New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-10-23
BITS OF CRITICISM.

POETRY N ENGLAND-The most striking
Poetry. both in England and In France holds her own
and dn spite OF all discouragenensl hOurshes by ne
whose undue share of public patronage In England has
dis urned peace OF Mr. Matthew Arnold. To ignore
To t S Ef its the interest annexation We believe hat
a more searching inquiry into this matter would snow
that this country at least where the passion for the
other fine arts Is quite exotic the popular passion Tor
poetry is the genuine passion. aud, though 1t Will nc
times yield to other inHuences-snch as those induced
b, sud len Ouburss 81 scientific discovery, by fash
onable mmicreS OF foreign 5aste or hY commercial ana
speculative crazes, or by tide OF martial enthnsia.u
really I'M ying and sure sign or TINS Is the tact thas
P0se I bo popaP ear but viii express Itself whethes
it had listeners or not-(rhe London Athen@um
FAUST A FAILURE.-lt may be remembered
that Goethe himself said he did not know what idea
hentended 10 embody IN his Faust and in saying this,
however nv stcri0us his attitude was, he stood on
Lber level than an ordinary writer who does not re-.
nIize what h. is about poet must know his motive be-
fore he begins his work; lie must be himself metsmOr
nho.ed into il for the time being The truth ia that
Faust great II Is in fragments, fails as whole, not
because IL might have been greater than any. Perhaps
the simple of Sis hes never been clearly ex.
The highest and the best Is that the poet should love hs
subject that he should be en- rapport WIN It's central
Gocthe's position when composing FduS, whence arose
his want Of Spogtgney his Gnewi,e RconrGVa9e da
conceived his first idea OF Faust in 1863 and completed
the WORK IN ls3I-iIhe Academy
THE ENGLISH SoNNET.-AlthOugh, in a Ian
-,,e li. Ours A. does undoubtedly require cOnsidera.
BE ingenuity 10 construct satisfactory sonnet Of octave
and aeset this ingenuity is only means "a an end tho
end being always that single wave Of emotion shall ba
embodied and expressed in single metrcal flow and
return: and, with this view, no other number or n,4
aud other rhyme arrangement, az present discovered
are so convenient a. those 81 tho regular The
browning difficulty, however ~ this form Is that the
rhythm Of the prescribed structure has 10 be handled
i'm mastcriu fashion * To seem IN each Individual
sonnet the inevitable aud natural rhythm demanded by
the emotion which gives the individual sonnet BIRTH
This Of course is the reason Why IN many specimens Ot
rho sonnet the beautiful thought which Should display
itself with perfect tranquility in the octave lies strug
Cling behind q web OF rhymes as IA lies g4spng ana
rdrsceut I'm net. When 10 this demand OF structure
there il al led demand for Shakespcareau richness
preseutmeut-a richness which by most writers can "uy
bc achieved in such simple structures as couplets ana
single quutrainS where the mere mctiltal demands
are smail-lhc sonnet becomes poetic orn whose "lh
Guilty IL rqualled by other. or TINS SAatSpeareal
ouaty Oi richness Keats, who never departed from HAf
Die metres save the sonnet, has. perhaps shown more
Than ul the other nineteenth century poets who ptcSded
Air. Tenuy son The AthenBum.
RossETTts NEW Book AND MS SISTER Hell
I'm We nave before now expressed our opinion Ot le
ballad of sister Helen, which appeared In Mr. Rossetus
previous volume. ft critical eO1oOmbry mat
asserts It, superiority 10y avishng praise the great
nnuts Of the past and refusing To do common Justice 20
contempuraries and have shrunk from saying
that, "a u tragedy having for rtg B0bT the forces OF
earth and nell and heaven combined, "rister Helen Is
be ranked with those supreme Efforts OF human lnss-
natiOn which possession Tor all ume-just as We
shrunk from saying that OF 1liitrenb
kind OF imaginative power such as " hizpah, shOWsa
mastery over the eternal sources of pity and terror
which the greatest masters have eXoelled. AFTER
we have given few extracts from the first poem IN ths
volume (he ballad of Rose Mary, y shall certainly
SURPRISED II the reader does not agree with us thab
10 Is by far the greatest romantic ballad that has APP
Helen" which itself had had no equal since " ChrstaDeL
1.-THE Athen@un