The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-06-04
THE NEW LAUREATE
e. D. HOwcIlS and Otte~ Discuss the
Candidates for the LauToateShip.

Both Branches OF the New School.
So Their Views Embrace a Wide
Field of Criticism Poets Estimate
Of an omcial Poet, and the AItruist
on One of Like Faith.
(Copyright)
New York, June 3.-Those delicious
verses by William r. H. Stoddard. BEGIN
L.ag:
Needless was your command
To burn your letters:
No wOman's heart, nor hand
Hold 1 in letters ...
And ending:
-.. Perish each letter
What harm: Since in the fame
/ read them better.
Those verses, say, came into my mind
as sat with the white-haired Young
hearted poet the other day. Mrs. Stod-
dard was there, also in the library of
their quiet little house, rich in books and
rare prints, rich in its boarded memories
ola genial life that has transformed its
experiences into fiame-into warmth and
brightness, rising above dull life. His
experiences are some of them long past.
to be sure, and these are ashes; but lin
the fame, we read him better"
We were in the little house just a step
beyond Stuyvesant square, and the talk
was about Mr.. Gladstones reported
nomination of John Ruskin to be poet
laureate.
81 think Gladstone's object was to ease
himself of difficulty" said Mr.. Stod-
dard. probably he would have given
ofense by any other selection. He got out
of the difficulty like politician-that is
u say, the tempOriZer, who is said to disre-
t4r1 his friends and lNva l1ic a,,ey,oioe
satisfied nobody and made himself ridicu-
lous. But there was something in the
way of each of the candidates, and doubt
less conflicting interests and claims in
support of each. Think of the two Nor
rises, for instance; one a Welshman who
several times believe ran unsuccessfully
for parliament the other, William
socialist. And there was almost the same
objection TO SWinburne. AS for Sir Ed
win Arnold, he did indeed write The
Light of the World but he also wrote
The Light of Asia Another thing about
Swinburne is that his poetry of late has
not been up to the mark"
What's the reason, Mr.. Stoddard2"
why, believe somebody is keeping
him sober"
Il see what you mean. It's like what
Byron said in regard to inspiration: 'Ge-
Mus be -l It's all gin"
Mr.. Stoddard laughingly assented and
went on to speak with enthusiasm about
Austin Dobsons delicate poems 49, his
vignettes and his vers de societe. 1t
will be seen that Mr.. DObson is the only
English poet of to-day who has the IN
qualified admiration of each of our three
critics
Presently he was cropping his way
downstairs for Mr. Stoddard, who has
seen many of the phases of life which
Horace saw, has1also the affection from
4, Il, III, T...Tg /. u -,
SlStlng that he must bear his guest com
IQuy cas- 1fars as uto the door; and on the
way he spoke about that generation of
New York poets whom he has so happily
survived and he told how precarious are
the incomes so precariOus that they
could have no settled home, but, in con
slant dread of the landlord, were yet god
like, in that they moved in a mysterious
way, their wonders 10 perform"
WITH W. d. HowELDs.
And, speaking of weak eyes, we may
quickly pass to the man of clearest and
slnCerest perceptions.
The patient who has consulted the
oculist for shOrt-sightedness or other de
Get Of vision gets touch of bella DONNA
perhaps, and presently the distant objects
that were dim and confused have become
distinct. and even seem to have been
brought nearer And, in like manner,
suppose no one ever took a difficult queS-
ion in letters TO MIR. Howells without
getting that touch of bella donna. Posi-
bly, this sympathetic and helpful gift is
the most amiable and admirable of all
gifts; at any rate, MIR Howells has it. He
does not tell you things or instruct you,
You know: but YOU have the fattering
sense that the question is being worked
ont by his mind and your own in cOninc-
ton.
..rTl,, al, ;,,I sc Il,,-1-;,, ,,,o. ,,o+,,,,,1 >,
Mr.. Howells thought. The honor must
have been secured by his merit, simply;
for was not Mr. Gladstone too fearless
man to have been iuhuen ed in such a
matter by other considerations. Rusl1in
is poet, who has written chiefly in prose,
indeed, but who is not on that account
less truly a poet"
Some French writers on aesthetics go
stlll farther and employ the word poet"
10 designate even painters and musicians;
but Mr.. HOwells more cautious meaning
was soon made evident.
And, don't You think" continued the
altruist (or shall we call him the sal
trurian'D don't you have the feeling that
John Rusl1in belongs to the same class
with Tennyson and Wordsworth, more
truly than other men who might have
been chOsen2 Not that the present
laureate, whoever he may be or might
have been, is to be thought of especially
as TennysOn's successor TennysOn was
not in the first place poetlaureate of Eng
land; TennysOn was just Alfred Tenny-
son. That was mis- crowning distinction
and it is not a question of providing a sue
cessor to Tennyson, but merely of getting
poet laureate
Il am unfamiliar with Ruskin's verses
did not know him in the character of a
writer of verses, and have but seen the
specimens of his work in that field which
have been recently printed-and which
are crude or immature" And a little
later Mr.. Howells said with especial ear
nestness that people OF to-day do not value
Mr.. Ruskin chiefly as an art critic, but
Tor his work that aims to improve the CON
dltion of laboring men and men generally
of all men, because he has loved men,
aud thought for men, and suffered for
them, and striven for them. II was the
value of his thought about human life,
and the noble expression of it, that made
ms value as pOet.n
Such, in substance, was Mr.. HoWells'
appreciative estimate of Ruskin as a
poet; and | was reminded that Matthew
Arnold in his essay on Wordsworth, pro
ceeding from widely different point Of
view, reached the same conclusion IN re-
gard to the true nature of poetry
namely, that melodious expression of new
thought on life was its essence. The only
y N..s