Those who recognise in the “Bothie” Clough’s almost solitary21 claim to literary eminence22 must somewhat wonder at the considerable figure he stands for in the estimation of the present generation. The fact is that Clough, like James Spedding, was personally far more impressive than his works; and the singularly strong effect produced among his friends by the extreme simplicity23 and shy kindliness24 of his life and manners, and the at once repellent and alluring25 severity of his truthfulness26, gave his character a consequence beyond that of his writings with all who knew him though ever so slightly; and the halo of this sanctity hangs, through the report of his friends, about all that he has done, and renders cold criticism of it almost impossible. No one who knew Clough can so separate his personality from his writings as to be able to criticise27 them fairly as literature; no one who has not known him can understand their value as the outcome of character.
The impressionable and feminine element, which is manifest in all genius, but which in truly effective{121} genius is always subordinate to power of intellect, had in Clough’s mind the preponderance. The masculine power of intellect consists scarcely so much in the ability to see truth, as in the tenacity28 of spirit which cleaves29 to and assimilates the truth when it is found, and which steadfastly30 refuses to be blown about by every wind of doctrine31 and feeling. The reiterated32 theme of Clough’s poetry is that the only way of forgetting certain problems now, and of securing their solution hereafter, is to do faithfully our nearest duty. This is no new teaching: it is that of every religion and all philosophy. But Clough had no power of trusting patiently to the promise, “Do my commandments, and you shall know of the doctrine.” This was the ruin of what might otherwise have been a fine poetic33 faculty34. A “Problem” will not sing even in the process of solution, much less while it is only a hopeless and irritating “Pons.” Clough was curiously35 attracted by Emerson, of whom he spoke36 as the only great contemporary American. Now Emerson, at his very best, never approached greatness. He was at highest only a brilliant metaphysical epigrammatist. But a religion without a dogma, and with only one commandment, “Thou shalt neither think nor do anything that is customary,” had great attractions for Clough; to whom it never seems to have occurred that the{122} vast mass of mankind, for whose moral and religious welfare he felt so keenly, has not and never can have a religion of speechless aspirations37 and incommunicable feelings, and that to teach men to despise custom is to cut the immense majority of them adrift from all moral restraint. The promise that we shall all be priests and kings seems scarcely to be for this world. At all events we are as far from its fulfilment now as we were two thousand years ago; and we shall not be brought nearer to it by any such outpourings of sarcastic38 discontent as go to the making of such poems as the tedious Mephistophelian drama called “Dipsychus,” which Clough had the good sense not to publish, though it is included with many others of equally doubtful value in posthumous39 editions of his works. This class of his poems possesses, indeed, a lively interest for a great many people of our own time, who are in the painful state of moral and religious ferment40 which these verses represent; but it is a mere41 accident of the time that there is any considerable audience for such utterances, and in a generation or two it is probable that most men will feel surprise that there could ever have been a public who found poetry in this sort of matter.
The “Bothie of Tober-na-Vuolich” is the only considerable poem of Clough’s in which he seems,{123} for a time, to have got out of his slough42 of introspection and doubt and to have breathed the healthy air of nature and common humanity. In spite of many artistic43 shortcomings, this poem is so healthy, human, and original, that it can scarcely fail to survive when a good deal of far more fashionable verse shall have disappeared from men’s memories. The one infallible note of a true poet—the power of expressing himself in rhythmical44 movements of subtilty and sweetness which baffle analysis—is also distinctly manifest in passages of the “Bothie,” passages the music of which was, we fancy, lingering in the ear of Tennyson when he wrote certain parts of “Maud.” The originality45 of this idyl is beyond question. It is not in the least like any other poem, and an occasionally ostentatious touch of the manner of “Herman and Dorothea” seems to render this originality all the more conspicuous46 in the main. Another note of poetical47 power, scarcely less questionable48 than is that of sweetness and subtilty of rhythm, is the warm and pure breath of womanhood which is exhaled49 from the love-passages of this poem. Clough seems to have felt, in the presence of a simple and amiable50 woman, a mystery of life which acted for a time as the rebuke51 and speechless solution of all doubts and intellectual distresses52. These passages in the{124} “Bothie,” and, in a less degree, some others in the “Amours de Voyage,” stand, in the disturbed course of Clough’s ordinary verse, like the deep, pure, and sky-reflecting pools which occasionally appear in the course of a restless mountain river.

