The Portland daily press., 1882-03-08
Higginson on Wilde.
A Bit of Crisp but Just Criticism on So
Called Manly" Poets.
[ool. Higginson in woman's JOurnal.l

[Col. Higginson in Woman's Journal.]
Women are as distinctively recognized as the
guardians of the public purity as are the eler-
gy of the public morals Yet, when young
man comes among us whose only distinction IS
that he has written thin volume OF very me-
diocre verse; and that he makes himself some
thing very like a buffoon for notoriety and
money, women of high social position receive
him at their houses and invite guests to meet
him. in spite of the fact that, if they were to
read aloud to the company his poem OF Char
mides" not woman would remain in the room
until the end. In the vicious period OF the
English Georges Byron was banished from so
ciety, Moore was obliged to purify his poems,
for less offenses againstS common decency than
have been committed by Oscar Wilde. There
are some pages in his poems which, as witty
critic says, 'carries nudity to point where 1t
ceases to be virtue" In all else Mr.. Wilde
initiates Keats but in Keats there is nothing
in the least like these passages; they can, in
deed. be- paralleled in Whitman, but Whit
mans offenses rest on somewhat different
ground and need not here be considered. Mr..
Wilde may talk of Greece, but therels nothing
Greek about his poems; his nuditles 90 not
suggest the sacred whiteness OF an antique
statue. but rather the forcible unveiling OF
some insulted innocence. We nave, perhaps
rashly. claimed that the influence OF woman
has purified English literature. When the po-
ems of Wilde and Whitman lie in ladies' bou-
doirs. see no evidence of the improvement.
And their poetry is called "manly" poetry.
Is it manly to fling before the eyes OF women
page upon page which no man would read
aloud in presence of women? But there is
another test of manhood-it lies In action; II
makes great difference to the sentence" said
the clear-sighted Emerson, whether there be
a man behind it or not" Each of these So
called "manly" poets has had his opportunity
of action and waived it. am one OF many TO
whom Whitmans "Drum Taps" have always
sounded as hollow as the instrument they eoun-
terfeit simply because their author, with all
his fine physique and his freedom from home
ties. never personally followed the drum, but
only heard it from the comparatively remote
distance of the hospital. There was time
when the recruiting officers wanted men; their
test was final or at least so far hnal that ne
who did not meet it. no matter for what good
reasons, had best cease boasting about his emil
nent manhood So of this young Irish poet,
who speaks, observe, OF us % Engnsnmen. mem,
His mother, Lady Wilde, has written poems
unon the wrongs of Ireland thai are strong and
fervid enough, one would say, TO enlist an ar
nv; especially her poem on the lrlsh exodus,
"a Million Decade. Ihere is now ireland
ON the verge of civil war; her councils divided,
her self7tyled leaders in jail; she needs every
wise head and brave heart she has ever pro-
dnced to contribute, according to their best
light. to some solution of her hard problem.
Is it manhood for her gifted sons to stay at
home and help work out the problem, or to
| cross the Atlantic and pose in ladies' boudoirs,
or write prurient poems which their hostesses
IN ust discreetly ignore? What would sir IN Phlle IL
in sydney have thought OF these dehnltlonS OF
man hood; he Of whom it was written: This
brieI,t and accomplished cavalier might, If he
niesse.l, have set the fashion of shoe-tie, or
have altered the fashion of any mans peruque
ino -, his manhood and his greatness of soul to
hold out a brave example of virtue and re-
liSionY'' For one L should like TO hear, if the
so,called "English Renaissance" is good for
ANYTHING, more of the gospel of Sir Philip Sid
ney and less of the gospel according to Oscar
Wilde.