The sun., 1900-12-22
The tawny velvet accent
OF Llllth a. she came
Into the great blue garden


and fields In "Romany Signs" Mr.. Carman
with like pretty playfulness pretends that
| he will heed her challenge and promises
that they will meet in some shady grove
and take a little light lunch together. As
he says:
! There's nothing like bit OF open sky
| To give a touch Of poetry To pie.
In the verses called in Phlistia" Mr..
| Carman hints at other trysts less innocent
and Arcadian Philistia. he tells us. IL a
| pleasant sort Of place that is filled with nice
! but naughty little girls who are fresh and fair
and fond and frail: and Mr. Carman loves
them all POLITICALLY. Of course
| ] love them even when they're good.
As well as when they're sinners:
When they are sad and worldly wise
And when they are beginners.
Il say do; OF course the fact.
For better or for worse. Is.
My unerratic life denies
My too erouc verses)
He loves them because they have no prob
lens" to discuss and no theories" to dis
cover and he is indifferent to the facts that
they have never heard Of William Blake
or Botticel and that Chimmie Fadden is
more to them than Cimabue. Tea and muff1ns
have no charm for these young persons and
IL may have been the more exhilarating
nectar Of their feasts that has made the poetic
phlanderer a trfe wobby in one OF his
rhymes
II there Is any sweeter sound
Than bobollnks or thrushes.
his the frou-frou Of their silks
The roll Of their barouchea
But this trining poetic indiscretion 10 atoned
for later by a master stroke. In the final
verse about the cheerful littl, ladies' OF
Philistia the poet begins thus:
They never puzzle me with Greek.
Nor drive me mad with fbsen
Yet over forms as fair as Ewes
And here, we confess. We thought that
Mr. Carman was in trouble Ibsen is a hard
man to rhyme with. One English poet tried
to solve the problem by speaking OF the
Beard of Gypsum" that fringes the vener
able countenance OF the Northern seer. But.
after much discussion. this was held by
competent critics TO have been q misde-
meanor Now what we momentarily won-
dered, will Mr. Carman do' Will he be
forced by the exigenc.cs Of his art to tell
us how these ladies put their bibs on' Or
will he stoop to slang and hint at the things
they spend their "dbs" on? No. Fair
and softly. and with the unerrinR certainty
Of the skilled craftsman he caps his line with
the mot Juflt tue one Wolu Hetuiui thun'
They the gowns Of Gibson.
After n triumph such as that we can almost
forgive Mr. Carman for his song Of spring.
wherein he tells Us that he feels all broken
up and thawed. and needs rest and a general
mental and spiritual toning up. We can
even look with a not unfrendly eye upon
such an outburst Of somewhat too premedi-
tated humor as:
am too winter killed to live
Cold-som through and through.
o Heavenly Barber. come and give
My soul dry shampoo
There's hope for better things Of the poet
who can thus frankly make confession:
I'm sick Of all this pulling ussh
And nanny pamby rot
A Pegasus you have TO thrash
To make him even uot
I'm sick OF all this poppy cock
In bilious green and blue;
I'm tired 70 death OF taking stock
OF everything that's new
wan, 70 nnd a warm beechwooo.
And lie down. and keep stiu;
And swear little. ana feel good;
Then loaf up on the hill.
And iet the Spring housedsan my brain.
Where all this stun Is crammed; |
AND let my heart grow sweet again:
And let the Age be damned. |
Yes, Quaint seems to be the word for oil
this sort Of thing. and the reader oan supply
any OF its several meanings according to his. |
or her, I ste. 1t applies itself also to the |
decoration OF the queer little brown volume |
bound in stin cartridge paper and with its |
inner cover made of the stun they wrap par |
GELS in The first design appears to repre- |
sent a large signboard balanced on the roof OF |
a very small house. while In the background |
n huge caterpillar disposes itself gracefully
across the page. 'On second thought. this |
may not be a caterpillar II Is perhaps a |
serrated line Of soldiers marching in irregular |
formation or II may be anything. After
some study we have come TO the conclusion |
that the second design inside the back cover |
reuraseuts either an explosion in n lobster
cannerv or the wreck OF an all-night restau.
rant
The background appears to be vast
continent ~ overdonc Welsh rabbit rest
ing upon n sea OF mayonnaise dressing
while the upper air Is filed with smoke and
falling lobster claws or course. this pic
ture may really mean something quite dif.
ferent or il may be Just symbolism-a
sort OF rge end reference to suppertime
in Philisti,, where the naughty little ladies
live We should not like To do more than
srrrnlIe In matter Of this kind