The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-05-07

an al his poetry as actudls =
j.: folk to deny the tendeH'y -
lesSness III his WORK. ms - ,n--
str.tint. his inability 70 revise 80
4ai.. that az wrote. Csnnot De Sdlh-
o.;a Il was only when Ne Trans
ccndpd his limitations that ne Wa
the great poet. h,.j
what is not always reailZed nS
critics who make this point i ~
,a,y large body Of poetry that Is ltit
,ftar ali deductions haze been made
There ar. at least one hundred OF l1s
shorter poems tina We cannon oS "H'
md let die. and Of his longer
poems The Blot in q Scutcheon, II
q Balcony "Pippa Passes, "
celsus" and a large part OF the fihs
and the Book" Will stand the lesic
one thing further must be sara 81
some Of his more dltticult poems.
they will always be Of value to those
who want to know HIM ~nofouSiils
Take "Sordello." for instance-per-
haps the obsc'lrest poem ever "F1-
ten. one may admit the tal lorct
Of The o~ft-quoted jests that nave peeh
r.rn.trated at it's expense and yet
with the aid OF Professor DoWden or
Siopford Brooke. hear Sordello story
told. And when he has. he gets, pc
sides a number OF as fine passages as
Browning ever wrote. q conception OF
the poets work and early
4 StIcl "a ne Will seen EiS' =
vain. The same may be sara OF
pauline" 'Fifine at the FAIR ETC.,
but draw the line at Prince
Hohenstiel ~Scnwangau,' "PacchiArot-
to-" Mr.. Sludga the Medium, and
other poems that have a certain intel
~lectual interest out count for nothing
) as poetry.
The fact is Browning's real deyotees
must wish that many or ms poems
had never seen the light and that
+ many lines in even his best poetry
had been blotted. One inevitably
; com pares him with Tennyson in this
respect, as in SO many others. In al
that pertains to substance,
q is far and away ahead OF I~ennyson-
. in spontaneity, in range or obserVa-
ton and Of imagination, in originality
and Siri!ity. In all that pertains te
q form the reverse is true.
scarcely ever wrote a line that was
not Enthusiastically good poetry. Will
+ Browning could write pages whicf
q were Enthusiastically bad poetry
Emerson says hat il is difficult t.
f state one truth without doing violence
10 some other truth, and it is certain
IS difficult to state the merits of on
Of these poets without doing v%iolenc'
Il to the other. The only right way i
TO take each poet for hat he i
= worth. Goethe said to Eckerrnanr
" no told him that the Gernan natlO7
WAS divided into two hostile camp
as to the relative merits of GOeth
II and Schiller. Lei them cease thei
a 0uarreIing and han God they hav
" two such poets" That's the solutio
Of many Of the conflicts between liter
airy factions.
IN When all reservations have bee
ie mad with regard to Browning, whe
~ we have compared him with all Oth'
ne poets, there is still good reason Il
&c enthusiastic praise n even hOmag
40 To many men the reading Of h
en- poetry has been epochal. for it h;
brought them a new heaven and
ns new earth. 1t is difficult for them
a adopt the language Of cool criticism
the glory Of the sum Of his poet
I'M will flash along the chords and g
ne Why he appeals to so many ! shs
IN now try to answer briefly. merely Su
m costing some of the most salient cha
ne acteristics Of the man and the poet.
h First Of all, Browning was a mar
:. sided man: he touched life at almc
- every point. One does not hesita
~ to apply to him the epithet used
~ Shakespeare by Coleridge-myria
~ minded. Physically. he was like
high-bred, quivering animal. alive
80 every nerve: he knew the wild jC
- or living of which the young Da,
How good is mans life, the mt
tS living! how fit to employ
All the heart and the soul and
all AS' 2 ~ IVY
It was natural that he should
han .nS ~ a. 20 90
~ his nature. 'friend-making, friel
for cI,na n a.M c .1a' q
ppa Of the world, Of society-in the b
US sense OF the word. Landor's "
his Hho" aU,rI"S.. ~. -
eral 49,, ~ - 49,
wn- 80 nI@t VI
ton na 49, ..q ha, = - 80