The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-12-19
Woodby le Kings Crown Colt

Y (seated at the left), and the council
with their wealth of critical knowledge both
as to the lives and works Of the various
writer's, Mr.. Woodberry so often in few
lines gives the gist Of the matter. AS Illus
tration take these from the Scott: THE nov
elist does not aim at tale of individual for
tunes but endeavors to represent kind of
life 1t is this that gives him breadth OF
meaning. 1t is social, not private life that
he sets forth" I'm the national tenn
permanent in its action in history be found
two great emotions-the passion of loyalty,
which was incarnate in the cavaliers and
clans and the enthusiasm OF religion which
filled the Covenanters." 1T belonged
to Scott's conception Of life that character
and act should be in perfect equipoise."
1.-The impression of all he creates is of hobil-
ity such nobility as is within the
reach of most men, to honest and brave,
tender and strong, simple, true and gallant.
fair to foe and faithful to our own"
Similarly we find pregnant sentences in
the essay on Milton: 1.-THE key to Millions
intellectual life lies in his Renaissance train
ing though the fact Is obscured by the
purtanical matter of his tastes; personal
force, such as he raised to heroic proper
tons in Satan was his ideal; personal lib
erty in all its forms was the thing nearest
to his heart" OF Millions earlier poetry,
locking in mosaic sweet sights and har-
monies of the natural world, the mellowness
of idyllic AMI elegiac art, the crystal purity
of the air of garden and grove, as in some
northern italian night" While Of Paradise
Lost" this: "Hebraic solemnity and direct
ness. the Pindaric loftiness of flight give to
the poem that quality that it holds unshared
with any other epic-sublimity ~. IL
/ were to sum up In a single expression the
49, dfCa rcff nm
l should say that poem so dilates the
mind; by so doing it gives scale to life-the
scale of infinity."
From the magnificent, essay on Shake
speare the following passages may be chosen
to Indicate Mr.. Woodberry's grasp of both
the author and his works: This objectivity,
this self -effacement in art this interest in
the story of life, his absorption in LIES
movement, in action, is Shakespeare's gift
of greatness. 1t explains his limitations.
Spirituality, properly speaking, the celestial
immortality of mans nature, is not found in
Shakespeare either in character, thought or
aspiration The religious life sleeps in his
works, and many a generation will marvel
at ii. He was interested in life, the action
of life, and that is a thing confined to this
world" This Is Shakespeare's posi-
ton; he was the flower of the aristocratc
ideal of life; he was the crest of the Renais-
sance; he was the incarnate spirit of that
mighty power of life to live nightly which
belongs to the aristocratic ideal as right
of nature and was the passion of the Renais-
sance in history. "IIe saw above
all else the dramatic mystery of life.
"He is the spirit of life made manifest in its
own dramatic motion. imprisoned embodied
and unveiled in art"
The Essay on Virgil Is a Mountain-Peak
in Appreciations of Epic Poetry
The essay on Swinburne is. in some ways,
the most consummate and In others the least
satisfactory of these great papers. Mr..
Woodberry seems too much aware Of the
ease with which Swinburne has been and
ever can be attacked by lesser critics, and
thus becomes involved in omissions The
analysis is superb as far as 1t goes. and Mr..
Woodberry has made ii possible to feel
Swinburnes mind guided by the precon-
ceptons of his Greek studies and the revo-
lutionary impetus of his native genius He
has even succeeded in the difficult task OF
showing how the poet of passion may al
times be one with the poet of righteous
ness" Passion and fate and nature are
masterfully revealed as the three mono
chords in Swinburne's verse and Swinburne's
poetry itself is quoted through many pages
Of the essay; very wisely, for the surginG
melody of Swinburne's verse is incom-
parable among the Victorans. But Mr.,
Of subject matter, and from the point OF
view of his fellow human beings that mar
rowness Of vision which explains the small
ness of Swinburne's audience despite the
wonder of his words
We come finally to the Virgil Mr.. Wood
berry begins with the statement that Virgil
Is that poet whose verse has had the most
power in the world" while on the concluding
page he writes The 'Aened is, think, the
greatest single book written by man because
OF its inclusiveness Of human life, of life long
lived, in the things of life" Beyond these
quotations we shall not 60 and of this essay
where Virgils charm. pathos and majesty
are dwelt upon inca series OF judgments and
expositions that have no parallel in our lit
erature. we can only say almost with bateo
breath, that IL marks not alone the height OF
Mr.. Woodberrys inerpretative and creative
criticism. but, excelling Arnold's essay or
Homer and Lowell's on Milton. Is the great.
est Of all essays on epic poetry.