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

demand
|''r TO adjust anew not only his mental atti
Ne' pu' mis- angle OF vision in matters pureI,
beautiful Thus il the camut is run rom Dart
:" shelley on the theme OF the lark wit,
WORDSWORTH and Shakespeare included in tn,
COMPARISON. it will be that each poet ha.
inherent impetus to the same motive
mere is a singular distinction n distinction
OF accent, between the lark of the song ir
NShoehne ard the bird of Dante's three ex
Qu.site lines:
as Is lark that cleaves at will the sky.
FIRST singing loud. then silent and content
WIZ that last sweetness that doth satisfy
THAT distinction, however only throws us bacl
upon the fundamental agreement OF ALI thf
p"e's IN remaining true to the facts of nature
CIV" as PROFESSOR Palgrave brings his survey
u'"" through the centuries he to be fol
lowing an almost unbroken sequence Yet there
were serious lapses. English verse received an
impetus In the works of Chaucer Spenser
shakespeare and the rest that carried it bravely
along as far as Henry Vaughn. but in the
eighteenth century there is scarcely any good
landscape poetry. Thomson is graceful. but
lacks constant freshness. and there is not much
10 De SAID Tor Cowper. Gray is the only man of
MS century whose landscape is OF high quail
NY and yet az Professor Palgrave remarks
ueSpl'e the beauty and skill OF his natural
painting in the 'Odes.' Gray never describes
l.
uful fragment which is cited here out of The
Deserted Village" the reader quickly passes IN
Scott and Byron. to Coleridge. Keats Shelley.
NorusWorth. Arnold and Tennyson
Il we are TO make any comparative estimates
d All IL may be said that these men. being the
heirs of all the ages. possess in some instances
at leastseXtraordinary resources. Shelley as we
nave seen. is damaged to a certain extent bv the
very rareiaction of his genius. but the modern
4 rlN oil init,
nature Coleridge. even with waywardness
more pronounced than ShelIey's nevertheless
mas tremendous vividress and power Walter
fater refers to his singular watchfulness for
tie minute fact and expression of natural
scenery and there is a marvellous penetration
revealed in many Of his landscape touches This
from "Christabel." gives an admirable illustra.
ton of his manner:
The thin. gray cloud is spread on high
~ covers but not hides the sky
Inc moon is behind, and at the full.
ana yet she looks both small and dull
Inc night is Chill the cloud is g:ay:
us month before the month of Nav
<h.o the spring comes slowly up this way
Al the risk Of exceeding TIE limitations OF our
space we may reproduce this other equally beau
tiful fragment from the same poem:
There is not wind enough to twirl
The one red leaf. the last of its clan
Ihat dances as often dance it can
hanging 50 light. and hanging so high
On the topmost twig that looks up at the sky
There is spirit in this whole leagues removed
from that of Keats for example or Wordsworth
put the movement in which they shared and nv
which writer's of the present day are profting is
one I'm which the Interpretation OF nature eaan,s
to be based on notably lucid and human sourcss
science to-day feeds poeticaI development
and the significance has before this been pointed
out or such lines s Tenny sons
Move eastward happy earth and leave
on orange sunset waving slow
In the transition, too, from a world naonlad
with nymphs and dryads to one in which tho
power OF Christianity is immanent we have lost
some but not all Of the old classical fascination
In fact. we have retained the delight of napan
ISM without its responsibilities and further
more the nature worship OF such poets as Cole
ridge Wordsworth. Keats and Arnold has had n
human tenderness in II. passion of love and
understanding. which was approached but nevar
quite equalled In the previous history Of tho
race AS PROFESSOR Palgrave puts it, What was
knowledge OF Nature now became ,ntipo,c,,.
thiS word may perhaps fairly sum up the mod
erh mode OF landscape treatment in poetrv.-
we should remember he adds that the dir
ference between modern and ancient here as
ever. Is a difference rather of degree than of
nature. the old modulatng into the new nv
beautiful changes. Hence modernism has man,
aspects which cannot be strictly defined purn
description for its own sake now becomes fro
luent; or the landscape is colored by human
sci s1aa