New-York tribune., 1909-05-01
PerseS by T7Uo NO0eIists ard Some
Others.

ARTEMIs TO ACTION AND OTHER VERSE
BY Edith Wharton emo, PIP 80 Charles Serb
ner's Sons.
APOLLO AND THE SEAMAN. THE QUEEN OF
GoTHLAND s1anzas TO Tolstoy and Other
Henry Holt & Co
CNTERLUDBs AND POEMS. By I-ascelIes Aber-
crombe. 12mo PIP. TE The John Lane Com
pany-
Some twelve or thirteen years ago. when Mr.
Maurice Hewlett published his Songs and
%editations,' he just the verge OF his
wide repute as a romancer. The little volume
contained nothing memorable. and, since the au-
thor continued thereafter 10 devote himself with
much aSslduity 10 prose, II was natural to as
that If his singing days were not over he
had at any rate put away his lutte. Now he
gives g. second collection of verse. including
some pieces from the first and a number
that are new He leaves the whole, a much
better impression. showing that he has used
the long interval to good purpose. Is he more
the poet now than ne was them Not precisely.
One may possess the poetic temperament, ex-
plot It with both skill end feeling and still not
demonstrate that has the right 10 wear the
laurel. The interesting thing about Mr beW-
slett's development is that his gifts as novelist
have somehow helped him TO be cleverer and al
together more effective in his use Of poetic
form There are pages IN "Artenlision' which
pse would scarcely take for authentic poetry,
ordinarily far beyond the reach of a minor poet.
He reprints here Dedication the poem
which in Songs ard Meditations' he called
ssDausfter Of Earth That was a good title,
and al things considered. might better have
been retained. Mr.. Hewlett is himself nothing
81 not q son Of earth He goes for the thing
that he can see and touch He may envelop 1t
sn the finest cloth OF gold that romantic genius
can weave. but the corporeal motive is always
there throbbing with red blood. 1t is to this tact
that his salient merits as a writer Of verse are
TO be traced. The three "'Idylls Of the Hun
tress.~ which are his most ambitious perform
znces filling more than half Of the book, are
vigorously conceived, and they are written IN
commonly well He narrates the woes OF Cal
15sto Niobe end EndyEnion with all the gusto
of a born teller Of tales He pays abundant al
tention to The glamour OF the Pagan mythology
nature receives due tribute in his lines buL II Is
when he has action TO describe action with pas
tionate human implications, that he comes 10
closest grip with his subject That part Oh
.4T,a rlionids-, in which Artemis and Apollo
xyreak their awful wrath upon the queens oe-
fenceless children would be hard TO beat Tor
energy and vividness The touch Of the novelist
&c 7,nrnistakable He tells his story with almost
thrilling force His Artems is brilliantly real
szed a goddess the more credible because sne
IS made manifest in terms Of flesh ana biooo'
in this portrait. as in others, there is very
sensuous streak but It is never distastefuL on
the contrary, Mir Hewletts fervors on this oc-
casion only heigften the charm Of his work A
good specimen Of his style is this picture OF
Arternis in her fury over Niobe's insult:
The strife
That caused her press her heart did sweep and
AcroEs her face. as clouds drive up and scourse
The golden hillsides changing "a al o 20 sun sun
1er ewes
Gave out no hint Of how the child oia pass
An the red blood she had blazed up ,8l5 and 6uFnd
The fhroi,bing OF each pulse OF fire, but sway'd
Ard fekered as the gag5y hhRenf P1;t t died spen,
Palely before her gurg9se % gaming e S,tfeB geP lin
And in her clencht-up hands. whose little palms
Bore the cruel imprint Of her nails SO Gains
Her sobbing side, so hard and frosty hght
6ilitters within her eyes: and she takes hight
sS shssT S03 Tns f59ek Races Se G1 g as to kill
stoops the grey osprey to the sea as stoops
sis wings and tupbles heedIong -:3I on & his prey
Flevr: and in peaceful valleys and still woods
Darkifng below her hid the timid broods
OF deer and cattle. fearing that blind storm
The north wind drives; the hare croucht in her
ast III. were eaglet sweeping woodsides bare
OF those shy things that leap and niboie there
Mr.. HewIett's sonnets are negligible-prettily
.anciful and not without color but otherwise Of
no distinction. His more purely lyrical compo-
sitions have certain merit notably the one be
ginning. Ask me not how mucn i love YOU -
but the real substance Of his volume lies in the
'Idylls OF the Huntress.
Mrs Wharton in her "Artemis to Acteon,
has obviously been cleaning in the same fields
visited bv Mr. Hewlett nut she binds her sheaf
IF verse with very different cords. Revery
gather than action attracts her. The specula
zion in her titular poem, reversing the conven-
tionsI interpretation OF the mood OF Artemis.
does more than anything else TO give the lines
their interest So IL is. indeed. with ell OF the
verses here brought together. The writer's
thought rather than her form Is what touches
.ne imagination This. too. in spite of the fact
that Mrs Wharton is not only solicitous of her
STYLE but in easy control of it. Her lines
well polished and at the time sufficiently
elastic What NE miss is charm IF diction. the
Set Of emotion which tulhls itself in the inevi-
table word or phrase. the happy figure. the orig
snal and nelodious passage. Here is charac-
1eristic piece:
THE ONE GRIEF
One grief there Is. the heIpnleet of my heart
That snail not from me tllI my Gays 6e speZ'
That walks beside in sunshine and in shade,
And hath in all my fortunes equal part
Al first I feared Il, and would often start
Aghas: 10 find II bending or my bed
TIL usage slowly dued the edge of dread,
kno cold night cried HoW tCdrnt thou d74'
Since then we two have travelled hand IN hand,
And 10. my grief has been Interpreter
For ne in many a fierce and alien land
Plucking me tribute Of red gold and Tnyrrh
From desoIate whirlings OF TIE desert sand
There IS an engaging simplicity about this,
end, though the thought embodied in it brings
no new inspiration, the author wins a certain
sympathy That sympathy would go deeper il
her verse carried further and IT, without being
Jess workmanlike it were suffused by richer