New-York tribune., 1874-10-29
BOSTON,.
LITERARY NOTES.

LITERARY NOTES.
1.-THE FMIGRANTs STORY AND OTHER POEMS" BY
j. T. TROwBRIDGE-FAITH IN PoETRY-HEXAM-
ETERs AGAIN-sYMPATHY WITH NATURE.
lFRoM A REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNEI
BosroN, Oct 27.-Evidently j. Z. OsgOOd a.
Co. believe IN poetry either road to fortune or
means of grace for they publish volume after voume
with cheerful faith In the public taste whlch IL ls
pleasant to witness. 1.-THE Enirants Story and Other
POEMS" by j. T. Trowbrdge, will be the next ISSUE
1.-THE Emigrauts Story" is told in the inevitable
hexameter to which all poets tempted when they
pastoral themes since the days OF Evange
line But I'm the score of shorter poems when
follow this first one there is large variety OF measures
so that afford poet for once bis hexaneters
especially since the story tells in them very tender
and natural. Mr. Trowbrdge delights in rural subjects
Many Of his poems hOmely and as faithful as
Dutch interior. He poetic aspect in The
humblest things, aud touches them in q manner pc
culary his own.
dorothy in the Garret" is good example Of this
quality. ..oor,nr
Carefully the creaking boards
Old Maid Dorothy goes a-groPlng, ,
Among its dusty and cObwebDed noards;
Seeking some bundle OF patches 1id
Far under the caves, or bunch OF sage,
Or satchel hung Oh It's nall, anliu
The heIrlOoms of bygone age
And by these old relics some chord OF memory Is
rouched and Old Maid Dorothy sinks down among them
and her thoughts go back 10 find her lost youth again.
She sees the old wheel which part OF her child
hoods world-on which her mother used to spin and
her sisters.
The hum of the wheel, and the Summer weather,
The hearts first trouble and loves beginning,
Are all in her memory linked together;
And now IL is she herself that Is spinning.
She spins shining thoughts with the shining wooi-a
thread of happiness and thread OF yarn together-
and at nightfall, when the wheel is put back, Benje
comes and she is happy Then follows trouble estrange-
ment; and Benjie brings home another bride And the
years. that seemed long IN passing. 80 Dr1ef now
when she looks back then go by till here she s' ola
and gray in the garret.
Her father and mother have long bee dead,
And the BRIDE sleeps under cburchyard stone,
Walks up the long, dim aisle alone
Years blur to mist and Dorothy
Sits doubling betwixt the ghost she seems
Aud the phantom OF youth, more real tnan sne,
That meets her there in that haunt OF dreams.
Yet faithfuluess In the humblest part
And patience and love in chastened heart
Are pearls precious than happlnessj
And lii that morning when she slall wake
All trouble viii seem but flying lake,
Aud lifelong sorrow breath on the pane
Farmer John is another picture Of humble i'e and
cop,entment with everyday things; but 1t lacks the
poeticai atmosphere which lends grace to Dorothy.
"Old Simon Dole" is capital study Of human nature
as good as Tennyson's Northern Farmer" For cool
confession of unconscious selshness 1t would DC hard
10 surpass OLD Smon's account OF his relations
with wife, he had eye 10 the main chance, when
he married her.
got a wife an farm 10 boot
Ye couldn't ketch me nappin' there!
Thinks l, Now, s'posin' the wife don't SCOTT
The farm II be suthln to make that square;
No resk bout that! And where's the harm
II the wife turns out as good as the larm
The wife did turn out another patient Griselda one
of those women Of whom the world Is not worthy ana
certainly Old Simon wasn't for lie behaved like Drutc
and miser and she grew sweeer and frazier all the
time until at last she faded away out OF the hard ana
bitter world Simon took it resignedly thoushto 10 him
Justice be missed her everywhere. But he never once
recognized his part III her taking on
on we know ia, 'twuZ a dispensation!
Heavens ways amt Our'n-'ts world o'trouDle
Ye NAV s'arch I'm eend TO eend o. the nation
Fer another sick eVen-nated coupler
Men took o. divorce-that never'd be needed.
II oil drah'd true in the yoke as she did.
think the advocates OF suffrage for women would do
we'll to have this poem printed as campaign tract
Take il as whole, know better appeal for their
side.
"Autbors Night is poem very different in tone
presentation of feeble hope, and long despair and fnal
success, which exhibits real power "One Day Soil
tary" ALSO full of dramatic force You feel the Bit
ternes of the the prisoner which diss Its
keenest torture the clause zone day whereof shall
be solitary"
Perhaps there is no single poem in this Volume des-
tined 10 SO wide popularity 1.-THE Vagabonds, In
our authors previous cOliection-a poem which mas
been read TO by elOcutonists the country over
but there many here fully equal TO 1t in merit Mr.
Trowbridge has love for Nature, and delicate
perception her moods He the spiritual side OF
things HIS itself TO analogy almost too
naturaly he lacks perhaps. in the fervor OF passion
Is shrewd and sagacous more often than intense He
has the keeD-edged wit of Holmes, the butterfly
wing with which Adrch fits from song TO song but he
has other qualities peculiarly his which do
find elsewhere so that his style is marked and as
individual as that of any of poets and he has the
honesty always TO be himself