Part 2
A careful study of "The Dream of Gerontius" will show how musical it is, and how delicately the music of the verse changes with the themes. The form of poetry, as we know, approaches music. If a poem is not musical in expression, its metres fail of producing the effect they are intended to produce. So musical is "The Dream of Gerontius" and so capable of being treated by the musicians, that various composers suggested the making of an oratorio of it. Dr. Elgar has done it. "An Ursuline," in _The Catholic World_, for June, 1903, says: "Dr. Elgar, when a child, sat Sunday after Sunday in the organ-loft of St. George's Roman Catholic Church, Worcester, England, where his father had been organist for the long period of thirty-seven years. Subtly the spirit of the grand old church music was instilled into the boy." Of "The Dream" Dr. Elgar said: "The poem has been soaking in my mind for at least eight years. All that time I had been gradually assimilating the thoughts of the author into my musical promptings." In 1889 a copy of the poem, with the markings made by General Gordon, was presented to Dr. Elgar as a wedding gift. The markings of the heroic and devout Gordon especially interested him. The reading of this little book helped to make Dr. Elgar's fame, which is based solely on his masterpiece, the oratorio performed in London on June 6, 1903, in Westminster Cathedral. Richard Strauss is looked on by musicians as the master of what is called "tone-color"--a perfect harmony between the tone of the instrument and the music arranged for it. But the German and English critics declare that in "The Dream of Gerontius" Dr. Elgar has surpassed Richard Strauss. "The Demons' Chorus," says The _Pall Mall Gazette_, "may be regarded as one of the last words of musical audacity." For the study of the music we suggest Dr. Jaeger's Analysis, printed by Novello in London and New York. Mr. Theodore Thomas, speaking of Dr. Elgar's "Dream of Gerontius," said that it is the most important oratorio of recent times, not excepting Brahms' Requiem. "'Gerontius,'" he added, "is a lofty work, and, from a technical point of view, more masterly than Brahms ever dreamed of. It is by far the most important and satisfying modern work written for voices and orchestra."
It is understood that Cardinal Newman himself suggested that his poem should be set to music. The delicacy of his ear as to sounds is shown by the changes of the verse-music,--which is made up of accent, pause, and rhythm,--to fit the varying feeling of the work. If the student will scan the lines and reduce them to musical expression,--leaving out, of course, the quality of pitch, he can easily corroborate this.
[Illustration: Jesu, Maria, I am near to death, And Thou art calling me.]
This is in two-beat rhythm:
[Illustration]
The first syllable of "Jesu" is the anacrusis; the measure of the metre begins with the first accent. Whether this system of verse-notation or that of the usual scansion be followed, the meaning of the changing forms will be made plain. The system of verse-notation will be found more satisfactory in the metrical study of the poem. The second form of primary rhythm--that based on three beats in the measure--is effectively used. We find it in the Song of the Demons:
[Illustration:
Low-born clods Of brute earth, They aspire,--]
[Illustration]
[1] From Merlin's song in Tennyson's "Coming of Arthur."
[2] Coventry Patmore's "Ode to the Body."
[3] From the Psalm, "De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine."--"Out of the depths have I cried to Thee, O Lord."
[4] "Come to his assistance, ye saints of God; come forth to meet him, ye angels of the Lord: Receiving his soul: Offering it in the sight of the Most High."
[5] This passage in "The Dream of Gerontius" calls to mind Tennyson's lines in "The Princess":
"Ah, sad and strange, as in dark summer dawns The earliest pipe of half-awakened birds To dying ears, when unto dying eyes The casement slowly grows a glimmering square."
[6] La Psychologie du Purgatoire (The Psychology of Purgatory): AbbÈ Chollet, Doctor of Theology at Lille.
[7] The Holy Father "creates" Cardinals, he does not appoint them.
[8] Catholic Life and Letters by Cardinal Newman; with Notes on the Oxford Movement and its Men:--John Oldcastle (Mr. Wilfred Meynell). To which work the editor is under obligation for important parts of the appended chronology.
[9] [Greek: gerÙn--ontos.]
[10] The word "refrigerium" was used for "refreshment," "rest" in the epitaphs of the early Latin Christians.
