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Poetry of the Supernatural

Name: Poetry of the Supernatural
Rating: 3.5 (29 reviews)
Author: Unknown Author

Compiled by Earle F. Walbridge

The New York Public Library 1919

REPRINTED JUNE 1919 FROM THE BRANCH LIBRARY NEWS OF MAY 1919

PRINTED AT THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY form p-099 [vi-23-19 5m]

POETRY OF THE SUPERNATURAL[3:1]

Lafcadio Hearn, in his Interpretations of Literature (one of the most valuable and delightful books on literature which has been written in our time), says: "Let me tell you that it would be a mistake to suppose that the stories of the supernatural have had their day in fine literature. On the contrary, wherever fine literature is being produced, either in poetry or in prose, you will find the supernatural element very much alive. . . But without citing other living writers, let me observe that there is scarcely any really great author in European literature, old or new, who has not distinguished himself in the treatment of the supernatural. In English literature, I believe, there is no exception,—even from the time of the Anglo-Saxon poets to Shakespeare, and from Shakespeare to our own day. And this introduces us to the consideration of a general and remarkable fact,—a fact that I do not remember to have seen in any books, but which is of very great philosophical importance; there is something ghostly in all great art, whether of literature, music, sculpture, or architecture."

Feeling this, Mr. Walbridge has compiled the following list. It is not a bibliography, nor even a "contribution toward" a bibliography, nor a "reading list," in the usual sense, but the intelligent selection of a number of instances in which poets, major and minor, have turned to ghostly themes. If it causes you, reading one of its quotations, to hunt for and read the whole poem, it will have served its purpose. If it tells you of a poem you have never read—and so gives you a new pleasure—or if it reminds you of one you had forgotten, it will have been sufficiently useful. But for those who are fond of poetry, and fond of recollecting poems which they have enjoyed, it is believed that the list is not without interest in itself. Its quotations are taken from the whole great range of English poetry, both before and after the time of him "who made Prospero the magician, and gave him Caliban and Ariel as his servants, who heard the Tritons blowing their horns round the coral reefs of the Enchanted Isle, and the fairies singing to each other in a wood near Athens, who led the phantom kings in dim procession across the misty Scottish heath, and hid Hecate in a cave with the weird sisters."

FOOTNOTES:

[3:1] The picture on the front cover is from an illustration by Mr. Gerald Metcalfe, for Coleridge's "Christabel," in The Poems of Coleridge, published by John Lane.

POETRY OF THE SUPERNATURAL

Compiled by Earle F. Walbridge

—Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

THE OLDER POETS

Allingham, William. A Dream. (In Charles Welsh's The Golden Treasury of Irish Songs and Lyrics.)

Arnold, Matthew. The Forsaken Merman.

In its delicate loveliness "The Forsaken Merman" ranks high among Mr. Arnold's poems. It is the story of a Sea-King, married to a mortal maiden, who forsook him and her children under the impulse of a Christian conviction that she must return and pray for her soul.—H. W. Paul.

—— St. Brandan.

. . . a picturesque embodiment of a strange mediaeval legend touching Judas Iscariot, who is supposed to be released from Hell for a few hours every Christmas because he had done in his life a single deed of charity.—H. W. Paul.

Barlow, Jane. Three Throws and One. (In Walter Jerrold's The Book of Living Poets.)

Boyd, Thomas. The King's Son. (In Padric Gregory's Modern Anglo-Irish Verse.)

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. The Lay of the Brown Rosary.

Browning, Robert. Mesmerism.

Buchanan, Robert. The Ballad of Judas Iscariot. (In Stedman's Victorian Anthology.)

The beauty is chiefly in the central idea of forgiveness, but the workmanship of this composition has also a very remarkable beauty, a Celtic beauty of weirdness, such as we seldom find in a modern composition touching religious tradition.—Lafcadio Hearn.

Carleton, William. Sir Turlough, or The Churchyard Bride. (In Stopford Brooke's A Treasury of Irish Poetry.)

The churchyard bride is accustomed to appear to the last mourner in the churchyard after a burial, and, changing its sex to suit the occasion, exacts a promise and a fatal kiss from the unfortunate lingerer.

Chatterton, Thomas. The Parliament of Sprites.

"The Parliament of Sprites" is an interlude played by Carmelite friars at William Canynge's house on the occasion of the dedication of St. Mary Redcliffe's. One after another the "antichi spiriti dolenti" rise up and salute the new edifice: Nimrod and the Assyrians, Anglo-Saxon ealdormen and Norman knights templars, and citizens of ancient Bristol.—H. A. Beers.

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Christabel.

The thing attempted in "Christabel" is the most difficult of execution in the whole field of romance—witchery by daylight—and the success is complete.—John Gibson Lockhart.

—— The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Cortissoz, Ellen Mackay Hutchinson. On Kingston Bridge. (In Stedman's American Anthology.)

