Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1895-02-28
THE POET OF NATURE.

Say poetry We iHedn pOeGTy-Wllll
be richly repaid and inexpressibly
delighted by a perusal of "Phi-
loctetes and Other Poems and
Sonnets. a volume of much mer
it written by Mr.. James E. Mes
mith, who in his poems proves
himself to be essentially poet
of nature in her grandest works,
and he interprets her with new
ness of thought and rugged
ness Of expression that charm
and hold the reader, and i'm
press you with the sincerity and
seriousness of the author.
The work is strong and true
and grave, almost to the verge of
pessimism, for the writer leaves
the lighter manifestations Of ma
ture-the song of the birds, the
seasons changes, the green fields |
and the musical streams, to the
joyous throng Of singers who ca
rol of the sunshine and leafy
woods. The grandeur of the
rugged mountain, the ancient
time e-stainedrocks,t the sea- washed
crags, the signing ocean, thel
SCARED and riven canons, and
the agonized, lava-strewn earth,
these are the phases that appeal
most strongly to one who looks
beyond the record written in fire
and pain upon the breast of earth
to the great directing Cause,
dominating all.
The poem of 1.-The Grand Can
on of the Colorado River" is al
most epic in it's strength and
treatment, and he paints this, the
most tremendous natural specta
Gle of the Continent, if not of the
world, with the hand of an artist
inspired by the eye and soul Of
the poet, for its lines were con-
ceived and written under the in
spiration and in the presence of
that marvellously beautiful and
impressive scene where
''Domes, temples, pyramids-dark CULTS
And stony wales, unfathomable deeps-
Rise here in highest mimicry of art
proportioned to the calm desire of
| gods"
It is a scene that has defied the
resources and imagery of many a
clever writer, yet the poet calls
up all it's withered, tortured,
weird, dead beauty and grandeur
to the imagination's eye with
word and phrase as certain, as
strong as impressive.
'sLo what ruin, broad and terrible
| And bright, the silent cataracts OF
i time
Wrought here upon the texture of the
| earth;
Exposing visibly the hollow shell
i And rocky frame of a primeval world
In bony nakedness as if sea
Withdrawn should leave it's ancient
basin bare"
'Philoctetes at Lemnos" is
made in the mould of ancient
Greece, and breathes the spirit
of hopeless protest against the
injustice of gods and men. The
chorus that opens this fine poem
is Indicative of it's motive, its key
note.
''He comes with brooding eyes ben
Unheedlng, wrapt in thought, detected
: slow,
His speech is to himself or to the gods
Like one bruised deeply by their heav
, rods.''
Napoleon in Russia" is apoen
l touching a campaign as cataclys
2 mic in it's results as an earth
quake. All wars garner a blood.
E harvest. the Napoleonic legion
that invaded Russia in 181
: marched to annihilation by tn
t Muscovite's terrible ally, Winter
Victorious France with clusterin
laurelS crowned
And dazed by Glory's glittering show
Strobe to the conquest of world an
found
A sepulchre OF untrod snow"
h These are the strongest exam
r, pies of the work of the book, bl
u there is nothing weak in it's page
q nothing that may not be rerea
o with interest. Taking it all
" all, the book is a satisfying fu
l. fllment of the promise made
a former work, "Monadnock
t, and gives the writer an assure
y place in the ranks of Americ;
e poets.
ht The joylessness of the poe
lie the word hardly defines the phas
IN the condition of his verse-is n
~ the pessimism Of the despairil
spirit, but the solemn gravity
I'd the man who loves to go aps
,et from his fellows into the sile
en- presence of Nature, to read b
at message and probe the myste
al hidden in her eternal boso
oa The DOamS are framed in a n