al Works, 1889, Vol. II., pp. 1-186.) The original
and others: Festus and his wife Michal in the first scene, Aprile, an Italian poet, in the second, and Festus only in the remainder. Th
oth are far less important than the purely poetical. The leading motive is not unlike that of Pauline and of Sordello: it is handled, however, far more ably than in the former, and much more clearly than in the latter. Paracelsus is a portrait of the seeker after knowledge, one whose ambition transcends all earthly limits, and exhausts itself in the thirst of the imposs
in her tentative delineation, of that "piercing and overpowering tenderness which glorifies the poet of Pompilia." Festus, Michal's husband, the friend and adviser of Paracelsus, is a man of simple nature and thoughtful mind, cautious yet not cold, clear-sighted rather than far-seeing, yet not without enthusiasm; perhaps a little narrow and commonplace, as the prudent are apt to be. He, like Michal, has no influence on the external action of the poem. Aprile, the Italian poet whom Paracelsus encounters i
"[12] The proportions of the work are epical rather than dramatic; but indeed it is difficult to class, so exuberant is the vitality which fills and overflows all limits. What is not a drama, though in dialogue, nor yet an epic, except in length, can scarcely be considered, any more than its successors, and perhaps imitators, Festus, Balder, or A Life Drama, properly artistic in form. But it is distinguished from this prolific progeny not only by a finer and firmer imagination, a truer poetic richness, but by a moderation, a concreteness, a grip, which are certa
eagle why she
st and unex
power informs he
arvels, stren
undless regio
se, which have become th
o prove
s birds their
what time, wha
t unless God
eballs, sleet o
his good time,
d the bird. In
s forth in a kind of vast ecstasy, an
e heaves undern
changes like
e bursts up a
tone's heart, ou
es, spots bar
fine sand wher
. The wroth sea'
te as the bitt
olitary waste,
anos come up,
er with their
easure in their
ill; earth is
like a dancing
st to waken i
upon rough b
e-roots and the
triving with a
ight, the boughs a
ids impatien
orrs are busy
rows, ants ma
ly in merry fl
up, shivering
sleeps; white
strand is purpl
pets; savage
wood and plai
ient ra
yrics, themselves various in style, and full of r
e of the men
ult, and withered
nd that strange song of old spices wh
, sandal-bud
um, and a
dull nard a
hair: such
de mountain
where tired w
he vast and
half their
nt sweetness
fine worm-e
to dust when
perfume, l
t long to
and dropping
er lute and
een, long de
TNO
1
le Preface,