Books and Habits, from the Lectures of Lafcadio Hearn — John Shaqi
Books and Habits, from the Lectures of Lafcadio HearnHearn, Lafcadio
History
Books and Habits, from the Lectures of Lafcadio Hearn
Hearn, Lafcadio
English literature -- History and criticism; Literature -- History and criticism; Poetry -- History and criticism
Several other aspects of the emotion may now be considered separately. One
of these, an especially beautiful one, is memory. Of course, there are
many aspects of love's memories, some all happiness, others intensely
sorrowful--the memory of a walk, a meeting, a moment of good-bye. Such
memories occupy a very large place in the treasure house of English love
poems. I am going to give three examples only, but each of a different
kind. The first poet that I am going to mention is Coventry Patmore. He
wrote two curious books of poetry, respectively called "The Angel in the
House" and "The Unknown Eros." In the first of these books he wrote the
whole history of his courtship and marriage--a very dangerous thing for a
poet to do, but he did it successfully. The second volume is
miscellaneous, and contains some very beautiful things. I am going to
quote only a few lines from the piece called "Amelia." This piece is the
story of an evening spent with a sweetheart, and the lines which I am
quoting refer to the moment of taking the girl home. They are now rather
famous:
... To the dim street
I led her sacred feet;
And so the Daughter gave,
Soft, moth-like, sweet,
Showy as damask-rose and shy as musk,
Back to her Mother, anxious in the dusk.
And now "Good Night!"
Why should the poet speak of the girl in this way? Why does he call her
feet sacred? She has just promised to marry him; and now she seems to him
quite divine. But he discovers very plain words with which to communicate
his finer feelings to the reader. The street is "dim" because it is night;
and in the night the beautifully dressed maiden seems like a splendid
moth--the name given to night butterflies in England. In England the moths
are much more beautiful than the true butterflies; they have wings of
scarlet and purple and brown and gold. So the comparison, though
peculiarly English, is very fine. Also there is a suggestion of the
soundlessness of the moth's flight. Now "showy as damask rose" is a
striking simile only because the damask-rose is a wonderfully splendid
flower--richest in colour of all roses in English gardens. "Shy as musk"
is rather a daring simile. "Musk" is a perfume used by English as well as
Japanese ladies, but there is no perfume which must be used with more
discretion, carefulness. If you use ever so little too much, the effect is
not pleasant. But if you use exactly the proper quantity, and no more,
there is no perfume which is more lovely. "Shy as musk" thus refers to
that kind of girlish modesty which never commits a fault even by the
measure of a grain--beautiful shyness incapable of being anything but
beautiful. Nevertheless the comparison must be confessed one which should
be felt rather than explained.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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