Lamartine's Thoughts on Poetry, Part II [pp. 665-671]

1848.1 Lamartine's Thoughts on Poetry. 671
from the hands of royalty into the hands of the a
people, whether the nobility, the priesthood or t
the commonalty shall assume the reins of the s
new governments, be they called either empires
or republics. We are more deeply concerned.
We must decide if the idea of morality, of re- t
ligion, of evangelical charity shall be substituted t
for egotism in politics; it God, in his most prac tical acceptation, shall descend at last into our laws,
if all men will at last consent to recognize in their
fellows brethren, or continue to look upon them as ]
enemies arnd slaves. The idea is ripe; the times
are decisive. A small number of intellects, be longing by chance to all the various (lenomina tions of political opinions, carry the fruitful idea in
their heads and hearts. I am of the number of
those who wish to try, without violence but with
faith and hardihood, at last to realize that ideal,
which has not vainly agitated all minds above the
common level of humanity —from the immeasura ble intellect of Christ to that of Fenelon.* The
ignorances, the fears of governments serve and give
away to us; they have successively disgusted men
of all parties, who had reach of vision or gener osity of heart-men, who, disenchanted with the
lyijg symbols that no longer typify them, desire to
group round a single idea. And the strength of
men will be theirs if they comprehend the strength
of God and if, by their disinterestedness and confidence in the future, they render themselves worthy of receiving this strength. It is to impart this
conviction, to speak one word more to this political group, that I for the moment renounce solitude,
the only remaining asylum for any suffering mind.
So soon as it shall be done, so soon as it shall have
a place in the press and in civil institutions, I shall
return to my poetical life. A world of poetry revolves in my mind; I desire nothing, I anticipate
nothing more from life than troubles and losses.
From this very hour I would with pleasure mnake
my bed in the sepulchre-but I have ever prayed
God that I should not perish till I had revealed to
him, to the world, to myself, a creation of that
poetry which has been my second life here belowtill I could leave after me some monument of my
thoughts. This monument is a poem; I have coostructed and broken it into atoms a thousand times
in my imagination; and the verses, published by
me, have been bitt mutilated sketches, disjointed
fragments of this. my soul-poem. Shall I be more
fortunate now that I draw nigh the maturity of my
life l Shall I leave my poetical imaginings only
in fragments and sketches, or shall I at length give
it shape, massiveness and life in a work which will
stand and survive me some short years? God
lone knows to what destiny he summons his crea ures, and whether painful or sweet, dazzling or ob cure, that destiny is always perfect, if it be ac cepted with resignation and humble submission.
Now, nothing remains but for me to thank all
those tender and pious souls of my time, all my
brothers in poetry, who have welcomed with so
much fraternity and indulgence the feeble notes
which I have till now sang for them. I do not
think that any romantic poet has received more to kens of sympathy, more indications of friendship
from the youth of his age than I have myself re ceived. I, who am so imperfect, so unequtal, so
little entitled to the name of poet. They were
hopes and not realities which my brethren saluted
and caressed in me. Providence may force me to
disappoint these hopes; but all who have thus en couraged me, from every part of France and Eu rope know how sensible my heart has been to that
sympathy, which is my sweetest recompense, which
has woven between tus the invisible bonds of an intellectual friendship. They have bestowed upon
me much more thAn I have given to them. I know
not what poet it Is, who says that one criticism
gave him more pain than all eulogies imparted pleasure. I pity and do not understand him. As for
myself, I can without difficulty, forget all the criticisms, whether just or unjust, that have assailed
me in my career. I have indeed the conscience to
believe that I have deserved much; but had they
been all severe and bitter, they would have been amply compensated by the innumerable letters which I
have received from friends unknown. One sorrow that your Muse may have slumbered for a mromnent, one joy that you have lighted the first ray
in a young and pure heart, one faltering prayer of
a soul, to which you have imparted an expression
and a tone, one sigh which has responded to your
sighs, one tear of emotion that has fallen at your
voice from the eyelids of a young woman, a cherished name, symtbol of your most intimate affections, and cousecrated by love in a language less frail
than ordinary speech, one memory of a mother, of
a wife, of a child, that you have embalmed for ages
in stanzas of sentiment and poetry-the least of
these holy things consoles for all criticisms, and is
worth a hundred times more to the soul of the poet
than the watching and bitterness that his feeble
lines have cost him.
The heathen poets are mentioned three times in the
alone knows, and whether he grants me this boon New''estament. Aratus in the seventeenth chspter of
'II w i l I ianiy i holy He Acts —Menander in the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians,
or not, still wil I magnify Hls holy name. He also Epimnonid(les.
* Is not Lamartine now furnished with a glorious oppor- The vulgar Christian era is the invention of Dionysius
tunity to make an experiment? Exiguus.
Lamartine's Thoughts on Poetry.
671
1848.]