In that new childhood of the Earth: This poem was written a few
weeks after the _Vision of Sir Launfal_ was published, and it
therefore naturally partakes of its idealism.
_THE PRESENT CRISIS_
This poem was written in 1844. The discussion over the annexation of
Texas was absorbing public attention. The anti-slavery party opposed
annexation, believing that it would strengthen the slave-holding
interests, and for the same reason the South was urging the scheme.
Lowell wrote several very strong anti-slavery poems at this time, _To
W.L. Garrison_, _Wendell Phillips_, _On the Death of C.T. Torrey_, and
others, which attracted attention to him as a new and powerful ally of
the reform party. "These poems," says George William Curtis,
"especially that on _The Present Crisis,_ have a Tyrtaean resonance, a
stately rhetorical rhythm, that make their dignity of thought, their
intense feeling, and picturesque imagery, superbly effective in
recitation. They sang themselves on every anti-slavery platform."
While the poem was inspired by the political struggle of the time,
which Lowell regarded as a crisis in the history of our national honor
and progress, its chief strength is due to the fact that its lofty
sentiment is universal in its appeal, and not applicable merely to
temporal and local conditions.