New-York tribune., 1919-08-09
Ernest Dowson
New Volume Published for
The Modem Library Series

POEMS AND PROSE OF ERNEST DOW
Ltveright. New York.
The makers of the Modern Library
are again to be congratulated for add
ing volume Of Dowson's poems and
prose to an already unique collection
Of books. Dowson is one of those au-
thors whom a booklover finds it we'll
nigh impossible to protect from the ac-
quisitive instinct of friends. One is
constantly buying and more constantly
missing him-a tribute to the good
taste of ones friends rather than to
their narrower integrity
Perhaps one must be deeply wound
ed before the significance of Dowson
dawns upon the mind completely, be-
cause his is a voice for those who carry
the secret scars of sorrow-for those
who have sustained loss so great that.
were its pain acute, they could not
live; but, living, have with them al
ways the consciousness Of loss
But however truly Dowson's is the
voice of sorrow, his Is even more the
that IS rarely simply sensupus, but
rather of loveliness too insubstantial,
too remote and rare, ever to be found
nm the actual world of things and men.
The sense of beauty in the poems is
always imminent, never instant It.
brings to US the romance of sorrows
and of dream desires, Of lovers that
are shadows and of love that is a!
thought
IL I
rot of the Minute" the lover of a Moon
Maiden who disappears at dawn at the
setting of the moon. His is the realm
Of moonlight and of stars, the delicacy
of the colors of the night, pearl grays.
deep violets and spreading blues.
In all his poems there is no fire, no
strong pulse Of life Instead there is
emotion expressed always with the
brevity that is the life of all emo
tions. So profound is his sense Of the
brevity of beauty that every emotion
regret even while the thrill and charm
are lingering:
Cease smiling. dearl q little while bo sad,
Here In the silence. under the wan moon;
sweet are thine eyes, but how be
glad
Knowing they change so soon7
IN the deep darkness Of thy fa1lins eh hair re
rear IS upon me and the memory
OK what Is all mems share
could this moment be perpetrrntel
Must we grow DID, and leaden-4s.yed. and
And taste no more. the wild and, passionate
Love sorrows OF to-day?
Grown old. and faded. sweet, and past
Let memory die lest there be too much
Remembering the old, exttnguished fro
or our divine, lost youth.
So Dowson is the minstrel of regret
although in no way Of the vulgar re-
gret for things done or left undbne,
but OF regret for dreams that linger in
the waking, active mind of everyday.
He is pagan in his inspiration, for
where there is beauty there can,be onlv
Pan. And the paganism, the beauty.
the emotion of his work are so subtlv
subject to appreciation as to make him
one of the most worthy of the true dis
ciples of Epicurus.
The quiet-lying sorrow for the loss
of never passionate love informs
every poem in this volume of fragile
flowers plucked from a waning life.
That love he has immortalized in
"Cynara":
cried FOR madder music and for stronger
wine,
But when tho feast is finished and the
lamps EXPIRE
Then falls the shadow. Cynaral tho night
Is thine; e'
And / am desola.e and sick OF an old
passion. ~
Yea. hungry for the lips of my desire:
nave been faithful to thee, Cynarai
in my fashion.
Nothing can be more deeply appre-
ciative of the poet than the conclusion
of Arthur Symons's introduction to the
volume: He died young, worn out
by what was never really life to him.
leaving little verse which has the
pathos OF things too young and too