Evening star., 1928-10-13
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the Booklorer

before his appointment to the laureate
ship, in 1918, soon after the death OF
Alfred Austin, that nearly every one,
at least in the United States, asked,
Who is he? What has he written?'
If American lovers Of poetry had been
asked to make the award, probably
Kspling or Alfred Noyes would have
received the title and the honors per-
tanning thereto. Yet the poetry OF
Robert Bridges. slight in volume, is not
without distinction. Born in 1914.
Bridges was educated at Eton and
Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Like
many another literary man, ne studleo
and practiced medicine before turning
to letters. His published works inciude
several essays and the following volumes
of poetry: THE Growth of Love.
"Prometheus the Firegiver," Eros and
Psyche" Nero" "Palicio." Ulysses" ("
"Christian Captives," Achilles In Scy-
ros." "Humors of the Court" Feast OF
Bacchus." "Demeter" and October and
other Poems" He has also prepared
several anthologies of English verse.
From the list of his published works it
appears that he is writer OF dramas
as we'll as lyric poetry. In his dramatic
writing his scholarship is evident
knowledge of history and OF the classics
shows in all of them. They are not,
however, mere pedantic exercises. Uni
versal human experience and emotion
animate the historical framework In
the two plays on Nero, the degenerate
emperor, whom tradition has repre-
Sented to us as an unequaled monster,
appears as an understandable human
being, torn by ambition, caprice and
cruel impulses. but trag1cally aware OF
his own evil nature and his isolation
from normal life. The Greek inspired
plays, Achilles in Scyros," Prone
theus the Firegiver" and THE Return
of Ulysses" are not entirely conven-
tional. Ulysses experiences all the nat
ural feelings of an ordinary man on
returning to his beloved Ithaca and
his family and taking up, after so many
years of absence, the pleasant routine
among the familiar home surroundings.
Even Prometheus, perSonification of the
arrogance which assumes divine at
tributes and pays the penalty, becomes
almost human when he SympathlzeS
with the nightmare Sufferings of 10.
X X 4
The lyrical poems of Robert Bridges
are, however, probably his best work.
Sometimes very simple, sometimes so
artificial as to be almost affected, his
poetry is of no one style. In some of
his blank verse there is an approxima-
ton to the most prosaic of ordinary
conversation; in some of his lyrics there
is musical quality equal to that of
Tennyson. Bridges is not, like Burns,
an instructive poet. His knowledge of
prosody and of music is extensive, and
his rhythm and meter are studied. His
metrical variety is almost as great as
TennySon's. More than 80 metrical
forms appear in his lyrics. The deep
est emotion Is not to be found in
Bridges poetry. Passion, whether of
love or grief, is always measured. Moth
ing is in excess. Neither is there the
highest intellectual quality. as in
Browning and Matthew Arnold. His
philosophy offers no revelation, no rea-
soned faith, like Browning's; no stern
stoicisn, like Matthew Arnold's. 1t is
a quietist philosophy-serene accept
ance of the joy and sorrow of life, with
the belief that on the whole the Joy
will outweigh the sorrow. Bridges de-
votion to England is reflected in all his
poetry. Sometimes it is patriotic en-
thusiasm for the idea of empire; some
times it is pure love for the English
countryside. its winding roads and
Towering hedges, its green hills and
placid lakes, its black headlands lashed
by foaming breakers. Like most British
poets. Bridges has experimental with
the sonnet. His sonnets in the Sc
quence THE Growth of Love" are
among his earlier works and show con-
siderable irregularity of form and no
high level of thought or feeling.
Y y X X
Struthers Burt is tired of being
ifld0nd hU Y1opN-fnIIOuy rodIY1 cI-
Europeans-who do not like America,
who do not understand it. and who
take no pains to find out what it is"
Many who feel as he does will enjoy
his book, THE Other Side" He does
not know which he dislikes worse-the
patronizing attitude of some foreigners
toward America or the apologetic man.
ner Of some Americans when speaking
of their own country to foreigners or
even among themselves. He finds with
out any logical warrant and extremely
obtuse in its psychology the idea that
whatever the American, or Canadian.
or Australian thinks or does is ipso
facto immature; whatever the European
does Is ipso facto adult" People are
very much the same, thinks Mr.. Burt,
whether their domicile be the United
States, or England, or Continental
countries. There are in all countries
the educated and the uneducated, the
refined and the vulgar. the modest and
the boosters, the cultured and the crude,
the wise and the foolish, the law-abid-
ing and the criminal The thesis of
the book Is expressed in the quotation.
II will admit without hesitation or
reservation that We are a young, crude,
barbaric, folly-ridden, uncomfortable
people. I will admit that we are of
mongrel breed; that we have a mania
for speed, size. mass and money, and
that the thoughtful, gentle and intelli-
gent are in the proportion of about 10
to every 1000. I will admit that we are
grasping, imperialistic, selfish, bombas-
tic and swept by passion and Senti-
mentality. will admit anything derog-
atory that any one has to say and
having admitted all this, what have l
done? Why, have described America
and every other country in the world"
Probably because of their sad, lonely
lives and early deaths. more than on
account of their literary work, the three
Bronte sisters have always been favor
lite subjects of the biographers A re-
cent biography is The Life and Pri-
vate History of Emily Jane Bronte,"
by Romer Wilson. The title sounds
suggestive of much adventure, but poor
Emilys adventures we're all those of the
imagination, except the great adven-
ture of her heroic struggle with death.
This is spiritual biography by an au-
thor who is a native of the same York
shire moors which Emily Bronte walked
upon with her sisters when they were
living in the gloomy Haworth par
sonage. Enily'S novel, "Wuthering
Heights" is the expression of all the
IF hnr fo I1ov -.
her loneliness. her Illustration. The
character of Heathcliff in the novel has
sometimes been identified with Emily's
brother, Branwell, but Miss Wilson re-
pudiates this idea. He is. she considers,
a symbol for Emily herself. He "cries
at the same time I am free and I am
damned and has nothing but the