Longfellow I think not
_clearly_ influenced by religious principle, but I do not
see any thing contrary to it. Some of his short pieces
are like little _gems_,--so beautifully _cut_, too. Elizabeth
Barrett's [Browning] deep thoughts, rich poetical ideas,
and thoroughly satisfactory principles, when they appear,
[1846] make her a great favorite with me and with us
all. Even her fictions, though so well told, are not
wrought up, or full of romantic incident; but the tale
is plainly used merely as a thread on which to string
rich thoughts and lessons. How much this is the case
with the "Lay of the Brown Rosary!" Even the sad
pieces, such as the "Lost Bower," end generally with a
gleam of light, not from a mere meteor of passion or
sentiment, but from a day-spring of Christian hope.
Perhaps I am too partial, for I know that taste, which in
me is particularly gratified with E. Barrett, will influence
our judgment. Some of Trench's poems, too, I think,
are worth learning; his "Walk in the Churchyard" I
particularly like.
_3d Mo. 25th._ Letter to M.B.
* * * But, oh, I do believe that if people did but
accustom themselves to view small things as parts of
large, moments as parts of life, intellects as parts of men,
lives as parts of eternity, religion would cease to be the
mere adjunct which it now is to many.
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