The sun., 1912-07-14

The number Of household words that
an author has made familiar in mems
mouths is fair criterion Of his power
Of expression. The almost infallible
BARTLETT has, indeed, compiled page
and half Of quotations FROM Mrs.
BROWNING, but in doing so has stretched
many points upon what he himself
calls "the all important question OF
familiarity" The modern reader who
desires TO estimate Mrs. BRowNING's
poetry cannot do better than betake
himself 10 the Victorian anthology Of
PALGRAvE. almost az little fallible in his
way az BARTLETT in his. and ponder the
eight or ten selections given there. He
can hardly fail TO perceive that the
standard Of tho compilation has been
lowered to lei some of them in. The
Portuguese Sonnets. so famous in
their day. lose much in comparison
with the work of such sonneteers as
DANTE RossETTf. who hardly figures
with most readers az leader among the
Victorian poets. That which keeps its
place best, in spite Of it's somewhat old
fashioned air. is probably "The Cry of
the Children. which overran the Eng
lish speaking world at the time Of it's
production seventy years ago. before its
author had become Mrs. BROWNING.
There is far more Of lasting quality
in the poetry Of her husband. 1T 10 too
vital not to be viable.' True, the poet
did not take pains enough with his work.
manship to justify always or often call
ing it artistry, and pity 'tis 'tis true
There is SO much fire and 80 much life
in the work that it deserves the added
grace Of flames great antiseptio. style.
There is 80 much, indeed, that the poet
recalls the minor Elizabethans, meaning
all the Elizabethans but SHAKESPEARE.
But In BROWNING We get, as 90 seldom
in any modern. the pellmell Of SHAKE
sPKARE's men and women" He saw
life steadily and saw it whole" but he
was too apt to set down the record OF his
vision with headlong haste to be &C.
cepted as one Of the masters Of poetic
form. Hence it has been said that his
work is rather an accumulation Of poetic
material than poetry. The thyme
and marjoram are not vet honey" Ten
NYsoN said of him that il the pronuncia-
ton Of the English language were for
gotten BROWNING would be the great
est Of English poets, as having treated
the greatest variety Of subjects in a
powerful manner. II seems as if the
power Of swift improvisation which
BROWNING SO eminently had was in
compatible with the power of deliberate
selection which belongs to the poetic
artist. And yet there are instances to
the contrary in BROWNING There is
one striking and noble instance in that
"One Word More. the dedication of his
Men and Women to his wife. in which,
as he tells us in the course of il. he aban-
dOned for once his habitual way Of
working:
Take these lines. look lovingly and nearly.
He who works in fresco steals hair brush.
Curbs the liberal hand. subservient proudly.
Cramps his spirit. crowds its all in little.
Makes strange art OF an art familiar.
Fills his lady's missal marge with nowerets.
lie who blows through bronze may breathe
through silver.
Fifty serenade slumbrous princess.
He who writes may write for once as do"
Many lovers Of poetry and admirers
Of BROWNING may wish that he had
written thus more than -once. and may
incline to believe that the poem in which
he did himself violence by subjecting
himself to an unwonted and irksome
restraint will remain the most lasting
memorial Of both the BRowNINGs.