New-York tribune., 1903-07-29
NEW PUBLICATIONS..
Some Literary Studies and Some
NeU Editions.

e1leo- 10 De the other Is to have a nne concert
Of ones self. and TO bore ones friends, in sea-
son and out OF season, with high erected nom
sensicalities about the poet. Mr.. Walter Ra-
leigh. author of Wordsworth Oongmans
Green & Coz. Is content to be merely lover of
the man Of genius whose works he has at
tempted to analyze and his book is model Of
sane and Illuminating criticism. He gives us a
certain amount of biographical data. but only
touches upon Wordswortll's life when IL is
necessary to the elucidation of his writings. OF
the latter he speaks with the more effect be-
cause he is constant in discrimination. He rec
ognizes at the outset that they include not only
much that is great, but much that is positively
bad Yet he does not allow himself be con-
fused by what would appear. and has appeared
TO many critics, as problem in contradiction
50 to say. In other words. he does not allow the
masterpieces to put him in too drastic mood
where the twaddIe is concerned, nor does he al
low the twaddle to worry him when he is read
ing the masterpieces. He is admirable. too. in
his explcatiOn of Wordsworths mental develop
ment, showing with delightful clearness the
manner In which the poets ideas on the French
Revolution were changed. and what Coleridge
did for him at this period of his career. All
through his book Mr. Raleigh is suggestive. but
we like him best in his chapter Wordsworth's
diction. Here is one of his passages:
he valued cOllOQuial forms and phrases not
as the chosen vehicle of sound sense and ha-
bitual feeling. but as the most sincere expression
OF deep and. rare passions. His model is not to
be found in the pleasant ease of Waller Cot
ton. but in the bare intolerable force OF such
speech as this Of King Lear:
Do Do not Is;1ii laugh at. at me Psdv
To be my child Cordelia-
And he sought the occasion for these passions
less in crises Of great events than among the
humblest incidents and situations Of common
life By intense concentration of the sympa-
thies and imaginative powers on any single
object Of perception thought he produced in
himself vague and deep emotions. which, it
seemed, could best be perpetuated and impaired
by the simplest form of words that might serve
to recall the original suggestion.
Mr. Raleigh does not ignore the fact that
Wordsworths passion for simplicity sometimes
landed him in bathos, and, more often caused
him TO write things which, if they did not
cite mirth, left the reader stirred by emo
tons whatever. But he also sees with what
unerring instinct Wordsworth linked his sim
DIicities of expression with the deepest passions
of humanity. and his essay is most significant
in the emphasis il places the Identification
OF Wordsworths sympathy for mankind with
his divine inspiration. In short Mr.. Raleigh
gives better guidance TO the poems than could
be obtained from a score Of Wordsworthians
Incidentally we may note that merely
piece of good English this book is to be warmly
commended.
The Lost Art of Reading &c. P Putnam's
Sons), by Mr.. Gerald Stanley Lee, is a whole
some book Of polite fooling about modern men
and women in their relations to literature. The
author seems to look at books in the right way,
end TO be worried by the indisposition of great
many human beings TO look at them in the
spirit Sometimes, through his eagerness to con-
vict his contemporaries of SIM he blandly misses
the point Even Matthew Arnold he says.
"a man who had q way Of seeing things almost,
sometimes. criticises Emerson for lack Of unity.
because the unity was on large a scale that
Arnold's imagination could not it, and now
the ohirrup from afar. rising from the East and
the West. Why doesn't George Meredith? etc.
People want him to put guideposts in his books.
apparently, or before his sentences: To - or
Ten miles to the nearest verb'-the inevitable
fate of any writer, man woman. who dares
TO ak1 80 this present day. that his reader shall
stop 20 think" If Mr.. Lee would only stop to
think he might perceive that he is here advo-
eating literary anarchy. AS Mr.. Whistler used
20 say Art is art and mathematics is mathe-
u1atics." Literature is literature, style is style
and when writers like Emerson and Meredith, or
like Browning and Walt Whitman, neglect to
play the game they have 10 pay the penalty.
But We can forgive Mr. Lee his occasional
lapses and We can forgive the excessive length
of his book for the sake of the ground note of
common sense which runs through all his pages
We see what he is driving at. His heart is in
the right place. He is out Of patience with the
hurry and shaIlowness and conventionality af-
ficting countless readers Of the present day.
and we syrnpathize with him in his amused in
dignation He has. too, considerab BILE cleverness
in hitting off his points. these lines clearly
show:
7 see The ships" said The Eavesdropper, as
he stole round the world TO me ION a dozen
the sea"
And what do you see on the ships?" I said,
Figures of men and women-thousands of
figures of men and women
And what are they doing?
They are walking fercely,' he said-"sOme Of
them-walking herceiy up and down the decks
before the sea"
''Why2" said l.
Because they cannot stand still and look at
a. Others reading in chairs because they
cannot sit still and look at it,
And there are some said The Eavesdropper,
with roofs of boards above their heads Ito pro-
tect them from Wonder)-down in the hold
playing cards.
There was silence
What are you seeing now" said
Trains he said-"a globe full of trains.
They are on a dozen sides of il. They
prairies-some in the light and some in the dark
creeping through space
And what do you see in the trains?"
Miles OF faces
And the facesg
-'They are pushing on the trains"
what are you seeing now?' said.
Cities ne said-"streets of cities-miles OF
streets OF cities
And what 90 you see in the streets OF cities?"
Men, women and smoke"
And what are the men and women dolng7'
'Hurrying' said he
God knows"