New-York tribune., 1900-07-29

| Inc hons heart falls down the rocks make
| moan.
| The hollow grove is resonant with death
This is the need of duty. They who die
Rather than disavow the oath they swear
For them each year in silent woody places
Trees bend in grief-their valour fills the air
/. lear IN deaths silent pool we see their
And on life's rock their immortality.
There are other things in the volume as good;
/ out Canon Rawnsley, not being a man Of genius
/ fails to make his one hundred and sixty-three
/ sonnets equally interesting 1t would have been
wiser II he had selected not more than third
OF the number AS it IS he falls again and
again INTO a monotonous note. His Ballads Of
/ the War is also a trife too voIuminous but
we are pleased to have this collection Spring
/ ms from sympathy with Her Majesty's sol
dIers, which is tinged with the gravity to be
/ expected Of a churchman, it is nevertheless
spontaneously martial: the ballads have spirit
/ and vigor they move at a brisk pace. and alto
gether form a meritorious contribution to the
body Of ephemeraI verse brought out 10y the
cent events in South Africa.
It is, We believe. a mark Of extreme culture
to take Ibsen seriously, and it is accordingly
with great trepidation that find ourselves
/ taking When We Dead Awaken somewhat as
We would take joke. We have read and re
read the play. taking it sometimes backward
and sometimes upside down, but we are still in
the dark We have read some of the portentous
( Iucubrations in which the initiate have ex-
planned what the Herr Professor means in this
his latest gift TO mankind AS no two of the
conclusions Of these adopts are alike our despair
may be imagined In the joyous divagations Of
one commentator, Mr. F. Anstey to Wit who
parodied the thing in Punch" we have found
some light We gather from this humorist that
{ wal ken, 1p-1r
ample of what the pedants call "tommyrot."
After profound consideration we are inclined to
adopt this judgment We do so not merely be-
. cause the meaning Of the play is incompre-
hensible Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear have
taught Us that meaning" is not always
. sential to masterpiece. We adore nonsense of
a sort. But Ibsen does not even give US good
nonsense. RUbek Maia, UIfheim and Irene are
/ impossible creatures who think impossible
thoughts and say impossible things. without
for moment instructing, interesting or anus
ing US The Sister Of Mercy. who is part Of the
cast, has next TO nothing TO say, and is there
fore a little more enduraAe than the rest but
when. at the close. she is permitted TO utter
three words, she succeeds in adding one more
touch 10 the awful banaIity of the whole. We
are aware. Of course. that we are talking rank
heresy, but We commit the crime with a light
heart. and only retort that how play like this
can strike any bUQy a Work Oh genus IS 10 US
an astounding mystery. That Mr. William Ar
cher has not only the patience to translate the
Seer Of Norway. but delights in the task, ex-
cites cur lasting wonder
We are not beWildered by the devotion of
Mr Charles Henry MeItzer TO Gerhart Haupt-
mann. His translation of The Sunken Bell"
is well worth having though we wish that the
illustrations had been omitted they jar upon
the fairylike fabric. This is indiv dual com
position. with germs Of genuine poetic feeling
in it. It has succeeded On the stage and it ought
10 have a considerable circulation in book form.
Miss Helen Huntngtons Folk Songs from
the Spanish is one Of those transatious which
serve to give US the sense Of foreign writings
without giving US the spirit The difficulties in
the way Of making adequate transIations Of
folk songs are immense. Now and then some
one arises like Miss Alma Stretren in her
Spanish and Italian Folk Songs" and gives US
in English the subtlest and most elusive quail
ties Of things written in other languages. But
ordinarily We get only TIE dry bones Of the for
efgn creations This IS the case with Miss Hunt
ingtons book. She has caught some Of the
Spanish picturesqueness, but she has missed the
sharp and haunting music, the passion and the
color.