JOHN HENRY NEWMAN
Born in the city of London, February 21, 1801, son of Mr. John Newman (of the banking firm of Ramsbottom, Newman & Co.) and of Jemima Fourdrinier, his wife.
Went at an early age to Dr. Nicholas's school at Ealing, to the head of which he rapidly rose. Thence to Trinity College, Oxford, graduating in 1820.
In 1823 was elected to a Fellowship at Oriel.
In 1824 took Anglican orders and became curate of St. Clements, Oxford.
In 1828 was appointed vicar of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford, with the outlying chaplaincy of Littlemore.
In 1832 finished _History of the Arians_ and went abroad. Made acquaintance with Dr. Wiseman in Rome; seized with fever in Sicily, but said, "I shall not die--I have a work to do in England"; returning homewards in an orange-boat bound for Marseilles, and within sight of Garibaldi's home at Caprera, wrote "Lead, Kindly Light."
On July 13, 1833, the Sunday after his return home, the Oxford movement was begun by Keble's sermon on National Apostasy. The issue of _Tracts for the Times_ immediately followed; and in 1843 Mr. Newman published a volume of _Parochial Sermons_, to be followed by _University Sermons_ and _Sermons on Holy Days_.
In 1841 the Vice-Chancellor and heads of houses at Oxford censured Mr. Newman's Tract XC.
In 1843 he resigned St. Mary's.
On October 9, 1845, was received into the Catholic Church at Littlemore by Father Dominic.
On November 1, 1845, was confirmed at Oscott by Cardinal Wiseman.
On October 28, 1846, arrived in Rome, and, after a short period of study, was ordained priest.
On Christmas Eve, 1847, he returned to England from Rome, to found the community of St. Philip de Neri.
In January, 1849, part of the Oratorian Community settled in Birmingham.
In 1849 took up temporary residence at Bilston, to nurse the poor during a visitation of cholera.
In April, 1849, founded the London Oratory, with Father Faber as rector.
On June 21, 1852, the case of Achilli against Dr. Newman came on for trial before Lord Campbell, and, after several days' duration, resulted in a verdict of "guilty," Dr. Newman being unjustly sentenced to a fine and mulcted in enormous costs. The Rev. John Joseph Gordon, to whom "The Dream of Gerontius" is dedicated, was of great assistance to Newman at this time.
In 1854 went to Dublin as rector of the newly founded Irish Catholic University, but resigned that post in 1858, and subsequently established a boys' school at Birmingham.
In 1864 Charles Kingsley made charges of untruthfulness against the Catholic clergy, which led to the writing of the _Apologia Pro Vita Sua_.
In December, 1877, was elected an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford.
In 1865 he printed "The Dream of Gerontius."
In 1879 created Cardinal Deacon of the Holy Roman Church by Leo XIII.
On Monday, August 11, 1890, died at the Oratory, Edgbaston, Birmingham, England.
THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS
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GERONTIUS[11]
Jesu, Maria--I am near to death,[12] And Thou art calling me; I know it now-- Not by the token of this faltering breath, This chill at heart, this dampness on my brow, (Jesu, have mercy! Mary, pray for me!)-- 'Tis this new feeling, never felt before, (Be with me, Lord, in my extremity!) That I am going, that I am no more. 'Tis this strange innermost abandonment, (Lover of souls! great God! I look to Thee,) 10 This emptying out of each constituent And natural force, by which I come to be. Pray for me, O my friends; a visitant Is knocking his dire summons at my door, The like of whom, to scare me and to daunt, Has never, never come to me before; 'Tis death,--O loving friends, your prayers!--'tis he!... As though my very being had given way, As though I was no more a substance now, And could fall back on nought to be my stay, 20 (Help, loving Lord! Thou my sole Refuge, Thou,) And turn no whither, but must needs decay And drop from out the universal frame Into that shapeless, scopeless, blank abyss, That utter nothingness, of which I came: This is it that has come to pass in me; O horror! this it is, my dearest, this; So pray for me, my friends, who have not strength to pray.
