Solitude
Dublin Core
Title
Solitude
Subject
Commencement
Creator
H. L. Maynard
Source
http://addison.vt.edu/record=b1775388~S1
Publisher
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Date
May, 1883
Contributor
Devon Keyes, Libby Howe
Rights
Permission to publish images from The Gray Jacket must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.
Format
Text
Language
English
Type
Address
Identifier
LD5655.V8 L4, ser.1, v.2, no.5 (May 1883), p.1
Coverage
Virginia Tech Campus
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
SOLITUDE.
BY H. L. MAYNARD of PORTSMOUTH, VA.,
PRIZE ORATION DELIVERED AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF 1880.
In reviewing the reords of the past we find that the greaest [sic] and best works of man are those wrought in solitude, for there have been formed and perfected nearly if not all those stupendus [sic] creations which have astonished the world by their grandeur and brilliancy.
Hidden in seclusion, man toils incessantly to accomplish some great work, and after he has realized his hopes and aspirations after he has done that which will gain for him an everlasting fame, he steps out on the stage of public view and becomes, by the merits of his labors either a hero or demi-god.
It was in solitude profound that most of the brilliant literary productions of the past were conceived and written before they were given to the world for man's pleasure and profit.
In solitude were wrought out those principles that govern and regulate the universe; the laws that influence the motions of the heavenly bodies, the theory of religion and government.
It seems that even the insect chooses solitude in which to perform its labors. The little coral insect toiling in the fathomless depths of ocean's bed, slowly but surely building up a coral continent upon which nationalities may be founded, and which at last as it breaks above the ocean's wave stands in man’s sight a monument of their solitary labor. The flowers too seem to appreciate the silence of night in which to undergo that beautiful transition from a bud to a blossom.
When man undertakes some great work to be the crowning effort of his life, he does not seek the confusion and turmoil of city life, but flees from all that tends to interrupt the smooth flow of his thonghts [sic] and ideas, and eitheir [sic] in the silence of his study where the midnight lamp burns low, there shut off from the exterior world he pores over his task; or surronded [sic] by the solitude of nature, he wanders by the seashore, or seated beneath the shade of some forest tree he studies out the perplexing points of his work.
“’Tis midnight's holy hour and silence now is brooding like a gentle spirit oe'r a still and pulseless world." When we may see pacing the streets of London one of England's greatest historians and poets; who chooses the dead of night when all the world is wrapped in sleep to wander the streets beneath the silver stars as they glitter in the deep blue heavens, seeming so many windows to another world. After gleaning from the silent solitary wonders all that they can yield, he returns to his study, there to transcribe and give to the world these brilliant thoughts that cast a transcendant [sic] light on the past and furnishes a guide for the future.
The solitude of nature has a wonderful influence upon the mind of man, Wandering where grassy hillocks and snow capped mountains raise their heads in solitary grandeur, man raises with them to a surer conviction that there is a God and something beyond this narrow sphere.
In the rush of the ocean's wave as it leaps and trembles and breaks with a sullen roar on the beach at our feet, there is power and grandeur that is capable of exerting a powerful influence upon the mind of man. But in the gentle ripple of the meadow brooklett [sic] as it meanders through grassy vales and plains and at last to loose itself in the splendors of the cascade only to bound forth again in its onward course to the sea. In the solitude of such a scene the mind is elevated by some silent influence and carried as if on the wings of a celestial dove to realms of higher thoughts.
There is in the busy rush of city [illegible] perhaps somethtng [sic] useful that may be learned and treasured. But in the solitude of some sylvan grove where nature smiles in all her pristine loveliness and gladdens the eye by sight of bright flowers and green foliage, where the hum of the bee or the song of some feathered denizen is the only thing thatbreaks [sic] in on the profound solitude of the scene, there the mind is more able to frame lofty thoughts and plan noble deeds than when surrounded by the cares of busy life.
Imagine a Milton wandering through cypress groves of Horton, a Foster pacing at midnight the well worn aisles of his lonely church, or a Byron seated beneath the frowning clifts [sic] of Locknagar. Watch these three sages as in solitude they dive into the ocean of nature and make her yield her spoils at the feet of the conquerer.
Again we can see Milton standing alone within the Colleseum's [sic] broken walls, or standing at midnight upon Mount Palastine with the ruins or Roman greatness piled around him or wandering among the paintings and sculpture of Rome's deserted palacese [sic]. Were not scenes like this combined with solitude, sufficient for his greatest works.
