Extracts from the Book of Tarshish, or "Necklace of Pearls."
In the Night.
Love Song of Alcharisi.
NACHUM.
Spring Songs.
A TRANSLATION AND TWO IMITATIONS.
I. Donna Clara.
II. Don Pedrillo.
III. Fra Pedro.
TRANSLATIONS FROM PETRARCH.
In Vita, LXVII.
In Vita, LXXVI.
In Vita, CV.
In Vita, CIX.
In Morte, II. On the Death of Cardinal Colonna and Laura.
In Morte, XLIII.
In Vita. Canzone XI.
Fragment. Canzone XII.
Fragment. Trionfo d'Amore.
Fragment. Trionfo della Morte.
TRANSLATIONS FROM ALFRED DE MUSSET.
The May Night.
The October Night.
NOTES TO "EPISTLE" OF JOSHUA IBN VIVES OF ALLORQUI.
Most of the poems in this volume were originally printed in
"The American Hebrew."
Publisher's note: Thanks are due to the Editors of "The Century,"
Lippincott's Magazine, and "The Critic," for their courtesy in
allowing the poems published by them to be reprinted in these pages.
EMMA LAZARUS. (Written for "The Century Magazine")
Born July 22, 1849; Died November 19, 1887.
One hesitates to lift the veil and throw the light upon a life so hidden
and a personality so withdrawn as that of Emma Lazarus; but while her
memory is fresh, and the echo of her songs still lingers in these pages,
we feel it a duty to call up her presence once more, and to note the
traits that made it remarkable and worthy to shine out clearly before
the world. Of dramatic episode or climax in her life there is none;
outwardly all was placid and serene, like an untroubled stream whose
depths alone hold the strong, quick tide. The story of her life is the
story of a mind, of a spirit, ever seeking, ever striving, and pressing
onward and upward to new truth and light. Her works are the mirror of
this progress. In reviewing them, the first point that strikes us is the
precocity, or rather the spontaneity, of her poetic gift. She was a born
singer; poetry was her natural language, and to write was less effort
than to speak, for she was a shy, sensitive child, with strange reserves
and reticences, not easily putting herself "en rapport" with those
around her. Books were her world from her earliest years; in them she
literally lost and found herself. She was eleven years old when the War
of S
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