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December 29, 1855.] THE LEA DE R. 1251
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irffp1*nfttri> ?u m, Ar U Ml I ?
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Critics are not the legislators, but the...
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Few literary questions require more thor...
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The new number of the Revue des Deux Mon...
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MACAU LAY. TUe If*** of Inland. Fro,n th...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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December 29, 1855.] The Lea De R. 1251
December 29 , 1855 . ] THE LEA DE R . 1251
Irffp1*Nfttri≫ ?U M, Ar U Ml I ?
ICitanfmt ,
Critics Are Not The Legislators, But The...
Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws-they interpret and try to enforce them . — Kdinburgh ltveiew .
Few Literary Questions Require More Thor...
Few literary questions require more thorough sifting than the question of Plagiarism . It is constantly being raised . Much bad blood is excited , wild accusations are made , and innocent men stigmatised , because there are no dear decisive principles laid down by which ejeh case can be judged . This week we have received from a correspondent an article which appeared in the National Intelligencer ( U . S . ) on Longfellow ' s " Hiawatha ; " our correspondent himself , an admirer of Longfellow's poem , being evidently somewhat distressed at finding the poet in what he considers to be a very equivocal position . We will first print the accusation : — TO THE EDITORS . Gentlemen , —Few of your readers , I imagine , have ever heard of , much less read , the " Kalewala , " tlie great national epic of the Finns . The name of its author ( if , indeed , it be the work of one and not of many minds ) is altogether unknown . After floating for ages among the people , passing from mouth to mouth and from generation to generation , like the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer before the time of Pisistratus , the fragments of this wonderful poein have at length been brought together . and stand before the world iu a form almost complete . The latest version ( that of Dr . Lonnrot ) appeared in the year 1849 , and contains fifty songs , or runes , and twenty-two thousand seven hundred and ninety-three verses . High praise is awarded to Miv Alexander Castren for his excellent translation into the Swedish language , and the zeal that led him to make extensive journeys through all Finland in order to take down the original from the lips of those who recited it , as their custom is , by alternate chanting , at their firesides , during the long evenings of a northern winter . A French translation by Leouzon le Due was published in 1845 . Another in German , made by Anton Schiefnev , under the auspices of Castren , to whom it was also dedicated , and printed at Helsingfors ' in the year 1852 , is lying before me . My object in writing this present brief notice is to call the attention of the literary public to the astounding fact that Professor Longfellow , in his new poem , " Hiawatha , " has transferred the entire form , spirit , and many of the most striking incidents of the old Finnish epic to the . North American Indians . The re-Bemblance is so close that it cannot be accidental , and yet the only approach to an acknowledgment of the source of his inspiration is found in the beginning of his first note , where he says , " This Indian Edda , if I may so call it . " ' Compare , for example , the prelude of " Hiawatha" with the following extract from that of the " Kalewala , " done ( from the German ) translation into English of the same metre , which is also that of the original : — "HIAWATHA . " Shouldyou ask me . whonce these stories ? I repeat them as I heard them Whence these legends and traditions , From the lips of Nawadalia , With , the odours of the forest , The musician , the .-sweet-singer . " With the dew and damp of men / lows , Should you ask me where Nawadaha With the curliug am > ke of wigwams , p ouuj the songs , so wild and wayward , With the nulling of great rivers , Fouud those legends and traditions ? With their frequcut repetLti > n 3 j slltmi , i answer , 1 should tell you , And their wild reverberations , « Iu tlle birds' nests of the forest , As of thunder in the mountains ? j n t j , ioc ] ge . s of the beaver , I should answer , I should tell you , In the hoof-prints of the bison , " From the forests and the prairies , In the eyry of the eagle ! From the great lakes of the Northland , j All the wildfowl sang them to him , From the laul of the Ojibways , i In the moor-lands and the fon-luncte , From the laud of the Dueotahs , ( Iu tho melaucholy marshes ; From the mountain * , moors , and fen- Cliat-o waik , the plover , sang them , lands Muhug , the loon , tho wild-goo . se , Wavva , Where the hei-.-u , tho Shuh-shuh-gah , The blue heron , the Shuh-tsliuh-gah , Feeds among tho reeds and rushes . And the grouse , the Mush-ko-dasa !'
