The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-10-12
''The poems are thoughtful. wen er-

THE poems are thoughtful. well ex-
pressed.'-Baltimore Sun.
1.-THE little volume has given US the
pleasure Of real poetry."-The Central
(va.) Presbyterian.
"a praiseworthy Offering Of poesy.
The poems are short songs with pretty
sentiment and pleasant imagery,
dainty. refreshing and flowing with
graceful cadence W ID. CO.
Times.
Rev. DR.. William s. Lacy, pastor Of a
but a native Of North Carolina as well
as gifted with pen and cultured as to
taste, writes Of the little volume:
1.-The dainty casket contains rare
Jewels. 1 admire not only the purity
and loftiness and worthiness Of the
thought, but the exquisitely delicate
form and elegance with which the
thought is impressed"
There are three or four sonnets good
enough, We hold, to max a reputation.
If they had appeared two centuries
ago they would appear in the best
anthologies of English poetry and
would rank we'll in that difficult, re-
strained class Of poetry. OF the SON.
net that marvellous young poet who
persisted ere he had reached his prime,
John Keats, and who wrote some lus-
cious, exquisite, af1uent sonnets that
constitute a part Of his immortal, I'M
fading bay wreath CROWN" said:
Our English must be chain'd
And, like Andromeda, the sonnet sweet
Fetter'd in spite of panied loveliness."
All lovers Of pure and noble verse
ought to be familiar with Keats's great
sonnet on Chapman's Homer. But it
is not more precious or nobler or more
enhancing than his sonnet beginning
"Keen, ftful gusts are whispering here
and there"
In this high and simple, and yet ar
tiicially bound w~riting-the sonnet
our young North Carolina poet rises to
attitudes that give him full right to the
name Of poet. In other poems he is
felicitous and melodious and reflective
n dignified in thought and descrip-
tive, as the case may be, but displaying
the poets art and the simplicity Of
power. There is no little of beauty and
charm scattered through the volume.
Even the unappreciative Atlantic
Monthly was constrained to admit that
some Of the sonnets in his volume rise
distinctly above the common level.
This is, we think (reprinting one), de-
cidedly better than most of the modern
verse published" We are pleased to
hear that Mr.. Walter Page, the assist
ant editor, did not write the altogether
unfavorable notice. It was done by "a
very scholarly critic" without the
| slightest hint or instructions. He GER
tainly failed to read the volume. or
was very devoid of penetration and
skill in selecting. Some really able
northern papers have been Kind and
cordial. The Hartford C~ourant said:
"'Fugitive Lines contains many
lines Of melodious verse, thoughtful,
and penetrated by true imaginative
feeling. Particularly, it seems to us,
Is Mr.. Stockard successful in the SON
net. His versification is careful and
MS extended even to the
use of words by no means familiar to
lOc;the eye and ear" etc.
The Sunday School Times is an
able religious weekly hat gives par
ticular attention to it's literary opin-
ions. Here is out a e%sntence from
an appreciative notice: Professor
Stockard's work shows literary cul-
ture as we'll as poetic feeling. = 4
Many a poetic soul will find in his verse
the sympathetic mood and the refine
ment of its EXPRESSION" The Rich
mond lines, in an extended notice
says: There is not a .vacuous or
thoughtless line in it, and the sonnets
are distinctly above the