Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-10-19

ones thOuBnt IL TOT tne coufubt vi VIC
poet and the marvel OF that artistic
passion which In all times has COM
PEELED the artist. as by divine inspira-
ton. TO do his appointed work, the
work he dreams Of and lives Tor, under
whatsoever stress Of difficulty or trial.
If / am rightly informed, Sir Edwin
Arnold has written this poem In the
teeth OF bitter bereavement and per-
hapS mortal disease; and most Of Il,
| understand. has been written since
he became blind How strong Indeed
must poets purpose OF expression be
who under such circumstances VIII atlll
pursue his self-app0nted task.
In reading "The Voyage OF lthobal,'
have been unable to forget the brave
blind man who wrote H. and II the
moral victory is greater than the poet
lc achievement we need not greatly
care. Nor need Sir Edwin Arnold.
Though never a great poet, his Light
III Asia was a beautiful paraphrase
Of buddhist thought for Western minds,
and had a great moral influence on MS
time. ana Sir Edwin Arnold has al
ways been a fellcltous, II somewhat too
facie writer of verse.
II his "IthohaP cannot be- hailed as
a SUCCESS, the reason lies less with any
failure Of ST. Eawin's poetic power than
with his unhappy choice Of subject.
venture 10 think that no living poet
and ! hardly think any dead one
could have made a success OF such a
theme. Theoretically the romance IN
these DAYS OF ineney-mal;lng is roiuan-
tie and read I'm Herodotus, IN Mande-
vile, IN Ia tluYt and Cook, II lpa sim,
I'M mnali doses. a certain fosciAation
But those old romantic, not TO SAY
ronianclnF. geographers wrote IN prose.
which q lhe only possible medium foi'
such material Sir Edwin Arnold un-
fortunately writes in blank verse, ana
much as The old English poet Michael
Drayton, wrote a kind OF poejcal Hulde
book to the rivers OF England, under
the titla OF "POlyalbion "a huge old
folio much esteemed by collectors-so
slr Edwin sets himself 70 tell how
Ithobai. a great sea captain OF tyre
subsidized, as we. would now say by
Pharoah. circumnayigates Africa, and
brings back with him strange tales OF
southern seas and 'lands, and much IN
formation about strange beasts ara
savage tribes long since painfully IA
millar to US.
gIr Edwin purports to hear the story
through the clairvoyant medium OF
lady with whom he was one day walk
ing looking at mummies, m the brlt-
ism Museum. Two mummies particu-
larlv Interested them One proved to
be the mummy of the great captain
Ithobal and the other that Of his wife
Nesta.
Failing into clairvoyant trance, Sir
Edwln's friend tells the tale as II was
told TO her by the dead wife OF the
dead captain.
THE poem is divided into seven
DAYS" and Is written In fluent blank
verso a measure which has always
come easy to Sir Edwin Arnold. There
are lyrics BY way Of explanatory pro-
logue and epllogue. but the blank verse
is hest. In this Sir Edwin often uses
his multifarious learning with Skill and
his catalogues Of the wonders seen by
The great captain are often very ef-
fective.
Take this for examples
Tn midst of suph ere yet the season
breaks
Between the winds belt of calm will
stretch
Under that burning arch of day, those
nights
spangled with stars. There idle hangs
the sail,
Dead drops the useless pennon at mast
head; go,
From the deck-seams oozes the pitch,
the planks
Burn the barred foot: the sea smokes
In the sun,
And In its hot and oily glass there swim
Strange shapes that love the warm
brine and the calm:
Water snakes, green and gold, or
rlnged, or pied,
or notified, like a pard, yellow and
black
Some with sharp muzzle, some with
And fiendlsh eyes; then monstrous sea-
jellles.
Purple, and russell silvery grey and
pink.
with filing oars and mouths which ope
and close,
Pant their slow passage through the
salt. Soon comes
Amidst them as a ship through blad-
dcr.avack.
The great grey robber-shark' his black
FIN hoist
IKE pirates sail and Shiny belly Of
nearl:
a spear blade, cleaning as 1t cuts the
The little fishes ny. save one bold sort
Strlood motley, with long snout, which
Is the slave
And plate Of the shark, seeking for
him
Food, that the little fish may leavings
eat;
No shark so hungry that will swallow
him.
Along the heaviVg hyallne there lie
Ropes Of thick sea grass, yellow, black
and red,
Torn by the teeth Of storms from ledge
awash
Along the coast: II we shall nearly look.
4 thousand myriad little mariners
Die on that drifting wreck, small she'll
fishes
who made their tiny houses beautiful;
Strange creatures, like sea blossoms
having lips
On every leaf that built upon the rock
And. like poor mortals, thought their
world would last
Now drive they outcast with their
broken house"
Though as whole the poem fails to
hold ones attention. OWING aS saiu
before, chiefly 20 its subject II contains
many striking lines and descriptions
II Is dedicated "to his friend Malor
James y. Pond by the attached ana
grateful author
'The Voyage Of I,hobal" by Sir Ed
win Arnold. Illustrations by Arthur
Lumley @. W, Dillingham; company.
MAGAZINES.
I'll. po.okor ,,v,,,he,. of Outing {e the