The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-12-13
CONCERNING BOOKS.
BY L. oAvAzzA.

BY K. CAvAzzA.
Representative Sonnets by American Poets.
Edited by Charles Fl. Crandall. 1t is a
pleasure to find literary topic treated with
the enthusiastic and careful scholarship of
Mr. Crandalps essay upon the Sonnet. its
Nature and its History. he appreciates the
value of the sonnet-form, as perfect and
PERI urable model Of versi6cation Other
poetic structures are passed away: the LAT
Of the troubadours, the tenz0ne Of the Sua-
Dian court at Palermo, are silent now; the
ballade, ron0eau and triolet of the times of
Villon are revived as exercises of technique
for the poet and as bric-a-brac for the public;
the true ballad note is almost impossible to
an intricate and self-conscious civilization
The sonnet outlasts them ALL hardly changed
fIom the time when Pier dale Vigne, coun-
srllor of the Emperor Frederick, wrote his
Perocche Amere. The sonnet, as Mr.. Gran
dali notes, is native of Italy. But we may
differ from him as to the theory Of its deriya-
ton from the stornello. called also fore.
flower. The form of storneIlo which critics
consider primal and most characteristic Is
composed not "of two lines" as he describes
it, but of two and half-so to say. The
half-Iine comes first and dictates the rhyme.
Let us take an example at random from the
collection of Italian folk-songs by Mr.. G.
Blessig, and render 1t into off-hand English:
Flower of the Brooml
Your mother keeps you with her still unwed,
Not to take out the blossom from her room.
This flower rhyme, called ciuri in the
Sicilian dialect is, for some cause. in bad
odor in that island. Signor Pitre, the folk
lorist. learned that honest people there
would not sing the cilri, declaring it to be-
long to dens of illdoing and to prisons.
This sentiment, the critic D'Ancona affrms,
proves the ciuri not indigenous to Sicily.
But the little flower song-blooming like
Picciola between the paving-stones of Sicil-
ian prisons--is In deserved honor in other
parts Of the Italian kingdom. Its origin has
been variou,ly traced to Greece and to Prov
ence-but Signor D'Ancona is content to as
cribe 1t to the gentle art of Florence ia her
festivals Of flowers.
To return to the possible derivation Of the
sonnet, the Sicilian strdmbotto-of which
very antique example has been brought
forth from a Magliabecehian code by the
poet-critic Signor GiOsue Carduccl-seems to
give us the nearly complete model 1t ap~
pears to have consisted of the usual Sicilian
octave (Which differs from the Italian octave
in its alienation of only two rhymes, instead
Of two rhymes thrice repeated and couplet
upon third rhYme) with the addition Of
ripresG Of six lines upon two other lines
We must say appears since Sig. Carducci is
not able to cite, only to note the probable
loss Of. certain lines of the old strdmbotto.
In this form the Sicilian octave vito the
alternately Ihymed sestet, are written most
of the sonnets of Fra Guittone Of AIezzo--
inventor Of the solfeggio and its pious syl-
labication-and also several Of Dante. Pet
rarca then published the sonnet and gave its
canons for all time. From the arrangement
of the sestet In the sonnet Of the Falcon by
Nina the Sicilian, the first authenticated
povtess of Italy, is believed to derive the
terra rinaG, of which the Dlvina Commedia
Is the immortal example.
Mr.. Crandall proves the possession of
poetic criterion and of fine ear. in his notes
upon the structure of the sonnet he rightly
objects t the "clinching" of the final coup
let; and he remarks senstiveiy the differing
rhyme values of the various arrangements.
LIZ bnO pUcb IcIu6luU6I budL unity makes
the sonnet memorable. and expresses in for
tunate phrases his appreciation and ideals Of
its art. He also encourages the Anglo-Saxon
sonneteer to believe that the English language
Is not inapt, unfit for poetry, since there Is
music of the pine as well as of the palm"
He wins esteem for his critical sense when
he expresses strongly his admiration Of the
sonnets Of Longfellow, and in especial of the
six sonnets in the Divina Commedia. which,
he writes, impress me as the joint eff uence
OF the spirits of the two poets" By the way
1t Is not quite possible to agree with Mr..
Crandall's full praise of Miss Guiney's trans |
latioRs of the sonnets of Dante. That charm
ing young poetess Is too fond of clever |
turn of phrase, as when she arms Beatrice liz
meekness against ''perils of heard praise"
when Dante simply described his lady as
going humbly clothed upon with virtue, |
hearing herself praised.
The tribute to Italy is as inst as generous.
when Mr.. Crandall re-affirms the observation |
that the periods of greatest brilliance in Eng |
lisb poetry are when there is greatest inter- |
est In Italian poetry, Examining the history |
of the sonnet in various countries, he speaks |
of Beranger, of Camoens, of Goethe. He |
takes rapid flight through English litera-
ture from the sonnets of Sir Thomas Wyatt, |
Sir Philip Sidney, Sir Walter Raleigh, Spen- |
ser, Shakespeare, Jonson and sanity George |
Herbert, careful to turn the sonnet from its |
customary praise of "scarf or glove" to the |
praise Of the Lord. Millions grave sonnets; |
and the two versions of Blanco Whites IA |
nous Night and Death; and the sonnets Of |
Keats, Leigh Hunt and Mrs. Browning. |
commended most sweetly by the essayist, are |
noted. Curiously enough. Mr.. Crandal |
does not appear to value the sonnets of Dante |
Gabriel Rossetti as they merit, and chooses |
for citation the pretty and graceful True |
Woman, instead of the intense sonnets be- |
longing to the House of Life or the picture |
series where words have nearly the outline |
and color and power upon the visual sense |
of painting. BE finds Matthew Arnold |
heavy In the sonnet. Browning i'll at ease in |
its limits, and Tennyson creating it seldom, |
but with noble effect. OF the younger Eng |
lish sonneteers he cites but few-of these the |
reader must not miss Mr.. Andrew Lang's re.
sonant Odyssey, nor Mr.. Dobson's Don |
Quixote, whose fine lance Is turned against |
modern triviality and apathy, nor yet Mr..
Alcyone and Ph9bus.
In conclusion of his essay Mr.. Crandall
speaks well Of the American art of sonnet
writing, and proceeds to give reason for his
faith by copious collection Of representa-
tive work by his compatriots. His choice is
generally admirable, as might be expected
from his well balanced literary and histori-
cal studies of the topic. The volume is fur
nished with biographical index of authors,
mechanical task which evidently does not
suit perfectly Mr.. CrandalPs pen. A glance
at his pages, by the way, falls on the record
Of Miss Lucy Larcom's life as terminated in
1888. while, happily. that good woman and
poetess still lives and writes. But such err
rors are almost unavoidable in compilation,
and can detract little or nothing from the
value Of the book-a genuine and comnetent