New-York tribune., 1900-11-11

so much that is good to Victorian poetry, seems
often, in that poetry. to have thlnned the nat
ural human juices which. after all. count Il :
more than books. Culture plays it's part-hoW
great a part reader OF Lowell. Holmes.
Longfellow, Mr. stedman himself. Emerson.
! Aldrich Stoddard, needs to be reminded-in
American poetry. But the capacity to feel a
| primitive emotion and the impulse to express
| 1t in rhythmic form have been more potent
| One aspect of this situation might seem to
| point to a limitation, though we should be eau
tious about taking II too seriously. English
poetry has been interpenetrated in extraordh
nary measure by feeling for classical ntera-
ture. Not only by virtue OF the prominencs
! given to Greek and Latin in the great public
schools and universities. but through centuries
of inherited predilection and aptitude, English
poets have not merely been strong in the art Of
classical aIlusion: they have been able to use the
motives of the ancient mythology with peculiar
freedom and effect. This has gradually com
| muncated to many Of them air Of literary
| refinement which Is itself quality. and Val0-
able one. Our own relation to the classics. even
| when 1t has been most fruitful. has been.
! the whole, rather one Of scholarship than OF
| poetic sympathy. This American Anthology
furnishes no parallel to Aubrey de Vere's "EO-
| ropa," let say. and to this extent 1t might be
| said that we should count ourselves the poorer
But is 1t not matter OF difference rather
| than of superiority Our greatest all-round
| man OF letters was doubtless fortified to some
| extent by his dealings with the masterpieces OF
| Greek and Latin poetry, but he was gifted with
| an irrepressible raciness, over which the tradt-
uOns OF the classic past could throw
straint The first Of Mr.. Stedmans selections
from Lowell is from 'Hhdcus," and the open
ing lines would seem to indicate precisely the
preoccupatiOn which We deny to the poet:
| Hear now this fairy legend of old Greece.
AC fIn of riOy LyOtnfh Il ha1 ~ &
| AS the immortal freshness of that grace
| Carved for all ages on some Attic frieZe
| But Mr.. Stedman himself says of Lowell that
| never was there a singer at once so learned
and so unstudied.' and it is because he IS "un-
studied that he endures; that is the mark OF
| his genius. Experience with the classics may
have helped to give the Commemoration Ode
its sinewy might. but the passion in it is pro
| foundly human. untinged by the colors OF any
precedent Our English friends, we know, have
| induIged in sad shakings OF the head over
Lowelrs unquenchable humor. which they
have thought ready to break out in unex-
| pected places. But the ebulIitions which have
| struck them as unseeTnly actually illustra-
tive of an independence OF mere convention
| which is the most precious and most American
heritage of poets. 1t not for nothing
that LowelTS deepest enthusiasm was given to
| Shakespeare. Chaucer Spenser and CervanteS
| It kept him. kindred tastes have kept
| many of his countrymen. free from the formal
ism which with Victorian poets is the
other side OF the medal the defect of their
classical quality. Thus. the limitation to which
| We have referred may possibly come to seem
some day emancipation. a gain. rather than
! a loss Mr. Stedman calls the late T. w Par
| sons our purest cIassiCist": he says that with
| him the academic vantage held its
| own" and he speaks of the poets stately ele-
I c.;nce" But a fire lighted at academic shrine
burns in the poem "On a Bust of Dante" from
/ which despite its familiarity. We cannot resist
t quoting these lines:
! .tv-- from this counterfeit ~ him
Whom Arno shall remember long,
! How stern Of inraHIcut, how grim.
The tlthrr vas OF Tuscan song:
There hut the burning sense OF wrong,
| Perpetual care and sC1rn abide.
Small friendship FOR the lordly throngi
DIstruSt of al the world beside
Faithful if this wan image he,
No dream his life was but fight! =
Could any Beatrice
y lover in that anchoritee
To that cold Ghibelline's gloomy sight
OF Beauty. veiled with heavenly light
In circles of eternal naIne?
The lips CunlSF'S cavern close.
The checks with fast ana sorrow thin.
The rigid front almost morose,
But for the patient hope within.
Declare q life whose hath been