New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-09-13

INFANT IN nut incident deliberately into verse
He has not shown hitherto that TINS was MS
mission nor does he prove 1t now. with Ms
snirIted tale of "Taillefer the Trouvere the nrs'
niece in the book. or with THE Blue Arras
which follows. a picturesque and viVidly co'o'eu
set of quatrans. But In these AMBITIOUS 'e''.
Of his he has contrived to entangie the ""e'o''
which rings from his more trlfline' ho'e Spo"
taneous. more original efforts, ana TOT '"' o"0
thing IL for no other for his constant ueiho"''"
ton OF poetic strain which II left to Itself anu "
own fields almost develops into poetic "as'''
Mr. Scolard deserves sympathy ana praise %
Lampman leaves his reader In the same '''oo.
though as has been binted, he does no' P'''
always the same lines. II he cares TOT io'''
at all II is the romance OF the WOODS anu "N
ows the romance OF those birds ana o'"e' ""n
ers OF nature whom he calls the faVor''S u 49,
o,o ,o whom, he saws the god left some OF MS
sweet mysterious music Nature -
sweet TO Mr. Lampman. as she Is 10 MI '' una
but she IS more often mysterious to 'he ioii'e'
than 10 the other and for this reason HIS '.
TOO NJ Earth, give a more pathetic tone u VIC
familiar minor note. After reading ine "e"
ov," and June" we should be lnclheu w '"'
that their author had been readlhs
Arnold in "Thyrsis." and that. propao'! u"'c
sciouslv he had caught sofneihihs VI ~
composure OF his master:
Gone are the wnd-hower and the au no more
And the sad dropping bellwort anu ,, 1nnr
III snowy trilliums crowd the forests hoo''
1,ros like these NAV seem to indicate no more
,hor q deviation to a descriptive ideal OF WoiuS
or,htor origin but taken as a whoe MI
Iomnman's verse honorably recalls the ho'c
modern poet we have named. He Is "o''"S
disc,nIe OF Matthew Arnold one OF the "o''"'
&C, we have ever found among the ranks Vi
minor poets.
Miss Alice Brown calls her volume OF poems
..r,,o poad n Castaly." 1t Is with no whimsi-
ootitv that the reader Is tempted to accept that
,,,,o IN q somewhat whimsical sense MISS
prown is on the road TO Castaly. strictly. some
ao, s,e will reach the desired fount. For the
nreeent she Is unqualified to sing strong III
evitabIe strain When she exclaims
vouchsafe me now the holy cup of song
Ye to whom sacred chalices belong
The vessel she receives in answer to her ihVoca
tton turns out to be neither holy nor uhnoiS'
but simply a pretty receptacle, deep e"ooe" ~
hold very small draught. Thus we se' HUN
Miss Brown at her best poem IKE 10 O"oo'
which was reprinted in this place not iohs ago
It Is good without being surprising reauao''
without being particularly memorapie' """
IS undoubtedly remembered however Ms Iho
volume is laid down, Is that somewhere Mise
Brown IS nourishing vein when In time 10
likely TO gush forth in some minor SONG us
tinctly worth having. 1t Is pleasant TO ieei
real confidence In her future promise tha' car
ries a vague but convincing assurance WIN IL -
rare enough 1t Is encountered again on turh-
ing from Miss Browns book 10 the COLLECTION Oh
"poems. which Miss Caroline Duer and Miss
bod
ment in this volume Is OF a rather sophisticated
order and vet II rings true. Perhaps this Is
because what seems like cyncism In the au-
thors - really nothing more than well-Dred COM
nonsense quality which insures them against
nlatitude and sentmentaty at the same time
that II provokes the sense Of worldliness TO
which allusion has Just been made. Each poem
js ACCOMPANIED by the initials OF the author
but Il is unnecessary to draw any distinction De-
tween the two. The work IL along the same
sprghtly lines throughout. The best thing In
the book is the poem which opens 1t. AN Inter
national Episode.' This is dedicated to the
great hurricane at Samoa in 1850 and Is true
70 the heroic plane Of its theme. The lines have
life I'm them, and, therefore. as well as because
so many Of the lighter verses In the book are
! turned with perfect spontaneity and consider
| able grace we feel that these sisters may at
some later period give us even better BOOK
| That book Is not merely conceivable as pos
sibility but It is to be desired.
In the "Oaten Stop Series" which has already
provided several tiny volumes OF minor verse.
| Mr. Madison Cawein pour5 forth his Under
| tones" a book which hardly belongs in this
| company of thin duodecmi He has been more
than profuSe in the past and he is just profuse
| to-day. His new book has nothing new to tell and
| II might better have been left imprinted. Not
because Mr.. Caweln Is an inferior writer In his
| school; he has observation rather more OF 1t
than most, and his lines are elastic. But his IN
SEPARATION Is slight at the best and he Is spread
| ing it over too many pages. This we conclude
| from the fact that "Undertones' awakes little
sympathy Mr.. Cawein ought to lie fallow for
| a while
Miss Hannah Parker Kimball also has vol
| ume in the "Oaten Stop Series" a well-flled
volume, too called Soul and Sense" There Is
| POLITICALLY speaking. a conflict between the two
powers in her verse the sense striving for recog-
| milton where the soul is also bent on having its
| way first The result Is that Miss Kimball Is
| obscure that she is more philosophical than
| poetical Without some sensuOus charm poetry
| IS not poetry and She concentrating her powers
| upon spiritual fances to the exclusion Of mere
| beauty ends by theorizing rather than singing
| To the same dubious situation we fear Miss
| Sophie Jewett comes In THE Pilgrim and Other
| POEMS" book full Of gentle feeling, but withou,
| a single truly rhythmic and enforced line; and
| of Miss Florence l.. Snow. who has produced a
| more or less mystical sonnet sequence under the
| title Of The Lamp of Cold" not anything very
| different is to be said Both writer's have a high
| aim, Miss Snow endeavoring TO fairly soar. but
neither seems to be aware that without poetica
| dction, without poctcal imagery 1t is exceed
| ing hard 10 write good verse Miss Jewett in her
| titular poem speaks Of her pilgrim as sandal
| shod and travel gowned" This is we'll enough
| as description. but considered as poetry travel
| gowned" does not strike US as having any rea-