THE " K / VLEWALA , " These tho words we have received , I There aro many other stories , These tho songs wo do inherit , | Magio sayings , which 1 learned , Are of Wiiiniiinoinon ' s glrdlo , | Which I gathered by the wayside , From the forgo of Unmrinen , j Culled amid tho heather-blossoms , Of tho sword of Kimkomieli , j Rifted from tho bushy copsos ; Of tho bow of Youkohaiiion , | J'Vom tho bonding twig * I plucked Of tho boi-dors of tlie North-floklH , I them , Of tho plums of Kalowalu . I Plucked thorn from the tender r , I f / rassefi , These my fallior sung aforo turn- ( f ^ j Hftuntoiw ] Ab ho chipped tho ho-tohot s hum o ; Ah ft wl ^ , ^ tur 0 H > Thoao wore taught mo by my mother , Q tJ noiM , . bearing meadow * , As she twirled hor Hying » pindloa ; h ( j ) d . iJiumi » cd hillock , When I on tho floor wmi Hportmg , followiujr black Muurikki Round luu- knoe wiw giuly dancing , At th < j shlo of Bpottoti Kinun < .. A « a yitnblo wouklmg , As a woukling Hinivll of ntaturo ; H « jngn tlio very coldno , ^ gave mo , Novor failed those wouclVous stovioB , Miwio fuuud I iu tho mm dropM ; Told of Sampo , told of Louhi ; j Otlior wm & i tho whkIh brought to Old tfrow Sampo in tljo Htorios ; i me , Louhi vanished with her t . iagic ; , Othor HH » g « , tho ocoim billown ; In tins Honyri Wiunon poririliod ; ; ] Jird . s by winging m tho branehoH , In tho play dio-1 Loinminkainon . , And the tree top npoko in wlnnporn . As a fall und dobiilcKl compnriHou of tho two pjoniH cannot bo Uora givoii , a Himulo outlino of tho " Kalcnvala'ri" plot murtt for tlio proHont huHico . Tho horn of tho epic in WUiiiHmifluan , a mythological peonage , H » n of tho Daughter of tho A r , who lot hovwolf down from huavon into tho ho . i , and wan S wooe by th » BtoHu Win , ! . After roaming throuK h tho v / afc-H for annumbered agoB 1 o at lonK l , h roachen tho land and boginn his career as a benefnotor ot mankind . Then follows a description of his exploit * and . ulvonturoH , oxtondmK SrouS ° fwty-nino vumh . When at last bin mission upon earth ih accomplished , SS 8 S i «» to « , hi . coppor-hound skiff , toko « leave of th e people on tho shore , and oallH away far over the bh , o hcv towa . xl tho d . Htant hori zon , until tho barque m soon hanging in tho clouds between oarth aud hoaven . Bo ho departed : and no departed / fiawatha . , , , Thoeo who may doiiro to loam more of tho " Kalowala" I would roforto the font
edition of the "Conversation ' s Lexicon . " A faithful and spirited translation would be an acquisition to our literature . No living English poet is better fitted to make such a one than the author of Hiawatha . Had he done this at first I feel confident he would have achieved more real fame ; for the Indian Epic is only an imitation , not a creation . T . G . P . Pennsylvania , Nov . 21 , 1855 . The reader , on coming to the end of this article , doubtless feels that a strong case has been made out against Longfellow . In justice to that delightful poet we must prove that no case whatever is made out . It is characteristic of the alacrity some men feel to catch others tripping—an
alacrity which prevents their first ascertaining what are the facts—that T . C . P , has made an accusation which can be shown to be utterly futile by merely turning to what Longfellow himself has said . In the notes to " Hiawatha " no claim of originality is set up , as regards the legends ; on the contrary , Longfellow most explicitly states that he is indebted for them to the writings of Mr . Schoolcraft , who has collected the Indian legends ; and several other sources are referred to . Now , why should Longfellow have passed in silence over the * ' Kalewala" if he had really taken his legends from it ? He does not pretend that his stories are original j and , if he acknowledge where he got them from , why is a doubt to be thrown on his word , because similar legends are found in a work he has not named ? As to the asserted resemblance between the " Kalewala" and "Hiawatha , " if that resemblance exist , it will only be one among many of the singular family likenesses in mythologies .
