New-York tribune., 1900-07-29
POETRY.
ORIGINAL VERSE AND SOME DRAMATIC
TRANSACTIONS.

bA Is Is POI POETRY? BY Edmond Holmes. 12mo,
CONCORDANCE TO FI7,ZGFRAr.T,.S PANS
tAT.1N t-ALl0N OF THE RUBAIYAT OF OMAR
Tba S Afsc-iiB 194i By J. r Tutin Svo, PIP. vi, 169
SoNtNI1Is IN SWITZERLAND AND ITALY BY
Garlise slo Ei y m Ka|nsley 7 Honorary Canon OF
BALLADS H5115g5. OF THE WAR BY the Rev. H D.
INa"nsley- Honorary Canon OF Carlisle. Svo
PIP. FiiL s6 London: J. NJ. Dent & Co
Wien 5i-S,s We DEAD AWAKEN. a Dramatic Epi-
Fe-+ aSSo oE Mlii5an Archer ISmo, PIP 157. Her
THE SU-NKEN BELL. A Fairy PIav in Five Acts
English re bT EPaIe GS7 Hg s5 Een6eTed int into
PIP II. Doubleday q Mcclure Co
Fo35h SONGS FROM THE SPANISH BY Helen
Ilsloh la--e-lsloh' LIMO, PIP xiv. 30 c. P. PUtnam's
The two books by Nj Edmond Holmes. taken
together. provoke some curious reflections
The Silence Of Love" a book of twenty-five
sonnets, is creditabIe in several ways The
poems are sknfulIy constructed. the diction is
smooth, and the general result has a certain
poetic value We may quote Illustration
Of Nj Holmes at his best the lines. TO OK
ford" with which he opens his volume:
Queen Of Romance" whose charm hath
The numbing spell that held my life in thrau
Is II not meet that on this vernal day
These waited blossoms at thy feet should fall?
absence from lhee was winter TO my heart:
Leafess I stood meath leaden, frosty skies:
Bleak were the winds that blew my boughs
apart.
And sun the sap delayed and could not rise.
But thy dear presence IS perennial spring:
And 10 thy side restored from every root
I feel the rising Ife-stream throb and sting
And tingle into leaf and flower and fruit
So, since thy love begot them. do not scorn
To wear these tokens Of life reborn
It Is good work so far as It goes. But neither
IL this poem nor in any Of its companions does
Mr Holmes achieve distinction He strikes US
r-5-h limo
but not as a poet Of any inspiration on the
other hand in the little volume entitled What
Is Poetry" he captivates US by his grasp Of
the subject. Here We encounter the odd situa-
tion-and perhaps It Is not so novel after all
al which we have hinted above Mr. Holmes
knows what good poetry is He seems TO under
stand the character of the poet He cannot
write poems beyond the average, but he can
discourse Of poetry IN a really Illuminating
manner Il IS Of course impossible Tor the
creative processes Of the poet to be analyzed
-z-5-b +na7frv- those processes are moreover es-
sz--fa1Tz- l1nrsachable and Mr.. Holmes says
--a-hfne which any man could put into practlce
Nevertheless a book e this sort has It's use
Il is exactly the kind Of essay which We would
commend TO the minor poet and 10 those young
writer's in whom the poetic instinct Is Just dawn
Ing For them its reverent treatment OF us
,-=7-, theme CONVEYS a salutary lesson impress
--z actual creations Of the masters often fan
- do q sense of the responsibilities Of poetry
Half Of The rrtviaIities and absurdities when
We encounter in contemporary verse spring not
only from natural Incompetence but from d
4.=rrr~a 10 perceive what The laws Of poetry are.
The 5abs-er careIessIy NEEDLES with those laws
7,aoar1se ne has not learned their Importance
nor -bz irlDossibllity Of writing good poetry
without an unfauing consciousness OF them
NJ Holmes as We have said. could not transmit
-ra noetfc gift even if he had it himself in full
measure. but at least he can inspire his reader
to profitable reflection.
The rnodesty of the late Edward Fitzgerald
has nass-d into a proverb- We all know the
story Of his shy entrance into literature ne
zr,,,I5 have preferred every work Of MS TO go
5-- "a rosrerity without his name attached
- f. and We may be quite sure that nothing
o---75 have disguised him more than the vulgar
+-7~-~ which seIf-seeking persons nave created
s-7r7nd his personality and his writings For
-l7+s reason. we look with suspicion upon every
-z-,- publication that relates 10 him. The
..r2,,Fafyar'' OF Omar Khayy1m in his transIa-
zion has been brought into the market "lace
so5 sofIed with the ruthless handling q sentl-
-.,-a1 busvbodies Yet for all our resent
rn-rr Of a silly cult. We cannot hnd II III our
r-a--s TO aeplore the concordance" compiled
t NJ T P Tutin as a labor Of love That the
- ,z,,f-a- Of FITZGERALD and Omar viii ever