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1
tragic
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adj.悲剧的,悲剧性的,悲惨的 | |
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2
steadily
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adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地 | |
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3
attaining
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(通常经过努力)实现( attain的现在分词 ); 达到; 获得; 达到(某年龄、水平、状况) | |
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4
attained
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(通常经过努力)实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 ); 达到; 获得; 达到(某年龄、水平、状况) | |
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5
ardent
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adj.热情的,热烈的,强烈的,烈性的 | |
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6
edifying
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adj.有教训意味的,教训性的,有益的v.开导,启发( edify的现在分词 ) | |
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7
complacent
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adj.自满的;自鸣得意的 | |
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contented
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adj.满意的,安心的,知足的 | |
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9
purely
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adv.纯粹地,完全地 | |
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10
utterances
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n.发声( utterance的名词复数 );说话方式;语调;言论 | |
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11
animated
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adj.生气勃勃的,活跃的,愉快的 | |
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12
inflame
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v.使燃烧;使极度激动;使发炎 | |
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13
professes
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声称( profess的第三人称单数 ); 宣称; 公开表明; 信奉 | |
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14
utterly
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adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
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15
reminder
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n.提醒物,纪念品;暗示,提示 | |
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16
longing
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n.(for)渴望 | |
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17
implicit
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a.暗示的,含蓄的,不明晰的,绝对的 | |
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18
justification
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n.正当的理由;辩解的理由 | |
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19
tautological
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adj.重复的;累赘的 | |
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20
passionate
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adj.热情的,热烈的,激昂的,易动情的,易怒的,性情暴躁的 | |
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21
solitary
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adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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eminence
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n.卓越,显赫;高地,高处;名家 | |
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23
simplicity
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n.简单,简易;朴素;直率,单纯 | |
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24
kindliness
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n.厚道,亲切,友好的行为 | |
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25
alluring
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adj.吸引人的,迷人的 | |
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26
truthfulness
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n. 符合实际 | |
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27
criticise
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v.批评,评论;非难 | |
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28
tenacity
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n.坚韧 | |
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29
cleaves
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v.劈开,剁开,割开( cleave的第三人称单数 ) | |
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30
steadfastly
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adv.踏实地,不变地;岿然;坚定不渝 | |
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31
doctrine
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n.教义;主义;学说 | |
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32
reiterated
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反复地说,重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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33
poetic
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adj.富有诗意的,有诗人气质的,善于抒情的 | |
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34
faculty
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n.才能;学院,系;(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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35
curiously
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adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地 | |
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spoke
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n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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aspirations
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强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 ); 志向; 发送气音; 发 h 音 | |
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sarcastic
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adj.讥讽的,讽刺的,嘲弄的 | |
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posthumous
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adj.遗腹的;父亡后出生的;死后的,身后的 | |
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40
ferment
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vt.使发酵;n./vt.(使)激动,(使)动乱 | |
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mere
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adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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slough
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v.蜕皮,脱落,抛弃 | |
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43
artistic
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adj.艺术(家)的,美术(家)的;善于艺术创作的 | |
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44
rhythmical
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adj.有节奏的,有韵律的 | |
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45
originality
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n.创造力,独创性;新颖 | |
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46
conspicuous
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adj.明眼的,惹人注目的;炫耀的,摆阔气的 | |
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47
poetical
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adj.似诗人的;诗一般的;韵文的;富有诗意的 | |
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48
questionable
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adj.可疑的,有问题的 | |
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49
exhaled
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v.呼出,发散出( exhale的过去式和过去分词 );吐出(肺中的空气、烟等),呼气 | |
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50
amiable
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adj.和蔼可亲的,友善的,亲切的 | |
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51
rebuke
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v.指责,非难,斥责 [反]praise | |
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52
distresses
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n.悲痛( distress的名词复数 );痛苦;贫困;危险 | |
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