New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-09-20

Is hard TO go through them all III u d uo""
right pleasure to read the lyrics. So many OF
those are good that they inspire wish TOT
another volume of the authors COLLECTED
Poems" this time made up OF the shorter pieces
while the dramatic works are handed over to the
oblivion In which they can DO l'r Nitcheh
poetcal rcpute no harm.
Several volumes OF new and reprinted transla-
ton have reached us. or the former tie pest IL
Miss Jane Mlnot Sedgwicks Songs from the
Greek" Her first few pages. from the drama
lists do not march with the dignity or the
smoothness that belongs to them. Sophocles
and Euripides beyond her powers In
purely poetical sense the WRISTS should have
been even more difficult for her to reproduce
Nevertheless. she has treated Theocritus and
Meleager with feeling and cleverness III the
two epigrams on Rhodoclea and Heliodore are
Inadequate. they are at least sweet and poetical
so far as they go. and the eighth idyi OF Iheoc-
rtus Is presented in very creditable form we
are In the dark as to the character OF the origl-
nails Of Miss Alice Stone Blackwells Armenian
Poems" and as she states preface that no
attempt has been made to initiate the Armenian
metres" besides explaining that her knowledge
Of Armenian does not extend much beyond 'he
alphabet" the only thing to do Is to note that
the patriotism Of the verses seems aruen'
enough. For the rest. this book has no poeticai
significance at all. The version or Aucass''
and Ncolette." produced by Mr. NJ . Hehfy anu
Mr. Edward w. Thomson. shows poetic ap'''uue
~ q sIiebt derree but neither in the prose OF the
first writer nor in the vers1ed portions contrib
uted by the second is there any new or sups'a"
tial power Considering the excellence or the
two versions by Lang and Bourdillon respect
lively there would seem. indeed, to nave peeh no
reason for the making OF this new volume unless
the authors wanted the satisfaction of seeing
their work prettily printed and bound rof MI
Dole's variorum edition of omar Khayyam there
must be an unstinted welcome. The TWO VOL
unoee ought TO prove invaluable to students OF
tho meet There have been many editions OF the
latter but never before has 1t been possible 10
oor,nare 60 easily and Systematically all the
TRANSACTIONS from Fitzgerald to Mccarthy, from
Rodonstedt to Nicholas. Mr. Dole prints the
various versions of each quatrain together 81
one does not even have to turn the page 10 "aHe
comparison. The only omission. ana this 10 SUI
nrsing Is that of the Persian originals i"'
could easily have been printed above the "a"'
lations and might have inspired many s'uue"'
=, h,nt IN q Persian grammar and master
ord trv his hand at the reading of the poet $ own
words However, Mr.. Dole has done so Huc"
that IT would he unkind to blame him LOT .he a'-
sence of the Persian text. lie mas p"'h.u "
.,,,oh Xbavvam lore within his pages; MS IN
PRODUCTION gives so much needeu I"io,
about the transators, besides Fitz Gerald VINO
have wreaked themselves upon the a.
and in the second volume, devoted 10 appe"
1,oos bebas brought together so many waiis anu
vsnoetical photographed crlticai anu
misunderstanding upon his main theme ul"'
81. odt,,or will be treasured with unqualiheu uc
,,. ic uoIl Drinted and DOunu.
=. oo,,,s citing 10 allude in this place anu ~
THE time to the poems of distiheuls"e"
ton whose work was long known 10 ne 'ui'
evan before his reception into the AO"
franchise. two or three years ago ou' ""'
only now on the brink OF an lh"ouu0
rno,,sb readers in an English form. our reter-
once 70 TO NJ Jose Maria de Heredia' anu '"e
OCCASION Of a renewed glance at his now SUM
49,. o,obrated volume Les Trophies, is Of
fered in the announcement of translation i'o,''
IT., NV. Mr. Frank Sewall. This schoariS
.;.ar rendered q valuable service 10 fhs"sn
| oodors In translating a selection from the "oihS
| =, ciosue Carducci the first figure OF con'em-
| rorarv Italian poetry. He now Is puutins nv
| English the sonnets in Heredias voiume' anu
number of these we have seen. colia'ihs '"o'''
| with the originals The TRANSACTIONS p'"i '"'
test well. and Mr. Sewalls forthcoming 'o""7
| will we believe prove to be an Important 'o'
,h,io, to the small existing body Of adequate
!, ,roneIated French verse. He has to forego
rob He cannot catch. no English can eaten
| tho neculiar movement Of Heredlas INES noi
| ,vu his best diction take the place OF MS HaS-
tors The author of Les Trophies mas GER
| tot, cameo quality in his epithet as in his line
or completed sonnet. which deiles 'rahsia'oi'
put tho sprit Of his poetry Mr.. Sewall has deep
| inTC no
family but clearly the glamour which springs
| from the poets mingling of romantic Color WITH
| classical feeling and classical ideas. How apt
| 49, ,,,valar. he finds for some of the lines Is
shown by the following passage which we give
in both forms:
| la lune tiede luit sur la nocturne danse
Trt Pan ralentissant GU preSsant Ia cddehCe
| Rit de volt voir son haeine animer les roseauX
The tepd moon
| CLEANS on the dance where Pan is keeping tune,
| Laughing to the reeds obey MS prea'h'
II anv poet in France to-day is to be trans
lated at all we should say that NJ. Hereda Is the
| man In the Academic he has but two serious
| rivals and neither NJ Sully- Prudhomme nor NJ
| Francois Coppee has anything like his distinc-
ton though both can claim greater vogue.
The truth is that Les Trophies has never been
a merely popular book. Those who care most
for it are those who restrict their admiration
| to the sphere of wholly fasticious things; the
readers OF Heredia in verse are the readers or
| Flaubert in prose: they make the public which
weighs literature with conviction that SIN
gle touch Of what Is banal In style Is sufficient
to keep an author eternally waiting In the outer
courts Of Apollo NJ. Heredias style Is lmpecca-
BILE Gautier had more supple gift. but not
more authoritative one; he could do more mar
I,.ric ANYTHING
in all that means an exact and meodious hand
ling of the French language. And VI. Heredia.
though he may not have Gauticr's dantiness OF
music has what most readers probably prefer,
resonance and a largeness OF sound which
- one Of the eliest