New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-07-31

| thirteen sx-line stanzas; aud the effect is
that of a harnony" in gorgeous hues. The
page is enormously overloaded with SMILES ;
landscape accessories are drawn with a
wear'some funess of detail poems which
profess to deal with the tragedy of passion
are in fact principally concerned with flowers and
trees and the color of bare legs but Mr.. Wilde
derstands the decorative uses of words: he is Ike an
M'lst VINO sets brilliant palette, without having
~" i'a 10 transfer to canvass. He styles several of
ms pieces impressions" one is o. harmony a
mere study in gold and red, having no more mean
ing IMAM the bare contrast Of colors and most of
me others are labelled in French, or Latin or
Greek i'll order TO heghten their effect just
as the tone OF picture is modified by the frame.
Often, however Mr.. wilde fails even in the art Of
ornament; especially is this the case when he in
duges in ALTERATION:
sweet, blame you not, for mine the fault was, had
had climbed to higher heights uncimbed yet, the
fuller air, the larger day
From the wdness Of my wasted passion had struck
Lit some lighter light of frcer freedom, batled with
some Hydia-hcadcd wrong
His rhymes sometimes false, his quantities are
uncertain, his rhythm, generally fluent becomes oc-
casionally nsuierahle. One of his favorite words
is pavilion" and he invariably gives ii nearly the
French sound of pavilion with the strong accent
ON the first syllable and a weak accent on the last
tho daffodil,
That love-child of the spring,
. Has fingered on
10 VeX the rose with Jealousy,
The harebell spreads her azure pavilion
We have marked five instances of this license.
In the following extract there are lines which any
body is requested to who may feel equal to that
exercise:
-ah surely this were governance
OF Life in most august omnpresence.
Through which the rational intellect would find
Is IgSpobe e'se, lend IRE to the mind,
More mystical than that which binds the planetary.
We doubt whether can give a better idea of
Mr.. Wde's characteristics the art such it is. of
his style, and the beggary poverty of his thought,
than by quoting two Of his shorter poems:
IMPRESSION DU MATIN.
The Thames nocturnc of blue and gold
barge with ochre-coorcd hay
Dropt from the wharf: and chill and cold
The yellow fog came creeping down
seem nrSes m the !" hogse w nnd st pous
loomed like a bubble DER the town.
Then suddenly arose the clang
OF waking life; the streets stirred
With country wagons: and bird
Flew to the glistening roofs and sang.
But one pale woman all alone
The daylight kissing her hair
Loitered beneath the gas lamps fare.
With lips of dame and heart OF stone.
THEOCRrTUs.
A WILLAMETTE.
In the dim meadows desolate
Dost thou remember Siciy2
Still through the ivy flits the bee
Where Amarylis lies in state;
O Singer of PcrsephOne!
Simatha calls Hecate
And hears the wild dogs ut the gate
Dost thou remember Sicilyi
Still by the light and laughing sea
Poor POlyphemc hemoans his fate:
q Singer of Pcrscphonel
And still in boyish rivalry
Young Daphnis challenges his mate:
DO5t thou remember Sicily 7
Slim Lacon keeps n goat for thee,
For thee tho Joc,lnd shepherds wait,
q Singer OF Pcrsephonel
Dost thou remember Sicily9
Nothing could be more futile than these pieces
considered as poetry. Neither of them contains an
Idea. Their merit lies merely in the def express
sion of sense of the picturesque Yet if they are
empty, they are at least true. They may stand for
Mr. Oscar Wildes best work. The wild weird
fieshly things" in which he rails at Cod and Fate
and Life, and weeps for dead delights and tells his
paramour why the jacinth wears Such dread en-
broidery of dolorous moan" and quivers with the
Joy of infinite love and the fierce pain of infinite
crime, and assures that he is going 20 hell are
really nothing but halcyon and vociferous pro-
ceedings."