Crawford, Isabella Valancy. The Mother's Soul. (In John Garvin's Canadian Poets and Poetry.)

Another elaborate variation on the theme of the return of a mother from her grave to rescue her children. Miss Crawford's mother does not go as far as the ghost in Robert Buchanan's "Dead Mother," who not only makes three trips to assemble her neglected family, but manages to appear to their delinquent father, to his great discomfort and the permanent loss of his sleep.

Dobell, Sydney. The Ballad of Keith of Ravelston. (In The Oxford Book of English Verse.)

A ballad unsurpassed in our literature for its weird suggestiveness.—Richard Garnett.

Drummond, William Henry. The Last Portage. (In Wilfred Campbell's The Oxford Book of Canadian Verse.)

Eaton, Arthur Wentworth Hamilton. The Phantom Light of the Baie des Chaleurs. (In T. H. Rand's A Treasury of Canadian Verse.)

Field, Eugene. The Peter-bird. (In his Songs and Other Verse.)

Freneau, Philip. The Indian Burying-ground. (In Stedman's American Anthology.)

Graves, Alfred Perceval. The Song of the Ghost. (In Padric Gregory's Modern Anglo-Irish Verse.)

Guiney, Louise Imogen. Peter Rugg, the Bostonian. (In Warner's Library of the World's Best Literature, v. 41.)

Harte, Francis Bret. A Greyport Legend.

Still another phantom ship, a treacherous hulk that broke from its moorings and drifted with a crew of children into the fog.

Hawker, Robert Stephen. Mawgan of Melhuach. (In Stedman's Victorian Anthology.)

Hawthorne, Julian. Were-wolf. (In Stedman's American Anthology.)

Herrick, Robert. The Hag.

Hood, Thomas. The Haunted House.

Houghton, George. The Handsel Ring. (In Stedman's American Anthology.)

A man and maid are plighting their troth in the tomb of an old knight, the girl's father, when the man lucklessly drops the ring through a crack in the floor of the tomb.

Hugo, Victor. The Djinns. (In Charles A. Dana's The Household Book of Poetry.)

Joyce, Patrick Weston. The Old Hermit's Story. (In Padric Gregory's Modern Anglo-Irish Verse.)

Keats, John. La Belle Dame sans Merci.

—— Lamia.

Kingsley, Charles. The Weird Lady.

Leconte de Lisle, Charles. Les Elfes. (In The Oxford Book of French Verse.)

Lockhart, Arthur John. The Waters of Carr. (In T. H. Rand's A Treasury of Canadian Verse.)

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. The Ballad of Carmilhan.

Macdonald, George. Janet. (In Linton and Stoddard's Ballads and Romances.)

McKay, Charles. The Kelpie of Corrievreckan. (In Dugald Mitchell's The Book of Highland Verse.)

Mackenzie, Donald A. The Banshee. (In The Book of Highland Verse.)

Mallet, David. William and Margaret. (In W. M. Dixon's The Edinburgh Book of Scottish Verse.)

Moore, Thomas. The Lake of the Dismal Swamp.

Morris, William. The Tune of Seven Towers.

Österling, Anders. Meeting of Phantoms. (In Charles Wharton Stork's Anthology of Swedish Lyrics from 1750 to 1915.)

O'Sullivan, Vincent. He Came on Holy Saturday. (In Padric Gregory's Modern Anglo-Irish Verse.)

Poe, Edgar Allan. The Conqueror Worm.

—— Ulalume.

Rossetti, Christina.

She never doubts but she always wonders. Again and again in imagination she crosses the bridge of death and explores the farther shore. Her ghosts come back with familiar forms, familiar sensations, and familiar words.—Elisabeth Luther Cary.

—— A Chilly Night.

—— Goblin Market.

Rossetti, Dante Gabriel. Eden Bower.

—— Sister Helen.

Its forty-two short verses unfold the whole story of the wronged woman's ruthless vengeance on her false lover as she watches the melting of the "waxen man" which, according to the old superstitions, is to carry with it the destruction, body and soul, of him in whose likeness it was fashioned.—H. R. Fox-Bourne.

Scott, Sir Walter. Child Dyring.

—— The Dance of Death.

A vision appearing to a Scottish sentinel on the eve of Waterloo.

Scott, William Bell. The Witch's Ballad. (In The Oxford book of English verse.)

Shairp, John Campbell. Cailleach bein-y-vreich. (In Stedman's Victorian Anthology.)

Shanly, C. D. The Walker of the Snow. (In Stedman's Victorian Anthology.)

Sharp, William. ("Fiona McLeod.") Cap'n Goldsack.

Southey, Robert. The Old Woman of Berkeley.

Stephens, Riccardo. The Phantom Piper. (In The Book of Highland Verse.)

Swinburne, Algernon Charles. After Death. (In Poems and Ballads, First Series.)

