MAUD MULLER

JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER

Certain poems become popular because they tell us our own life-story. For example, in "Maud Muller," we read in the unsatisfied longings of Maud and the judge, the story of our own longings for a life different from that in which our circumstances compel us to live.

The theme of the poem is very old and has been treated by many authors. In one old story on this subject, every mortal was permitted by Jupiter to lay down upon a heap his most hated possession and to take up instead some cause of misery that had been discarded by another. Each person, after trying for a while his new possession, returned and begged Jupiter to permit him to have back his old one.

In "Maud Muller," Whittier tells an old story in a new and more delightful fashion. He tells of a country girl named Maud Muller, who was raking hay in a meadow. She had beauty and the rich possession of perfect health. She was so happy that she sang at her work. The joy in her song made a mocking bird in a neighboring tree echo back the air which she was singing. She was satisfied with her conditions of life.

"But when she glanced to the far-off town,
White from its hill-slope looking down,

"The sweet song died, and a vague unrest
And a nameless longing filled her breast,

"A wish that she hardly dared to own
For something better than she had known."

The sight of the "far-off town" caused her to wish for, the city life in which wealth could give her luxury and the means to enable her to do the kindly deeds that her generous heart impelled her to do. And from that moment she knew happiness and contentment no more.

Meanwhile, a young judge who lived in the far-off town and who possessed all the wealth and luxury for which Maud now longed, was taking a ride on horseback along the country roads. He stopped and asked the girl for a drink of water from the cool spring that bubbled up from the roadside. He saw, as he talked with her, that she was beautiful, and modest, and sensible, and very different from the girls whom he knew in the city. Finding no excuse for prolonging the conversation, he reluctantly rode on, but looked back and thought,

"Would she were mine, and I to-day,

Like her, a harvester of hay."

Maud's eyes followed the handsome young judge, and she thought,

"Ah me!

That I the Judge's bride might be!"

She forgot her work in thoughts of all the desirable things the judge's wealth could bring to her, and

"mused beside the well,

Till the rain on the unraked clover fell."

Maud had grown tired of the simple life on a farm, and longed for the kind of life which the judge lived; while the judge was weary of that very kind of life and wished for the simple country life which had now become distasteful to the girl.

But the judge did not return to attain his wish :

"He wedded a wife of richest dower,

Who lived for fashion, as he for power."

While Maud

wedded a man unlearned and poor, And many children played round her door."

Neither the judge nor the girl won his or her heart's desire. Each longed for another kind of life, but never attained it. The judge, in after years, in his beautiful house, often dreamed of Maud Muller and wished that he might again be

'Free as when I rode that day,

Where the barefoot maiden raked her hay."

And Maud, a poor man's wife, would dream of the splendid life she might have had, had she married the judge.

"Then she took up her burden of life again,
Saying only, 'It might have been.' ”

Whittier, in this sad, but beautiful story, uses Maud Muller and the judge as types of human life. He means that most mortals are weary of what they have, and that they think they might be happier with what others possess. The poet does not attempt to tell us how to attain what we desire. He does not even tell us that, while there is a foolish discontent which makes us dissatisfied with everything, there is also a splendid discontent which causes us to try to improve our conditions and to live nobler lives. He is not trying to teach us any lesson. He simply tells us what happens to most persons; for he says:

"Alas for maiden, alas for Judge,

For rich repiner and household drudge!

"God pity them both! and pity us all,
Who vainly the dreams of youth recall.

In closing the poem, he hopes, in his sweet faith, that in the hereafter each one of us may find his dearest hope realized.

If you have ever been made dissatisfied with your looks or what you possessed because of the better looks or the richer possessions of some other boy or girl, you will the more readily understand the meaning of the poem.

Read the poem thoughtfully with this explanation in mind. But before beginning to read, learn the meanings of the following words:

wrought (rôt): worked.

a vague unrest (väg): a feeling,
not easily explained, that one
is dissatisfied with his condi-
tions of life.

draught (dråft): a drink.
quaffed (kwåft): drunk freely
with relish.

hazel eyes: light brown eyes.
toast to drink a glass of wine

in honor of some one. doubtful balance of rights and

wrongs: the deciding which of two parties in a case of law is right and which is wrong. low of cattle (lō): the "mooing sound made by cattle. rank: station in society. closing his heart: compelling himself to stop thinking of his wishes.

mused (müzd): thought and wished so earnestly that she forgot her work.

a wife of richest dower: a wife who possessed much money and property.

garnished rooms: beautifully furnished and decorated rooms. spring-brook: a brook running from a spring.

spinet (spin'ět): an old-fashioned musical instrument; a very early form of the piano. an astral: a kind of lamp giving a very bright light and throwing no shadow beneath itself. rich repiner: a rich person who

is unhappy despite his wealth. sweet hope: the hope that all of our dearest wishes will be realized in the hereafter.