New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-02-06
GILBERT CANAAN
YOUNG EkRNGST?D APPLETON SCO)

this time repcntcd OF Nhe eIloI VI us
publication,
MIR. Surge Moore does not treat his
poetic gift with the proper respect 1t
is really gift TO be priced. but he
knocks il about as If it were cheap
tov. There is hardly poem IN this
volume that does not bear, in some line
or other, evidence of power, but there
Is hardly one that is not thrown out OF
Joint by some affectation, some OBJ
security, or some perverse and uncalled-
for usliness. Mr.. Moore can never say
a simple thing simply. In his holder
fights his success is sometimes tn
umphant, but when he tries to tread
the ground he seems TO seek out all
possible snares.
Take. for example, the poem called
"A Duet" which finds a place lunmer-
tied, we think in the "OYford Book o.
English Verse" How the airy. delicate
imagery of the descriptive lines is
marred by the affected simpleness OF
the refrain! And read the first stanzs
Of THE Awaited Voice:
Look, she is trenty-onc,
And straight as the mast Of a yacht!
Near her a smaller round
Is transformed as the world by the sun.
Those places where she is not
Look doleful as they look fond;
They pine as a tree that grieves
For a million Of radiant leaves.
How the success claimed by the
Drawer lines is forfeited by the too OBJ
vious effort of the fifth and sixth 10 es-
cape being trite!
in his penchsnt for turgidness and
ugliness of expression Mr.. Moore re-
minds one Of the misdeeds OF certain
modern painters. Most of his obscurI-
ties we fail TO fathom and hesitate to
condemn. since they may be subtIetles
to more responsive minds; but our eN-
perience in cases where we nave hnallN
made out the meaning raises an un-
favorable presumption. And as for the
not infrequcnt uGlinoss, for that there
is no excuse:
So lc, US crave the boon
For which Diana achcd
Before Endymion walked;
We maidens arc older than most sheep,
Though not so old as the rose-bush IS;
We are only as pretty as that
And the grammar:
"No girl need love unless she chose!
But when all is said in the way of
ccnsure, Mr.. Moore is still poet
Nothing in this volume is as remark
able as his "Sicilian Idyll" in "Geor-
gian Poetry; but number OF the
poems particularly those OF most
ethereal nature capture one by their
swift flights of imagery and their
subtle Ihythmical effects. Most charm
ing, to our fancy, are the words for
the Wind:
With the waves for hounds,
With the clouds for hawks,
] hunt the fragile ships
And scour the dry lands dips;
And my hale voice sounds
When a cavern talks.
Quick, children, hold your petticoats
down,
Or with heads in their folds YOU will
sail through the town.
When lie on the earth
For leagues flowers shake
With Joy; ! sit up, and trees
Pulse as my heart DEGREES.
And new heavens have birth
When ] sleep on a lake
Quick, children, hold your pettcoats
down, go,
Or with heads in their folds you will
sail through the town.
Mr. ". j. Dawson has not Mr.. Surge
Moore's occasional briliancy, but he
has much better habits of thought. He
has a sense for the logical structure OF
an argument and respect for the con
ventionslities OF language instincts
which are really as valuable in poetry
as they are in prose. Nor is his Ian
guage lacking in dignity. or his longer
poems, the least successful, in our
Judgment. is the first one, America;
most distinguished though not with
out certain infelicitics is AT Gre
clan Altar" tthe Christians reply TO
the neo- pagan a religious poem OF un-
usual calibre). "Blake's Homecoming"
and The Italian in Italy" are also
worthy Of note. But the poem that
pleases US best is a simpler one, THE
Wise Mans Wish" We quote two Of
the three stanzss, not because the
poem is representative, but because 1t
insists on being quoted:
A little work with time TO play,
So let me live from day 10 day.
Not too much burden lest ] give
To work the strength | need to live,