Page:Undivine Comedy - Zygmunt Krasiński, tr. Martha Walker Cook.djvu/45

 Rh —hope for Poland, whose immortality he never ceases to proclaim!

Especially is the last Psalm remarkable for its boldness of conception. In the very moment in which accumulated disasters bore his country to the earth, and the wretchedness of slavery consumed it like a leprosy, not suffering himself to be shaken by its apparent decomposition and death, and looking far into the future, he points out how everything is preparing for and aiding in the Advent of Eternal Justice.

Addressing himself to God, he thanks Him for all the benefits He had never ceased to bestow on Poland, and blessing His all-powerful Hand, he exclaims: "It is not Hope which we beseech from Thee, O Lord! it falls upon us like a rain of flowers,—nor is it the destruction of our enemies: their doom is written on to-morrow's cloud! It is not to break the gates of our grave: they are already broken, O our God! Nor is it arms for the combat: they are already speeding on the tempests' wings! Nor is it succor: Thou hast already oped for us the field of action, but in the midst of this explosion of dire events, we pray Thee, Lord, to purify our hearts! Give us the gift of gifts: the Holy Will which opens every grave!"

A faith so vast, so limitless, almost defying Heaven to disappoint it, could not be without influence over other souls. It ought to have elevated and inspired them,—and so indeed it really did. Therefore the Psalms are not regarded merely as a literary fact, but as a political event, which has its place marked in the National History.

The Dawn was written several years before the Psalms. It is composed of a succession of lyrical pieces, in which we seethe constant development of the political and humanitarian ideal which had become, as it were, a religion to the Poet. This poem shadows forth the earth restored to the rule of harmony, which is its eternal law, and, after its deluge of blood and crime, blossoming anew under the eye of God.

All the works of the Anonymous Poet are written in the spirit we have essayed to portray in this succinct analysis. He devoted himself to the development of these ideas, and