[illegible] his [illegible] age blind and solitary produce his most famous works the combined effect of his great genius and solitary inspiration.
Look at the c o l o a s a l [sic] figures of England's wandering bard as he moves over the golden plains of Italy and citron groves of Andalusia where the palm tree nods to the magnolia growing by its side. We may see him among the walls of fallen Menervia, or standing above the ruins of some dead empire where the marble shaft has broken and the ruins of years are half buried by the acumulation [sic] of ages.-Oh it seems that in solitude these relics of departed greatness almost speak in their forgotten language, and [illegible] to the willing ears of man tales of past grandeur and power, or drifting alone over the mirrowed [sic] surface of their lakes, he is inspired with the eloquence of solitude.
Can we wonder at a great intellect surrounded by all these silent influences carving a name in literature which has out-lived succeeding ages?
Can we conceive of Napoleon banished first to Elba in whose rock bound and dessolated [sic] shore, he conceived and arranged his plans, with which to return to his beloved France and again plunge Europe into scenes of blood and rapine?
Cast your eyes back nearly four centuries and you will find in Wettenburg a monastery in whose silent and solitary cells, the monks offer their devotional prayer and hymns. From one of these lone dark cells issued the great reforemation [sic] in religion. There a monk with no other companion but solitude the great teacher and elevator of the human mind, [illegible] over his task until at length he is able to arouse a slumbering world from its lethargy, and raise [illegible] in the scale of religious enlighiment [sic].
Is it necessary to point to Greece's greatest orator. he who planted the banner of eloquence on the highest pinacle [sic] of wordly [sic] fame, and shook the very arsenal of Greece, He was wont to persue [sic] his studies by the sea-shore. Or to Cicero seated within the sacred grove which surrounded his villa, there he spent his time greaving [sic] over the death of a child. Thus we see solitude giving a solace to grief and a stimulus to the mind.
Or to the patriot and deliverer of ancient Rome, who spent his time in the solitude of real life, until Rome called for her hero, and found a Cincinatus matured and trained by solitude.
Thus the historians by its influence has been inspired to his work, the statesmen made to govern with wisdom and enlightment [sic].
The orator to fire the world with his eloquence and hold countless numbers in silence and allegience [sic] to the magic of [illegible].
The painter to rival nature herself in loveliness of conception and design, and the muses to dedicate to man such living mementoes of genius as have equaled the music of the Olymphic [sic] Gods.
It has cheered the weak and despondent, it has humbled the proud and lofty, and taught man the frality [sic] and uncertainty of human greatness as compared to immortality beyond the grave-
BY H. L. MAYNARD of PORTSMOUTH, VA.,
PRIZE ORATION DELIVERED AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF 1880.
In reviewing the reords of the past we find that the greaest [sic] and best works of man are those wrought in solitude, for there have been formed and perfected nearly if not all those stupendus [sic] creations which have astonished the world by their grandeur and brilliancy.
Hidden in seclusion, man toils incessantly to accomplish some great work, and after he has realized his hopes and aspirations after he has done that which will gain for him an everlasting fame, he steps out on the stage of public view and becomes, by the merits of his labors either a hero or demi-god.
It was in solitude profound that most of the brilliant literary productions of the past were conceived and written before they were given to the world for man's pleasure and profit.
In solitude were wrought out those principles that govern and regulate the universe; the laws that influence the motions of the heavenly bodies, the theory of religion and government.
It seems that even the insect chooses solitude in which to perform its labors. The little coral insect toiling in the fathomless depths of ocean's bed, slowly but surely building up a coral continent upon which nationalities may be founded, and which at last as it breaks above the ocean's wave stands in man’s sight a monument of their solitary labor. The flowers too seem to appreciate the silence of night in which to undergo that beautiful transition from a bud to a blossom.
When man undertakes some great work to be the crowning effort of his life, he does not seek the confusion and turmoil of city life, but flees from all that tends to interrupt the smooth flow of his thonghts [sic] and ideas, and eitheir [sic] in the silence of his study where the midnight lamp burns low, there shut off from the exterior world he pores over his task; or surronded [sic] by the solitude of nature, he wanders by the seashore, or seated beneath the shade of some forest tree he studies out the perplexing points of his work.
“’Tis midnight's holy hour and silence now is brooding like a gentle spirit oe'r a still and pulseless world." When we may see pacing the streets of London one of England's greatest historians and poets; who chooses the dead of night when all the world is wrapped in sleep to wander the streets beneath the silver stars as they glitter in the deep blue heavens, seeming so many windows to another world. After gleaning from the silent solitary wonders all that they can yield, he returns to his study, there to transcribe and give to the world these brilliant thoughts that cast a transcendant [sic] light on the past and furnishes a guide for the future.
