The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-10-16

the most sovereign of rythmsts,
and he thinks that "a time has come
when the force of expression can no
further CO. Of that consummdte
manifestation of genius. "Atalanta in
Caiydon' he pronounceS it "a work Of
| art, and says it is 1.-The poets flawiess
effort"
L turn next to Professor George
Saintsbury's Corrected Impressions"
issued in 1895. He is Professor of
English Literature in Edinburgh Uni
versity. l am surprised in his short
preface to find two errors in two lines.
He writes the four last and none
have been" His critical paper fills
eighteen pages. and is quite interest
| ing. He is certainly one of the best
/ in formed men in literature among his
| Countrymen, and he has written some
half dozen volumes in criticism. he
finds Swinburne's truly wonderful
Poems and Ballads quite as good
| in 1895, as they We're to him when
published probably thirtyfive years
i before He says he is the most cap
tivating of the poets of the second
| half of the nineteenth century" There
! is scarcely a doubt as to the correct
ness of that statement. He unfairly
refers to his not to be ignored 'as-
tonishing fertility, of his command of
/ language and of nature, the vast vol
ume and variety of his verbal music.
The Professor INDUCES in ALTERATION
you see He asks why should a
| rational lover of poetry ever tire OF
t him. He refers to the poetaSterS try
! ing to parody his splendid metres
pleasing ALTERATION, etc. They failed
! because of the great excellence of the
! originals, and this is a proof of eX-
| cellence, not of inferiOrity. for he de-
! clareS with insight that lit is when
! thing is imitable, not when 1t is pafo-
diable that it stands confessed as Sec
ond-rate" Swinburne has not been
initiated, because those attempting
! lacked his superior genius. IheS
have gotten his fiddle but not his
rosin," and that is good Professor
| Saintsburyl His imitators may not be
dull or without cleverness. and they
may write lines in twenty-seven syil-
ables or Whereabouts if necessary: but
they can't write poetry. Mr.. Swim
burne can and does.
Some years ago a capital writer
criticised Swinburne in the able, schol-
arly London Academy" 1t was
something in dispraise of the poet
technique. He thought the music OF
lyrics perfect in its KIND, put
thought it, strangely it appears to me.
"a kind that is inferior'-beloW the
great metre of the elder masters. ana
even of Shelley. The latter was m
deed a great poet of unique ana splen-
did qualities. He died when only
about thirty. was drowned at sea.
Here is his first work by the Critic:
1.-The metronomic beat of the emphat-
ic rhythm is too inSistent. 1t imposes
it's laws on the sense, instead OF Ge-
ing swayed by it. The poet seems TO
run his substance into the set mould
of the form instead of the substance
creating and moulding the forni. as
with the great poets. But granting
the kind, his mastery is unduestion-
able. The lyrics move light as
Southern wind, with the smootnest
lisp and lapse of vowels. Were metre
but to titillate the ear. pair of cas-
tanets for the feet of the muse, this
would be supreme metre"
This critic, unlike those quoted
from, and others of gifts and percep-
ton, thinks that after the first great
success in Poems and Ballads he
has deprecated. but he comedies as
follows: "He has gained in clarity and
purged the old riot, but the tropical
effiorescence has died away with the
| tropical heat. Yet one poem there is
| which combines all his best qualities
with a luminous restraint in a wav
unmatched by him elsewhere. as we
| think-"A Vision of Spring III Win
ter"
He characterizes it as "this truly
| L
| that whatever defects or decline crit
| les may insist upon in Swinburne's
poetry he remains the supreme poetic
| genius since 1850, not of course
| counting TennySOn. as he began to
publish in 1880. Let me direct the
reader who has not read any of Swim
| burne or who is no. familiar with his
writings, to read Poems and Bal
| lads" published in 1856, "Rosamond,"
Dolores THE Triumph of Time"
"Laus Veneris," "Faustine,' Hymn
! to Prosperire." Long in Time of
Revolution" "Rococo.'' AT a Months
End" Dedication to Captain Richard
Burton" 1.-The Garden of Prosperine."
"a Wasted Vigil "a Vision of Spring
| in Winter" "Atalanta in Calydon.' "A
Ballad of Burdens" "Phaldra. AT
Elusia'' "Hesperia." 'Madonnu-
| leia." Before Dawn "a Match"
AVE Atque Vale" Memorial
Verses on the Death of Theopplle
Gautier,'' "A Song of Italy" Songs
Before Sunrise" He pays a tribute
to Poe in his Under the Microscope.
Boutwell," is a work of high genius,
an epic in dramatic form. Stedman
regards it highly, and says it is writ
| ten in "a superb manner" and rings
pure. and majestic style" and shows
1.-The strength. richness and dramatic
variety of Swinburne's mature Ian
| SudSe. he HOIuS llldl lliiS ilobiS
production sis a work for vigorous
minds, and to sentiment always seems
| the bloom of beauty and power. /
| have thus given you mere glimpse
of a great and richly endowed living
poet through the eyes of others rather
| than through my own.
| The people-the God fearing, God
| ilenoring people should be very care
| full in their selection of legislators.
| The legislature to be chosen has :,
great most important, most impera
/ tive duty to perform in the matter
of repeating the present odious. dis
graceful non-Christian divorce laws,
which are shame and a reproach
| to all concerned. and a lasting stigma
upon the character and good name of
/ the people of North Carolina. Gods
| law with reference to divorce is plain.
! direct, positive and fixed. and there
| is no Sinking the duty # repeal. and
! of adopting a law in conSonance with
| the divine law. No man is fit to be
chosen to represent the virtue. the
morality. the intelligence and honor
of North Carolina who is not willing
/ to recognize Gods imperative law in
matter that concerns the life, the
| happiness, the character and the
| homes of the people. l do not stop to
! IL. i