mentation of the parts. Not to be guilty, then, of
this unfairness, let us cull here some of the fanciful tropes and
figures which enamel these flowery pages. The oriole is "a torch of
downy flame"; the "reiterant katydids rasp the mysterious silence"; a
mother's loss and sorrow are "twin leeches at her heart"; the frosty
landscape is "fulgent with downy crystals"; Kathrina wears a "pale-blue
muslin robe," which the hero fancies "dyed with forget-me-nots"; and the
landscape has usually some effect of dry-goods to the poet's eye. We
might almost believe that this passage,

"We touched the hem
Of the dark mountain's robe, that falls in folds
Of emerald sward around his feet, and there
Upon its tufted velvet we sat down,"

was inspired by perusal of Dr. Holmes's ode to "Evening--by a Tailor":--

"Day hath put on his jacket, and around
His burning bosom buttoned it with stars
Here will I lay me on the velvet grass,
That is like padding to earth's meagre ribs."

But Mr. Holland's fancy is of a quality which transcends all feigning in
others. Whatever it touches it figures in gross material substance,
preferably wood or some sort of upholstery. When, however, his hero
first stood in Broadway, he seems to have found no fabric of the looms,
no variety of plumage, no sort of precious wood or dye-stuff equal to
the allegory, and he wreaks himself in the following tremendous
hydraulic image;--

"I saw the waves of life roll up the steps
Of great cathedrals and retire; and break
In charioted grandeur at the feet
Of marble palaces, and toss their spray
Of feathered beauty through the open doors,
To pile the restless foam within; and burst
On crowded caravansaries, to fall
In quick return; and in dark currents glide
Through sinuous alleys, and the grimy loops
Of reeking cellars, and with softest plash
Assail the gilded shrines of opulence,
And slide in musical relapse away."

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No.
122, December, 1867, by Various

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY ***

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