New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-05-13
AMERICAN POETRY.
Fioe Representative Volumes 6y
Lioing authors.

Emo On rs. Houghton, Mifiin & Co
sFI.EINE By Arneie Rsvss princess TTouDel-A"y''
limo, pp g. Harper Bros.
MUSIC AND OTHER POEMS by H sribn srt
Dyke. limo, pp. viii, ll6. Charles ScrlOher
Lyrics AND LEGENDS OF CaRIs ST TIi
BY Clinton Scotland Rmo PIP o.. Geoise "''
lam Browning.
The thin volumes which lie before US have the
interest Of being fully representative Of con-
temporary American poetry. Here we have IN
different keys, that poetry at its best. There Is
Individuality In some Of these pages, but If the
reader looks first for that virtue he looks with
scarcely less eagerness for some distinguishing
trait shared by all Of the writers; he cannot
help being curious to whether we have just
now school" or not. Our poets form school
to the extent of forming kind Of group, dom
mated by a clearly marked mood They are all
remarkably cultivated writer's II has often
been possible TO say something of the sort about
the younger American poets, but not often with
the special significance that attaches 10 the
phrase at this moment Time was when Guilt
walton in these matters showed itself more in
def workmanship, IN purely literary polish than
in substance and in the atmosphere which is due
to substance quite as much as 10 feeling. Now
adays the best Of current verse has way OF
spelling thought as well as technical cleverness.
That at all events is the testimony Of the bulk
of the work at present under consideration.
THE Shoes That Danced" the little drama
giving Mrs. Branch's volume its title, offers
case in point It is true that the piece falls
short Of the effect which ought TO have been
achieved in IT, in view of its theme. The writer
who attempts TO dramatize an episode in the
studio of Vatican inevitably raises expecta-
lions Of lines in themselves charming; It is i'm
possible to think Of that bewitching artist ex-
cept IN terms of romantic glamour, and since
Mrs. Branch throws no glamour at all over The
Shoes That Danced" we are constrained to note
our disappointment at the outset But with
willingness. for the sake Of argument, to dis
pense with the atmosphere of faery the golden
glow which Vatican should have suggested TO
her, one is in a fair way to derive genuine pleas
ure from this composition. 1t is we'll put to-
gether, It moves nImbly. and. above all, 1t dis
closes a sense of character. That is where we
are conscious Of the authors having resources
Of thought; she may not have apprehended the
magical elements in her theme "a positively en-
trancing poem could be written around Wat
teau), but at any rate she has got at its human
side and has given US some capital touches of
portraiture some suggestive glimpses into the
temperament Of Of genius Looking else
where IN Mrs. Branch's volume for promising
material we find little of il IN her sonnets and
less IN her studies in modern actuality-such as
the piece entitled ITO a New-York Shop Girl
Dressed for Sunday''-but in number of her
lyrics she strikes a beguiling note. The four
Songs for Ny Mother" are as delicate in ex-
ec1ition as they are in sentiment, and there is
much that is appealing in poems like "Knowl-
edge" and Service" We have quoted from it
before. but since it is the best thing in the book
we must give again some Of the stanzas In
"Grieve Not, Ladies'"
Oh grieve not, ladies' If at night
Ye wake 10 feel your beauty going.
80, 1nconstant April showing.
In other eyes. in other lands.
In dsep raf R99 new yo 19a bsRds
It runs from your reluctant fingers
Ye shall not keep the singing lark
The sound Of your departing beauty
Think not the watchful dim despair
Has come 20 you the first, sweet-hearted!
For. oh the gold in Heen's hair!
And how she cried when that departed!
Happy are we if in his eyes
We see no shadow of forgetting.
We SHAH not wholly holy See 'ii its setting
On. grieve not ladies' if at night
Rather recall the early light
Ard IN your loved ones remember.
The salient characteristic Of Mine and Thine
IS breadth OF sympathy. To Mrs. Coates, as 10
so many Of poets. literature and its heroes
offer a cherished stimulus; yet she makes us
feel, much more than do many of her contem-
poraries, how suggestive are the things that lie
beyond the printed page. So clearly indicative
OF her whole attitude as a poet is the Song Of
Life" with which she opens her volume, that
We must quote it intact:
Maiden Of the laughing eyes.
Primrose-krtled, winged, free
Joyl%whoa gods and mortais prize.
Share thy smiles with me!
Yet-lest l. unheeding borrow
Pleasure that to-day enGears
Turn not wholly from me- Sorrow!
Let me share thy tears.
GIVE me OF thy fulness Life!
z-i P1lse and passion power, breath,
Give me Of thy fulness Life
Nor deny me DEATH
The sensitive spirit reflected in these lines
runs through all Of Mrs Coates's work II comes
out in her commemorative poems. in her grace
ful tributes to Mr.. Stedman Stevenson and
Others 1t is discernible in such trilogy as she
mas written on an historic figure, Joan of Arc;
II Eliminates the vignette Of pathos which she
calls Aims" and IT tells constantly in those
poems IN which purely poetical moods are ex
pressed Her optimism has no strain Of weak
ness; 1t is rooted rather in fine and courageous
conception OF life. Nature has had her influence /
upon the composition of this book, her beauty
making itself felt in some skilful pictoriaI
ter0Aes. Some Of the most successful things in
ehe book are narratives or colloquies, like I'm
p4oueh ana The Return" but these are too
long 10 be reproduced here. Equally signiacgrt !
however. OF the authors quality, of her magma
ton and her craftsmanship IS the fo1Io7,,fr.
brief poem: s
POOR LOvEr' SAID LIFE
Ff3.: Lover, said Life. that hast nor gold.