B2 Arts & Culture

May 13 19, 2010

The Epoch Times

The AntidoteClassic Poetry for Modern Life

A Reading from Merlin by Emerson

By CHRISTOPHER NIELD
Merlin: the very name is redolent
of magic and mystery. When we
picture the shaggy-bearded wizard
who guides King Arthur through
his many battles we no doubt also
think of Gandalf from The Lord of
the Rings. Both Merlin and Gandalf are wise men who, though on
the side of good, have a wild and
disturbing side to their power.
In his poem Merlin, Emerson
uses this strange, otherworldly,
shamanic figure from myth to represent the bard or archetypal poet.
As if striding into Arthurs inner
sanctum, brushing past its fops and
flunkeys, Merlin dismisses the court
musicians harpand everything
it representsas trivial.
The harps lulling sound evokes
civilized values: all that shuts out the
chaos beyond the castle battlements,
the city wall. Yet in such safety do
people grow weak and weary? Could
the impregnable court, estranged
from the reality of life outside, be
in danger from collapsing from
within?
For Merlin, the chords of the harp
should ring as blows the breeze.
Implicitly, Emerson evokes one of
the central images of Romantic poetry: the Aeolian harp, named after
Aeolus, the Greek god of winds. This
harp is not one played by human
fingers, but nature itself. Its strings
hum in the breeze, inducing trance.
Free, peremptory, clear, its notes
brook no contradiction.
As the harp is startled into song
by spring airs and winter tempests,
so the bard makes himself an instrument for elemental forces.
The rich, deep swell of poetry has
nothing to do with the jingling serenadors art or the tinkle of piano
strings. We recognize the first in
the clichs of popular verse: roses
are red, violets are blue; greeting
card jingles. For me, the second

Merlin
Thy trivial harp will never please
Or fill my craving ear;
Its chords should ring as blows the breeze,
Free, peremptory, clear.
No jingling serenaders art,
Nor tinkle of piano strings,
Can make the wild blood start
In its mystic springs.
The kingly bard
Must smile the chords rudely and hard,
As with hammer or with mace;
That they may render back
Artful thunder, which conveys
Secrets of the solar track,
Sparks of the supersolar blaze.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
suggests art as nothing more than
mood enhancement: the lift Muzak,
for instance, that tries to soothe us
but which puts our teeth on edge.
Neither touches the heart.
The poet speaks to make the
wild blood start, expressing truths

of human experience that never

change: birth, decay, death and the
soul. Like Merlin, we crave to hear
the storm and thunder above the
transient and trifling: even in our
space-age techno-bubble, our taste
in art remains staunchly Neolithic.

Childrens Library

Rebecca of
Sunnybrook Farm
By SHARON KILARSKI
Epoch Times Staff

As s The 1903 childrens classic

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by
Kate Douglas Wiggin is undeniably refreshing despite its age.
The book has very little in
common with the Shirley Temple film by the same title. In the
book, Rebecca does not become a
radio star despite the reluctance
of her auntsthat she has aunts,
befriends a millionaire, and has
an older sister are almost all that
she and Shirley Temples character
have in common.
Yet Rebecca is an inspiring book for children gifted in
language. It is no accident that
Frances Hodgson Burnett, Jack
London, and Mark Twain, among
other writers, were known to have
loved the book and it is a joy for
readers who love the English language and who love the idea of genius waiting to be discovered.
Rebecca is a wonder which no
one with sense can miss. Even
at age 7 she bedazzles and befriends. Her eyes are overly large
and bewitchingly beautiful, but
these are not really what captures
hearts. She has a gift for gab that
not only entertains and endears
but enlightens.
The book chronicles Rebeccas
life from 7 to 17. At 7, she is sent
to live with two maiden aunts, Miranda and Jane (Miranda is very
stern indeed), in order to give her
a chance at schooling.
Her widowed mother with seven
children and sister to Miranda and
Jane could never afford this luxury. But staunch Aunt Miranda
is not impressed with Rebeccas
charm and wit and is determined
to refashion her into something
sensible, if completely ordinary.
Aunt Jane loves and protects
Rebecca when she can, seeing
innocence and joy in the child,
and although Rebecca tries, she
can never seem to please Aunt
Miranda.
Important in Rebeccas young

life are Jeremiah and Sarah Cobb,

her first friends in her new town of
Riverboro; her best friend Emma
Jane Perkins; and Adam Ladd, a
successful young businessman
who, by the end of the book, is
clearly smitten with her in a way
that could not have been foretold
from his past association as her
benefactor.

by her mother or her auntsand

so learns to use her abilities only
to be of service to others.
As Rebeccas teacher says of
her: I dont regret one burden
that Rebecca has borne or one
sorrow that she has shared. Necessity has only made her brace;
poverty has only made her daring
and self-reliant.

Rebecca is an
inspiring book for
children gifted in
language and a
profound lesson
about humility and
determination.
Over the years Rebecca struggles with her heritage of poverty as
well as the shame her aunt would
inflict on her due to her own very
vivacious nature. And Rebecca
does struggle to develop the common sense and orderly ways that
her aunt demands.
She thrives in school and plans
to create a career for herself to help
her family and pay back her aunts
for their bringing her up; she also
eventually wins the admiration
and even the heart of her aunt.
This book may not be for every
child. Rebeccas gifts are so central to the book, that only those
children who feel somewhat out
of place in their environment are
likely to take to her. Moreover, the
vocabulary it requires is beyond
most young readers.
Nonetheless, for gifted readers,
the book can be a profound lesson in the virtues that supplement
the exceptional person: humility and determination. Rebecca
was never indulged nor taught to
think highly of herselfneither

The 2003 edition published by Dover

Publications openlibrary.org

Being of use to others was author Kate Douglas Wiggins dearest hope. What she wished to take
with her in her casket were the
following words: What she had
she gave gladlyhoping it might
somehow please, or help, those
who had less. If it was little, at least
she tried to multiply and fructify it
by use; but were it little, or much,
she wanted to show her worthiness to possess, by proving herself
willing to serve.
Kate Douglas Wiggin (18561923)
was an American writer and kindergarten educator.

The kingly bard is one who

serves the king, yet, in a sense, the
bard is king too. His artistic gift
gives him spiritual authority, fully
equal to the temporal. The harp is
as mighty as the crown. Smiting the
chords rudely and hard, the bard
is a being of wrath and judgment,
recalling the God of Genesis.
As the blacksmith fashions iron
with his hammer and as the warrior wages battle with his mace,
so the wizard or poet uses words to
produce artful thunder. His words
balance form and formlessness. This
is reflected in Emersons style, both
exact and irregular. Rhyme runs
throughout, yet the length of each
line varies, surprising the ear.
The poets thunder conveys secrets of the solar track/ Sparks of the
supersolar blaze. Here, Emersons
language really leaps off the page.
The hissing sibilants and hard consonants crackle, as if with divine
energy.
And surely this is what we want
from art: secrets and sparks. We
long for the hidden to be made
known, for a sudden ecstatic
epiphany. We linger on the word
blaze, and glow with the promise
of enlightenment.
Emerson reminds us of the power
of poetry to reveal the mysteries of
nature: and whatever lies within and
beyond. If this truth is obscured by
the imaginative poverty of much
contemporary verse, we have no
need to despair, for the greatest art
exists in its own time. Anthologies
containing the visions of Shakespeare, Shelley, Emerson, and Yeats
are always there on the shelf, like
barrows of ancient kings waiting to
be explored. There, in the gloom, we
will find abundant treasure.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
was an American essayist, philosopher,
and poet.
Christopher Nield is a poet living in
London.

liza voronin/the epoch times