"
Here "but" is not a conjunction, but a preposition, and governs thee
in the objective. "None but thee" would be right; meaning none
except thee, saving thee. Earlier, "mayest" is somewhat incorrectly
written "may'st." And we have:-
I have no other saint than thou to pray to.
Here authority and analogy are both against Mr. Longfellow. "Than"
also is here a preposition governing the objective, and meaning save
or except. "I have none other God than thee, etc" See Horne Tooke. The
Latin "quam te" is exactly equivalent. [Later] we read:-
Like thee I am a captive, and, like thee,
I have a gentle gaoler.
Here "like thee" (although grammatical of course) does not convey
the idea. Mr. L. does not mean that the speaker is like the bird
itself, but that his condition resembles it. The true reading would
thus be:-
As thou I am a captive, and, as thou,
I have a gentle poler.
That is to say, as thou art and as thou hast.
Upon the whole, we regret that Professor Longfellow has written this
work, and feel especially vexed that he has committed himself by its
republication. Only when regarded as a mere poem can it be said to
have merit of any kind. For in fact it is only when we separate the
poem from the drama that the passages we have commended as beautiful
can be understood to have beauty.
Pages:
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235