ASSISTANTS
Kyrie eleÔson, Christe eleÔson, Kyrie eleÔson.[13] Holy Mary, pray for him. 30 All holy Angels, pray for him. Choirs of the righteous, pray for him. Holy Abraham, pray for him. St. John Baptist, St. Joseph, pray for him. St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Andrew, St. John, All Apostles, all Evangelists, pray for him. All holy Disciples of the Lord, pray for him. All holy Innocents, pray for him. All holy Martyrs, all holy Confessors, All holy Hermits, all holy Virgins, 40 All ye Saints of God, pray for him.
GERONTIUS
Rouse thee, my fainting soul, and play the man;[14] And through such waning span Of life and thought as still has to be trod, Prepare to meet thy God. And while the storm of that bewilderment Is for a season spent, And, ere afresh the ruin on thee fall, Use well the interval.
ASSISTANTS
Be merciful, be gracious; spare him, Lord.[15] 50 Be merciful, be gracious; Lord, deliver him. From the sins that are past; From Thy frown and Thine ire; From the perils of dying; From any complying With sin, or denying His God, or relying On self, at the last; From the nethermost fire From all that is evil; 60 From power of the devil; Thy servant deliver, For once and for ever.
By Thy birth, and by Thy Cross, Rescue him from endless loss; By Thy death and burial, Save him from a final fall; By Thy rising from the tomb, By Thy mounting up above, By the Spirit's gracious love, 70 Save him in the day of doom.
GERONTIUS
Sanctus fortis, Sanctus Deus,[16] De profundis oro te, Miserere, Judex meus, Parce mihi, Domine.[17] Firmly I believe and truly God is Three, and God is One; And I next acknowledge duly Manhood taken by the Son. And I trust and hope most fully 80 In that Manhood crucified; And each thought and deed unruly Do to death, as He has died. Simply to His grace and wholly Light and life and strength belong, And I love, supremely, solely, Him the holy, Him the strong. Sanctus fortis, Sanctus Deus, De profundis oro te, Miserere, Judex meus, 90 Parce mihi, Domine. And I hold in veneration, For the love of Him alone, Holy Church, as His creation, And her teachings, as His own. And I take with joy whatever Now besets me, pain or fear, And with a strong will I sever All the ties which bind me here. Adoration aye be given 100 With and through the angelic host, To the God of earth and heaven, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Sanctus fortis, Sanctus Deus, De profundis oro te, Miserere, Judex meus, Mortis in discrimine.[18]
I can no more; for now it comes again, That sense of ruin, which is worse than pain, That masterful negation and collapse 110
Of all that makes me man; as though I bent Over the dizzy brink Of some sheer infinite descent; Or worse, as though Down, down for ever I was falling through The solid framework of created things, And needs must sink and sink Into the vast abyss. And, crueller still, A fierce and restless fright begins to fill The mansion of my soul. And, worse and worse, 120 Some bodily form of ill Floats on the wind, with many a loathsome curse Tainting the hallowed air, and laughs, and flaps Its hideous wings, And makes me wild with horror and dismay. O Jesu, help! pray for me, Mary, pray! Some angel, Jesu! such as came to Thee In Thine own agony.... Mary, pray for me. Joseph, pray for me. Mary, pray for me. 130
ASSISTANTS
Rescue him, O Lord, in this his evil hour,[19] As of old so many by Thy gracious power:--(Amen.) Enoch and Elias from the common doom; (Amen.) Noe from the waters in a saving home; (Amen.) Abraham from th' abounding guilt of Heathenesse; (Amen.) Job from all his multiform and fell distress; (Amen.) Isaac, when his father's knife was raised to slay; (Amen.) Lot from burning Sodom on its judgment-day; (Amen.) Moses from the land of bondage and despair; (Amen.) Daniel from the hungry lions in their lair; (Amen.) 140 And the Children Three amid the furnace-flame; (Amen.) Chaste Susanna from the slander and the shame; (Amen.) David from Golia and the wrath of Saul; (Amen.) And the two Apostles from their prison-thrall; (Amen.) Thecla from her torments; (Amen.) --so, to show Thy power, Rescue this Thy servant in his evil hour.
