In this example, also, "branches," which is a double ending, must be
regarded as the caesura, or one syllable, of which alone it has the
force.
As we have already alluded, in one or two regards, to a notice of
these poems which appeared in the "Democratic Review," we may as
well here proceed with some few further comments upon the article in
question- with whose general tenor we are happy to agree.
The Review speaks of "Maidenhood" as a poem, "not to be understood
but at the expense of more time and trouble than a song can justly
claim." We are scarcely less surprised at this opinion from Mr.
Langtree than we were at the condemnation of "The Luck of Edenhall."
"Maidenhood" is faulty, it appears to us, only on the score of its
theme, which is somewhat didactic. Its meaning seems simplicity
itself. A maiden on the verge of womanhood hesitating to enjoy life
(for which she has a strong appetite) through a false idea of duty, is
bidden to fear nothing, having purity of heart as her lion of Una.
What Mr. Langtree styles "an unfortunate peculiarity" in Mr.
Longfellow, resulting from "adherence to a false system," has really
been always regarded by us as one of his idiosyncratic merits. "In
each poem," says the critic, "he has but one idea, which, in the
progress of his song, is gradually unfolded, and at last reaches its
full development in the concluding lines: this singleness of thought
might lead a harsh critic to suspect intellectual barrenness.
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