Excerpt from The Difference, and Other Poems: Including the Columbian OdeThe author of the Columbian Ode grew up in a world which appeared to her not only warless but dedicated to a wise future of peaceful development - for the Franco Prussian war of twenty years earlier seemed, to the imagination of youth, almost as remote an object-lesson as Napoleon's conquests. War was not a reality, but a legend, to her consciousness; and the prophetic optimism at the climax of the ode was not merely a mood inspired by the splendid international courtesies of the great festival, but the sincere utterance of a young poet's pro found faith in the future brotherhood of nations and of men - a brotherhood potent, beyond all imagining, for the loosing of creative energy in vast works and marvellous discoveries.The Diference, written thirty years later, shows not only a change of opinion and feeling from youth to middle-age.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy.

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