New-York tribune., 1900-08-01
PEPTLOUS FOR POETS.


Whatever ones opinion may be of the effect
of the Transvaal war upon the future prosper
ity of Africa. there can he no manner of doubt
as to the present effect on the poetry of Grea;
Britain The capitalists will assuredly. the
army will probably, the Beers will possibly be
greatly benefited thereby; but English bards
seem positively "hoodooed" by the sorcery of
this subject.
Though horn under this influence "The Abb
sent Minded Beggar' is descriptive of Tommy
Atkins anywhere and everywhere, fighting
"the Paythan an the Zulu an Burmese" oh
livlOus Of ties, careless of danger and always
thirsting for beer. That later on, some of the
heroic episodes of this struggle, IT'S daring
deeds, its stubborn sieges, it's pathetic Incl
dents. its sufferngs and It's sacrifices, will be
recorded in noble English verse is certain; but
so far, whenever the Anglo-saxon Apollo tries
this theme, he twangs Tyre most decidedly
out of tune.
1t is not surprising that the Poet Laureate
should feel bound to treat this topic metricaly,
whether the spirit moved him thereto or not
"The position which lin the time Of Southey)
did not imply preeminence" does not always
imply it now. but it does imply the duty of
celebrating national events-at least occasion
alIy Therefore alfred the Little" conscien-
tiously bucked to his task. Unfortunately he
made a fatal mistake at the very outset. He
chose a metre that could not fail to recall the
ringing notes of his famous predecessor and
this alone sufficed to make his own effort
sound like a parody-a feeble whistle initiating
the trumpet'S glorious tone.
To play the "Tannhauser March in rag
time is sometimes an amusing feat and always
an absurd performance. Once catch the swing
of it. once get the trick of it, and the thing is
as easy as rolling off log and quite as mean
ngless. For instance:
Ambush TO right of them
Ambush to left OF them.
Ambush in front of them,
Dread rifles masking;
Theirs not to hunt them out,
Theirs not to send a scout,
Theirs but to suffer rout
Or die-lps sternly set,
No quarter asking!
And so forth and so forth indefinitely An
unprejudiced mind will admit that for sound and
sense with a grain of truth thrown I'M this is
worse than the stanza
Mafeking and Ladysmith
Marched TO Delhi.
One is good the other and "gr-reat
dale better" in Irish parlance
That Austin should strain a weak voice t.
prove his title clear to a little gilt cage and a
stock of canary seed is natural enough but that
Swnburne-Algernon Charles, the genuine ar
ucle-SnOuld DurSt INTO song only to sing fat
is different matter To see his strong wings
unfettered and ''unpensioned," fiuttering frant-
cally to reach the proper plane, instead of soar
ing fenrlessly upward or beating the air fiercely
in wild thrObs Of passion and of protest is
sad dsillusion. He did not have to write
Above ALL he did not have to publish And
that the author of Songs Before Sunrise" the
mpassoned peader for the rights of Italy and
Greece, should today celebrate the triumphant
march of capital and empire over any people
is something of n shock.
Violating n flag of truce and dsregarding the
Geneva Cross are accusations tossed from one
side to another like tennis ball in nearly every
war that has taken place since the first was
unfurled and the second invented
Prisoners and war correspondents admit that
their Dutch captors treated them humanely
and in some eases generously, but in the CON
fusion OF actual conflict it is not always easy
TO distinguish between intentional and uninten-
tiona acts of bad faith. At any rate, recrm
nations were mutual But if the Beers pro
tested once or twice the British believed they
had occasion to protest much more The Boer
inferiorty in numbers not being subject to
inspire eXultatiOn. the poet prefers to call at
tention to their inferior sense of fairness and
humanity and lyrically extols his own nations
superiority:
No false white flag that fawns
on faith till Murder dawns
Blood red from hell.
Black treason's heart Of hate
Left over shame's foul brand
Scared on an English hand.
The Improvement in British methods of war
fare since they and the French armed and in