A NOTE ON PESSIMISM.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 6623, 12 September 1908, Page 5

A NOTE ON PESSIMISM.

Tho characteristic note of Robert Burns is a manlv, optimistic one, but ho was moodr, like most poets whoso outward lires arc not in harmony with their lau inward visions of what lifo might be. Ws therefore find that, partly owing to his own wsTTrardncw, and partly owing to the real difficulties of life surrounding him, ho jjTOietimes, for the moment, lost Ms faith in the inherent goodne**? amd worth of life, and uttered a <hw»nfijolsto And pessimistic nolo rcgnrumg it. yfkcm. *ll is considered, this may not bs jnirprising; but it is troll that ne should diseriamato in an, anchor nnat belongs to him, and what he i® through circumstances to utter. ihw method should bo adopted not only on behalf of the fair fame of a writer, but also on our own behalf, for it is n J° that even a great writer indiscriminately dealt with may work harm as well as rood. Impressed with the ■ greatness of a writer, wc may be willing unguardedly to accept erroneous principles which may oscrciso a malign influence in life. Our only safety hero, as elsewhere, lies cii watchful mental self-reliance.

Burns in many of ms poems and song* teaches a noble optimism—not a joolisli optimism which, rejoicing in individual good fortune, believes that hfo as it ns is good, and the best that can bo. Not the optimism that out of the fullness of the stomach, tho well-clad back, tho comfortable home, etc., quotes Browning glibly;

“God is in Ilia heaven , All’s right with the world ; but, that saner optimism that simply recognise,? that lifo in moot circumstances, even now, has its compensations, which, if we avail ourselves of them, will obviate a rational despair, and proviao footing and energy for a further ascent on the ladder of life*. In the following versos, from an “Epietlo to Dario," surely we have the natural noto of Bums:—“It's hardly in a body's poo’r To keep, at times, frae being sour. To ®eo hoo things are shar’d; JJ.oo best o’ chicle aro whiles in want. While coofa on coontleas thoosands rant,

Aad Icon na hoo to wair’t; But, Davie lad, ne’er fash your head. Though wo hao little gear, We’re fit to win oor daily broad. As lang’s we’ro hale and ficr : 'Hair spier na, nor fear na/ Auld age ne’er mind a fcg, The last o’t, the wavst o’t. Is only but to bog. "It's no’ in titles nor in rank, It’s no’ In wealth, like Lon’on bank. To purchase peace and rest: It’s no’ in makin’ muckle mair; It> no’ in books; it’s no’ in lear. To mak’ us truly blest: If happiness has not her seat And centre in the breast, W© may be wise, or rich, or great. But never can bo blest: Nae treasures, nor pleasures. Could mak' us happy long; The heart’s aye the part aye That mak’s us richt or wrong.” Then in "A Han’s a Man,” ho sings:— "What though on hamely far© we dine, Wear hodclin grey and a’ that? Gie fools their silks and knaves their

wine, A man's a man for a’ that! For a’ that, and a’ that, Their tinsel show and a’ that; Tho honest man, though o’er sae puir, Is king o’ men for a’ that I

"Then let ns pray that como it may— As como it will, for a’ that— That sense anti worth, o’er a’ the earth. May bear tho gree, and a’ that; For a’ that, and a’ that, It's coinin’ yet for a’ that. That man to man tho warld o’er. Shall brithcrs bo for a’ that!” This, then, is enrol? the Scots bard's natural attitude towards life, nn attitude of making tho most of the present, and with tho belief that life inherently is good, trusting that the future of the race, if not of tho individual, will bo supremely joyous. Burns sang this lofty solitary note 'mid wofnll.v depressed and, almost hopeless surroundings—at host such they must have been to ono with tho aspirations of Burns—and it is scarcely to bo wondered that ho sometimes lost touch with his own lofty gospel. But he did, and often the weak note is repeated with as much approval as the strong joyous note of his natural genius. “Man was Made to Mourn,” is in many respects a beautiful poem, and tin story which it sets forth may well have been a true one. It stirs our sympathy, and if we are wise and true men, commits ns to a course of actions which will make tho circumstances related in the poem, and which wo know arc existing more or less in every country of the world to-day, grow less possible in this fair new land. But why tho conclusion that man was "mad®” to "mourn” ? Were that true in the nature of things, then were wo justified in advocating, not. stoici m, but suicide, and, did it avail, in pravug that eomo erratic force in tho universe should scatter our earth, making us tho dnet of other continents. But it is net true, else why this uneitinguishable belief that life may be made glad? It is not true, else in seeking a life of harmony with the universe, and joy, Jt are undone. Granted there is much suffering and wrong and misery in life; granted that it is common to find

"Hundreds labour to support > haughty lordliug’fl pride/' granted that miiwpent youth, that licentious passions given rein to, and that unsympathetic and cruel treatment of chi aye diapenaed, cause remorse and *ui7(ring an<T misery—thee© are not necessities in the nature of things, but surely quite the reverse, else -why the suffering. It ; s true that the labourer has to-day to beg "A brother of the earth

To yiro him leave to toil/' and it is true that the labourer's adranees are frequently spurned to 'he ji in of

"Wife and helpless offspring, * but it ie also true that ho is not without resources of defence, araelio a-non, and power to mould conditions, mere ■‘n harmony with his needs, aims, and desires. Burns knew this in his better moments, and at the end of the poem in recovers himself from what fecm.s black blank despair, to utter a note of faith in life's possibilities. Ho begins to tlitok that the view of life to which he has given expression, ia a partial one, and surely not the beet: — "If I'm design'd yon lordling's lave— By nature's law design'd— Why was on indej)endent wish E'er planted in my mind? If not, whr am I subject to Hie cruelty or ©corn? Or why has man the Trill and power T# moke kU fellowa mourn?" No great imdiridual or collective life is nurtured in peeamism. We must hare faith in life© inherent worth, ana SO forward hoping «-nd trusting that in time it shall outwardly and iu all its manifestations reveal itself art such. Man was kot made to mourn, but to cease from mourning, and learn the se-

orots and condition* of joyous lifo. No silting down and vesting under remediable sufferings, but standing on our legs and valiantly lighting against the onuses of eUKering and wrong must be our truest attitude iu lifo. It is the attitude dictated by the belief that things have Iwon created well —a faith which Trill vet wine the grimo and dust from the face of the world, a faith which will yet save the people from disease and pain, and misery, a faith which will wipe nil tears away, and, in time, remove all cause for tears and suffering, and bring joy and peace to the heart of humanity.