Page:The poems of Emma Lazarus volume 1.djvu/25

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She gives us the breath of the pines and of the cool, salt seas, &quot; inimitably sparkling.&quot; Her ears drink the ripple of the tide, and she stops

&quot; Phantasies &quot; (after Robert Schumann) is the most complete and perfect poem of this period. Like &quot; Epochs,&quot; it is a cycle of poems, and the verse has caught the very trick of music, alluring, baffling and evasive. This time we have the landscape of the night, the glamour of moon and stars, pictures half real and half unreal, mystic imaginings, fancies, dreams, and the enchantment of &quot; faerie,&quot; and throughout the unanswered cry, the eternal &quot; Wherefore &quot; of destiny. Dawn ends the song with a fine clear note, the return of day, night s misty phantoms rolled away, and the world itself, again green, spark ling and breathing freshness.

In 1874 she published &quot; Alide,&quot; a romance in prose drawn from Goethe s autobiography. It may be of interest to quote the letter she received from Tourge nefl: on this occasion:

&quot;Although, generally speaking, I do not think it ad visable to take celebrated men, especially poets and artists, as a subject for a novel, still I am truly glad to say that I have read your book with the liveliest interest. It is very sincere and very poetical at the same time; the