The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-05-19
HAVE WE A SHAKESPEARE
AMONG US?

we have not been cherishing a Shake
speare in our bosom while we have been
stupidity unconscious of the fact. The
discoveTer of the bard is the last person
who would have been suspected of such a
deed. 1t is Naval Officer John p. irish.
That this hard worked official, with such
heavy responsibilities on his shoulders,
should find leisure to unearth among the
unknown voiaries of the muse a nine
teenth entury Shakespeare shows how
business cares fail to Queneh the true crit
cal spirit.
The Shakespeare whom the Naval Officer
brought to the surface is the librarian of
the Free Library, Mr.. John Vance Cheney.
who is an eIudue gentleman, affable even
TO people who do not write or even read
poetry. Like Silas Wegg, Mr.. Cheney
drops into poetry when the eJuptive force
becomes Irresistible. His poetry is of the
tender pastoral order, like that of The
ocritus or Wordsworth. He affects the
form of the sonnet, because in that fan
tastic shape poetic energy and plastic
power are com bined, and because in the
sonnet the poets PURPOSE can be most con-
yeniently yelled, while the ear of the
reader is tickled by a melodic iteration of
sound. IL was in an unusually severe
three of emotion that Mr.. Cheney commit
ted the following sonnet, which Naval
Officer Irish declares 20 be superior to
anything Shakespeare ever wrote:
The skuIful listener. methinks, may hear
- The grass blades clash in sunny fields together
The roses kissing, and the lily whether
1t laugh OF sigh low In the summers ear,
The jewel dewbells or the mead ring clear,
When mornings nearing in the sweet June
weather,
The r ocked hours winging, feather unto feather
The last leaf wall at waning of the year
Methink from these we catch passing sound
q he best OF verities, perhaps, but seem)
Hearing fors, 9th shy nature on her round.
When least she imAgInes II: birds. wood and
stream
y OF only. but her silence profound,
surprised by softer football Of our dream.
On this work of art the Oldest inhabnant
of Red Bluff expressed the opinion that it
WAS very fine. monstrOus fine. but in a
whisper asked his wife what it was all
about He was too dense TO detect the
pretty picture Of the coming dawn. with
Rrass-blade. kissing rose and signing lily
watching by wood and stream for the first
faint flush on the horizon. Not so the vet
eran poet in long struggling hair and
wOOdsman's garb, who from the he ghts
OF Fruitvale looks down upon the follies
and passions of mankind. He heard the
melody OF Cheney's rhythm and saw the
gray, warm picture Of the summer morn in
he forest. But being a poet himself he
knows the gradatiOns in poetry, aud when
ii came to CHASING Cheney above Shake
5 peaTe he set all his roses trembling with
the waves OF his sonorous laugh and laid
his pOnderous foot on the Naval Officer
with the words: Irish knows whole
lot about politics, at least have heard he
does; but L wouldn't give peanut for his
opinion on poetry"
Joaquin Miller was the very man 10 ex-
plain that there are TWO kinds of poetry
the poetry which sends thrill to the heart
Of all men and leaves its stamp there, never
to be effaced, and the poetry which only
appeals to the cultured mind and requires
study to be understood. The cultured
critic is always apt TO cOnfound the two
There are sonnets by Coleridge and Words
worth and Shelley which soar to the very
loftiest pinnacle of the poetic art. But the
audience OF their worshipers is select.
They are beyond the comprehension Of the
mass of mankind. IN contrast with their
sonnets are the sublime poems Of the
Hebrew prophets. the tragedies of Shake
speare. the lyrics of Tennyson. These
masterpieces require no explanation; they
explain themselves; TO penetrate their
meaning nothing but an ordinary under
standing and human heart are required.
Poets who can rise to their level appear at
long intervals; centuries sometimes divide
them; many countries which have had a
literature have never produced one. When
Lord Tennyson died Mr.. Gladstone was
asked whom he proposed 10 appoint to the
vacant laureateship. He announced that
he would make an appointment when be
found poet.