The solitude of nature has a wonderful influence upon the mind of man, Wandering where grassy hillocks and snow capped mountains raise their heads in solitary grandeur, man raises with them to a surer conviction that there is a God and something beyond this narrow sphere.
In the rush of the ocean's wave as it leaps and trembles and breaks with a sullen roar on the beach at our feet, there is power and grandeur that is capable of exerting a powerful influence upon the mind of man. But in the gentle ripple of the meadow brooklett [sic] as it meanders through grassy vales and plains and at last to loose itself in the splendors of the cascade only to bound forth again in its onward course to the sea. In the solitude of such a scene the mind is elevated by some silent influence and carried as if on the wings of a celestial dove to realms of higher thoughts.
There is in the busy rush of city [illegible] perhaps somethtng [sic] useful that may be learned and treasured. But in the solitude of some sylvan grove where nature smiles in all her pristine loveliness and gladdens the eye by sight of bright flowers and green foliage, where the hum of the bee or the song of some feathered denizen is the only thing thatbreaks [sic] in on the profound solitude of the scene, there the mind is more able to frame lofty thoughts and plan noble deeds than when surrounded by the cares of busy life.
Imagine a Milton wandering through cypress groves of Horton, a Foster pacing at midnight the well worn aisles of his lonely church, or a Byron seated beneath the frowning clifts [sic] of Locknagar. Watch these three sages as in solitude they dive into the ocean of nature and make her yield her spoils at the feet of the conquerer.
Again we can see Milton standing alone within the Colleseum's [sic] broken walls, or standing at midnight upon Mount Palastine with the ruins or Roman greatness piled around him or wandering among the paintings and sculpture of Rome's deserted palacese [sic]. Were not scenes like this combined with solitude, sufficient for his greatest works.
[illegible] his [illegible] age blind and solitary produce his most famous works the combined effect of his great genius and solitary inspiration.
Look at the c o l o a s a l [sic] figures of England's wandering bard as he moves over the golden plains of Italy and citron groves of Andalusia where the palm tree nods to the magnolia growing by its side. We may see him among the walls of fallen Menervia, or standing above the ruins of some dead empire where the marble shaft has broken and the ruins of years are half buried by the acumulation [sic] of ages.-Oh it seems that in solitude these relics of departed greatness almost speak in their forgotten language, and [illegible] to the willing ears of man tales of past grandeur and power, or drifting alone over the mirrowed [sic] surface of their lakes, he is inspired with the eloquence of solitude.
Can we wonder at a great intellect surrounded by all these silent influences carving a name in literature which has out-lived succeeding ages?
Can we conceive of Napoleon banished first to Elba in whose rock bound and dessolated [sic] shore, he conceived and arranged his plans, with which to return to his beloved France and again plunge Europe into scenes of blood and rapine?
Cast your eyes back nearly four centuries and you will find in Wettenburg a monastery in whose silent and solitary cells, the monks offer their devotional prayer and hymns. From one of these lone dark cells issued the great reforemation [sic] in religion. There a monk with no other companion but solitude the great teacher and elevator of the human mind, [illegible] over his task until at length he is able to arouse a slumbering world from its lethargy, and raise [illegible] in the scale of religious enlighiment [sic].
Is it necessary to point to Greece's greatest orator. he who planted the banner of eloquence on the highest pinacle [sic] of wordly [sic] fame, and shook the very arsenal of Greece, He was wont to persue [sic] his studies by the sea-shore. Or to Cicero seated within the sacred grove which surrounded his villa, there he spent his time greaving [sic] over the death of a child. Thus we see solitude giving a solace to grief and a stimulus to the mind.
Or to the patriot and deliverer of ancient Rome, who spent his time in the solitude of real life, until Rome called for her hero, and found a Cincinatus matured and trained by solitude.
Thus the historians by its influence has been inspired to his work, the statesmen made to govern with wisdom and enlightment [sic].
The orator to fire the world with his eloquence and hold countless numbers in silence and allegience [sic] to the magic of [illegible].
The painter to rival nature herself in loveliness of conception and design, and the muses to dedicate to man such living mementoes of genius as have equaled the music of the Olymphic [sic] Gods.
It has cheered the weak and despondent, it has humbled the proud and lofty, and taught man the frality [sic] and uncertainty of human greatness as compared to immortality beyond the grave-
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