The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-19
TIE IAETERLIHCK DRAMAS.
GROWTH or THE BELGIAN MYS-
TIC As A PLAYWRIGHT.
ms Piays In Detail-Music and Rhythm
q His Early works-stages OF HIS
symbolism and the View
He Takes OF Man and His Environment.

He Takes OF Man and His Environment.
BY mysticism we mean, not the ex-
travsgance Of an erring fancy, but the con-
csntration OF reason In feeling, the en-
thusiastic love OF the good. the true. the
one, the sense OF the .nfnit, IL knowledge.
and of the marvel of the human faculties.
When feeding upon such thoughts the
wing of the soul is renewed and gains
strength, she is raised above the manikins
OF earth and their opinions, waiting In
wonder to know and working with rover
ence to find out what God in this or in an
other life may reveal to her
This Ia not from the brain Of Maurice
Maeterlinck; It was written by ahard-headed
man and lovable teacher the late Hem
jamin Jowett, the famous Master OF Ballot.
Not intended as text, but merely to show
that the lift Of spirit which In the sign
manual of mysticism does not prelude
the practical. II Is fresh visual angle
from which are viewed the things Of heaven
and earthly things.
In his youth, possibly to escape the sterili-
ties Of the code--for he is an advocate by
profession Macterlinck took up the mystic
writer's though the drama pulled him
hard, as II ever does with the predicted
little danger OF this ardent young man
weighing. as do many. the theatre In the
scales of commerce. As with Ibsen, the
stage was an escape for Maeterlinck 1t
liberated ideas. poetic. dramatic. mystic.
which had become in,oerable. ideas which
turned his brain. That art Of which Pinero
20 eloouently writes "The great, the fas-
cipatine and most difficult art
compression OF life without Justification
could never have signifed a gold mine
for Maeterlnck as it did for Robert Louis
Stevenson. To the Belgian it was not a
speculation, but a conservation. To 1t
be brought that concentration Of thought
and sustained intensity which Pinero deems
imperative in the curriculum OF dramatic
artist
On the anvil OF his youthful dreams did
Maeterlinck forge his little plays for Marion
cites Shadowy they are, brief transcripts
Of emotion. but valuable in illustrating
unity Of purpose. of mood Of hne. Herein
Hes their superiority to Browning's moro
elaborate structures. Before he ventured
into the maze Of plotting Maeterlinck was
content with simple types Of construction.
The lyric musician in this poet, the lover
of beauty led him to. make his formula
q musical one. The dialogue Of the first
plays seems like new species OF musical
notation. II there is not rhyme there
is rhythm, interior rhythm, and an allur-
ing assonance Hence we get pages bur-
dened with repetitions and also the cross
ing fire. OF jewelled words. Apart from
their spirit the lines Of this poet are sono-
rously beautiful In the purple mists OF
his early manner a weaker man might
have persisted. Not so Maeterlinck. He
h first the thinker-a thinker OF strange
thoughts. withal thought independent of
their verbal settings. He soon escaped
preciosity In diction: II was monotony OF
mood that chained him to his many ex-
perimentingr.
And therein the old ghost OF the Ro-
mantics comes to life asserting Its solaims OF
the ideal, az Ibsen has the phrase. Crushed
to dust by the hammers Of the realists.
sneered at In the bitter-sweet epigrams Of
Heine, Romance returns to US wearing q new
mask. We name this mask Symbolism: but
Joyous, incarnate behind its shifting shapes
marches Romance. the Romance Of 1890.
the Romance of-before the Deluge. The
earth-men. the Troglodytes that went delv.
ing into moral sewers and backyards OF
humanity ruled for q decade and q day;
then the vanquished reconquered. In this
CYCLE Of art It Is Roman that comes to
us most often-remains longer when It does
come.
Maur Toe Maeterlinck employs the sym
Dol instead OF the sword; the soul Is his
pdnache. His puppets are all poetic
the same poetry az Of cid informs their
gestures and their speech. He so fashions
them Of such fragile pure stun that phrase
maladministered acts as the thrust OF q
dagger The Idea Of Death Stays: the blind
see; bodies die, but the soul persists: voices
Of expiring lovers float through vast and
shadowy corridors-es In 'Alladine and
Palomides"; children speak as IL their lips
had been touched by the burning coal OF
prophecy; their souls are laid bare with
cruel pity; love Ia strangled by a hair; we
re Death stalk in the interior Of quiet
home, or rather feel them see: or In our
ears is whispered terrible and sweet tale
Of the Death Of Tintagiles'-it is all NOON
light music, mystery with q nightmare
fwaIe; or q tender original soul is crushed
BY the sheer impact OF q great love hover.
ing near it-sAglavaine ct Selysette.'
Then we get fantasy and miracle play.
Hbrettos, full Of charm. wonder and de-
licious irony. Maeterlinck. always ex-
quisitely aware Of the presence OF
others, recalls life. beckons to life,
and In 'Monna Wanna smashes the
Stained glass splendors hemming him In
from the world and behold-we are given
drama, see the shock Of character and feel
the mailed hand Of a warrior dramatist.
In q dozen years he has traversed king
dom, has grown from cumberland to ma
ture artist, from . poet OF few moods to
n maker OF viable drama.
Prophetically Arthur Symons wrote four
years ago: Interesting as his dramatic
work has always been, there is In the late
dramas 30 singular an advance in all the
qualities that go to make great art that
find 1t lie impossible at this stage OF his de-
velopment to treat his dramatic work as in
any sense the final expression Of . person.
Atty. What the next stage Of his develop
ment may be it II impossible to stay He
will not write more beautiful dramas than
no has written In 'Aglavaine ct Selysette'
and In 'Pelleas ct Melisande.' But he may.
and he probably will, write something which
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