The Song of Solomon : and the Lamentations of Jeremiah

So THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH
his troubles in fanciful acrostics? Can we imagine
a leading actor in the tragedy turning the events
through which he had passed into materials for aesthetic
treatment ? Can we credit this of so intense a soul
as Jeremiah ? The composition of In Memoriam may
be cited as an instance of the production of highly
artistic poetry under the influence of keen personal
sorrow. But the case is not parallel; for Tennyson
was a passive mourner over the loss of a friend under
circumstances with which he had no connection, while
Jeremiah had contended strenuously for years on the
field of action. Could a man with such a history have
set himself to work up its most doleful experiences into
the embroidery of a peculiarly artificial form of versi-
fication ? That is the gravest difficulty. Other objec-
tions of minor weight follow. In the third elegy
Jeremiah would seem to be giving more prominence to
his own personality than we should have expected of
the brave, unselfish prophet. In the fourth the writer
appears to associate himself with those Jews who were
disappointed in expecting deliverance from an Egyptian
alliance, when he complains
—
" Our eyes do yet fail in looking for our vain help :
In watching we have watched for a nation that could not save,"
Would Jeremiah, who bade the Jews bow to the scourge
of Jehovah's chastisement and look for no earthly de-
liverer, thus confess participation in the worldly policy
which he, in common with all the true prophets, had
denounced as faithless and disobedient ? Then, while
sharing Jeremiah's condemnation of the priests and
prophets, the writer appears to have only commiseration
iv. 17.
'