The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-07-09

that in the poems Of Robert South
well are to be found no fewer thah
twelve distinct Ne~rse-schemeS- Inc
forms most extensively used py hlHl
Were:l. SiX-line iambic pentameter
stanza. rhymina: a. b. a. b. {, c. This
is the Arrangement used
st. Peters Complaint. :. lamhlc
heptameter couplet, in which "A
burning Babe was written. 5. Four
line stanza dimes ]. 2, and !, lamblc
trimeter: line 3, iambic tetrameteT),
rhyming: a. b.. G. b. An example or
this form is to found in "Content and
Rich. Southwells verses are as
good in general external quality as
they are varied in form. In metrlcal
accuracy he easily exCels many or
his conteYnp orarieS whose works are
today much more widely read thah
his. His rhymes also are good, eNtn
such slight lapses as 'course-Worse
being rare. Unfortunately. however,
he has. like other Elizabethan poets.
| spoiled the grace and euphony Of
many of his lines by the use Of harsh
alterations. For instance. he ex-
claims in st. Peters Complain
"Shun not the shelf of most deserved
shame. In another poem he SAYS:
Who lives in love, loves least TO I'VE
And even worse is the following: Sad
subject Of my sin hath stoard my
mind. He is also given to the use
Of extraNagant hyperbole, as note:
Fair Absalon's soul faults compared
with mine are brightest sands TO mud
Of SOdOm Lakes or Your coolest
summer gales are scalding sighings.'
And the following passages afford
examples of the badly mixed meta
phors to be found in his works: The
steps where Jesus breathed and trod'
and,
Il WreStle not with rage
While fury's flame dot burn:
1t is in vain to stop the stream
Until the tide doth turn
Passing from the external to the in
ternal. let us consider the philosophy
of Robert ~Southwell. There has
never been a poet. perhaps, whose at
titude toward life and the things
worth while has been more clearly
and consistently brought out in his
work than is the attitude Of South
we'll. To him. the world is a dreary.
~0esolate place. whose pleasures are
essentially bad: while happiness is
to be sought and expected only In the
life that lies beyond the grave. In
deed this doctrine Of other-Word11-
ness is SO pronounced in his work.
that but for a certain gaudy quality
which it possesses. and for his fire.
NuSIl W III AHd1 AAH
writings might easily be mistaken for
those of some very Jealous Puritan.
, 1t is certainly regrettable that so tine
a poetic artist as SOuthWell was sc
bound by a f~allacious religious con
ception as to be able to sing in only
one Strain-a mournful strain. How
!. much more broad and lasting might
have been his fame. had he been able
to 20 beyond the somber c%loister
. out into the bright sunshine Of tn
world which is so rich. SO keenl,
alive with beauty. And hat a los
the world would have sustained. hat
o the genius Of a Goethe or a Words
worth been confined within the limit
8 of a philosophy such as SOuthWells
How shall we ella ssify Robert South
g well as a writer? Assuredly he can
: not be regarded as belonging TO an,
y one Of three great sources Of Eliza
bethan or renaissance literature tn
: court. the university, the church
For with the court he had nothin
.s in common; he received none of hi
education at either Of the two grea
English universities: and the churc
20 for which he labored SO earnest
- represented doctrines essentially re
Nv dictionary to Anglicanism. MoreOVe1
+, he was. SO far as is known, neve
associated Intimately with any othe
literary man of his day. The fat
m Inat ne 1ell INTO the common EllZe
! bethan error Of making alliteratiOT
: and in~cOngruous metaphOr might
first Dpea significant. but in vie
of SouthwelFs having received all
IL his higher education at Continent;
seats of learning. it seems certain tn;
~, he borrowed his artificialities fro
10 old French rhe~toriuueurS, such
Cretin.
il But S~outhwelrs influence upon lat
~ y 49,, I@~- ~ 100 Nc ~ "a
In many of the poems which appea
of ed within a short time after h
he death. there is an unInistakable te
MS dency TO cop him both in form al
in subiect-matter. An especial
n good example of this imitation is G
n fered by Thomas Nashe's Chris
n Tears over Jerusalem. And mu,
les of the poetry of Francis Quarles,
in generation later, is Strikingly like tn
"a OF S~outhWell More noteWOrtf