The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-01-18
LITERAL r e.

Denned while others were IN the 'front.' ranks OF
battle seeing and dong what they we're de-
scribing. No less than seven volumes of poems
have been laid on our table within the past two
weeks, from which we select the second and
revised edition. of Mr.. Naramore's effusions as
a type of all the others. Hts work is probably
the best specimen OF this class of fungi which
has sprung up within six months, and before
the year Is completed will be forgotten. OF the
first and unrevised edition Of the book before us
we are in ignorance. We cannot, therefore.
compare the advancement of Mr.. Naramore's
style of thought or modes Of expression, but If
the present one is an Improvement we think that
Ignorance is bliss" We must, before speaking
of its literary worth, bear testimony to its per-
feet typographical execution, and we must also
confess that the binding and printing are de-
Cidedly the most attractive features.
We do not desire to speak unkindly, much less
uniustly; but if poets win yield TO the soliclta-
tons Of friends, and publish works which they
themselves deem unworthy, we must deprecate
the bad taste of the advisers and the want Of
frmness in the writer The hrst thing that we
notice in the style of Mr.. Naramore is, that he
works in the superlative centres in the superla-
tive, and probably lives in the superlative. If
there is one sign of crudity more glaring than
another, it is that which displays itself in making
every good thing best, every long thing long
est, every pleasant thing the most pleasant.
And this the writer continually does. Not con-
tent with the legitimate superlatve, he, coins
words for himself, and we doubt not but that
close inspection would discern "a coolest
among his degrees. Thus we have the bloom.
lest paradise"-the "crageiest Apennines"-the
- ipGr ha sspnaau1ioEt uor
and the like.
In fact, the only way to prevent this deluge of
useless, worthless rhyme is to discountenance
all poems with gilt leaves and rich Topographic
cal execution. We may destroy some good, yet,
like Napoleon at Lodi, it is necessary, for the
future safety of literature, that we shoot down
ALL both good and bad, in order that the foe can
be induced to restrain their continual attacks.
There is an egotism about the laying of a book
before the public which possesses no merit that
is inexcusabe. There need be no appeal for
gentle criticism. An author lays himself open
10 every form Of attack in making book; and it
is pueriie and cowardly to seek, by talking about
his years and ineXperience, to avoid Just re.
view. As general rule volumes of poems
are perfectly worthless; they are mere rhymes
with no metaphors but plagiarisms, with no
recommendation but their binding. Mr.. Nara
more's do not fall quite beneath this censure.
He has some really pretty verses in his book;
yet had he burned it, like "Harry Lorrequer,"
il would have been no loss either to the literary
world or his fame.
BELToN ESTATE. By Anthony Trollope. J. B.
Lippincott u Co.
With the enterprise and discrimination which
have been 30 long characteristic Of this house,
they have issued the latest and, we are inclined
10 think the best of Mr.. Trollope's works. It's
claims TO pre-eminence in merit rest upon two
qualifcations:-Firs the heroine is not sixty
when she enters upon the stage, but ouly thirty.
This is decided improvement. Should Troll
lope continue to write for another decade, we
hope that his female characters will reach the
interesting age of twenty-there is no danger of
their degenerating into the teens. Second, the
work is the smallest of his recent effusions. This
qualification makes it the most endurable of his
late works. OF it the Nation says, with justice:-
ITO become involved in one of his live stories
is very much like sinking into gentle slumber;
and it is " ell known that when you are aroused
from your slumber to see something which your
wellmeaning intruder considers very entertain
ing, it is difficult matter to WOO it back again.
In the tale before us we slumber on gently to the
end. There is no heroine but Miss Clara Ame-
droz, and no heroes but her two sutors. The
lady loves amiss, but discovers it Ii time, and
invests her affections more safely. Such, in
strictness is the substance of the tale; but it is
filed out as Mr.. Trollope alone knows how to fill
out the primitive meagreness OF his dramatic
skeletons. The three persons whom we have
mentioned are each a character in a way, and
their sayings and doings, their comings and
goings, are registered to the letter and timed to
the minute. They write a number OF letters,
which are duly transcribed; they make frequent
railway journeys by the down-train from London:
they have cups of tea in their bed-rooms and
they do, in short, in the novel very much as the
reader is doing out Of it. We do not make these
remarks in tone of complaint. We do not open
his books with the expectation Of being thrilled,
or convinced, or deeply moved in any way; and
accordingly, when we find one to be as fiat as
Dutch landscape, we remind ourselves that we
have Willingly travelled into Holland, and that
we have no right to abuse the scenery for being
III character"
Taking the story altogether, we consider that
the tale is not only pleasing, but the most pleas
ing Of any with which Mr.. Trollope has favored
the reading public for many years.
Poems. BY Annie E. Clark. j. B. Lppincott
Co.
The little volume before us is not gorgeously
embossed, nor yet printed on tinted paper but
possesses more real merit than any of its fellows.
1t is written in simple, clear STYLE without
any attempts at those flights which make the
author, like Icarus, fall from his height, his
wings giving way. The writer's of the few little
poems, while they display great promise, do not
in themselves tend to create for her reputation.
The grave error of italicising her words gives an
appearance of crudity to the work, which is
easily avoided. In good poem, the emphatic
word is evident from the contents, without any
~ nf Of he gret