The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-01-26
Verse From the Sea,
the Road, the Fam
By CONSTANCE MURRAY GREENE

Siiouiu Idit IhlO inc uduuS VI 10
viewer 10 whom Rupert Brooke's "Chan-
nef' verses are the truest Interpretation OF
The sea. An Englishman, reviewing this
anthology of Lady Sybil SCOTS, ven
lures the belief that an Englishmn sings
from the sea and others from The shore,
but he probably hadn't Rupert Brooke in
mind when no said this and meant some
thing quite different. Having Shelley,
Swinbune, Byron and Matthew Arnold
10 fall back upon and Conrad and Mase-
field right in hand makes it easy for an
Enghshman 10 east these aspersions, and
we don't mind-in fact We much prefer
singing from the shore.
It was OF the shores of Italy that Lady
Scott conceived 4 Bo0h Of the Sea, and
this, she points ont in her editors note,
accounts for the general trend of her
selections toward "the legends of Greece
rather than TO those of the North. 10
passages descriptive rather Of the influ-
encc of The wonder and beauty of the
sea on The mind of the poet than OF the
struggles Of the sailor with the wind and
waves. In such surroundings Ody'sseus
seemed more fitting companion than
Henry Martini Shelley and Matthew
Arnold more sympathetic singers than the
eighteenth century authors OF ballads and
chaunties." SO, on approaching her an
thology one should be heartened by the
knowledge that IT Is 10 have less of the
Nancy Lee type Of sea sOng and the
groaning Of the harbor bar, and more of
the light and sound and darkness Of the
sea" which Swinburnc felt.
Nine Of the ten people who feel an in
stinct;ve scepticsm toward such a volume
in the abstract viii recognize Immediately
the value of this particular work, in which
distinctive taste and a good deal of per
sonal courage have united with an almost
uncanny knowledge Of sea literature from
the earliest ages. Among the selections
from Maseiield is Sra FeCer, that haunt
ing melody as inSistcnt as the seas call
10 him:
II must 90 down 10 the seas ag~n TO the
vagrant gypsy life,
To the gulrs way and the whales way
where the winds like whcted
knife:
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a
fellow rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when
the long tricks over"
We admire the courage which is shown
in including long passages from Virgil,
the Odyssey, Euripi and poems in
French, Spanish and Italian, including
Dante in the original. OF the modern
poets, De La Mare, Robert Nichols, Mase-
field and a few others are represented.
We wish there had been more, but the
wonder is that one feels so few regrets
where there might have been SO many,
and that so tremendous an undertaking
should have been executed with such gen
eral success.
A poet is safe in singing Of children.
animals and fairies IN spite of what the
critics may say. II has become the fashion,
aid a monstrous unpleasant one in our
opinion, TO adopt jeering attitude toward
q poet who has remained simple and hu-
man through these demoralizing years. Il.
c. Lehman, whose little book, The Tagd-
bond; and Other Poems From "Panch," Is
among John Lanes new offerings in Lon
don and New York, is by no means
novice He has been on the staff of
Punch for nearly thirty years and is the
author of more books than We can NEIL
ton, including Cosrersaiiosol Hats for
Young Shooters. His verse is pleasant
and full of poetic faneies with no pre-
tence at being anything that it isn't To
him the bathing Of the Pekinese is a sub
iect for gay and amusing rhyme and he is