Marshall'd battalions bright , in burninluHl steel . Hut Poran- Wisu with his herald oaino Threading the Tartar stjuadroiin to the ; front , And with his stafl'kept back tins foremost rankfi . And Avhen Furood , who led the Persians , saw That Poran-Wisa kopl , the Taitars back , Jlo toOk his spear , and to the front he camo , And oheek'd his ranks , and fix'd them where they stood . And tho old Tartar < : juiio upon the sand Betwixt tho silent hosts , and spake , and said : ¦ --" ' I'Vrood , and yo , Persians and Tartars , hoar ! Lot there he truce between tho bantu to-day . But choose a champion from Urn I ' ernian lords To light our cham pion Sohrab , man to man . ' "As , in the country , on a morn in Juno , When tho dew glinl ; oiiH on tho pearled earn , A shiver runs through tho deep corn for joy — Ho , when they heard what Poran- Wimi n ' nul , ¦

    - . , P [ 3 A thrill through all the Tartar squadrons ran Of pride and hope for Sohrab , whom they lov'd . " But as a troop of pedlars , from Cabool , Cross underneath the Indian Caucasus , That vast sky-neighbouring mountain of milk snow ; } Winding so high , that , as they mount , they pass r " ¦ Long flocks of travelling birds dead on the snowy ; Chok ' d by the air , and scarce can they themselves Slake their parch'd throats with sugar'd mulberriesl In single file they move , and stop their breath , , For fear they should dislodge the o ' erhanging snows So the pale Persians held their breath with fear . " The imitation mars this for all except scholars . But , to continue 1 The Persians accept the challenge , and tnen go to Rustum ' s tent , as t he Greeks did to that of Achilles , and implore his arm ; Rustum answers : — 1 "' Goto ! if Iran ' s Chiefs are old , then I Am older : if the young are weak , the King Errs strangely : for the King , for Kai Khosroo , Himself is young , and honours younger men , And lets the aged moulder to their graves , Rustum he loves no more , but loves the young—The young may rise at Sohrab ' s vaunts , not I . For what care I , though all speak Sohrab ' s fame ] For would that I myself had such a son , And not that one slight helpless girl I have , A son so fam'd , so brave , to send to war , And I to tarry with the snow-hair'd Zal , My father , whom the robber Afghans vex , And clip his borders short , and drive his herds , And he has none to guard his weak old age . There would I go , and hang my armour up , And with my great name fence that weak old man , And spend the goodly treasures I have got , Antl rest my age , and hear of Sohrab ' s fame , And leave to death the host of thankless kings , And with these slaughterous hands draw sword no more . '" They prevail , however , at last , and" So follow' d , Rustum left his tents , and cross'd The camp , and to the Persian host appear'd . And aU the Persians knew him , and with shouts Hail'd ; but the Tartars knew not who he was . And dear as the wet diver to the eyes Of his pale wife who waits and weeps on shore , By sandy Bahrein , in the Persian Gulf , Plunging all day in the blue waves , at night , Having made up his tale of precious pearls , Rejoins her in their hut upon ~ the sands—So dear to the pale Persians Rustum came . '' And Rustum to the Persian front advane'd , And Sohrab arm'd in Hainan ' s tent , and came . And as afield the reapers cut a swathe Down through tho middle of a rich man ' s corn , And on each side are squares of standing corn , And in the midst a stubble , short and bare ; So on each side were squares of men , with spears Bristling , and in the midst , the open sand . And Rustum came upon the sand , and cast His eyes towards the Tartar tents , and saw Sohrab come forth , and ey'd him as he came . " As some rich woman , on a winter ' s morn , Eyes through her silken curtains the poor drudge Who with numb-blacken'd fingers makes her fire—At cock-crow , on a starlit winter ' s morn , When the frost flowers the whiten'd window panes—And wonders how she lives , and what the thoughts Of that poor drudge may be ; bo Rustum ey'd The unknown adventurous Youth , who from afar Came seeking Rustum , and defying forth All the most valiant chiefs : long he perus'd His spirited air , and wonder'd who he was . For very young he seem'd , tenderly rear'd ; Like some young cypress , tall , and dark , and straight , Which in a queen ' s secluded garden throws Its slight dark shadow on the moonlit turf , By midnight , to a bubbling fountain ' s sound—So nleader Sohrah seem'd , so softly rear'd . And a deep pity enter'd Rustum ' fl soul Ah he beheld him coming ; and ho stood , And beckon'd to him with his hand , and said : — "O thou young man , tho air of Heaven is soft , And warm , and pleasant ; but tho grave is cold . Heaven ' s air is better than the eold dead grave . Behold me : I nin vast , and clad in iron , And tried ; and I have stood on many a field Of blood , and I have fought with many a foo : Never was that field lost , or that foo sav'd . O Sohrab , whereforo wilt thou rush on death ? Be govern'd : quit tho Tartar hunt , and eomo To Iran , and be an my son to mo , And fight beneath my banner till I die , There me no youths in Iran bravo an thou . ' " So he spake , mildly : Sohrab heard his voico , The mighty voice of Rustum ; and ho saw His giant figure planted on tho sand , Sole , like some single tower , which a chief Han builded on tho waste in former years Against tho robbers . " _ , Sohrab fliispor . tH tlml ; it , in hiu fidlior standing thero hoforo him , « n < ' ¦> embracing Iuh lmeeH , uhIch if it l ) c not ho . JJut BuHfcum , fancying ^\ Uy some cunning in . tins question , ovation tlio question , ami force s Jnm light : — " Ho spoko ; and Sohrab kindled at his taunts , And ho too drew bin aword : at onoo they ruoli'd

    1170 The Leader. [Saturday ,

    1170 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 3, 1853, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_03121853/page/18/