The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-02-16
ETTERATURD.
RBVIEw or VIEW BOOKS


one work of real merit has fallen into neglect
because the poet has undertaken 60 cover too
large a canvas, and inspired a fear lest
beauties might not be worth seeking amid so
much prospective dulness. Indeed, it has
been asserted many times that the age of long
poems was past, and that the writing of epics
wss a lost art II is therefore something
very remarkable that new poet, one OF
whose most marked characteristics is the
length Of his efusions, should spring into
such immediate popularity as the author OF
Jason" and ''The Earthly Paradise" Life is
short, and there must be many good volumes
left unread by the most industrious book
worm. We have, therefore, right to be
suspicious of the quality of an author who
astonishes us in the first place by his guam
tity. '"The Earthly Paradise" considered as
a consecutive work, will, when it is COM
pleted be one of the longest, if not the
longest, poem in existence; and yet there has
scarcely been poetical work produced dur
ing the present century that has received
more hearty and unqualified praise from all
the critics of Europe and America that have
been called upon to notice it. Under these
circumstances, there must certainly be some
sterling qualities of excellence that commend
the verses of Mr.. Morris not only to the criti-
col faculty of those who are called upon to dis
sect them with view of finding out the secret
of their excellence but to the popular fancy
1hat is content to enjoy what it finds to be
enjoyable without question as to the why or
wherefore. The secret of Mr.. Morris sue
cess is, however, not difficult to discover-he
is genuine story-teller: in the establishment
of his theme he never forgets that the main
object of the story-teller's art is to interest
his readers he never assumes the functions
of the philosopher or. attempts to soar into
those higher regions of fancy where poetry
becomes metaphysics, and where men weary
of the labors of life hesitate to follow. Mr..
Norris acknowledges Chaucer to be his mas
ter, and it is necessary to go back to the
dawn of English poetry before we can find
any writer with whom q comparison can be
instituted. Mr.. Morris, however, is no
more of an imitator of Chaucer than
Dante is of Virgil. His genius, though dis
tinctively original, is akin to that of Chaucer,
and his poetry has all the unconscious freshness
and sympathy with nature that distinguishes
the writings of the early poet. The verse of
Mr.. Morris glides on with an easy flow that
never wearies, never satiates; it neither sinks
into the level of commonplace nor rises to the
heights of the sublime, but is evenly good
throughout, and the reader is lulled by its
music, and feels that it is just what it ought
to be. There are no poetical works before
the public to which SO little critical objec-
tion can be made as those of this writer; he
understands his own capabilities so thoroughly,
and he writes with such an easy unconscious
ness of effort, that he places himself in exact
sympathy with the mood of his readers, or
rather his poetry creates a mood that will
accord with the theme. Mr.. Morris fills
place exclusively his own among the poets of
the day, and he is deserving of heartier well
come than has been accorded to any of the
new verse writer's of the last decade, because
of the placid beauty of his style, the pure
and healthy tone of all that he writes, and its
adaptability to the tastes of a very large
circle of readers 1t would not
be doing justice to this fine poet,
however, TO leave the impression that the
chief merits of his writings consist in placidity
and quietness. He is a story-teller, and he
knows how to interest his readers in his
stories because he is thoroughly interested
in them himself. His themes are old, old as
humanity; they have been told and retold
many times, and a majority perhaps of the
talesin '"The Earthly Paradise" are old legends
that will be recognized by many as among
their earliest recollections of imaginative
literature. 1t is not enough to say that these
gain new charm from the treatment of Mr..
Morris, but in the telling of them he touches
all the chords Of human interest and sympa-
thy, 80 that the reader is surprised at every
page by revelations of the longings, hopes,
and disappointments of humanity that seem
30 naturally to belong to the subject, but
that the bare outlines of the antique theme
scarcely limited at This is especially remark
able in the exquisite story of ''The Land East
Of the Sun and West of the Moon" in the
present volume, which will astonish and de-
light those who have hitherto only known it
as a singularly imaginative Morse fairy tale.
The first volume of ''The Earthly Para
disc" besides a long prologue relating to the
adventures of the wanderers, the failure of
their search for the earthly paradise, and their
final arrival and hospitable entertainment in
the Greek city, where with the elders of the
place, they beguile the months by drawing
upon their stock of legendary lore, contained
twelve tales covering the spring and summer
months The volume before us, which is of
nearly equal bulk, only gives six tales for the
be told. This shows that Mr.. Morris is disposed