The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 2, October, 1834Various
General
The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 2, October, 1834
Various
American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals
The image of the snowy neck and flaxen hair of the beautiful but unkind
fair one, presented so strongly to the rejected lover, as to prevent
his performing his daily work, strikes us as highly poetical and true
to nature, as we doubt not all genuine lovers will testify. Burns wrote
many, very many verses, which were much superior, but Burns wrote some
also, which were not so good. _Ruth's answer to Naomi_, must be
allowed, we think, to be a good paraphrase of that most affecting
passage of scripture. We must give the whole to the reader.
"Entreat me not, I must not hear,
Mark but this sorrow-beaming tear;
Thy answer's written deeply now
On this warm cheek and clouded brow;
'Tis gleaming o'er this eye of sadness
Which only near _thee_ sparkles gladness.
The hearts _most_ dear to us are gone,
And _thou_ and _I_ are left alone;
Where'er thou wanderest, I will go,
I'll follow thee through joy or wo;
Shouldst thou to other countries fly,
Where'er thou lodgest, there will I.
Thy people shall my people be,
And to thy God, I'll bend the knee;
Whither thou fliest, will I fly,
And where thou diest, I will die;
And the same sod which pillows thee
Shall freshly, sweetly bloom for me."[1]
[Footnote 1: We subjoin the passage of scripture paraphrased by Miss
Davidson, and also another paraphrase which has been ascribed to the
Hon. R. H. Wilde of Georgia. Our readers can compare and decide between
them.
"And Ruth said, entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from
following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go: and where thou
lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my
God. Where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried."
Nay, do not ask!--entreat not--no!
O no! I will not leave thy side,
Whither thou goest--I will go--
Where thou abidest--I'll abide.
Through life--in death--my soul to thine
Shall cleave as fond, as first it clave--
Thy home--thy people--shall be mine--
Thy God my God--thy grave my grave.]
We present an extract from a piece called "_Woman's Love_," as a
specimen of Miss Davidson's management of blank verse, a form of poetic
diction which Montgomery thinks the most unmanageable of any. The fair
authoress might not herself have experienced that holy passion, but she
certainly knew how deep and imperishable it is when once planted in the
female bosom.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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