The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-01-25
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s;,oi writers rhcv a.aY E:", but fs"5
Se,er i.a,. i.er"Hsc artist"
,ir. .,iriuati Gos Delivers! -
III the halt oi %cwahan col
!,ge. Cambridge. On ide fFttEE "i
Women. taking ~ his particular
text the poems uf Christina ~l.ossetti
No sound crlti. VIII pretend thai
II has addat! anything to thr
sum of male attainment IN these ma
Tor branches OF art The reason Is
anparently that the artistic nature Is
not strongly developed II her. She
has energy. imagination, sentiment.
invention. hut she has not the arts
tic impulse. The consnlninate poets
Of the world have been great artists.
In Shakespeare, Corneiiie, Goethe,
Pope and Keats we see the artist
above all else. above the imam Of III
tellect or vision In IL n;uch lower
rank Of poets we find the VISION or
the ethical bias preporderatins. In
the greatest men the art IL para
mount.
But women. if the main entrances
seem to he denied them. ascend INTO
the house of poetry by other doors.
Lyrical verse owes so much To them
that we may easily forgive tileir
limited success in other directions.
The lyric. which is Il Spontaneous jet
of music. an ejaculation forced from
the heart 10y an KEGS of feeling. q"
mands less art than any other form
of poetry. 1t Is perhaps the only
species Of poetry which can be eA
cellent in its kind and yet wholly
artless. The border ballads nave ne
art. and vet are exquisite. and tht
. history OF poetry is adorned ny Ger
tam female names which Will ai"".y'
preserve their freshness. ard which
vet were entirely innocent 81 art
Such are Emily Bronte III Englaht
and Marceline Desbordes Nannor" i.
France. We do not know whether
with extended opportunities, wolnt'
will continue to show themselves II
sensible to or incapable Of the hi-ii
est literary art. Hitherto they ceI
I tainly have beer, ~ or the other.
r Any one whose privilege It ha
r been to enjoy the friendship of sue
cessful wOmen of letters knows HOY
much more they are always occupies
Z with literature as a profession than a
n an art how little they are able ocoi
ceive the doing of work for its ow'
: sake. not for it's result; how colisc
; eptious. industrious and pe,sisten
= thew ure. and how little they al
troubled with the scruples and tn
lassitude of the artist. i is tnel
f., lyrlc gift. their cry from the height
o i the depths of feeling that has wo
: them that place upon Parmassu- fro'
II which no De Quincy % Guy {
M%aupassant can eject them
have denied poetic art to Wcnic
$ mainly that | may give myself ii
u luxury of attributingi 1t to Hiss ti:l
y tina Rossetti. To screen myself fIol
= the charge OK eXtravag&lce l WI
3 say ut once that ! think the main Il
~ terest of the position OF this WRIT
in the history Of poetry is the ia
Sc that she individually possesses til
he OudllIN Which, 10 ttiiiG't ~ iA.shs ~
: of genius and to almost ali woMe
Re Mrs. Browning WAS a force in liter
is ture--a parsonage demanding VI
e. versai recognition OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
o. power, her majestic imagination a,
l. her independence Of other literal
H. influences. but she was not an artir
. That title applied TO George sand
y George Eliot would be eluaslya IN
,a mt What Lord Tennyson W.
what Faubert was. it is surely pia
that these great women could not
But precisely this, ii a restrict
he measure. it seems to me that d.
as Rossetti is. and that isolation Of hel
o. rs apparently TIE solitary wom'
Ia poet of the Anglo-Saxon race ".
-. cult Yates poetry as IL OF the II
nc arts. gives the study of her verse
:, especial interest. st. James L