The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-10-31
rhe .Rouna rable,.u criterion ef Poetry.


The last number of THE Round Table con-
tains highly euogistic review of kathrlna'
a Poem, by Dr. J. G. HOLLAND, which opens
very interesting question as TO what the re-
viewers ideas of the essentials of Poetry may
be. Unfortunately we have not copy OF the
production at hand, but the critic makes TWO
or three extracts for us-it is to be presumed
by way of justifying his panegyric-and oy
them we are quite willing to judge of the
merits of the Poem without further curious
enquiry. Promising that he is about to indulge
'n what Mr.. SwINBuRNE considers the only
aolace of the critical profession, the noble
pleasure of praising,'" the reviewer thus pro-
| ceeds:
"For Kattrina then we have appreciation only;
We have read it through pretty carefully once anu
deem it worthy, POLITICALLY and morally, OF az tne
admiration which it will be likely TO get. Metrl-
| cally considered, it is almost perfect; to nave
written but one hating line (Which the author WIZ
| discover on page 225) in poem Of between hye or
six thousand is quite triumph in itself; and lor
even that one we dare say the printer ls respon-
sible Dr. Holland's practice as writer Is guar
| anty for his knowledge OF the difference between
| tetrameter and pentameter iambic. 30 we may
saw that metrically considered, it is quite perfect
In point of imagination and fancy 1t may seem ae,
cient to those whose taste has been deterioriated
by the extravaganza Of Tennyson and Swinburne ];
| but this lack is more than atoned by severe Sim
plicity OF treatment as far as possibly removed
from the brilliant indecencies OF school that Dr
Holland 30 soundly lashes in the vigorous lines on
page las. We forbear to quote them, as nearly
| everybody by this time must have the book, and
anybody who hasn't should get it at once. we
consider it duty for every one to get 1t VINO de-.
| 1;farot ott1ra
q solid basis Of elevated purity and profundity OF
thought"
After few apologetic remarks ON what this
eulogistic critic is evidently uncomfortably
aware to be rather questionable feature in
the book, viz: "Pauls swearing" which he
describes by telling US that he "blasphemes
frightfully through the first two books" the
reviewer proceeds to support his panegyrlc OF
the Poem by various quotations. Our space
forbids us to reproduce these in full, but we
give few specimens
"I watched her while she read but failed to find
The sympathy Of pleasure in her face
had expected. Finsbing at last,
She raised her eyes, and fixing them on me.
Said thoughtiully You like this sutpecf
We can anticipate the answer:
| o.WeH, ratherP responded"
This is pretty good, but our reviewers last
quotation even e1cels it:
| at had no moral, bore ministry
OF pious teaching, and made an appeal
| To su6rance suffrage Of the NUTS
| Who in the pulpit or the press prepare
| The nations pap"iii
Now we would ask the Round Table review
er Are words of this sort, put in lines Of equal
length, and written by Northern author, are
they "poetry" according to his notions II
they are, then the world has been surely very
much in error ON the subject. Perhaps it
would be more charitable to the reputation for
critical merit which the Round Table, whether
Justly or unjustly, has acquired, to take the
opening sentence Of this critique as the key to
its meaning. We are told there that CDR.
HOLLAND is gentleman whose personal char
acter we respect and esteem very highly" In
the present state of criticism on this side the
Atlantic this fact may be sufficient to explain
not only the tone of the review, but its e1is-
tence at ALL What is to be thought indeed OF
a critic who talks to us about "the brilliant
indecencies of school" in which he includes
and collates TENNYsoN and SwINBURNE? We
fear that the day is still far distant when some
fearless scholar and thinker shall do for the
art of criticism in this country what NJ. SAINTE
BEuvE has done for it in France, and MATHEW
ARNOLD scarcely less brilliantly in England
In the meanwhile we must of necessity be at
the mercy of such irresponsible indolent re-
viewers" as our friend of the Round Table
We are glad, however, to be able to agree with
him in one point. He closes his notice with
these words: "On Kathrina, we are persuaded,
his fullest fame as poet will rest, and we do
not imagine that posterity will feel at all in
clined to disturb it'-nor, we might add, his
poems either.