A NEW ZEALAND POET.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 342, 31 October 1908, Page 12

A NEW ZEALAND POET.

Miss Baughan's volume of poetry, Shin-gle-short. and Other Verses,' which was praised in these columns on May 16 last, as containing some of the noblest poetry over written in this country, has been accorded, extraordinarily high praise by the London "Spectator." "Shingle-short," the. "Spectator says, is "a,notable book",:—"It is authentio Colonial work, racy of the soil, and owing nothing" t-o any older models or conventions. At the same time, -it is indubitably poetry, full of fresh imagination, vivid pictures, and memorable phrases.The title-piece is the soliloquy of a: half-witted man in his bush cabin, a new version of 'Caliban upon petebos.' ' Ho makes a ■ model of a ship, rejoices in ' his ' handiwork,' is overwhelmed by its clumsiness,'' and* laments the fate which has misshapen liini..''"ln"his imperfection'he lays hold ■on* the perfection of God, and; hope awakens. . ..The/whole_ story is; told subtly and brilliantly in a, dialect which, is rough and strange, and yet essentially poetic. Admirable, too,-for its impressions of' landscape is 'Burnt Bush,' and in a very different". genre 'Early- Days' is wholly, successful/ Miss can write a stirring ballad like 'A Conquering Coward' and a beautiful pastoral-like .'.The Paddock' with equal mastery. ' Perhaps.',',she is too prone to rhetoric, .too inclined to a vague transcendentalism, ■ but these are faults which will •disappear with -time. Her work is remarkable especially for its full' inspiration. There' is 'nb' barren hammering at old themes, but .a rush of ; pictures,'..thoughts, emotions so copious as. almost to congest the verse. _ A little thinning is wanted, a little restraint, -to make the achievement complete. As it is, 'Shingle-short' seems to us almost the ''most notable poetry,,which the Empire overseas has produced of late years." This is a fine tribute to our New Zealand poet from the mbst'thoughtful and most able literary, review in, great Britain.