New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-05-30

po'try Those differences form part OF men
'aI play around the poets in question but all the
''''e there is something tina keeps all the poets
=" common ground. all the time there is this
magic of beauty. The student will no IN, r,nr,
conscious or this II he approac hes the subiect
oush Professor Palgraves pages He has
N"' SHORTCOMINGS His Indifference to Lam
- NiSs 10 the point OF provincaliSm, and his
admiration for Tennyson is more ardent than
oiScreet But, on the whole his taste is sympa-
thetic and exact The reader who follows b;s
su'uahce cannot go far wrong. In some instances
S wiz gam instruction which is the more inter
esuhg Tor It's possessing a certain streak of nov
e'y' PROFESSOR Palgrave has the courage to
praise Byron and to show wherein Shelley was
oencient His candid and spirited remarks are
needed. What has been condemned as moro
calculated and spurious sensiblity" he saws
sPeahins OF Byron, was, in truth. the clumsy, 4
'u'oio expression OF genuine feeling by an artist
VINO could rarely put in his deepest. finest tints
N;'h success-who had little command OF srada
'ioi- ana he does what best for lis poet in !
citing fragments like this:
WIZ Wy ulitiSuIt air of the iced mountains top
Where the birds dare not build nor inse,t's wing
rIt . er the herbleSs granite.
In that you get not only tho truth ,,.,,, a.,
goddess Of the landscape poat dapoa,as 90 49,,
need but the beauty which as has been said
sHe sun more iniieNibly requires The passage
uei'o'eS indeed, the marriage of truth with bean
~ 'helr simultaneous "eclosion," as the French
he
S'IS' ana 1t is here that Professor Palgrave
points out the limitations of Shelley His land /
scdPe' according to our critic. is inevitably linn
I'tu ana dyed by the colors Of his mind" and
"''NHi"S 10 SheIiey's very finest. uniquest most
maSically delightful work. he observes that
even here at times the matter is attenuatea az
the film Of the soap-bubble gaining through its
very thinness its marvellous irdescent beauty"
I'hhEsons conclusion. cited here is equally
drastic SHELLEY seems to so up and burst" he
is reported TO have observed on one brilliant
P"SSaSe. me truth Of all this will be manifest
We believe. 10 any one who seeks TO derive from,
9heHey the accurate picture of nature which he
e'S Ou' 70 give. Oi course ii may be said that
nc Sets out 70 do nothing OF the sort that his
rapt Pantheism aims at visuazing a world NJ
its own; but it must truly create such world
for itself II it is to make its own laws and NOT
hanS as 1t does Enthusiastically hang in ShelIev.s
verse, midway between a realized and an acs,a,
0"iS imagined region Of thought on the other
manu- PROFESSOR Palgrave loyalty renders homage
10 those moments IN which Shelley seized tho
brush Of art with indubitable inspratIop a.,
painted unforgettable vgnettes He quotes the
reference to Alastor as one whose
Wan eyes
Gaze on tie empty scene as vacantlv
AS oceans moon looks on the moon in heaven
and in extracting several lines from the lannon's
poem on the view across The waveless Main Of
Lombardy' to the Euganean Hills he asks with
feeling. Who, that has seen Lombardy but must
he
olVe-sandalld' Apennine?' Yet we think thera
Is justice in Professor Palgrave's adherence to
ms main contention. which is that the best land !
scape poets are those who. unlike Shelley have |
Kept the balance true between nature and ,baro !
serves Shelleys occasional incomparabIe mas |
saSes do not. for all their beauty mako bir, |
quite the equal of the great landscap ne naintars |
IN verse lie approaches nearest to them whom in |
some such line as The olive sandalrd Anan |
nine he combines his felicity with truth
The masters have done this thing unwavar
insly. Consider The description in the ..uiad" of
the gardens or AlcinCus portrayal OF Tangible
thhSs as poetic as IL is exact or read in Arts
tophanes the passage on the clouds ..Conin,,
softly through the hollows and the tbickats
Trailing aslant in multitudes." Lucretius &c ROB
IN similarly accurate passages In fact b,s
uaSlcaI and passionate preoccupation navar
really warped the powers of his art thoupb :,
II ay have unduly deepened the gloom of bis
nature, and IL is interesting TO find Professor
faIgraVe saying Intensity and condensatio,
THESE are the notes Of his singular genius" uo
indicates also another important element IN tho
greatness OF LucretiUs. the movement ,ybic,
ne everywhere impresses on his descrinti,,a |
scenes and he quotes these lines in which tho Z
poet speaks Of the ghostlille shapes cast orr
from material things:
Some images there are spopta