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

/ whom home now means Iost where IL formerly
meant love. There is delicate and strong touci
! III the implication of the transition from the
sweet E02scIsc' o! Youth 10 tie siorIcr temper
| OF the soldiers later years which HIS misfortune
| has hroaeL. about But Mr. Cawe.n j. most Il
poet when he * putting together Iaymcs ABOUT
the stormy drift Of frantic leaves or the
| moon flower ard the wahoobu>h that burns" ard
Gozens OF o:cer sights II the woods ana FIELDS Tor
| which he has a quick eye. HIS province li"S
! principally within tire range Of natural p.enonl-
/ era There he does WORK tsat in It's minor KEY
l. worth doing. II i II tie same province ttit
Mr. Rotcrt Underwood Johnson Las composed
some Of the better pieces in Tie Winter llocr
and Other Poems The Century Company. Il
little volume of lyrics ard occasional verses In
some of these last his muse shows a genial spirit
AID a sprirhtly gaia poem 10 James Whitccni"
| Riley and another on John BirroGgh, are both
animated. DEITY pointed personal tributes. Bit
there is MOI" lyri,m and more fcelirg for lcarty
in some of the passages IL "Th" Winter lioIr.
which bear upon landscape and art or literature;
in the poem on Brownins's sAsolo.' which COT
tains some very vcracious and skiluy calculated
| linear effects pcncin.s of the lovely Iaian
scene and in s!icaf of verses in which " Spring
Trcladc" beginning. happily. on the lin" - tardy
April is thy fall choir here ?"-rcprescnts on" OF
| his most poetic moments. Those moments possess
the grace that comes from indicative ara clear
habit of mind. familiarity with book, and flowers
and an affection for them. and from schsc "'
rhythm. The rhythm in Mr. Maurice +. Esah
verse Of which collection appears nhner W.
title Of "Sonrs and Sonrcts and Other Poems
a. G. McClrr.l, is not hampcrrd but IT l. possibly
clustered by the sobrirty of his thought, which
is penetrated by religious faith and Is prone 10
manifest itself in uttcranccs tnGed win Ill
Il .;,io, j. in
tian belief lurking sometimes IN uhioo"'"-'o'
places in his bool-in "A sonnet on Maurice ne
! (iucrin, for example, that neopasdn, wh"n III
/ intcrprcts as a kind of Thcocritus coming upon
the Figure cruciicd' and losing his pafpdro"S
! GODS in deep. Chr>t-civcn rest on the p"So''
Of nature Whether or rot it is the sedate temper
! Of the themes appealing to HIM WIN 'h' ""''
force which is responsible for It, the fact remains
that his verse is pedestrian whether II c'""f"''"
| sacred or proianc subjects: ana "hN once III
| awhile, H. in the song entitled Like '-lia''
! does il feel the CULVER Il lyme ln,piFa'l'"' II,
faint ~ II i. rare Yet a contcmrlativc bias need
not of necessity withhold cadence from poet
WLittsr could sometimes put l. into his verse lie
has done in the most perfect poem OF INC -la'
volume called At ~undown" lllouch'on. Mi'iilh
& Coz, which saves the last fruit oil an ola tree
! in fine Enrninc Driu-Wood," for the stun oil
which he LAID faith aud fancy under contribution
and in which he Ina, some Of his most ii"Nib!"
lines Ills last hoo; of Whittcrs Gathers To-
scth.r Int few waits in addition 70 the hr'idc
monoosuc. his kindly greetings To HOLMES ana
other friends and fcw Inscriptions su'h ~ 'ha'
written for thr window IL vi ton in ~. VI ir-arets
/ Church. TnglAnd The text * given only oa
one side of the page and there are some Illus
,rations in good taste b." Mr.. J.. II. ''trrrtt
! book 10 which Whittier would haV" been eia'
10 add - it, author icmnl@s. word OF b"nr-
dictior. j.. Miss Lucy Ihicom', volum" Of her
/ I'D and now verse At the fcIUtIul Tat"
Ilouchton. Mnlm n e.. In this record oil
a faith which never iIltcrs. Christianity l. ~
plici, in nearly every s;anla. Tia" poems hay"
the placid tone OF hymns. which they really
are. in effect.
Placidity like Miss Inrcom's j. hardly the don't
nant characteristic Of such YER" Is has lately
seen the light. II could not be- more foreign
T. poetry than it is to Miss Mdricls for "N
ample. ard yet il thci" !, on" thnc for when
IL il futile to intcrIDga." any contemporary
writer it Is a dramatic motive developed through
any succession of theatrical crI-c- III becoming
dictWn. The pdssi"nat" exclamation. or "PI-
-ode may h. dramatic IN one sense. mi IL l.
not In another in the sense which associates
the drama with the stage. DIR. y Weir Mitchell
l. evidently aware Of this. and he prciNc~ g
Ilough,on. Miiilin ~ CO.. a short not" in which
Lc AYERS that he has hal neither the d"sir" nor
the intention to make of the tale hc has re-
h1udlcd from various slurrs an acting DRAMA
though on the next page hc does not scruplc
70 refer 10 his production a. a play. Ev"n grant
inc some distinction between an acting drama
and play, il Is not apparent That itah'iS
Drake" is the dramatic poem which its author
calls it, This might appear to I've due TO IN"
nature q. the story, which, in spite oi IT'S tragic
burden nnlods itself quietly enough Though
thomas Doughty. upon whose trcacli"rous action
while accompanying Elizabcth's great admiral
10 the Pacific coast the story turns, was as
covered and bclcadcd there under curious cir
cum,tanc,s. the approach Of Nemesis was not
along notably dramatic lines; il had littl" in
i, Of the element Of surprise; there was prac-
tc,Ilv no conflict between any Of the forces in
volvcd i'm the affair: and the conspiraor went
IN his doom at the end OF a train OF circin-
stances which somehow made his death seem less
like "A climax than its pictnrcs'Iu"n"ss would
implv The action in the story Is slight. bn'
the fault of DR. Mitoh"ll's poem lies deeper than
the theme, which H. after all, not tame" u
lies In the fact that there is no hhoyancv III MS
work not any Of the energy best described simply
rs poetic His TRAGEDY is one OF CONVERSATIONS ana
when thcsc are interrupted by a sailors song II
il plain from the absence oi any muse III III"
latter that it il only an "Np"di"nt to r'licv"
the monotony Of the stream OF talk. No p'"'i'
lines or phrases shine in III" dialogue. ana when
Douplty's head falls and Drake closes the poem
with a Nous observation the conclusion is that
DIR Mitchell has done no more than tell an Oh
tale IN plain language. in another kind Of pros"
than that Of the ORIGINAL documents. II any
,h,no were REQUIRED - bear ont this judgment OF
his noctic powcrs, IL presents itself in " II"
Nothcr and Other Poems" lloughton. Miniin ~
co., a collection Of verses which show thai b"
j. dclicately ruminant. awake to suggestions III
life and nature not rrosaic. ana Vet, Tor all
his facility IN turning out rhym"d VERSE; h"'
- writer with a poetic gift. If Miss Harriet
Nonroc. whose "Nalciia. ard Other Poems
a. e. Mcclure & Co. contains an effort NOR"
prc,cntious than Francis Drake has IN" poetic
citt which could alone he her warrant for writ
n is