New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-09-26
GEORGE MEREDITH'S POETRY
AN ANTHOLOGY COMPILED BY THE NOV.
ELIST HIMSELF.

This book has q curious significance. To manv
readers It will come as a kind OF surprise, inss
much as they know George Meredith exclusively
"a a novelist Yet he has published several vol.
umes OF verse, beginning In 1851. and the true
Meredithian would doubtless be very scornful OF
those individuals to whom We have just re.
10 red Every adorer Of the novelist knows nj,
poems. and most Of them find him very great
poet indeed. even including Jump to Glory
Jane" in their admiration. Whether there Is
ground or not for their enthusiasm is question
upon which the present collection ought to throw
some light. 1t was made by Meredith himself.
and presumably presents the work by which ne
is willing to stand or fall. 1t IS Work OF which
the last and most characteristic appeal Is not
easily grasped 1t would not be genuine ex.
pression of the writer's genius II its secrets
were to lie on the surface. In his poetry, as In
his prose, he seems to delight to battle. and to
turn from one page with the impression that his
note is purely impetuously lyric Is to encounter
almost Immediately another one Of obscure,
mystical ruminaton.
This latter note would seem at first sight to be
most natural to the poet, it harmonizes 50
amiably with the general drift Of his fiction; bu,
il a poet Is most himself when he Is at his best
then The Young Princess'-whch has not, alas
many companions in this book-gives US Mere
dth's truest poetry 1t is a ballad in three
parts, and contains altogether about thirty
stanZas II it stood alone and all Meredh's
most exalted dthyrambs were forgotten II
would give him place among the singers. Its
merits are perhaps, OF the more obvious sort,
but aside from the fact that the ballad form
requires simplicity and directness ii is also true
that the best poetry, no matter how involved
its issues may be- Is essentially lucid and we'll
knit THE Young Princess" progresses with
spirit and vividness: the dramatic point, though
it might pierce the imagination with keener.
more naked thrust. Is still developed with
strength: and since the whole poem Is worked
out with brilliant pictorial art 1t leaves the
reader with practically nothing to desire. The
story Of the ingenious lover. winning his mistress
by strltagem. flying then apparently dying
man. and returning 10 find his place usurped. Is
too well known to be travefsed in detail here.
But a few stanZas may be quoted 10 bring back
the impressive tableau of the squire. who. having
attended once with priest and master to WOO
the Princess with craft. attends again in deadly
earnest and without the priest.
No priest was hired for TIE play this night:
And the squire tossed head like deer :.
At sniff Of the tainted wind: he gaZed
Where esset-lamps in door were raised.
Belize on a passing bier
All cloaked and masked with naked blades, ,
That flashed of a Judgment done.
Tie lords Of the Court, from the palacedcor:
Came issuing silently. bearers four.
And fiat on their shoulders one.
In lines like this Meredith has all Of the ele.
ments that go to make genuine ballad: he has
mystery. romance. the tragic note and. over all
the glamour OF an unimpeded inspiration. But
and 1t seems futile to blink the fact-the in.
spiration has rarely put forth its power for
Meredith without meeting an impossible OBJ.
struction formed partly OF his elliptcal mode
of thought, still more OF his elliptcal manner Of
speech. To meet in this book poem like The
Young Princess" a really musical lyric like
Marian" is like meeting an oasis in thu desert
Marian" has emotion in il. tenderness. the cry
and charm OF an indubitablc love song. but those
poems which are dedicated even more explicitly
to passion. as. for example the group detached
from the long sequence OF Modern Love" are
too sententious, too ruminant altogether too
weighty 1t is his weightincss that often makes
Meredith tie novelist unreliable. and il is the
same defect which makes the bulk II his poetry
unsingabe. In every line OF the present col.
lection the spirit OF the poet turks. and. in the
presence OF nature especially. Meredith reveals
ftfuly the temperament which IS 50 opulently
disclosed in rare works like The Young Prin.
cess" But free. sure-footed expression he jus.
misses. as rule and one must be content with
intimations. with fragments. with the bud in
place OF the flower.
Because, on the whole. the genius of George
Meredith has found its most natural and mos:
lasting outlet in prose fiction he will he remem'
bered first and last as a novelist. Because his