New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-04-16

plt!ai> 0; aNeC'atlOn hr" scaic"if ever I" Nc
| feared In one OF her Songs Anou' Li!e. Love
and DEATH Charles Sc,ibncrs Sons the late
Mise Anne Reeve AldrIch ghncc> at the criticism
Which attributes IN" realistic effects 0! poet 20
fancy an! her songs OF love and passion 70 her
own eNpercHce; ana tie Inference j. that the spec
tale sometimes provoked in her Il sa'.rIca, I'm
pllse To one with a. strong IA feeling for AT.
as her verses reveal II mi-h' easily BE- Irri,a-
tion TO have her art forgotten ana hey personality
ins,s.al upon Bat from one end Ct Ms AGrlchs
bo1.; 70 ;he other il note Of ia.ros pcct!o:: AID
strenuous passion il struck - Professionally tHa' ~
il impossible - regard her p)e.:y anything bGt
| the expression Of IA tense. high strung tcnpera-
mcnt The poetry Is not in many moods. 1t al
here's nearly always 70 that whcll has been most
perfectly described ir thu reflection that
The sweetest songs are those
That tell Of sadGe>t thought.
II there is difference between the animus Of
these famous lines and that Of Miss Aldricls vcrS"
il is the difference between tho mournfIlnc>s C. a
ccnt6 spirit and the agonized tlrocs OF n spirit
that feels with excessive intensity fo,c and dis
appointment are Miss Aldrlch's overcoming
themes hut when she touches tn" latter. touches
dlsillusonncnt and regret and despair. there is "A
ring Of Tenderness and Of satisfaction IN having
loved. though in vain. mingled 80 incN'ricabv
with a defiance which seems to H. peculiarly fem
mine that. in the long run. she leaves an impress
sion of having been in love with suffering and
10 have never spoken moro trnlv than H. the hrSt
line Of one Of her verses. AIN so glad to suffer
pain Love tramplcd in the dust rackcd and
bruised hut still triumphant. is her continual IN
spiration. Her special good fortune was not to
have had her balance dlsturbc1 and while her
work is charged with emotion. the virtues which
I,1 ius. f,.in Ni.fn .rp
tho virtues Of precision allied 10 nucncv, and 4
drccincss such as the ballad called a Medieval
Dcathhcd' cNcmplifcs-a dircctncss for which
che is not altogether prepared by tho tormcnt"d
mood which prevails through tire book. lli'
Scncs About Life, Love and Death are thor
oughly ncid and clear cut.
W the dreamy atmosphere Of the domain where
in her prologue implies that she found the sub
stance preserved in her Fair Shadow Lana
tIiou ghton. Minn & CO.. it would not hay" been
expected that Miss Edith NJ. Thomas would have
fallen upon lucidty, but she has that quality
and when she rccitcs some story, in Aria
and THE Prisoner Of the Stanslno, her verse
also is clear cut AS that Of Mss Aldrich j.. and
She rounds out her mctrical narrative clcv"rN
enough. Her ideas. however, in the much more
numerous verses which deal with nature ar" OF
no particular poetic charm either IN th"nl-'lV"'
or in her presentation Of them, ana there l. ht'ir
in her Shadow Land" 10 cnticn 'he rra''r Iha'
which does most 10 prcpos>css tie latter Is IN"
cbcorfuness of the verse, which even breaks int,
humor in some triflings with Hcra" ger. Spcns"r
and Horace. and in few more less we'll knit
ouatrans Sunshine is u natural cXcant AMI
sympathy cannot help but sprn. up nn1cr 'h"
influence Of little humor The spell of an ahund-
ancc Of it is more potent and lasting, and II Is
partly for this reason that Mr. Eugcn' Field oh
tains a hold upon the attention IN his "S"con
Book of Verse" tCharlss Scribncr's Sons ami IN
his With Trumpet and Drum" sam" publishers
which one has 10 disposition - Shak" of lie. t)''
needs ~ eN TIrcaor, hut not for the cause WiiIrA
has been pointed out in the rcicr'nc" I" Mr.. Hen
lcy's verses With much Ct his -; ions verse sup
pressed thc verse of which To Ny Mother =
fair specimen he would pass into the company oi
Bret Hartc with whom he possesses gifts o: fun
and idomatic neatly rhyming expression in COM
mon, gifts strengthened by refined taste and
flashes Of tender feeling. Books and ;ll" collect
ing Of books prints and curioS, and IN" y'arhlng
for them OF impecHnionS man, wine, an li9h'-
hearted winc-bibbing the everyday happenings
Of a workaday, thoroughly human lfr East or
West. but principally West, these things he treats
in easy rhyme which makes prctcnc' TO b'anty
or style, hut which is endowed with III" latter
riuuant something in Mr. Fields writing which
could only have come from himself II Is the
charm of point Of view and Of sympathetic
nature touched by homcly sentiment and by IN"
things Of chdhood-of natnr, with its ac-'l"ii'
sde-whicii goes with his humor TO make both his
recent volumes welcome. II j. OF Mr. F!"is
clliefost claims TO approval that hc combines I'M
affected interest in children with knack OF rhvm-
ing about them in terms which are not deliberate
ly adapted 20 Juvenile ears, and yet must speak
10 them most pcrsuasivcy. 70 win young
audience REQUIRES the most artlcSs kind oi art. Mr.
Frank Dempster Sherman has attempted the feat
in Little-Folk Lyrics" nloughton. Mii!in n Co..
booklet of pretty, iingling pieces which give
rise 20 suspicious Of manufacture ana a conscious
unbending. Condcscension TO immature minds u
Of no use The great recommendation Of the an
thology for children which Miss Agnes Rrpplcr
has lately compiled "a l;col; of Famous Verse,
uIoughton, Mlin & Col, Is that it Is composed
of the best serious poetry of such ballads ,o'd
BELLE and such songs az those Shakespeare wrote
for Ariel, and not Of profc,scdly childish rhymes
The only adverse criticism TO be passed upon Miss
Rcpp,rs book Is that its arrai cement is some
times rather curious. il Is Gl-tnihinG T. iini
Rose Aylmcr' between Canadian boat song by
Moore and the ballad by scott Just mentioned
But 90 the readers for whom In" book com
plle1 this will probably not mean anything.
One distinction Of the poetry OF Mr. William
Winter is that imprinted upon 1t are the signs by
which it is possible to identify the poet of Tenny-
sons poem,
lowered with the hate of hate, the scorn Of scorn,
The love Of love
1t is filed with the fragrance Of high ideal
Tho fine spirit of the first poem in "Wandcrcrs'
Macmillan 81 Coz maintains its sway through all
the ovc-songs that follow 1t it is in evidence in
the melancholy verse which under the title OF
Tempest" fills the second division of the book
and none Of the remaining poems. poems of love
and death, ceeiac and commemorative. denies its
influence. Mr. Winters strain is softly blown.
II there is rapture in his verse, as in the opening
poem alluded 10, My Queen" it is never i'm
petuous but submits 10 the restraint imposed by
an attitude pensive, sef-pOsscsscd and conscious
OF the decay underlying the bloom and lovclincss
Of life. II follows that his poems have clarity,
nf