The Portland daily press., 1899-07-01

cal thought is far better than the form
which she gives 1t. Hers ara verses that
ought to sing. but the music in them ia
often mared by commonplace word or
phrase which brings ones Imagination
down with a jar. from the heights to
which 1t has scared. and one longs to
give Miss Sewall Pope's ancient advice.
"True ease in writing comes from art.
not chance,
As those move easiest who have learned
to dance.
IT'S DOT enough no harshness gives Of
fence;
The sound must see man echo to the sense.
Soft is the strain when zephyr gently
blows,
And the smooth stream In smoother num-
bers flows;
But when loud surRes lash the sounding
shore,
The hoarse rough verse should like the
torrent roar"
Another volume of verse. Doubleday
q Mcclure Coz "The Man with the
Hoe, and Other p oems," by Edward Mark
ham, Is enormously praised, aud has
made marked sensation. The Initial
poem which gives the book its title has
for its subject Jean Francois Millet's
famous picture. and is full of power,
many passages being brilliant. fiery and
eloquent. Some one has well said Of Mr..
Markham poetry, (for In him we have
true poet,) that 1t is "Hebraic and relig-
ious, rather than Hellenic and sensuous. I"
Very beautiful is the "Song t, the Divine
Mother" which, says the author, "Shopld
be read in the light of the deep and COM
forting truth that the Divine Feminine
is in God, that he is the Father Mother;
and that the dignity Of womanhood is
grounded In the Divine Nature ITSELF"
Mr.. Markham's poems have the touch of
genius which glorihes and which permits
him to reach the highest heights ana the
deepest depths of human emotion. One
follows him with all ones heart and often
with batad breath. OF Millet's wonderful
creation he says:
"Bowed by the weight OF centuries he
leans
Upon his hoe and gazss on the ground
The emptiness OF ages in his face.
And on his back the burden of the world.
what CULTS between him and the sera-
phimi
Slave OF the wheel of labor, what to him
Are Plato AMI the swing of Pleiades?
What the long reaches Of the peaks Of
song,
The rift of dawn, the reddening of the
rossP
Through this dread shape the suffering
ages look:
Times tragedy is in that aching stoop;
Through this. dread shape humanity be-
tTayed,
Plundered, profaned and disinherited,
Cries protest.to the Judges, of the world,
a protest that is also prophesy.'
"The Wharf of Dresms." is in quite
another vein, though our poets is never
a light ncr. trivial one. And here we find
this dainty fancy:
while cargoss pile the piers, moon
white heap
Budgets of dream-dust, merchandise of
song,
wrong,
Nepenthes gathered from a secret strand.
Fardels of heartache, burdens of old sins,
Luggage sent down from aim ancestral
inns,
And bales of fantasy from No Mans.
Land"
A striking specimen of Mr.. Markham's
power is 1.-THE Desire of Nations" the
second coming Of the Christ:
"And,when he comes iLto the world gone
wrong,
He will rebuild her beauty with song,
10 every heart He will its own dream he:
One moon has many phantoms IN the sea,
Out OF the North the norns will cry to
men:
"Bslder the Beautiful has come again,'
The flutes of Greece will whisper from the
dead:
Apollo has unveiled his sunbright head
The stones of Thebes and Memphis will
find voice.
Osiris comes: o tribes of Time, rejoicei
Ani social architects who build the State,
Serving the Dream at citadel and gate,
VIII hail Him coming through the labor.
And glad quick cries will go from man
to man;
Lo, He;has come, our Christ the Artisan
The King who loved the lilies. He has
comep'
MIR. Markham Is head master of the
Tompkins Observation school, in Oak
land. California, and has contributed
many poems to our leading magazines.
He dedicates the present collection $40
Edmund Clarence Stedman, First to Hail
and Caution Me-
am very much inclined to head my
paragraphs concerning Mr.. Henry
Jamess novel, "The Awkward Age',-"A
Good Man Gone Wrong" and then call 1t
"a Lament" or "a Threnody." One real
ly approaches Mr.. James and his new
method with fear and trembling. Who
can be more delightful than he,-what
exquisite English, what art, what charm
OF stylel Why, oh, why, could he mot
have remained cold and virtuousi Why
should he (when even Swinburne has re-
formed, and adspts himself TO the young
and TENDER exchange "the lilies and
languors OF virtue, for 1.-THE roses and
raptures Of vicsf" Positively his subjects
have been SO indecent of late that one is
ashamed to be charmed by him. occas-
ionally his theme is utterly commonlace,
but recently he has been too dreadful and
although his latest novels may reflect the