New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-10-30

VI .Il,,rc IL l,t 1rti Ia, ,s,oTl, i,e ,rro,,obt
Nay though the shout aud smoke Of combat rose,
He, through the chanseiu strife,
Eternal loyeliness more closely sought;
And Bcaut, s chsngeless law ana sure repose'
Was II not well that one
One II not mOre-should mediate al0of.
Though not for naueh the tunes heroic quarrel
FrOm what meu rush 10 do and What is done.
lie liule knew ojoin the web and wool
whereof slow Progress weayes herrch apparel
Ills Geft hand daiied with its common share
OF human toll, nor sought new loads to ill.,
An oonsecrai bI to Tea Hat make li, fair.
By right divine Of his mysterious gift.
Here is another admirable verse, in which we find
the expression as perfect as the thought is true:
Two natures in him stTove
Like day with night his sunshine aud MS gloom
To Inn the stern fOrefathers' creed descended,
The weight Of some memorable Joye
Producing from the cradle TO the tomb;
But therewtnal the ghisome laughter blended
OF that ArcJdian sweetness uEdisnayed
Which finds 80 love rs law, and graces still
Which sccs, beyond the shade,
The Nalad nymph Of every ripping rill,
And hears quick Fancy wind her wiliuh horn.
The other poems in the volume are of varying
character and merit. SISTER Beatrice" has the
grave sweet quaint character of Keatss Isabella
and shows how much the author has gained in
of movement and freshness OF dictlon since the pub
LEGATION Of his Blamelcss Prince" "Thc Dis
coverer" News from Olympia" and The Skull in
the Gold Drift" are all excellent; but in 1.-The
Lords-D Day Gale we find more of technical skill of
very adiIablc CudldtleI. lIOcCul IMAM or nlIOln-
ing imagination. Our sympatmes arc less touched
when they must be divided among three-score yes
sells, than if we saw but single laundering bark,
and knew single person on board. "Clara Norris"
"Song from a Drama" and The Comedians
Last Night" are below Mr.. Stcdmans true level.
How gladly should welcome, in their place, a
dozen pages of his stately and inspiring trans
laton from .Eschylus! The readers of The TRIBUNE
will remember the specimen given in his article on
Schliemann's discoveries at Nyken;e. nearly year
ago This and his fine Homeric hexameters from
Book XI OF the Odyssey, will increase the impaience
of all cultured readers for the translation of the
Idyls Of TheOcntus, upon which, it is understood,
he has been engaged for some years past.
No one who reads Mr.. Piatt's volumes can doubt
the justice of his claim to the title of poet Ever
since he and Mr.. W. D. Howes published their first
lngs of verse in single volume. more than twenty
years ago, ne has played upon the same Idyllic and
elegiac flute, only adding other stops and filing 1t
with amper breath He was wise enough TO see
that the themes best adapted to his powers were pre-
eisely those which lay nearest to him ; and he has
made himself-if Ohio did but know 1.-THE poetic
voice Of Ohio. The poems which he has discovered
among She vanishing relics of first settlement. or
the Of home-lfe and country labor, are those
which have made his name known to the English
critics. and procured him the prcsumptive fame of
tfd1hatOn lutO tclntn. Inc sincerity OF his feel
ing the refined and delicate quality of his fancy the
tender touch of his descriptive talent and the
IhythmicaI music which these demand are sometimes
detached from each other in ms poetry but they are
almost always united i'll those pieces by which he is
best known. d" The Lost Farm" 1.-The Pioneers
Chimney" The Mower in Ohio" and "Rdino to
Vote are poems which received instant and general
appreciation; and there is no question but that if
Mr.. Piatt had chosen to write volume of ballads of
country life, he would have made them refued. pa
thetic and truly poetical We regret that he did not
90 So for he might have received much Of the pop
ularity which has since been given to inferior work
and, with all his undOubted qualities his poems are
not in the ordinary sense, popular A partial ex-
PLANTATION Of this fact is 10 be found in the present
craving Of readers for strong Spices intense coors
and powerful odors yet another, we think, lies in
a peculiarity Of the author himself He seems to
lack a certain necessary power Of self-crticsm; he
is unable TO distinguish between those poems which
simply express his own personal moods Of thought
and those which have wider human interest. THIS
is equally the case in regard to the relative value
OF his fancies Many I'VE might almost say mostl. of
his brief songs slaves are as light as leaves blown
from blossoms and will hardly last longer. When
collected in a volume, where several of them appear
cOnsecutyely, they give a false impression Of Mr.
Piatts poetic gift TO one who docs not sit honestly
UOMH 70 ilaht MS acquaintance IlC last lesson
which poet seems 20 learn is TO renounce ANYTHING
he has once written; and very often, on the other
hand, the public insists remembering what ne
would fain forget. But he who can write such a
poem this quote deserves that his native State
alone, should buy at least large edition of his
volumes every year:
THE @ORNIHG STREET.
Alone walk the Morning Street
t1lId with the silence vague ana sweet.
All seems as strange, as SUM- ah dead
As II uunumDcl'd years had fed,
Letting the noisy Babel ie
Breathless and dumb against the sky;
The hight wind walks with me alone
Where the hot day famc-iIkc was blown
Where tue wheels roar'd, the Dust was beat;
The dew is IA the Morning Street.
Where are the restless throngs that pour
Along this mighty corridor
While the noon shines f-the hurrying crowd
" nose footsteps make the city loud
The myriad faces-heaIts tlat beat
No more ia the deserted street,
Those footsteps In their dreaming maze
tIO', thresholds OF forgotten days;
inoic f.ecs brighten from the years
ln f-a.i.r suns long sci in tcaTs
iosc neart6-far In the Past they beat,
JnhCaI0 within the Morning Street
4 city OF the worlds prime gray
Iost IA SOM desert far from Time,
WAcie D0iseless agos, gliding through,
Have only siitcd nd dew
Yei mysterious hand OF man
j. .ug On al the haunted plan,
l..nI gasal u uqarT