The San Francisco call., 1897-07-04
THE YELLOW BOOK AGAIN.


THE YELLOW BooK-New York and London.
For sale in this City by William Doxey. Price
81 80.
The April number of ''The Yellow Book"
barring its cover, contains nothing particu-
larly fitting or brilliant. 1t is composed OF
stories. some few of them strong, some of them
stupid. and most OF them disappointing. OF
the art work none is particularly pleasing,
saving, perhaps, as puzzle might be. and the
poetry Is scarcely good even in the mechanical
parts OF i t.
The book opens with poem by W. B. Yeats
called 1.-THE Blessed This starts off with the
correct meter and accent in the first line Of
the first verse. Then all the rest of the verses
(and there are ten others) stammer and crimp
with their own incorrectness. Had Mr. Yeats
been wise and made eleven poems of one verse
each ins tead OF one poem" OF eleven verses
(and there is really no good reason why he
should not have done soy, he would have been
relieved of the necessity of even having corre-
spondence in the rhyme, which he has done
faithfully. Evidently the art of rhyming comes
natural to him. But he has yet to learn that
there has been some poetry without rhyme,
and an enormous amount OF rhyme without
poetry, and that there has been no poetry
without meter and thought
The story "Merely Players" by Henry Har-
land, is likely to prove fair reading when one
is tired out and does not want to think. II is
extremely improbable-the story OF King
who manages to conceal his identity from the
reader until the climax, and is suffering from
an exaggerated attack of cynicism laZiness
and indigestion, it would seem. To cure HIM
self he is advised to fall in love with "red-
haired" woman, which he does at the first
suggestion, in spite of the fact that he has
wife whom he has never seen. OF course, the
red-haired woman turns out to be the neg
lected Queen. The author had a romantic
idea, but he does not explain satisfac torily
how the King happened to be married with
out ever seeing his wife, considering the fact
that he was King. He forgets that there is
court etiquette which even a King with a
bogus digestion would be compelled to OBJ
serve.
Richard Yarnett, C.B., L. Id, has trans
lated some sonnets from the Portuguese OF
Authero de mental"
With thistle's azure flower my home hung,
And did with redolence Of musk perfume,
and. robed in purple raiment's glowing gloom,
Low prelude to my coming carol sung.
These are the first lines OF the first sonnet,
and after you have foundered about among
the mysteries of the verbs and their subjects
and have reached the solidity of certainty.
you discover an idea. There is a poem called
1.-THE Question" which would have been just
as well unanswered, inasmuch as poetry
should deal with the higher and nobler
things. 1.-THE Question deals TOO plainly, and
with no result with the base.
"Pierrot," (" by Olive Constance, and "Oasis,"
by Rosamond Marriott Watson, the former
emotional and the latter descriptive, are on
the whole the best verse in the edition. The
women writers seem to have clearer percep-
tions, higher and mightier ideas, than the
men. 1t is noticeable in the prose as we'll as
the poetry.
Marion Hepworth-Dixon's story, "The Runs
away" is clever little bit on the human in
terest line; "The Other Anna" story of
artist life, rather pleasingly fanciful, by
Evelyn Sharp, and Exit, an American Boy,''
by Jennie A. Eustace. are harmless reading,
though not unusually ingenious.
Ada Radford's Lucy Men, story dealing
with plain little school-teacher who falls in
love with senseless friends husband and fol-
lows for few steps the path of least resist
ance is so charmingly natural that, while it
is not new in any sense, it is still better than
the majority.
Among the other prose articles in the book
appear 1.-The Christ of Toro," by Mrs. Cum
ningham- Graham; concerning Preciosity,"
by John NJ. Robertson; "Sir Julian Yarne,"
realistic tale of young American at the
Casino, who CANDLES and loses, and is shot to
death because he suspe cted the dishonesty OF
one of the players, by Julia darcy; "The
Loss of a Penny by Cecil de Thierry, told Of
tramp who was arrested for murder that
he did not commit, and of his subsequent Pc
culiar death.
There are few others along the same lines,
perhaps not wholly condemnable, but never.
theless without sufficient characteristic points
to make them more than barely readable.