New-York tribune., 1900-07-08

ESSAYS By William = Trent octave = p1 n i iL 4
@sl. Charles Scribner's Sons ~ ~. ~
MAKERS OF LITERATURE Bafr, Ess.,s or
IEGSt lowell Whittier and Others Bv George
Macmillan Company
ESSAYS IN MODERNTTY Criticisms and Dia.
JTEIqeI. ToI BY Francis Adams. octave. pp 258
CRITICISM. BY Lorenzo Sears Lit D.. Pro
= 7I5' p 5 5f hroWn University Octave, PIP. xi 354
The essayists first duty is to have something
to say. his second 70 say it in an interesting and
II possible original manner The two oblica-
uons form. perhaps. one At all events If is
dIfhcult to rejoice in the presence of one if the
other is absent; nor can we, indeed. imagine
'hen apart in a writer of any permanent value
Despite the impressionistic critics who fancy
thai in weaving pretty sentences out of moth
ing they are fulfilling the whole duty of their
craft. We go on preferring the man who meets
the requirements to which We have referred
above. such man for example as Professor
Trent He has insight and tact and humor He
instructs and he interests We might wish nm
t. be more courageous. In the essay which
gives his book its title ne weighs with admirable
Judgment the opposing claim of anecdotic and
impress.onistic criticism. and seems to be willing
to admit the end that there are virtues on
'o-Li sues III LIllS ttiltlQS n SNTlId[nZ- with
him. But why not carry the argument further.
and, instead of leaving the two camps apart.
both useful to the reader, but to certain ex-
tent contradictory of each other, state the
essential fact about all criticism, whether con
servative or not2 This fact. We venture to as
sert is that the only durable criticism is Of the
sort that We call creative; this criticism the
work of a Sainte-Eeuve or of an Arnold is the
work Of genius, and it can place itself in what
ever camp it chooses. The time viii come We
believe. when criticism viii no longer be split
up into different schools but VIII be recogniz d
in divers mauifestatia rs as simply so many diff
ferent forms Of the same art. just as half a
dozen different novels may be admitted as Illus
tTatinE 50 many different forms of the art Of
fiction II viii be perceived. then, that it is
unnecessary 70 give passionate and excIu-
sive adhesion TO either the academic criticism or
the impressiontstic criticism as i, is unnecessary
to declare solely for romanticism or solely for
realism in fiction or in poetry.
We may be told that a preference is ine-i-
table and on this point are sorry to see Pro
fessor Trent falling into error. Discussing the
theory Of the hierarchy of genres he argues
that the sign Of good Judgment is to prefer the
higher To the lower. whereas the test lies not in
ones preference. bur in ones power to make
the distinction between the higher and the
lower. Observing that every schoolboy should
know that Virgil Dante and Milton, as great
epic poets are superior respectively to II Grace
P=trarch and Shelley as great lyric poets he
adds that if the schoolboy does not like the
greater poet so much as he does the inferior it is
either his own fault or his own misfortune" The
truth IS. If course that we rise to the level Of
the highest criticism when, in spite Of a personal
fonduess for an inferior form W. rec1g gnize and
appreciate the superiority of another. In fact
it is just in proportion as critic exercises this
power Of drawing distinctions outside Of his
private preferences that he emerges from the
We are disinciued. however. to find serious
fault with Professor Trent for not developing
this point because he is. on the whole. 50 com
petent and SO ed.fying writer. His second
essay. "Apropos Of Shelley, " is model Of what
the essay On Shelley ought TO be. perfect from
the candid survey If his predecessors in this
field Of criticism TO its retcent but illuminating
close Again. in the chapter on Literature and
Morals" he deals WIKI a thorny subject in a
manner as delicate as it is definite and helpful
Indeed. that last word exactly expresses Pro
fessor Trent's best quality. He is really help
full: a critic in whom originality is never freak
isn but whose fresh, independent methods are
practical Instructive, well calculated to be Of
downright service to the student Of literature
In rearranajng for his new volume. Makers
Of Literature" the essays which he has pre-
viousIy published in book form or in divers
w --4t-1 h,