Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-12-21
LITERATURE.

our own day, this evolution reaches It's
'ppafent climax IN the greatest Of all
mel0dists, tile master mind that has
brought poetry es m exponent of
melody to Lowell WIKI notated music,
the man that has dominated his art
0s Wagner dominated hls-AlgernOn
Charles SYinburne.
AZ last, after forty years of the
greateat singing English ears have
heard a book has been written to cele.
1rate ana eXpound this wonderful man,
t Is not much OF a book, as tribute
| Is Inadequate, az all tributes must
be- as an appreciation 1t Is often oN-
aeodlngly foolish always II Is super
lcial or trlnng
Here aud there II IL morred by
strange exhibitions OF that narrow fury
Of racial hatred that IN this day seems
| the exclusive possession OF the bullet
headed Briton But--at last a book,
| Shall we think Il strange that II
| comes 30 late, or strange that Il comes
At all? Dante was eXllod Shakespeare
was not known until the Germans dis
| covered him, Milton was jeered and
fouted, chatterlon was allowed to
| starye. shelley was execrated by his
| countrymen, and Wagner was thirty
years IN getting a hearing.
Scarcely q great artist has been
recognized in his lifetime, never
| great artist has been appreciated be-
| fore he was dust.
For forty years Swinburne has sung
TO an audience openly hostile, or at
best coldly Indifferent. Perhaps this,
the sixty-hfth year Of his life, sees the
earliest dawn of his glory, Remember
ing Dante, remembering Milton and
Shelley, no admirer OF Swnburne
would have II otherwise, for II Is the
fame tlat rises late and slowly that
shines without setting.
Mr. Wrauslaws book il kind OF
primary school Introduction, written, |
think, to show people that Swinburnc
Will not bite them IL recounts chrOnO-
logically the poets most important
works, selected from that prodigl0us
product OF life CT ceaseless industry,
whereof merely the bulk surpasscs the
product of all other English poets.
On each is made nice little remark
about It's origin, to each is added d
nice little dab Of praise or blame, and
10 nicely and properly, as is the con-
yentional maner, then reviewer passes
on,
lie begins with a sketch OF SWIM
burne's life (what little Is known OF III
ana ends with brief estimate of him
a9 the greatest lyrist that ever sans
In English. SO far as chat goes, good
For the most part Mr. Wratlslaw Is
fairly sympathetic, He views things
askew and with insuar prejudice, but
a ~ fla a mn zinc
perfection of Swlneburnes technique,
something OF the unequalled variety OF
his themes and strains his insight into
the hearts and sorrows Of men, the
breadth of dramatic genius not to be
eQualled this side Of Shakespeare. SO
far as this goes, good.
But he fails TO deal with the essential
spirit Of the man or with the es-
sental characteristic Of his gift TO the
race The two-fold source Of this sing
ing its sympathy with men and its
sympathy with nature and the vast
revolution II has wrought In our poetry
--these considerations seem more linz
portant than anything Mr.. Wratlslaw (
has put into his book,
That he does not understand the
Lander ode, for instance, Is Of very
little moment; that the Lander ode and
all other Swinburnean poems are es-
sentially exposltons Of musical themes
Is fact that no writer about Swim
burne can afford to overlook.
Mr.. Wratsaw does not point out, and
doubt II he sees. that Swinburnes
achievements are not merely good per-
formances on previously known lines;
they are a new. definite, unprecedented
thing They are not merely musical /
as Mr. Wratislaw go often intlmates;
they are music. In Swnburne appears !
for the first time the use of word
sounds 40 musical units, woven togeth-
err into melodies as certain, as absolute, <
as sweet and rayishing, as full of feel
ing as the melodies woven Of other
musical units by the composer, And
OF all this the first book on Swlnburne 4
has nothing to say
Here Is a man that found the melodlc L
phrase Of English poetry a thing OF \
crude intuition and made II definite
and perfect system here Is man that
found poetry sound and left II molten \
music here Is man that has enriched
the common air with more and finer y
than birds know or the violin h
can utter that has invented and Inn n
IlbNtb anu utNflNlFu ultlll VOtllt TX u
preston has become the ADEQUATE and
perfect instrument Of music for all the 4
Toys. sorrows. hopes. aspirations. long
lngs and passion Of the human heart.
We may not suppose that future gem D
eratlons VIII fail to recognize and honor
such figure though Il now towers too
nth above us to be more than dimly X
seen
We may not suppose that the even
tual place Of the bearer Of such a elft. 4;
who comes with such sympathv, ten
ierness. loftlness Of soul and wide
range Of ilawless performance. viii he
second 10 any other man In English Il
poetry but Shakespeare.
You think this is extravagant TODAY
because there Is no nower in the world
10 strong as convention. and this 10
MOI OF conventional view. Equally ex-
ravagan' would have seemed a like
view Of Wagner thirty years ago. II
And as surely as now. no praise Of tho
,reator Of the Nlbeuncen music could
seem excessive, even II II could Seem
adequate. so 10 the next eeneratlon M H
praise VIII seem overweight for the
wonderful word musician that trans
formed Tannhauser and Trlstram and
'seult INTO speech. raised voice as sad
ard tuneful as Flizahetb's or prun. III
hilde's and sang the greatest sonrs .,
lberty ord Intellectual ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
me world has known--Swlnburne The
Richard Wagner Of poetry.