GERONTIUS
Novissima hora est;[20] and I fain would sleep, The pain has wearied me.... Into Thy hands, O Lord, into Thy hands....
THE PRIEST
Proficiscere, anima Christiana, de hoc mundo![21] 150 Go forth upon thy journey, Christian soul! Go from this world! Go, in the name of God, The omnipotent Father, who created thee! Go, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, Son of the living God, who bled for thee! Go, in the Name of the Holy Spirit, who Hath been poured out on thee! Go, in the name Of Angels and Archangels; in the name Of Thrones and Dominations; in the name Of Princedoms and of Powers; and in the name 160 Of Cherubim and Seraphim, go forth! Go, in the name of Patriarchs and Prophets; And of Apostles and Evangelists, Of Martyrs and Confessors; in the name Of holy Monks and Hermits; in the name Of holy Virgins; and all Saints of God, Both men and women, go! Go on thy course; And may thy place to-day be found in peace, And may thy dwelling be the Holy Mount Of Sion:--in the Name of Christ, our Lord. 170
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SOUL OF GERONTIUS
I went to sleep; and now I am refreshed.[22] A strange refreshment: for I feel in me An inexpressive lightness, and a sense Of freedom, as I were at length myself, And ne'er had been before. How still it is! I hear no more the busy beat of time, No, nor my fluttering breath, nor struggling pulse; Nor does one moment differ from the next. I had a dream; yes:--some one softly said "He's gone"; and then a sigh went round the room. 180 And then I surely heard a priestly voice Cry "Subvenite"; and they knelt in prayer. I seem to hear him still; but thin and low, And fainter and more faint the accents come, As at an ever-widening interval. Ah! whence is this? What is this severance? This silence pours a solitariness Into the very essence of my soul; And the deep rest, so soothing and so sweet, Hath something too of sternness and of pain, 190 For it drives back my thoughts upon their spring By a strange introversion, and perforce I now begin to feed upon myself, Because I have nought else to feed upon.
Am I alive or dead? I am not dead, But in the body still; for I possess A sort of confidence which clings to me, That each particular organ holds its place As heretofore, combining with the rest Into one symmetry, that wraps me round, 200 And makes me man; and surely I could move, Did I but will it, every part of me. And yet I cannot to my sense bring home, By very trial, that I have the power. 'Tis strange; I cannot stir a hand or foot, I cannot make my fingers or my lips By mutual pressure witness each to each, Nor by the eyelid's instantaneous stroke Assure myself I have a body still. Nor do I know my very attitude, 210 Nor if I stand, or lie, or sit, or kneel.
So much I know, not knowing how I know, That the vast universe, where I have dwelt, Is quitting me, or I am quitting it. Or I or it is rushing on the wings Of light or lightning on an onward course, And we e'en now are million miles apart. Yet ... is this peremptory severance Wrought out in lengthening measurements of space, Which grow and multiply by speed and time? 220 Or am I traversing infinity By endless subdivision, hurrying back From finite towards infinitesimal, Thus dying out of the expansive world?
Another marvel:[23] someone has me fast Within his ample palm; 'tis not a grasp Such as they use on earth, but all around Over the surface of my subtle being, As though I were a sphere, and capable To be accosted thus, a uniform 230 And gentle pressure tells me I am not Self-moving, but borne forward on my way. And hark! I hear a singing; yet in sooth I cannot of that music rightly say Whether I hear or touch or taste the tones. Oh what a heart-subduing melody!
ANGEL
My work is done,[24] My task is o'er, And so I come, Taking it home, 240 For the crown is won, Alleluia. For evermore. My Father gave In charge to me This child of earth E'en from its birth, To serve and save, Alleluia, And saved is he. 250 This child of clay To me was given, To rear and train By sorrow and pain In the narrow way, Alleluia, From earth to heaven.
SOUL
It is a member of that family Of wondrous beings, who, ere the worlds were made, Millions of ages back, have stood around 260 The throne of God:--he never has known sin; But through those cycles all but infinite, Has had a strong and pure celestial life, And born to gaze on th' unveiled face of God And drank from the eternal Fount of truth, And served Him with a keen ecstatic love. Hark! he begins again.
