JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. 1819-. Earth's noblest thing, a woman perfected. Irené. Be noble and the nobleness that lies Great truths are portions of the soul of man; To win the secret of a weed's plain heart. Two meanings have our lightest fantasies, - Sonnet iv. Sonnet vi. Sonnet xxv. Sonnet xxxiv. (Ed. 1844.) All thoughts that mould the age begin It may be glorious to write An Incident in a Railroad Car. Thoughts that shall glad the two or three High souls, like those far stars that come in sight No man is born into the world whose work Ibid. One day with life and heart Is more than time enough to find a world. Columbus. Ibid. Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side; Some great cause, God's new Messiah offering each the bloom or blight, Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right; And the choice goes by forever 'twixt that darkness and that light. The Present Crisis. Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne. Ibid. Then to side with Truth is noble when we share her wretched crust, Ere her cause bring fame and profit, and 't is prosperous to be just; Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands aside, Doubting in his abject spirit, till his Lord is crucified. Ibid. Before man made us citizens, great Nature made us On the Capture of Fugitive Slaves near Washington. men. Dear common flower, that grow'st beside the way, To the Dandelion. This child is not mine as the first was; I cannot sing it to rest; I cannot lift it up fatherly, Yet it lies in my little one's cradle, And the light of the heaven she's gone to Transfigures its golden hair. The thing we long for, that we are For one transcendent moment. The Changeling. Longing. She doeth little kindnesses Which most leave undone, or despise. Not only around our infancy My Love. iv. The Vision of Sir Launfal. Prelude to Part First. 'Tis heaven alone that is given away; Ibid. And what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days; Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune, Ibid. Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it; Ibid. Ibid. Who gives himself with his alms feeds three, --- Part Second. viii. There comes Emerson first, whose rich words, every one, Are like gold nails in temples to hang trophies on. A Fable for Critics. Nature fits all her children with something to do. Ibid. Ez fer war, I call it murder, There you hev it plain an' flat; I don't want to go no furder An' you've gut to git up airly The Biglow Papers. First Series. No. i. Laborin' man an' laborin' woman Hev one glory an' one shame; Ibid. This goin' ware glory waits ye haint one agreeable feetur.1 Gineral C. is a dreffie smart man; We kind o' thought Christ went agin war an' pillage. But John P. Sez they did n't know everythin' down in Judee. I don't believe in princerple, But oh I du in interest. Of my merit On thet pint you yourself may jedge; All is, I never drink no sperit, Nor I haint never signed no pledge. Ez to my princerples, I glory In hevin' nothin' o' the sort. Zekle crep' up quite unbeknown 'Ith no one nigh to hender. Ibid. No. iii. Ibid. No. vi. No. vii. Ibid. Like streams that keep a summer mind The Biglow Papers. Second Series. The Courtin'. Our Pilgrim stock wuz pithed with hardihood. Soft-heartedness, in times like these, Earth's biggest country 's gut her soul, Under the yaller pines I house, When sunshine makes 'em all sweet-scented, The baskin' west-wind purr contented. Wut's words to them whose faith an' truth On war's red techstone rang true metal; Who ventered life an' love an' youth From lower to the higher next, No. vi. No. vii. Ibid. No. x. Ibid. Festina Lente. Moral. Though old the thought and oft exprest, 'Tis his at last who says it best.1 Nature, they say, doth dote, And cannot make a man Save on some worn-out plan, Repeating us by rote. For an Autograph. Ode at the Harvard Commemoration, July 21, 1865. Here was a type of the true elder race, And one of Plutarch's men talked with us face to face. 1 See Emerson, page 604. Ibid. |