The New York herald., 1922-05-14
By STANTON A. cOBLENTZ.

M astronomy, has it's tempo
rary stars? Why do certain
authors. like those new heavenly
bodies that occasionally dazzle the OBJ
server. burst suddenly into brightness
of the first magnitude and almost as
suddenly subside Ill near the limit of
visibility? The history of literature
presents numerous instances of such
writer's, and one and all are cause for
wcnder and speculation. Once having
attained to brilliance. why do they
ever grow dim again? What subter-
ranean forces are at work undermin-
ing their power and their vitality?
Is Mary Wilkins. Famous
Woman, Writing Still?
Take. for example. Mary z. Wilkins
Freeman, whose stories of New Eng
land life brought her wide recognition
toward the close of the nineteenth
century. What is the matter with
Mary wilkins? is a. question critics
have been asking for some time. For,
almost Immediately following the au-
thor's marriage in 1902, deteriora-
tion was to be noted in the quality of
her work Her New England Nun"
first published in 1891, is a master
piece of delicate Characterization; her
Debtor and other stories of decade
or more later prove that her pen had
lost something of it's skill and her
touch had surrendered something Of
its finesse. This is the general view
of critics, but there is no consensus
of opinion as to the reason. Is it that
married life had a hampering effect
and diverted the authors best powers
into channels other than literary? Is
il that the burden of domestic duties
interfered with the urge of literary
creativeness. curbing and bunting the
authors talent beyond repair? Is it
that there was some alluring but
subtly poisonous essence bred by mat
rimony, checking ambition and foster
ing a paralyzing contentment? Is 1t
that Miss Wilkins's ordered plan Of
life was fatally interrupted by mar
riage, as was threatened for her own
New England Nun" and that she
could never afterward quite regain
that balance and repose essential for
good writing? Or is 1t merely that
the decline in her work happened to
be coincidental with her marriage. that
she had already expended the best that
was i'm her and that tho decline was
bound to take place in any event?
And tEere is the case OF the poet
Wordsworth. Throughout the greater
part of his lifetime OF eighty years
Wordsworth was constantly turning
out verse. and in his later career he
was no less prolific than in his earlier
days: yet by the time he was thirty
seven his greatest works had been
and his remaining years
were devoted to poetry which. while
good. did not conform to his previous
standard. Indeed. IL is safe TO say
that had Wordsworth died at the age
Df thirty-seven he would be accorded
a higher relative rank among the Eng
lish poets, for by that time he had
his famous "Ode on Init
Of Immortality" his "Ode 20
Duty" "Tintern Abbey" "The Prel-
ude." and all OF his great sonnets and
lyrics Why is it that, i'm the forty
three years of active literary work
that remained TO him he never quite
equalled the accomplishments Of his
youth? In some mysterious way the
essence OF his genius seems to have
escaped and evaporated. the keen blade
Of abiyty appears TO have been ir-
as,siably dulled; it was as IL the fire
had burnt out. and only the embers
remained, TO glow dimly for a while
and then expire.
II is interesting TO note TINT Words
woi tn. like Mary Wilkins, was married
some time before the deterioration in
his work began TO be noticeable. In his
case there was a lapse Of five years,
period too long TO demonstrate any
absolute connection. and yet too short
tc imply that all connection was lack