ANGEL
O Lord, how wonderful in depth and height, But most in man, how wonderful Thou art! With what a love, what soft persuasive might 270 Victorious o'er the stubborn fleshly heart Thy tale complete of saints Thou dost provide To fill the thrones which angels lost through pride!
He lay a grovelling babe upon the ground, Polluted in the blood of his first sire, With his whole essence shattered and unsound, And, coiled around his heart, a demon dire, Which was not of his nature, but had skill To bind and form his opening mind to ill.
Then was I sent from heaven to set right 280 The balance in his soul of truth and sin, And I have waged a long relentless fight, Resolved that death-environed spirit to win, Which from its fallen state, when all was lost, Had been repurchased at so dread a cost.
Oh what a shifting parti-coloured scene Of hope and fear, of triumph and dismay, Of recklessness and penitence, has been The history of that dreary, lifelong fray! And oh the grace to nerve him and to lead, 290 How patient, prompt, and lavish at his need!
O man, strange composite of heaven and earth![25] Majesty dwarfed to baseness! fragrant flower Running to poisonous seed! and seeming worth Cloking corruption! weakness mastering power! Who never art so near to crime and shame, As when thou hast achieved some deed of name;-- How should ethereal natures comprehend A thing made up of spirit and of clay, Were we not tasked to nurse it and to tend, 300 Linked one to one throughout its mortal day? More than the Seraph in his height of place, The Angel-guardian knows and loves the ransomed race.
SOUL
Now know I surely that I am at length Out of the body: had I part with earth, I never could have drunk those accents in, And not have worshipped as a god the voice That was so musical; but now I am So whole of heart, so calm, so self-possessed, With such a full content, and with a sense 310 So apprehensive and discriminant, As no temptation can intoxicate. Nor have I even terror at the thought That I am clasped by such a saintliness.
ANGEL
All praise to Him, at whose sublime decree The last are first, the first become the last; By whom the suppliant prisoner is set free, By whom proud first-borns from their thrones are cast, Who raises Mary to be Queen of heaven, While Lucifer is left, condemned and unforgiven. 320
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SOUL
I will address him. Mighty one, my Lord, My Guardian Spirit, all hail!
ANGEL
All hail, my child! My child and brother, hail! what wouldest thou?
SOUL
I would have nothing but to speak with thee For speaking's sake. I wish to hold with thee Conscious communion; though I fain would know A maze of things, were it but meet to ask, And not a curiousness.
ANGEL
You cannot now 330 Cherish a wish which ought not to be wished.
SOUL
Then I will speak. I ever had believed That on the moment when the struggling soul Quitted its mortal case, forthwith it fell Under the awful Presence of its God, There to be judged and sent to its own place. What lets me now from going to my Lord?
ANGEL
Thou art not let; but with extremest speed Art hurrying to the Just and Holy Judge: For scarcely art thou disembodied yet. 340 Divide a moment, as men measure time, Into its million-million-millionth part, Yet even less than that the interval Since thou didst leave the body; and the priest Cried "Subvenite,"[26] and they fell to prayer; Nay, scarcely yet have they begun to pray. For spirits and men by different standards mete The less and greater in the flow of time. By sun and moon, primeval ordinances-- By stars which rise and set harmoniously-- 350 By the recurring seasons, and the swing, This way and that, of the suspended rod Precise and punctual, men divide the hours, Equal, continuous, for their common use. Not so with us in the immaterial world; But intervals in their succession Are measured by the living thought alone, And grow or wane with its intensity. And time is not a common property; But what is long is short, and swift is slow, 360 And near is distant, as received and grasped By this mind and by that, and every one Is standard of his own chronology. And memory lacks its natural resting-points Of years, and centuries, and periods. It is thy very energy of thought Which keeps thee from thy God.
SOUL
Dear Angel, say, Why have I now no fear at meeting Him? Along my earthly life, the thought of death 370 And judgment was to me most terrible. I had it aye before me, and I saw The Judge severe e'en in the crucifix. Now that the hour is come, my fear is fled; And at this balance of my destiny, Now close upon me, I can forward look With a serenest joy.
ANGEL