As a question of fact , it is clear that Longfellow has adopted the Indian legends collected by Schoolchaft and others , and has fully avowed his obligations . As a question of principle , it is clear to any one familiar with the history of poetry , that had he taken the legends from the " Kalewala , " just as they stand there , he would have been guilty of no plagiarism—in the disreputable sense of the word—but would have done what poets have from all time been privileged to do . Homer did not invent his stories ; the Greek dramatists did not invent theirs ; Shakespeare and our dramatists never thought of inventing their stories ; Goethe did not invent " Faust , " Iphigenia , " " Hermann und Dorothea , " " Eeineche Fuchs ; " yet , who ever iarism in these ? the invention of
thought of mentioning the word plag casesIs a story the claim which the poet makes for our applause ? Not in the least . Let him invent a good story if he can , it is a very rare and precious faculty ; but his poetic genius' can display itself in taking up and presenting in new forms the inventions of others quite as potently as in inventing the stories himself . No one can read " Hiawatha" and not perceive that it is original ; it is the work of a poet , who has given new life to old legends , given a new music to the old songs . If America is not proud of her greatest poet , and cannot defend him against paltry charges of plagiarism , let us hope that England will be more dignified in her recognition of genuine worth .
The New Number Of The Revue Des Deux Mon...
The new number of the Revue des Deux Mondes contains an urticle on Michel Lattas , better known all over Europe and Asia under the title of Omar Pacha , in which the career of the " little pet lion" is sketched by one who , to personal knowledge of the hero , adds great knowledge of contemporary history . The writer is very impartial , and by no means willing to overlook ' tlic hero ' s faults . In the same Revue the biography of LaDuchesse de Ckevreuse , by Victor Cousin , is brought ton close ; and M . Ebuuihob contributes another of his interesting papers on Holland .
Macau Lay. Tue If*** Of Inland. Fro,N Th...
MACAU LAY . TUe If *** of Inland . Fro , n th * Action of Jame . If . By T . ^ M jeaul ^ Vols Ik any of't ^ mulers have not yet pounced , , on these long-expected muchtilH of volumes , we may allay their impatience by assuring them that , So " ?> veTy nterestmg , they have by no means the interest « the volume , wliic preceded then . Lnstead of g , lloppin K through them almost breathsusoemled they will iind it very easy , and indeed somewhat necessary to « "X " ei 8 urelv to the end- " skipping" a considerable quantity , it they are noffon , of dwelling upon con .. n » . !|> lu «« H , and of seeing l . « w muek rhetoric ana ^ luiionaw ^ iteV can think it durable to -pend upo n an argu . nen
• heto aUy ex mmive over an evidence of « design" than , MuouA j » - over a facts for the obvious li ht to ' » " " I ™ ; ™ " ' ^ ' of s prcMCi . cc , »» . ! to redundant rhetoric . It is enough to note the luct 1
intimate , the excuse for skipping . . .. jmtuinive tendency The bulk of these volume * nmtcnaly , "" < I »>> proportion h . the writer , and by h » ¦ eon . an repet . tuu . « ' ^ ' 8 lt ,, c | ,, cig ' birring to the subject matter . lw eitfiit vullM V , intcn-it willi tlie y * ' « w » contained y ears in our history cannot olc . M . n « > < S Mti " of power , there is in the previous volumes . { V . ' ' in ,, of Httnictiou . Such chapter-as necesJily a very considorah c . hn n turn ol at " •* » ,. „„„ |> f ^^ the incomparable intro . * "fi > W ^™ ™ X MA brilliantly touched or as SMiSS SjS ^ i « n ^ wVl lotL fund »» the - volume ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 29, 1855, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29121855/page/15/
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