THE ENGLISH ASSOCIATION.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 58, 8 March 1913, Page 13

THE ENGLISH ASSOCIATION.

The English Association stimulates literature by a yearly gathering of "Essays and Studies" written by various members. These short articles may treat a serious topic lightly, or a light topic, profoundly. They rarely fail to b.e urteresfeng, and the range of subjects and of authors satisfies a catholic taste. The third volume in series is collected by •Mr. W. P. Ker. Messrs. G. Murray, J. A. Jack, J. W. Mackail, T. S. Omond, D. W. Rannie, G. Saintsbury, and H- C. Beeching are contributors. Professor Murray's article, "What English Poetry May Still 'Learn from Greek," scintillates with fresh ideas. He suggests the superiority of Greek structure^ —its symmetry; of Greek texture— its harmony of parts; and ,of Greek piety—its persuasive and unifying effluence. His- emphases are partial; his case is not proven; but the tendency of his argument seems apt and true. An excellent article on Keats' epithets is supplied by Mr. D. W. Rannie. We notice several commentators resenting' the middle-class judgments of Matthew Arnold lecturing the Sixth Form. ous that Arnold has been praised so much for his criticism, which .deserves praise so little, and neglected for his poetry, which deserves praise so much. Mr. T. S. Omond has (for a recent complainant here) a passage upon the convertibility of silence and sound. (In a given metre) "any period which is only, partially filled with sound in one line may be. completely filled by it in another. If Browning has in one line Kentish Sir Byng stood for his king, he may in the next write: Bidding the crop-head Parliament swing, where crop-headed evidently fills the same time-space as Byng—pause (the pause being either on the syllable or after it at the reader's option)."