Page:Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier (1895).djvu/22

xiv Poems in this collection. It intimates a personal influence under which, with a moral nature fortified by great political insight, he began to consider seriously the movement for the abolition of slavery which was making itself evident here and there. As a specific result of this study he wrote in the spring of 1833 the pamphlet "Justice and Expediency," and published it at his own expense. It was a piece of writing compact with carefully gathered facts and logical deduction, and earnest with the rhetoric of personal conviction. Every sentence was an arraignment of slavery and a blow at his own chances of political office. The performance was in answer to the appeal of his own truthful nature, and it was a deliberate act of renunciation.

Now also began, at first with remote suggestions as in "Toussaint L'Ouverture," then nearer and nearer as he sings his tribute to the men of his day, known or unknown, who had been champions of freedom, Storrs, Shipley, Torrey, those bursts of passionate verse which were the vent of his soul overburdened with a sense of the deep wrong committed against God and man by the persistency of African slavery in the United States. In the years immediately following his decision to cast in his lot with the small band of despised anti-slavery agitators almost all of the poems which he wrote were of two sorts, either breathings of a spirit craving close communion with God as in his hymns, his lines on "The Call of the Christian," "The Female Martyr," and other poems, or fiery, scarce-controlled outbursts of feeling upon the evils of slavery, and vials of wratli poured out on those who aided and abetted tlie monstrous wrong. Such poems as "The Slave Ships," "The Hunters of Men," "Stanzas for the Times," "Clerical Oppressors," "Massachusetts," "The Pastoral Letter," derive their power not from their poetic spirit and form so much as from the righteous indignation, the pity, the overcharged feeling which crowd them. And if, in the years before, Whittier's verses with their conventional smoothness had drawn notice by the gentle spirit which suffused them, now his loud cry, violent and tempestuous, broke upon the ear with a harshness and yet an insistent fervor which compelled men to listen. It is indeed a striking phenomenon in poetic growth wliich one perceives who is familiar with Whittier's compositions and casts bis eye down a chronological list of his poems. Up to the date of his enlistment in the ranks of the anti-slavery army his ambition had been divided between literature and politics, with a taste in verse which was harmonious and an execution which was not wanting in melody yet had no remarkable note. After he stepped into the ranks a great change came over his spirit. He rushed into verse in a tumultuous fashion, careless of the form, eager only to utter the message which half choked him with its violence. There was a fierce note to his poetry, rough, but tremendously earnest. This was the first effect, such a troubling of the waters as gave a somewhat turbid aspect to the stream, and for a while his verse was very largely declamatory, rhymed polemics. But such poems as "Expostulation," beginning

were to people then living scarcely so much poems as they were sounds of a great trumpet which were heard, not for their musical sonance,but for their power to stir the blood, and Whittier, though living almost in seclusion, became a name of note to many who would scarcely have known of him had he been a mere legislator or smooth-singing verse maker. He was recognized by the anti-slavery leaders as one of themselves, and this not only because of his powerful speech in song, but because on closer acquaintance he proved to be a most sagacious and wise reader of men and affairs. His own neighbors quickly learned this quality in him. He was sent to the legislature in 1835 and reelected in 1836, but his frail health made it impossible for him to continue in this service. Never- theless, he wielded political power with great skill aside from political office. He was indefatigable in accomplishing political ends through political men. No important nominations were made in his district without a preliminary conference with him, and more than once he compelled unwilling representatives to work for the great ends he had in view. It may be said here that though a steadfast leader in the anti-slavery cause he differed from some of his associates, both now and throughout his life, in setting a high