The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-08-15
THE NEW PUBLICATIONS
SOME OF THE LATEST BOOKS
 OF THE SEASON.

llShed by Macmillan ~ Co'' ol NeW York, is of especial interest to those at- tracted by the pleasant shade of the academic tree, in this university town, because of the "Octaves in an Oxford E'Garden." This octaye-sequence follows the title poen-drama, "The City" The Octaves, written in Oxford, re- | fleet all the lyrical lure of that literally charming city. They have felicity of phrase, liquid richness, which classes them high among lyrical poetry. For they are poetry-not mere verse, They are true to Oxford in their suggestive ness, leading toward that realm of thought and dreams in which one comes to dwell as he muses in an Ox- ford garden. | The first octave is:
 "The day was like a Sabbath in a
 swoon,
 Under september's blue were fair
 cloud things,
 Poising aslant, upon their charmed 1 wings,
 Arrested to some far, faint thought of | June.
 Softly I trot, and with repentant
 schoon,
 Half fearfully, with sweet imagin-
 ings,
 Where lay, as might some golden 1 court of kings,
 The old quadrangle, paved with after l noon."
 Here is melody, skill in versifcation, land the capacity to catch mood (which makes a poet a seer" Contrast the phrase paved with afternoon" with the conventional "bathed In sunlight" to realize the fineness of this mosaic. Other lines, which lose half their charm by detachment are: 'The sympathy Of trees, that friend un- seen,
 Soother of moods, on whom all hearts
 must lean,
 Sooner or later, and their cares con
 fess."
 Another, most quotable, octave is: l He is no lover of the sea who loses 1 Sound of her voices, inland wander ing.
 | Still must her old melodious music | ring,
 Around him, wend he wheresoe'er he
 chooses.
 And so, within me, rythmic life refuses By any other pulse than thine to 1 swing;
 1 Far from thy friendships ocean | though I sing,
 Where the hills tire, and the rough
 pathway bruises"
 "The City, is a poem-drama which deals with the healing of an oriental king by a message from Jesus, The city in question is the potent dream oi this king, a city of fair ideals. The characterization of the play is strong land interspersed are lyrics. A number of sonnets close the book Several of them, distinctly American will add to the growing theory oi American poetry"
 If we may believe the reports from literary circles Arthur Upson is one ot the most promising figures among oul poets. He is a very young man. but Richard Burton, himself famous It. erateur, and head of the English de- partment of the University of Mime. sota, said recently, in a lecture, that ten years from now Upson will be sur. passed by none.
 In a magazine article Braithwaite the Boston bard, declared it disgraceful fol editors to fall into the rut of filline spaces with the machine-verse of Che. ney, Cawein, Scollard (they are, nc doubt, cheaper than tail-pieoes), instead . of seeking more eagerly the work o1 ) such men as Upson, and endeavoring tt set high standard. l There is an interesting chapter, ir Rittenhouses' Younger American } Poets" on Upson. He has published several volumes before, some pieces fl 1 this volume being reprinted from vol ) umes which ran successfully. To on, 8 Carmen Sylvia" who is Queen Eliza 3 beth of Roumania and a well-knowl writer, wrote the introduction. r One who fears that our American 5 muse is barren, or anyone who is lover of poetry, will be interested il this volume,
 Audrey Craven" by May Sinclair author of the Divine Fire" one of tn : most brilliant and successful novels O , the decade. is published by Henry Hol & Go. It was written before the "Di vine Fire'' as was "Snnarsadad " ,u,icI