The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-02-03
WOMEN AS POTS.
siooi Writer. They Ma, E", bat T}ssy
se,er i.n.c tiats,:s,e +f;{s:..

NFs'H' ~ F"'~' y
se,er t.n.c iircs,:,,e .f.ist-.
III ~ialrnau.l s.,.,.,s' ~d+liyeI~gI Al
aGGrcs,, III the hall o. @e~nlam ca!
lagn. Cambrplgr. on The Poetry q.
Women" taking II. HI, irllltrt.. p
text the poems Of christina Hnsatt!
No sound rla.lc vii pretend that
r-4,,es ,.fS aI.'s,l s"r 'r'ur &, fh.,
sirl Of male attHtnmri u th"s" ma
Jur hif,nc,,eS al ART ~" i3st~s,H j.
apparently that FL" artiStl. nature II
not strongly dre ,a1rs. "a ii@r. SHE
has energy. III -iaat'@I:. sentiment.
Invention. hut she has not tfH agt,S
tic impulse. The cnil4tlfaHaat.t fuat>
of the world have been great art:s,-.
In Shakespeare. to.lei.le, t.octhe,
Pope and Keats we see the artist
above all ele". above the nan Of III
tellect or vision In Il much lower
rank of poets we find the VISION a
the ethical! bias l,rclondcrating. In
the greatest men the art Is para
mount
But women. If the main entrances
seem to be denied them. ascend into
the house of poetry by other doors.
Lyrical verse owes 50 much to them
that we may easily forgive their
limited success in other directions.
The lyric. which is a spontaneous jet
OF music. an ejaculation forced from
the heart hy an of feeling. de
mands less art than any other form
of poetry. 1t is perhaps the only
species Of poetry which can be ex
cellent in its kind and yet wholly
artless. The border ballads have no
art. and yet are exquisite: and the
history of poetry is adorned 10y e
tam female I'M which will always
preserve their freshness. and which
yet yer entirely innoceii; of art
Such are Emily BrOntr in England
and Marccline Deshor'es Nalmore III
France. We do not know whether
with eNten'ied opportunities. ON
will continue 10 show themselves lii
sensible to or incapable Of the high
est literary art. Hitherto they Ger
tainly have been one or the other.
ANY one whose privilege it has
been to enjoy tie friendship of sue
cessful women of letters knows how
much more they are always occupied
with literature as Il profession than rs
all art how little they are abletucon
ceive the doing Of work for its own
sake. not tor its result; how cOilsci
entions. Industrious and persistent
they are. and how little they y
troubled with the scruplcs and the
lassituGe Of the artist. Ii is their
lyric gift. their cry from the heights
or the depths of feeling that las won
them that place upon Pa,nas-uS from
which no De Quincy nor Guy de
M~aupassant can eject them.
have denied poetic art To women
mainly that | may give myself tile
luxury of attributingi it to Miss Chris
tina Rossetti. To G myself from
the charge CT extravaganza | will
say at once that | think the main III
terest Of the position Of this writer
in the history of poetry is the fac.
that she individually possesses this
quality which is denied to many mel:
of genius and to almost ali women.
Mrs. Browning WAS II force i'll litera
ture-a parsonage demanding uni
versai recognition for her intellectual
power. her majestic imagination and
her independence OF other literary
influences. but she was not an artist.
That title applied to George Sand OF
George Eliot would he equally a mis-
homer. What Lord Tennyson was,
what Faulert was. it is surely plain
that these great women could not Ike.
But precisely this. i'll IA restricted
measure, it seems to me that Miss
Rossetti is. and that isolation of hers,
~ apparently the solitary woman
poet Of the Anglo Saxon ace who
c~ultlvates poetry as n Of the fine
arts. gives the study of her verse Ill
especial interest. st. James (ia
aette.