Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-12-02
BOOK REVIEWS.


THE EAaLY ..rE.AE1 cA 1,.EI ,e OF
lures. BY Thomas r. Lounsbury.
e! 4. H. D., LII. D.. professor emeritus
~ of. English in Yale University. New
~ York: Charles Scribners Sons.
Washington: Woodward & Lothrop.
n. these lectures on the early career
Of Robert Browning, Mr.. Lounsbury
becomes human rapier. flashing.
81 thrusting, striking off sparks against
a very young man straining to make
dramatic poetry-a dull and clumsily
handled tool. In no time at all he runs
the youth through leaving him dead-no
atarnatist no poet of perdurable quality,
q. comp etc obscurantist welded to the
yphinx and solemnIy dull to the joke OF
bis own existence. 1t is brilliant per-
torrance, one that. upon the whole, sug-
gests the arena and scarlet rags, with
SOME heavy bovine thing set off against
an adroit and agile matador. With the
patience and pains of the man practced
IN research, Mr.. Lounsbury gathers the
toll nlea sure Of critical opinions that
sprang quickly around the efforts OF MT.
Rrnwning to write dramatic poetry. These
opinions buttresS the present claim
against the poet They, moreover. COM
piexion him as prevaricator. Again they
serve as, the source of supply Tor tne
food for the good story without Wnich
the purveyor of ideas to the common
public can make no Roadway. There Is
the good old story of Mrs. Carlyle, who
read ~''Sordello quite through without
Being able to say whether sa Sordell ns was vas
equally good old one of Douglas Jerroid
who tried to read the same poem during
1 period Of convalescence; after Strug-
xIffig fruit essly to make head or tail of
* ha nlr
Odd, am an IDIOT" Laughable stories
aud ones of special point to those VINO
companion the Carlyles and the Jerrolds
In EFFORTS to decipher Browning. When
Mr.. Lounsbury gets ready to show why
these poems are not drama, he changes;
ne becomes constructive, impersonal lie
deals more with the work. less with the
worker With notions of the drama
standardized by the classic point of view,
with a wealth of literature for illustra-
ton and affirmation, with the toos OF
critical analysis keen. he cuts a cream
line of dramatic evaluation. One casts
about for the undercurrent OF diSsatls-
faction at this unqualifiedly dazzling per-
formance This discomfort rises, more
than likely. from the fact that during
r4le bulk of this performance Browning
Is placed before his work. his personality
Is kept wildly to the front with high
light turned upon the idiosyncracies OF his
temperament. Naturally, following this
lead. the reader: little by little, turns
into the champion of an archaeological
:ombatant
MARTIN LUTHER: The Man and His
work. BY Arthur Cushman McGif-
Merit New York: The Century
Company.
Arthur Cushman McGiffert has here
treated q famous and worthy subject
with distinction and power Many lives
tf Luther have been written. Many will
be. Luther is a compelling figure to the
1tudent Of history and to the writer of
1fau1atic cast. 1t is doubtful, however,
II an6ther will soon again strike the rea-
$1uable ba'ance of measurement SO con-
efncing1y used by Mr.. McGiffert in the
present biography. Out of this mastery
Treatment Luther energies first as a
man, and, as q man he continues to the
end. II is upon this foundation of man
hood that both the priest and the REFORM
er are built. and in much clearer de-
gree than hitherto are understood. The
author measures Luther by his knowl-
edge Of human nature. mans human ma
t.fpe., and by complete grasp of the
facts and the meanings of Luther's en-
Sfrunment of time and circumstance. This
etory Is big and bold and human. AS
Souiethfng to look at the volume Is con-
spicuously worth while-a handsome, SUBJ