New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-03-08

being rapt in his own rhetoric.
similar error vtiates the writings OF ra"-
els THOMPSON. whose Sister Songs: An Oher-
inc n Two SIsters" (Copeiand & Day. Is the
outpouring of on original fancy spoiled by
verbal taste that strives to be equally uncoh-
vertional This visionary poet who has some
thing Of the iridoscence OF dreams In his INES
Is impatient OF English. and spins. therefore,
the most impossible phrases. lie sings Oh cH
cumfused wind" he tells how
Rsdiate surge OF color came.
DlGusing blush-wisc. papitant.
and all through this new volume which Is
otherwise eloquent OF poetic instinct he scat
tiers passages like the following:
Next saw wondrr-whist.
How from the atmosphere mist.
So II seemed slow uprist;
And looking from these elm swarm
| was ware
How the air
Was al populous with forms
or the Hours. floating down
Like Nercids through watcry '-N.
:;or:e. with languors 81 Waven arm
!1uctuois cared their nexile way
some were borne half resupine
on the aerial hyaline
rbers Is \ thin moonbeam OF poetry in this
fragment but the dictlon Is worse than affected.
II is barbarous Mr. Thompson might at least
claim, that his words have n certain namh'yancy.
n certain color 1t might be wished that the
Poet Laureate had tried for as much' r'sAeH az
much In his latest dramatic poem Ehsi'H'
Darling" (Macmlan Coz. In this pas
tiche Of narrative and lyric rumination Mr.. Aus
tin had a great subject. "A great opportunity bu-
a drab sobriety reigns over the whole duii per
formance the book Is absolutely colorlese from
beginning to end. For just one moment, In the
second scene OF the last act. where Alfred IN dis-
guse sings Of England before Gtthrum ana
Oskytel and finally declares his name ana rur-
n,ee-for this one moment Mr. Austin seems
about 10 be poetic. Bat the instant passes ana
the poet Is silent The last pages OF the book
are devoted TO reprint OF The Passing OF
Merlin" the elegy on Tenryson which appeared
in The London Tnes' In 1892 IL Is opposite
Its eulogstic tone ought to impress those critics
who have attacked the Laureate for his early
d, nunciations Of his predecessor (refusing to ad
nit that man can ever make a mistake or
change his mind. and the smooth ripple Of the
lines comes as n ecessary reminder after Eng
lands Darling" that Mr. Austin is not so incapa-
Bile as he is sometimes represented to be-
When Mr. Austin Is satisfied with ar emotion,
a seneation. and plays with II through a few
stanzas he IL apt TO be worth hearing. When
he attempts 70 elaborate a story. as In "Engand's
Darling" and every one OF his other dramatic
poems, he becomes unnteresting The true mar
rative gift rare enough In prose, is rarer stIl
in poetry; and IS not always to be employed by
its possessor with equal authority in both dtrec
lions. Mr.. Blackmore's exquisite prose Is one or
the treasures Of modern English fiction. But he
has crdeavored to write some tales In verse. and
lis "Trlng.lla" (Thc Burrows Brothers Company
Is a sadly disappointing book 1t has been
piously illustrated by Nj. VIII II. Bradley. the
last artist In the world whom Mr.. Blackmore
might have been expected to prefer. but the hec-
tic swrls in which the figures OF the pictures are
entangled do not serve to lend the book that ele-
ment Of unconventional vivacity which 1t most
obviously needs. '"Lta OF the Nile" the first
long poem In the collection. gives accurately the
measure OF all that follows. and In this pictur-
eeque romance Of old Egyptian life Mr.. Black
more EMPLOYS n snpsnap which wakes n hunger
for the beauty OF his prose. The entire contents
Of "Fringilla" worth less 1t must be con-
fessed, than one lovely page Of Lorna Doone."
Miss Mathilde Blind Is another writer who has
done we'll with prose. and, attempting poetry.
does far less well. In her Birds OF Passage:
Songs Of the Orient and Occdent" Chatto e.
Windus), she Is descriptive ford and accurate
enough as to the rhyming OF her lines But
cal studies which have given her the excellent
reputation as a writer which she now enjoys.
She has the critics gift Of acumen. but she lacks
the poets natural element. the element OF pas
sion.
There Is no lack Of passion In the poetry OF
Mr.. Wilfrid Scawen Blunt. and in the recent
luxurious reprint Of ESTHER. Young Mans
Tragedy; Together with the Love Sonnets OF
Proteus' copeland Day., II IL interesting
to find that the poems az homogeneous
ever; that they have maintained through their
few years the poetic tension which at the start
seemed threatened by the more or less sequental
scheme In ESTHER" and the too great length OF
the other series. Mr.. Blunt Is shade too arti-
fetal In his Esther sonnets giving TO them a
burden OF narration which the form IL ill-calcu-
lated to bear and when he wrote the Love Son.
nets OF Proteus'' he failed to give the collection
the last touch Of his art by suppressing half
Yet his sonnet Is. a rule, 30 we'll bullded
that even superfiuous one Is accepted good
humoredly and the others all firmly knit
productions, compacted OF interesting thought
and Rood technical taste There Is first and last