The herald., 1895-12-22

Miss Coolbrith has written upon his
art may be appropriately quoted in
this connection, inasmuch as they af-
ford at once an example OF her des-
criptive powers and her mastery over
the sonnet form Of verse:
THE ART OF WILLIAM KEITH.
Here, vast and awful, the Sierras rear
| Their everlasting SUBMITS to the sky,
| The mighty waters of the sunset lie
In all their changing opalescence; here
The broOding melancholy of the sere,
Dun autumn woods; the laughing cafery
or budding boughs blending each tender
dye
With the lush green of the awakening year.
This is NOT painted canvas-this is life.
Creation, earth, in all her varying moods !!
These fields athrill with motion and with
light,
rife,
Here Natures heart throbs through the
solitudes,
Here Natures soul looks from the mystic
height.
Three poems in the volume stand
out distinct from the others, both in
nature and in mode Of treatment.
These are California, The Captive of
the White City and the Memorial
Poem, written for the Grand Army Of
the Republic and read on Decoration
day 1881. Poems written for special
occasions are rarely of much merit
The memorial ode of Miss Coolbrith is
one of the few that has ou,lived the
day for which it was written. 1t
sbounds with strong lines giving noble
expression to noble thoughts. Among
the passages are many which will fur
nish fit quotations for memorial ora
tors to adorn their prose with as long
as the observance of that sacred day
shall be honored among us. II is, in
deed, one Of the classic memorial odes
of the nation, and will be perpetuated
in memory of the heroic dead, of whom
it finely sings:
They have not died in vain,
Through them she lives with head no
longer bowed
Among the nations, but erect and proud;
Washed clean of wrong and shame,
Her freedom never more an empty name,
And all her scattered stars as one again.
The "California," though not the
longest, is the most notable poem in the
volume, and exhibits the powers of the
authoc at her best. California sits by
the Golden Gate and complains that
none have fitly sung of her glory:
Oh, what indeed is this
Old land beyond the seas that We should
miss
For her the grace and majesty of mine?
Are not the fruit and vine
Fair on my hills and in wales the rose?
When to her coast the white man
came so full of vigor and with so much
purpose in his eyes, California laughed
and sang because she thought II shall
be known, shall not sit alone, but
reach my hands unto lay sister lands"
This expectation, however, has not
been fulfilled. California remains uu-
sung. "All my lays and legends fade
away from lake and mountain to the
farther hem of sea and there be none
to gather them" Thus California still
waits the coming OF the singer, "him OF
diviner speech" and of him she says:
My laurels lend the glory of their boughs
TO crown no narrower brows.
For on his lips must wisdom sit with youth
And in his eyes, and on the lids thereof
The light of a great love
And on his forehead truth.
In the voice of the lofty lament which
Miss Coolbrith has put into the mouth
of California there is something OF
prophecy.
The glory of this golden land will
yet be as sweetly and nobly sung as
that of any land on earth. Our.bards
sublime will come when the heart OF
the people and the culture Of the state
has been prepared for them. Many
now living are doing something to
hasten the coming of the master. Miss
Coolbrith herself has done much. She
has given proof that the genius of
California is not a suppliant for the
worlds approval in the finest fields of
literatu g, but boldly challenges criti-
cism. In these poems there is fine
work finely done. Here is poetry not
as pastlme but as a study; not an
amusement for few, but an inspira-
ton for all who are capable of drawing
delight from such pure source. The
illustrations by William Keith are adj
mirable, aptly illuminating the authors
thoughts and sentiments.
SONGS FROM THE GOLDEN GATE, INA
COULBRITH illustration by william Keith.
Houghton. Miflin g. Co, (Riverside Press.
Cambridge, 30. ton and W Yors. For
sale b. Stoll x Thayer Co.. Parker's book
store, Gardner & oliver. L. Behymer and
nil hook stores. ltD pages: Sl.DO.