The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1913-09-12

Poets" one OF the most minute and
Illuminating contributions ever made
to the study of English metric gen.
orally, and especially to that OF Mil
tons blank verse. Influenced largely
by the work OF the late w. J. Stone
OF Radley college. he has written q
large number OF poems In which the
quantities OF the syllables rather than
their accents are the essentials. OF
this extremely difficult sort OF writ
Ing. which can never be thoroughly
appreciated except by those inti-
nately familiar with Greek and
Latin poetry. a good example Ia the
Peace Ode,' written in June. 1sv1,
on the conclusion OF the Boer war.
Ii Is unrhymed and In Alcaics.
When we think of Alfred Noyes'
stirring celebration OF peace and OF
the hearty songs In which RudyArd
Kipling and Henry Newbolt have
glorihed British victories, then Mr..
Bridges Alcaics seem little but aca-
demic exercises.
Interesting to students Of the sub
ject as are Mr.. Bridges experiments
In classical meters, II IL on his work
done In the familiar English rhythms
that he must depend for popular es-
TEEN. The following poem has few
eccentricities of form and its appeal
Ia undeniable. This and the other
verses quoted are taken from THE
Poetical Works of Robert Bridges"
published by the Oxford University
Press)
A Passerey.
Whittier. o splendid ship, thy white
sails crowding,
Leaning across the bosom Of the
urgent west,
That fearest nor sea rising. and what
they quest?
As soon. when winter has all our
Wales opprest,
When skies are cold and misty and
hail Ii hurting,
Wilt thou glide on the blue Pacific
or rest
In a summer haven asleep. thy white
sails furling!
there before there, in the country
that we'll thou knowest,
Already arrived. am inhaling the
odorous air:
I watch thee enter unerringly where
thou goest,
And anchor queen Of the strange
shipping there.
Thy sails for awnings spread, thy
masts bare;
Nor is aught from the foaming reef
to the snow-capped. grandest
nDAl L. hat 10. W -
palms more fair
Than thou. 30 upright. 30 stately, and
still thou standest.
And yet. o splendid ship. unhailed
and nameless.
know not II, aiming q fancy,
rightly diyine
-ra". xwt .paEvose Joyful. q
G--.Se bIamel6ss, -
Thy port assured in q happier land
than mine.
But for all l have given thee, beau
ty enough Is thine.
AS thou, aslant with trim tackle and
shrouding.
From the proud nostril curve Of
prow's line
III the OmnB SCattereSt roam, tiny
white sails crowding.
Perhaps the most sympathetic and
illuminative essay that has been writ
ten on the subject Of Mr.. Bridges
poetry 10 that of Arthur Symons,
which appeared In The Monthly Re-
view In July. 1901. and was later In
cluded In Studies In Seven Arts"
John Lane Coz. This il q poets
appreciation Of poet; there IL little
In Mr.. Bridges poetry with which
Mr. Symons finds fault, and seldom,
even when writing Of his beloved
Symbolists of Paris, has he been
Yet Mr.. Symons' description of the
writing of the new Laureate Is not
such as would attract multitude of
readers. Mr.. Bridges appears to
me In his Shorter Poems" he
writes, Ito be alone In our time az O
writer of purely lyric poetry, poetry
which aims at being an embodied
JOY calm rapture" Now, calm
rapture" IL lovely phrase, but It
does not greatly move the public.
even the poetry-reading public. Per-
haps this is the very reason that
Robert Bridges Is 50 little known,
while poets less gifted have mighty
audiences--his rapture" is too
calm"
symons' Opinion.
Much Of Mr.. Symons' essay Is
worthy of attention, not only as
criticism but as literature. In the
first paragraph he sounds his key
note of laudation. "Here Is an artist
80 scrupulous that beauty itself must
come only In sober apparel. Joy only
walking temperately, sorrow without