Taylor, William. Lenore.

The most successful rendering of Bürger's much-translated "Lenore," and the direct inspiration of Scott's "William and Helen."

Watson, Rosamund Marriott-. The Farm on the Links. (In The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse.)

Whittier, John Greenleaf. The Dead Ship of Harpswell.

—— The Old Wife and the New.

THE YOUNGER POETS

—"Instinct and Reason" from "The Book of Winifred Maynard."

Benét, William Rose. Devil's Blood. (Second Film in "Films," in "The Burglar of the Zodiac.")

Brooke, Rupert. Dead Men's Love. (In his Collected Poems. 1918.)

—— Hauntings.

Burnet, Dana. Ballad of the Late John Flint. (In his Poems. 1915.)

Campbell, William Wilfred. The Mother. (In John W. Garvin's Canadian Poets and Poetry.)

—— The Were-wolves. (In Stedman's Victorian Anthology.)

Carman, Bliss. The Nancy's Pride. (In his Ballads of Lost Haven.)

—— The Yule Guest. (In Ballads of Lost Haven.)

Chalmers, Patrick R. The Little Ghost. (In his Green Days and Blue Days.)

Colum, Padraic. The Ballad of Downal Baun. (In Wild Earth and Other Poems.)

Couch, Arthur Quiller-. Dolor Oogo. (In John Masefield's A Sailor's Garland.)

De La Mare, Walter. The Keys of Morning. (In his The Listeners.)

—— The Listeners.

—— The Witch.

Dollard, Father. Ballad of the Banshee. (In J. W. Garvin's Canadian Poets and Poetry.)

Fletcher, John Gould. The Ghosts of an Old House. (In his Goblins and Pagodas.)

Furlong, Alice. The Warnings. (In Padric Gregory's Modern Anglo-Irish Verse.)

Gibson, Wilfrid Wilson. The Blind Rower. (In his Collected Poems. 1917.)

—— Comrades.

—— The Lodging House.

Hagedorn, Hermann. The Last Faring. (In Poems and Ballads.)

—— The Cobbler of Glamorgan.

Herford, Oliver. Ye Knyghte-mare. (In The Bashful Earthquake.)

Kilmer, Joyce. The White Ships and the Red. (In W. S. Braithwaite's Anthology of Magazine Verse for 1915.)

The red ship is the Lusitania. "She goes to the bottom all in red to join all the other dead ships, which are in white."

Le Gallienne, Richard. Ballad of the Dead Lover. (In his New Poems. 1910.)

Lowell, Amy. The Crossroads. (In her Men, Women, and Ghosts.)

In polyphonic prose. The body buried at the crossroads struggles for twenty years to free itself of the stake driven through its heart and wreak vengeance on its enemy. It is finally successful as the funeral cortège of this enemy comes down the road.

"He wavers like smoke in the buffeting wind. His fingers blow out like smoke, his head ripples in the gale. Under the sign post, in the pouring rain, he stands, and watches another quavering figure drifting down the Wayfleet road. Then swiftly he streams after it. . ."

Marquis, Don. Haunted. (In his Dreams and Dust.)

Masefield, John. Cape Horn Gospel. (In his Collected Poems. 1918.)

—— Mother Carey.

Maynard, Winifred. Saint Catherine. (In The Book of Winifred Maynard.)

. . . "Saint Catherine," in which the spotless virginity of the saint is made ashamed by the pitiful ghosts, who whisper their humanity to her in a dream.—William Stanley Braithwaite.

Middleton, Jesse Edgar. Off Heligoland. (In his Seadogs and Men-at-arms.)

Millay, Edna St. Vincent. The Little Ghost. (In her Renascence.)

Monroe, Harriet. The Legend of Pass Christian. (In her You and I.)

Noyes, Alfred. The Admiral's Ghost. (In his Collected Poems. 1913.)

—— A Song of Sherwood.

Scollard, Clinton. A Ballad of Hallowmass. (In his Ballads Patriotic and Romantic.)

Seeger, Alan. Broceliande. (In his Poems. 1917.)

Shorter, Dora Sigerson. All Souls' Night. (In Stedman's Victorian Anthology.)

Sterling, George. A Wine of Wizardry. (In A Wine of Wizardry and Other Poems. 1909.)

Widdemer, Margaret. The Forgotten Soul. (In her The Factories.)

—— The House of Ghosts.

Yeats, William Butler. The Ballad of Father Gilligan. (In Burton Stevenson's The Home Book of Verse.)

How an angel obligingly took upon itself the form and performed the duties of Father Gilligan while the father was asleep at his post.

—— The Host of the Air.

Based upon a scrap of folklore in "The Celtic Twilight" and apparently among the simplest of his poems, nothing he has ever done shows a greater mastery of atmosphere, or a greater metrical mastery.—Forrest Reid.