The
Phosphorist is unquestionably right, however, in asserting that as a
theory of life the one is as limited and imperfect as the other. It was
because of the abhorrence of all the darker phases of existence that
Tegner's bright Hellenic muse never struck those notes which thrill
with deepest resonance through the human heart. Tegner's acquaintance
with suffering during the early part of his career was chiefly a
literary one, and like Goethe he went far out of his way to avoid the
sight of it. As there can be no victory without combat--no laurel
without dust--the Mount of Transfiguration is not reached except through
the valley of the Shadow of Death.
There are, however, many fair flowers to be plucked in Tempe and the
blooming vales of Arcady. Goethe had in 1798 published "Hermann and
Dorothea," the form of which was Greek, though the theme was Teutonic;
and Tegner's "Children of the Lord's Supper" (1820), which Longfellow
has translated so admirably into English, derived its inspiration
primarily from the German idyl:
"Pentecost, day of rejoicing, had come, the church of the village
Stood, gleaming white in the morning sheen.
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