Page:Poems Shore.djvu/57

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In Memoriam

same thought that created the well-known poem of George Eliot which opens thus—

Oh! may I join the choir invisible.

But the lines by L. on this splendid theme are, I hold, superior in force, in sincerity and fervour, and assuredly in rhythmical beauty. They recall also the fine lines on the same motive of Margaret Woods,

Praise to the unknown Dead!

All three poems have been, by permission, inserted in the hymn-book styled "The Service of Man," and they are frequently recited at Newton Hall, especially on the last day of the year, the day of all the Dead.

The three poems in the same tone which follow were first published in the little volume called "Elegies and Memorials," and contain some poetry of a very fine quality. I feel a special interest in the piece called "A Requiem," which turns on a pathetic scene I witnessed in a country churchyard, and had suggested to her as a subject. It would be very wrong to condemn as pessimism

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