Milford chronicle., 1907-11-08
THOMAS BAILEY ALDRIcH.
His Perfect Light Touch and the Art
In His Grave Poems.

~ AAi7 ~ ave TA9Hi0a
1t is a notable fact that while tn,
name of Thomas Bailey Aldrich stands
in the popular mind for the light toucl
IN verse-a touch that few in our time
have been able to equal in delicacy
and attractiveness-the greater part Of
his verse ranges from the serious tC
the tragic The subjects in a majority
of cases are not those which the casual
reader might expect from the author Of
many of his well known songs and cpl.
sodes
Aldrich's light touch seems to US
most nearly perfect whera'abe subject
is apparently most personal, as In the
indispensable lyric, Forever and a
Day."
little know or care
II the blackbird on the bough
Is filing all the air
With his soft crescendo now,
For she has gone away,
And when she went she took
The springtime In her look
The peachblow on her cheek,
The laughter from the brook,
The blue from out the May,
And what she calls a week
Is forever and a dayl
It's little that mind
How the blossoms. pink or white.
A every touch Of wind
FAN a-trembling with delight,
For in the leafy lane.
Beneath the garden boughs.
And through the silent no .sa
One thing alone / seek
Until she come again
The May is not the May,
And what she calls a week
Is forever and a dayl
Such lyric as this would seem to /
be as sure of keeping its place in Eng |
lish literature as any poem Of its class
that the centuries have sanctioned.
The art in his grave poems is really
in keeping with that of his lighter
verse. But the reader is sure that the
careful workmanship is not the result
Of mere artifice; that ii comes from a
sense Of beauty and the poets pure de-
sire for perfection. There Is no filing
for the sake Of filing, but a conscien-
tious seeking for the right phrase He
once to a search Of days for
what he thought the absolutely right
adjective to describe the cry Of the sea
gull, hitting at last upon the word t
petulant," and this persistency was
6
Often he struck the note of high pa
riotism, and many are his poems that
leal with the mysteries Of life and Z
leath. He wrote ft and beautiful e
hrenodies. and in his verse one comes q
onstantly upon startling hints and (
uggestions concerning nature. human 4
ate and the spirit world, as in 'Ren- e
ontre" Identity" Il Vex Me Not y
With Brooding on the Years." "a G
LoOd" and "Apparitions," poems which
ave a new poignancy in the light of ss
is departure. y
APPARITIONs.
noon Of night and at the nights pale end ~
Such things have ehanced to me ~
one BY day. would scarcely tell a
friend "a
For fear OF mockery.
adows you say. mirages Of the brain!
know not. faith, not l. "a
1t more strange the dead should walk ~
again "A
Than that the quick should die? N,
Aldrich ought to have lived longer
d continued to write for many years
come, for he was in little danger Of ~
ling in taste and rigid self criticism. eSH
It, after all, his life had a remarka. ~
completeness. His boyish attain ~
mt Of fame made him not less but SAY
re careful in his art from the begin. &S
g. There never was a time when ~
did not hold high the standard Of N)
and not less for himself than for ~
ers. With increasing years his E9
ch grew more assured and his imag- ~
ton deeper. N)
either in his genial prose writing A1
in his verse was fully reflected the {
which made personal intercourse ~
b him a rare privilege. For private ~
versatiOn was reserved the treas ~