"
Poems by Alan Seeger.
Then, talking about the "Wanderer" as though that character were some
far off person no kin to the poet (a way that poets have to hide the
pulsing of their own hearts), Seeger writes of Beauty. But we who know
him cannot be made to think that this "Wanderer" is a fellow we do not
know; "nor Launcelot, nor another." It is he, the poet of whom we
write. It bears his imprint. It bears his trade mark. It is stamped
"with the image of the king." He cannot hide from us in this:
"His heart the love of Beauty held as hides
One gem most pure a casket of pure gold.
It was too rich a lesser thing to hold;
It was not large enough for aught besides."
Poems by Alan Seeger.
THE SONG OF FAME
Fame always lures Youth. Perhaps later experience proves that it is
indeed a hollow thing, hardly worth striving for. But to Youth there is
no goal that calls more insistently than Fame. Youth and Beauty and
Fame--how closely akin they are! If Beauty and Fame keep him company,
Youth is next the stars with delight. And so it is natural that this
young poet shall sing the song of Fame with exuberant enthusiasm. He
says in "The Need to Love":
"And I have followed Fame with less devotion,
And kept no real ambition but to see
Rise from the foam of Nature's sunlit ocean
My dream of palpable divinity."
Poems by Alan Seeger.
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