The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-07-01

REVIEW OF NEW BooKs

recently published in England we're received
by the critics with so much enthusiasm that
great expectations excited with regard
to them on this side of the Atlantic. Mr..
Rossetti occupies peculiar position with re-
gard to poetry and art. He has given the
public little, either in the way of pictures or
verses, and yet there are few poets and artists
of the day who have exerted more powerful
influence than he As the originator and
leading spirit of the pre- -Raphaelte movement
he has almost revolutionized Eaglish art and
although pre- Raphaesm was made ridiculous
at first by second-rate men, who copied the
eccentricties of Rossetti' style without being
ableto understand its real merits, yet the effect
of the movement was to excite a more critical
and thorough study of nature, to do away with
commonplace conventionalites, and to pro-
duce results that will be apparent in moment
to any one who will compare the average per-
formances of the English painters and de-
signers of to-day with those of twenty years
ago. While Mr.. Rossetti has influenced
others, he has only succeeded in obtaining a
very misty sort of reputation for himself
His works are seldom exhibited. and to the
majority of art-lovers in America the pecui-
arities of his style are only known by means
of few designs contributed to an illustrated
edition of Tennyson's poems several years ago,
and by occasional descriptions of his more
elaborate works that have appeared in the
English papers and magazines.
AS a poet Mr.. Rossetti has been equally
careless of his regulations and the public,
except an occasional sonnet from his
pen in the magazines, has been treated
cir fha
appearance, about ten years ago, of avolume
of translations from the early italian poets,
the remarkable merits of which were recog-
nized Immediately both in England and the
United States, and small volume of original
verses issued few years previous to the
translations. Although occupying an equally
dubious position in the domain of poetry as
in that of art, Mr.. Rossetti is entitled to the
distinction of being the poetical godfather of
two of the most distinguished and most dis
similar of the recent versifers-Algernon c.
Swinburne and William Morris The last
named, we believe, acknowledges that the
influence of Rossetti induced him to cultivate
his poetical talents and comparison be-
tween Mr.. Swinburnes performances and
those contained in Rossetti's recently pub
lished volume will show at glance where
the author of "Atalanta in Calydon" and
''Laus Veneris" obtained much of his inspira-
tion. Indeed, We might say that Rossetti is a
spiritualized Swinburne and give a very fair
characterization of the quality of his verse.
In Swinburnes case, at least, the influence of
Rossetti cannot be considered as healthy
one, for, like the pre-Raphaelite enthusiasts,
he has exaggerated the extravagances of his
poSfa o,1 cal Sc Iaot
The peculiar reputation enjoyed by Mr..
Rossetti, combined with the almost unani-
nous praise of the English critics, excited
hopes with regard to his new volume of
poems that in our case at least have not been
realized. We expected something peculiar
but delicately favored and original. Pecu-
liar they certainly are in being either so
labored and obscure that it is scarcely posi-
BILE to guess at the meaning of many of them,
or else bad limitations of performances like
the old English ballads that are not worth
initiating. Some of the poems are exceed
ingly Browningesque, and indicate that the
author of ''Sordello" has exerted quite as great
an influence on Rossetti as kossetti has upon
Swinburne. Although this volume is a dis
appointment, it has undoubted merits that
entitle it to the regard of lovers of poetry
Mr.. Rossettii is a master OF the art of versiica-
tion, and the melody of some of the po ems
such as ''Loves Nocturn" and ''The
Streams Secret" makes them delicious
reading, although it may be no
easy matter to grasp the ideas they endeavor
to express. The poem entitled Jenny is a
bold and yet refined and delicate discussion,
or rather statement, of ubject that's scarcely
adapted for artistic treatment in any shape,
and which in the hands of Mr. Swinburne
would be revolving in its coarseness. Admi-
rable as is Mr.. Rossetti's poem, there are few
persons who after reading it will not be in
clined to exclaim with "Mrs. Quickly"
vengeance of Jennys care. Fie on her.
Never name her child" The Last Con-
fession" is a strong, vigorous and highly dra-
matte poem, which in spite of some obscuri-
ties and suggestions of Browning's style, is
one of the best in the book; and ''The
Blessed Damozel" is an exquisite piece of
medievalism, poetical in the highest degree
both in manner and matter. The Burden of
Nineveh, ""Dante at Verona, and some others
are at least not above comm onplace. With
few exceptions the most attractive poems
in the volume will be found among the SON.
nets, of which there are about seventy
Without endorsing the opinion of even so
eminent an authority as Mr.. William Morris,
that these are unsurpassed since Shakespeare's,
they are to be commended as answering