ponkapog papers-第12章
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cannot sleep morn… ings。 After a man passes his fiftieth milestone he usually awakens at dawn； and his wakeful… ness is no credit to him。 As the theorist con… fined his observations to the aged； he easily reached the conclusion that men live to be old because they do not sleep late； instead of per… ceiving that men do not sleep late because they are old。 He moreover failed to take into ac… count the numberless young lives that have been shortened by matutinal habits。 The intelligent reader； and no other is sup… posable； need not be told that the early bird aphorism is a warning and not an incentive。 The fate of the worm refutes the pretended ethical teaching of the proverb； which assumes to illustrate the advantage of early rising and does so by showing how extremely dangerous it is。 I have no patience with the worm； and when I rise with the lark I am always careful to select a lark that has overslept himself。 The example set by this mythical bird； a myth… ical bird so far as New England is concerned； has wrought wide…spread mischief and discom… fort。 It is worth noting that his method of ac… complishing these ends is directly the reverse of that of the Caribbean insect mentioned by Laf… cadio Hearn in his enchanting 〃Two Years in the French West Indies〃a species of colossal cricket called the wood…kid； in the creole tongue； cabritt…bois。 This ingenious pest works a sooth… ing； sleep…compelling chant from sundown until precisely half past four in the morning； when it suddenly stops and by its silence awakens everybody it has lulled into slumber with its in… sidious croon。 Mr。 Hearn； with strange obtuse… ness to the enormity of the thing； blandly re… marks： 〃For thousands of early risers too poor to own a clock； the cessation of its song is the signal to get up。〃 I devoutly trust that none of the West India islands furnishing such satanic entomological specimens will ever be annexed to the United States。 Some of our extreme ad… vocates of territorial expansion might spend a profitable few weeks on one of those favored isles。 A brief association with that cabritt…bois would be likely to cool the enthusiasm of the most ardent imperialist。 An incalculable amount of specious sentiment has been lavished upon daybreak； chiefly by poets who breakfasted； when they did breakfast； at mid…day。 It is charitably to be said that their practice was better than their preceptor their poetry。 Thomson； the author of 〃The Castle of Indolence；〃 who gave birth to the depraved apostrophe；
Falsely luxurious； will not man awake；
was one of the laziest men of his century。 He customarily lay in bed until noon meditating pentameters on sunrise。 This creature used to be seen in his garden of an afternoon； with both hands in his waistcoat pockets； eating peaches from a pendent bough。 Nearly all the English poets who at that epoch celebrated what they called 〃the effulgent orb of day〃 were denizens of London； where pure sunshine is unknown eleven months out of the twelve。 In a great city there are few incentives to early rising。 What charm is there in roof…tops and chimney…stacks to induce one to escape even from a nightmare？ What is more depressing than a city street before the shop…windows have lifted an eyelid； when 〃the very houses seem asleep；〃 as Wordsworth says； and nobody is astir but the belated burglar or the milk…and… water man or Mary washing off the front steps？ Daybreak at the seaside or up among the moun… tains is sometimes worth while； though famil… iarity with it breeds indifference。 The man forced by restlessness or occupation to drink the first vintage of the morning every day of his life has no right appreciation of the beverage； how… ever much he may profess to relish it。 It is only your habitual late riser who takes in the full flavor of Nature at those rare intervals when he gets up to go a…fishing。 He brings virginal emotions and unsatiated eyes to the sparkling freshness of earth and stream and sky。 For him a momentary Adamthe world is newly created。 It is Eden come again； with Eve in the similitude of a three…pound trout。 In the country； then； it is well enough occa… sionally to dress by candle…light and assist at the ceremony of dawn； it is well if for no other purpose than to disarm the intolerance of the professional early riser who； were he in a state of perfect health； would not be the wandering victim of insomnia； and boast of it。 There are few small things more exasperating than this early bird with the worm of his conceit in his bill。
UN POETE MANQUE
IN the first volume of Miss Dickinson's poet… ical melange is a little poem which needs only a slight revision of the initial stanza to entitle it to rank with some of the swallow… flights in Heine's lyrical intermezzo。 I have ten… tatively tucked a rhyme into that opening stanza：
I taste a liquor never brewed In vats upon the Rhine； No tankard ever held a draught Of alcohol like mine。
Inebriate of air am I； And debauchee of dew； Reeling； through endless summer days； From inns of molten blue。
When landlords turn the drunken bee Out of the Foxglove's door； When butterflies renounce their drams； I shall but drink the more！ Till seraphs swing their snowy caps And saints to windows run； To see the little tippler Leaning against the sun！
Those inns of molten blue； and the disreputable honey…gatherer who gets himself turned out…of… doors at the sign of the Foxglove； are very taking matters。 I know of more important things that interest me vastly less。 This is one of the ten or twelve brief pieces so nearly per… fect in structure as almost to warrant the reader in suspecting that Miss Dickinson's general dis… regard of form was a deliberate affectation。 The artistic finish of the following sunset…piece makes her usual quatrains unforgivable：
This is the land the sunset washes； These are the banks of the Yellow Sea； Where it rose； or whither it rushes； These are the western mystery！
Night after night her purple traffic Strews the landing with opal bales； Merchantmen poise upon horizons； Dip； and vanish with fairy sails。
The little picture has all the opaline atmosphere of a Claude Lorraine。 One instantly frames it in one's memory。 Several such bits of impres… sionist landscape may be found in the portfolio。 It is to be said； in passing； that there are few things in Miss Dickinson's poetry so felicitous as Mr。 Higginson's characterization of it in his preface to the volume： 〃In many cases these verses will seem to the reader like poetry pulled up by the roots； with rain and dew and earth clinging to them。〃 Possibly it might be objected that this is not the best way to gather either flowers or poetry。 Miss Dickinson possessed an extremely un… conventional and bizarre mind。 She was deeply tinged by the mysticism of Blake； and strongly influenced by the mannerism of Emerson。 The very gesture with which she tied her bonnet… strings； preparatory to one of her nun…like walks in her garden at Amherst； must have had something dreamy and Emersonian in it。 She had much fancy of a quaint kind； but only； as it appears to me； intermittent flashes of imagination。 That Miss Dickinson's memoranda have a cer… tain something which； for want of a more pre… cise name； we term quality； is not to be denied。 But the incoherence and shapelessness of the greater part of her verse are fatal。 On nearly every page one lights upon an unsupported exquisite line or a lonely happy epithet； but a single happy epithet or an isolated exquisite line does not constitute a poem。 What Lowell says of Dr。 Donne applies in a manner to Miss Dickinson： 〃Donne is full of salient verses that would take the rudest March winds of criticism with their beauty； of thoughts that first tease us like charades and then delight us with the felicity of their solution； but these have not saved him。 He is exiled to the limbo of the formless and the fragmentary。〃 Touching this question of mere technique Mr。 Ruskin has a word to say （it appears that he said it
