New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-04-16
ADVICE TO YOUNG POETS.
From The .SGfurday Rerieir.

From The Sdftridu Hcrier.
I7nluckjlv the result of all ron ante and natu-
roiStcD reactions against cOnsecratcd fOrmue IL TO
Introduce new cOmmOnplaccs, or 70 set each poet on
inventtug commouplaces which become character
i..c of his own work. Poetry must always be more
or less a matter Of convention. Some eplthets are
allowed others, Just appropriate, are taDooed:
Then comes Il poet who employs tabooed word
successfuly and instantly school OF lmltat0Is
convert tho novelty into a conventional formula.
For example it has long been common TO talk OF an
orange" sky. Orange sunsets iade ana crimson
dies into deep orange, and no one II offended. But
LET a poet try n lemon twilight; let MIN say tnat
the lemon -colored sunset SMILES or that the orange
sunset dies and AIDES into pale lemon DER the sea-
and the bard will bave the critics down upon nlu
YET the la sunset rs very often em0nhued, so that
cmun-y yellow is found In every box or water-coior
pigments. And lemons are just as poetlcaI artlces
OF commerce as OTaDgeS-mOre SO, we venture 10
think-and the pale gov of lemons III the dark
glossy leaves thcsouthcrn coast as beautiful as
any golden apples ever known 10 tn ne NY tliy
nerides Thus IL seems unfair 10 !" bar lomon;
nut il a poet makes hit with lemon al the poet:
asters in England will be rhymng to the bells OF
81 CIrmentsU and we shall have new convention:
When Coleridgc called a twilight sky green.
there was an indignant protest and 1t seemed that
no one had ever seen that the SKY c9nll DC sreen
before But now all hint green and print green,
as according 10 Mr. Browning, the followers OF
Keats hint blue" and L" straightway turtle eat
Rnt }" What p0rrdge had John KeatsV as Mr.
browning automatically inquiries. Once more,
fish is as poetic a vegetable, Tor All that we can
speak. of dalodil Sky" while poets seem shy of
talking about " mackerel sky" Yet the sky rs
often displays arrangements like those we admire
i'm the mackerel Us cOloTs like that which pleases In
the datiodi. 1t is perilous to write OF " sticky
chestnut buds" but dropping chestnut buds
were perfectly safe. Now young chestnut buds
Gre much moro obviously sticky than dropping.
There were forms like sunny warm thunder
fires" wan light" dewy dark which Mr. Ten
nyson employed long ago, and which were rapidly
becoming poetic commonplaceS when the master
wisely discarded them There is also the frequent
employment Of the words happy" aud windy"
which has always marked the Laureates style. In
his earliest volume, and in a " Chorus IN an I'M
published drama, written In very early life" we
read of
mountains rvon
To shapes OF widest anarchy
By secret fire 0nd midnight storms
That trander round their eciPdy cones.
No one but Mr. Tennys in all the roll of English
poets cOuld probably have written the talIclSed
line. But now the industrious poetaster has made
FREQ with windy and happy" and most can
raise the flower. for all have got the Seed"
With Mr. Swinburne. Mr. Morris and Mt. Kos
setti Camc in get, or several new sets, oil con-
yentionalities Original and striking, If perhaps
too prominent in the works OF the poets. these
forms arc excessively irritating in the works Of the
poetasters. With Mr.. Swinburne's" Ataianta" tor
the Queen Mother" passed unncticed) came in the
constant use of iron" the eternal references to
fire and BLOOD and a certain meteorc way OF
writing about the great blind forces of the world,
stars winds. foam and 80 i0rth-n foam can De