There he hewed and dug; subdued the earth and his spirit."
--pp. 52-55.
Among the prominent attributes of this poem is its completeness. The
elaboration, not only of character and of mental discipline, but of
incident also, is unbroken. The absences of all mention of Elspie in
the opening scene and again at the dance at Rannoch may at first seem
to be a failure in this respect; but second thoughts will show it to
be far otherwise: for, in the former case, her presence would not
have had any significance for Hewson, and, in the latter, would have
been overlooked by him save so far as might warrant a future vague
recollection, pre-occupied as his eyes and thoughts were by another.
There is one condition still under which we have as yet had little
opportunity of displaying this quality; but it will be found to be as
fully carried out in the descriptions of nature. In the first of our
extracts the worlds are few, but stand for many.
"Meaely glen, the heart of Lochiel's fair forest,
Where Scotch firs are darkest and amplest, and intermingle
Grandly with rowan and ash;--in Mar you have no ashes;
There the pine is alone or relieved by birch and alder."--p. 22.
In the next mere sound and the names go far towards the entire
effect; but not so far as to induce any negligence in essential
details:
"As, at return of tide, the total weight of ocean,
Drawn by moon and sun from Labrador and Greenland,
Sets in amain in the open space betwixt Mull and Scarfa,
Heaving, swelling, spreading, the might of the mighty Atlantic;
There into cranny and slit of the rocky cavernous bottom
Settles down; and with dimples huge the smooth sea-surface
Eddies, coils, and whirls, and dangerous Corryvreckan.
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