The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-02-04
woMErs IS Potts.
ssooa Writer. They Iit -. but ihst
Never ;.nNr f'"tlftt ttsasfe.

Good Hritafs Ibey fAit We. 1ht EHt
Never Have fsrtsr,s ts..sss.
.if. i.aniari t4ts-<, delivered al
mlites. III the h;lI al HeWahanl roi
lpge, ~Cumbri,i@a. 81 Tie Poetry nf
Women. taking ~ BIZ rlfAe.l.at
text the poems Of CHRISTINA Rosetta
No sound critic Viii matyrd that
woman ha- atia' aa".a1a" - III
sim nf male @ttnumess u tttse tl.
13r 1raHeh@s ~ :.t " F"3~tsf :
apparently tin: the mit.sti" e"Ttt@ta
not strongly deTosar 4 q A"l- 80
has energy. Imagination, ~stalltiaft.
invention. bar she has not tie
tic impulse. The coH~u7nf-iair ita2-S
OF the wu,N have oeen sl,ha- aFtlS,>
in Shakespeare, Gularil!", Goethe.
Pope and knat~ We >ee HE ARTIST
above all else. above the ,l,an of III
tellcr. or vision Ia Il much lower
rank of poets ~" lind lie VISION -
the ethicl! bi,@. lftlGnde!ut!n., In
the greatest men the art - para
mount
But women. II thc main entrances
seem to be- denied them. ascend into
the house of poetry Ivy other doors
Lyrical verse owes so much to them
that we may easily forgive their
limited success in other directions
The lyric. which is Il spontaneous Jrt
of music. an ejaculation forced from
the heart 10y an exce>S of feeling. dc
mands less art than any other form
of poetry. 1t is perhaps the "niy
species of poetry which can be OK
cellent in its kind ami yet wholly
artIess. The border ballads have no
art. and yet are exquisite: ana! tn"
history of poetry is adorned 10y Ger
tain female names which VIII always
preserve their freshness, and winch
vet were entirely innocent OF art.
Such are Emily Bronte III England
and Marveline De>lnrdes Nalnore III
France. We 10 not know whether,
with extended opportunities. women
will continue to show themselves Ii
sensible to or incapable Of the high
es, literary art. Hitherto they cAs
tainly have been II o. the other.
ANY one whose privilege II ta>
been to enjoy the II friendship al sue
cesStill women of letters KNOWS nov
much more t.Ier are always occupied
with literature ASA profession than ;-
an art how lltti" they alrahietocon
ceive the doing of work for its owl
sake. mo- tor its result: how consc!
entious. Industrious and ie,si>tent
they + and how iittie they az.
troubled with the scrupies and thu
lassitude of the artist Ii is then
lyric gift. their cry from the height.
or the depths Of feeling that has won
them that place upon Parna,su- from
which no De Quincy nor 'iuy 1T
Maupassant can eject them
| nave denied poetic art to wome,
mainly that | may give myself tn
luxury of attrihntingi ii to Miss Chris
tina Rossetti. To G myself from
the charge q; eXtravaganee ! vii
say at once that | think tie main III
teres. of the position OF this write
in the history of poetry Is the fac
that she individually possesses ti.l
uUdlltS NI.it.l - tl'ilsNft ~ IlIihN iiiSi
of genius am! 10 almost all woiIen
Mrs. Browning was IL force III litera
ture-a parsonage demanding uni
velsai recognition for herintel!ectua
power. her majestic imagination ant
her independence Of other l%i;erai.
influences. but she was not an artist
That title applied to George Sand o
George Eliot would he equally a mis-
homer. What Lord Tennyson was
what Faulert was. it is surely plat,
that these great women could not he
But precisely this. in a restricted
measure. it seems to me that Mis-
Rossetti is. and that isolation OF hers
n apparently the solitary wona.
poet of the Anglo-Saxon race WIN
culuvates poetry AS IL Of the fin
arts. gives the study of her verse Al
especial interest. St. James ia
2ette.