Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-12-06
HINT TO CRITICS.
HOW TO TEST THE LIVING QUALITY
OF LITERARY WORK.
What May be Learned by Undertaking
to Make an Anthology-Comparat
Qualities of Two Noted Persons.

Qualities of Two Noted Persons.
Making of anthologies is pleasant lit
erary pastime for those who have left of
sprinting for fame in the arena of poetry
it is restful, if not recreative; besides
there is not the least harm in it, saw
Maurice Thompson, in the Independent
How easy it is to tumble all the melodiou.
tones of the chief singers around one.
feet and Gin leisurely opulence of judicia
fairness) select small volume of the best
the very best rhymed thoughts ever flung
upon the fair face of paper! Any person
of taste can make selection of the best
poetry when he has nothing to do but
read and select. 1t would be an extraor.
binary man, very strange woman, who
could be induced to confess inability tc
compile the one perfect collection of poet
ical masterpieces, epic, dramatic or lyric
What is there to do but to read, take out
the good, and leave the rest?
/ have heard of man who went into q
thicket of young hickory trees to cut him.
self cane. His desire was to have q
straight, slender, smooth stick, without
knot or blemish The owner of the
ground had told him that he might have
the best tree there, but he must select ii
while passing through the thicket-he
could not have a second trial. In went
the man, knife in hand. As he passed
along he saw many fine, straight, smooth
stems, rut he was looking for the best. Be.
fore he knew it he was emerging at the
other side, and in his hurry to choose at
once had to be content with an average
| cane.
Your maker of anthologies finds prac.
tice quite different from theory. He goes
into the groves of song very confident, but
he comes out with more serious view of
the task so lightly undertaken.
| What if it were necessary to select the
best seven short lyrics ever written? At
first view it would not seem a difficult
thing to do. Almost anybody could be
relied upon to jump at it !; but after a lit
tie consideration almost everybody would
decline the task.
Suppose that the limit of the lyrics to
! be considered is set at 200 lines and under,
what one of all would come first, gagged
by the best standards of art? If we rush
in and make the choice, ten to one we
shall be glad to discard it out of hand after
some deliberation, and if we hesitate we
are lost.
But is it impossible to determine with a
| satisfactory degree of certainty which one
Of all the lyrics ever written land with
f, f, which we are acquainted), of not over two
hundred lines in length, is clearly the best?
Are there no oriterions by which the
proper tests may be made to the satisfac-
ton of common demand? By way of
tentative essay, let us formulate set of
measures, assuming for present purposes
that they are adequately accurate.
First-The highest evidence of perfect
art is perennial fascination, or, in other
words, it is the lasting, the indestructible,
universal charm of its product. Every
other evidence is subsidiary.
Second-That poem is the best which
| gives the completest surprise to the i'm
agination, and has the power to keep good
the surprise through any number of read
ings.
| Third-It must not be only the subject
matter, nor must it be the style alone that
affords the surprise, not even a perfect
union of style the best and subject matter
the most pleasing, is sufficient. There
must be quality, running through style
and substance, that links the whole pro.
duct, by universal sympathy, to the hui
man soul.
Let US now take two poems of wide celeb.
rity-two poems of generally admitted art
vaiue-and compare them by these rules
with view to projecting their values upon
common plane. Poe's Raven and
Keats "Ode to a Nightingale" will serve
the purpose.
'The Raven" appeals to the reader
Imagination with an initial force perhaps
the greatest ever generated by any lyric
but the force soon dies away. dare say
that the first reading OF this poem has af
fected more people with stronger imagi
native shock than any poem ever writer
in any language. The second reading
however, and every subsequent one, lessen
the wonder and deadens the surprise will
which we receive the work, until at las
what at first appeared miracle of poeti
creation is reduced to the form and di
mansions of mere bit of verbal thauma
turgy.
The "Ode to Nightingale" is not S
| dl uISl DIS uc NAVEL,
but its effect is sweeter, broader, fuller, an,
it grows with each reading. l recollcc
that | read it when l was boy, about tn
time that l first read "The Raven" TIL
latter haunted me for fortnight; tn
former still haunts me. l might rea
Keats "Ode" hundred times year with
out appreciable loss of interest; bat fin
no pleasure in reading "The Raven" now
l believe that this has been the experienc
of almost every student of poetry. Tn
initial force of work of art may be tire
mendous, and yet transitory, ephemeral
. In such a case the influence will be
, furry; but where the force is continuou
the influence will be Interchangeable.
5 "The Raven" is a romance entirely out
side of life; the ''Ode to Nightingale
: is a romance entirely inside of life. Tn
r appeal of one is extrinsic; that of tn
: other is intrinsic. Poe requires us
/ sympathize with the supernatural, Will
Keats imparts to US supernatural Unfit
, ence drawn from the innermost veins {
e nature Poe induces a fantastic MOOD
? Keats communicates genuine human e1
t perience charged with the very essences {
e youthful longing and youthful melar
choly. Poe offers US pseudo-romanc
: Keats gives US the genuine romance
e life; we tire of one as of a wonderft
0 trinket, but the other is living. unfadin'
perennial delight.
t This brings us 70 the secret of longevit
: in the products of art. No doubt 9Th
: Raven" will live as long as Keats ''Ode;
S but there will be this difference betwee
the lives of the two poems: 'The Raven
It will live as work to be read once an
o enjoyed once by each reader, while tt
r "Ode" will be read and re read by ever
!, one who loves the sweetest order of lyric;
), art. The secret of longevity, then, is
t be found in mere initial force-the effe
e Of first reading; but the uniform pc
sistence of initial foroo is tbo axno,a,t