New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-06-17
Recent Poetry by MauriCesHew-
lett and Others.

of Hippolytms. Emo. PIP. ri, 235 Charles
Scribner's Sons.
THE NEW HESPERIDES And Other
Poems BY Joel Elias Spingarn. l2mo'
pp. 60 The Sturgis a. Walton Company
soNNETS FOR CHOICE. BY Margaret
Chanler Aldrich. limo, pp. VII. o.
Monat. Yard & CO.
THE TOWN DOWN THE RIVER. A
Book OF Poems BY Edwin Arinstoh
Robinson. 12mo. pp. les Charles Scrip
THE COLLECTED POEMS OF MAURICE
Barring. l2mo. pp. VII. &C. The Jonn
Lane Company.
BEIJ, AND WING. BY Frederick flaming
Aver Alto, pp. VIII, 1866. G. T. futha"
Sons.
oRpHEUs. AND OTHER POEMS. BY
willis Hall Vittum: limo. pp. Il. Dos
ton Richard G. Badger.
THROUGH DUST TO LIGHT. Poems from
an Apprenticeship: BY Robert naien.
tine Heckscher. l2mo, pp. 10y bosloh
Sherman, French co.
AS a rule in modern poetry the classi-
cal and the romantic have been at Dag
gers drawn. but this is an eclectic age
and the clever thing is TO harmonic the
most diverse moods. We are sopnisu-
Gated by nature, and. above all. we are
widely read. Literature. quite as much
as feeling, has a part In our poeticdI
transactions. Hence the mixed appear
Of a volume like The Agonists' MT
Hewlett notes in a brief introouctioh
that he composed the three pieces FORM
INC the work some twelve or fifteen
voars ago. We knew him then for
uholehearted romanticist and FOR
bookish soul. Now, although. we gamer
he has handled and rehandled MS an
cient tales. they preserve just the same
atmosphere that is characteristic or MS
more recent writings-they reflect
GREAT love Of the pagan mythology ana
they are. into the bargain. full OF the
hot emotion and rich color with which
We have been made familiar in his most
adventurous novels. Incidentally, the
simple unity Of Thought, emotion ana
,tvle which characterizes the born poet
has escaped Mr.. Hewlett.
lie is one OF those who have poetic
dreams and fancies, who can kindIe 10
= poetic ambition. but 10 whom the pure
,netic power has been denied. lie can
roetize a novel but not poem Wheh
nc uses verse the diabolically accom-
,bsbcd artifcer in him comes bravery 10
The surface. bravely but without much
roetic inspiration. Here In passage
from THE Death of Hippolytus,' pas
sage in which Messenger describes the
death Of Minos. King Of Crete we nave
Mr.. Hewlett at his best:
The old King slept, .., I'D
.Q1cr md
saving IN in cold fashion. The end is nigh
Tlne We my harness. so we ulu' anu ne
Raising himself. did do on bronze anu
Sol his great helm with noddng crest
non his head. his sword TO thigh
His sceptre took, and lightning charged
And sac sat enthroned. as he were judge for
once more in Crete So silence fell
Wherein no man burst say him anything;
->o' ''' We heard the tramp of men,
The creak and groan of chariot-wheels.
And panic fell on all except on Minos'
Set mute and cold above the bed
With never glance or stir. They burst the
\ horde Of shagged. ferce-eyed and sullen
Hungry for prey. But Minos sat still,
As carved in marble a frozen king;
And no man spake nor moved Then' when
Seemed at ~ IFS high Of furious possession,
And a vast hulk OF water struck.
To shake the broad foundations OF 'he
The ranid Kins -osc slowly and spake
Saving. ~'rms is the Doom declared by
Evil was done; evil ensued; and now
Aeain upon his throne. and bowed his
head
Down to his two stiff knees, and stayed,
and died
Alone untoucht, indomitable.
The scene is as well drawn as some of
these in THE Queens QUAR-" Mr. Hew-
lett is a skilful portrait painter, and he
knows we'll how TO detach his sitter from
the background. In all that relates to
what might he described as things
seen" in fragments of spectacle, this
book is undeniably arresting. and there
ere moments in which ii is almost If not
quite poignant. But never for a moment
does the author make us feel that his
heroic themes have seized and shaken
him, that classical beauty has come TO
lie again in his pages. In the introduce
ton aforesaid he speaks of the "philo-
sophical underfow which. if have been
rightly inspired. ought TO be discernble
in my music" Music is hardly the word.
That is why we take little account of the
philosophical underNow.'
Mir. Spngarn like Mr.. Hewlett, can
use tine classical vocabulary. so 70 say,
but the impression we get from THE
New Hcsperides" is Of a poet whose sus-
ccptibnity TO Greek influences has been
fostercd not so much through com
muniOn with the Greeks themselves as
with Matthew Arnold. He has at all
events spirit. a touch, and especially
an intonatOn. distinctly recalling the
English poet We observe with pleasure.
too. his possession of that virtue Of
which Arnold made so much, both in
precept and IN practice-the virtue Of
clarity. His emotion. again. is Of re-
strained and purified kind, and in the
poem which gives his thin volume its
title he expresses patriotic ardor in just
that note of oxidation which moves us
the more through its freedom alike from
sentimentality end coldness:
O country. that Columbus sought in vain,
And seeking thee De Leon found no peace
Ior us they left the dream 10 reap and
gain
4 fsirer Golden Fleece;
For us they left the unsscended heights.
And In our lives 10 light the eternal fires.
Like pinnacled stars Of unimaglned nights.
For us they left these more than Fortunate
Isles.
Found IN the highest heaven Of our desires
And anlardcd round with nalurc.S Sweetest