SWINBURNE AS A MASTER OF METRE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 526, 5 June 1909, Page 9

SWINBURNE AS A MASTER OF METRE.

The English newspapers received by the > . ast two'mails aro naturally 'overflowing >i • with appreciations of •. and- tho " ■ monthlies will Vfollow;'with articles, upon, the j deajd' .The Vmbst. 'striking fact about ) these, articles -i3f:'tho' r magriificence "of 'the . .. chorus -with' which- Swinburne lias, , claimed one of .the" great ones of tho world s ] ■ smgors.. From a rich mass of writings, " select,/ not', a - glowing.;eulogy, - but contri- i \.. 'bution!to,'tho\ ;, 'Spectatorj" ,in_which oneas- 1 pect of; Swinburne's .poetry ;is ■ particularly i dealt with. OnlyreaKlovers and long-stu- ( dents of his work ..'will enjoy, the ' Spec- j . tator's" article to tlio full but it. cannot i fail';to'interest';veryidieply every .general . .lovor'of Bntish'Thyme:—i ■!, . ' By the' death of'\Mr. - Swinburne a,great name isiost to contemporary , literature. \\e ' say "name" advisedly/ for Mr. Swinburne s '/, :tribiito' to'that literature',was finished, and it was in no sense likely that he would add ■•-'■■/■ to" his ppetic' aOhiovenle'nt; ' He'was rather a . survival', of :'i'.the -. Victprian, age . than an , active force in the verse of-the present age ; ■-.'v 1 ; That fact ..makes it easier. to cstimaw his ' place ia English' poetry-than if his genius > was still iiii; process /of;,development, and his 'poetio methods of; active ( V v controversy. Tile- essentially fact about; Mr. j .Sirinburrie- isthat;lie''was.a learned, poet, { ■. ;' -'learned simply. in' tho literatures '/of ancient and modern : time's,/^rid. especially.,in ~ '.;''' .. English'literature/ but .learned .perhaps;-in' a higher degreo than any. of ; his contempo- ..• raries^or.'predecessors in the/lore ;and science i of verse./ Mr. Swinburne has/been, praised as < , a great master of melody:.but hcreLEL.lies an j ■ ' / error; - He' 1 was a' great; master of metro \ XV'.-.rather.than/of.. melody; if by:metody we mean, j as we- should, the natural :■ and, inevitable son so '.<of niusio in words; f. Mr. .Swinburne * , understood'/ how -to use.: every' metrical devico that\had ever been. a-ttemptcd in./ English verse, but he was not born, with that nielo- : dious instinct/ which belonged supremely to' j Shakespeare, and in a less degree to Words- , ■".'■worth, to Coleridgo,, and to Tennyson. Wo ] do not, of course, mean by this that. Mi , .. Swinburne - had ; not. S an,. extraordina.nly' acuto . car. -No man ever had one more acute. But j his wcr^'produced:.by/a. corf- j - Bcidus,'or/even a',mechaiical, .process, rather, , thiln by an inborn and. unconscious ; feeling . for rhythm and harmony. >That is why "lis ■■■ ■ )■■■'.'■ / verse, which : at first astonishes: us'by its' per'fection 0f... sound, in .the'.end is apt ..to .weary. : and prow, unsatisfying/'A,There is too. much . / artifice and! too .little/inspiration. : tK6 .' dilferenco .between" '••••" : ■ ■■ ' "On such a'night V .'' ./'.'/ ■;■'. Stood Dido with a'willow in'her, hand." ,': .. jrtld /-/■, J.; } .'-r,"Maiden and Now foldedTri/' the flbwerless"'.fields of, Heaven" use. of tho ; teh-syllable ■ lieroic : couplet./' -If we read four. br : -fivo' distiches,/; say,, of tho ■; Prelude to Tristram-of Lyonesso," wo are enchanted,' ; and' fbel inclined to declarejthat. /■ ;'- Mr.'-: Swinburne -has enlarged even' the 'scope • r. of that , magnificent metro. . What could be /' captivating'thaii the.tribute to Shake- • - speare's Juliet?— ' .• "The keen :girl-star of: golden Juliet bears -• • j/, . Light northward to tho month whose forohead :./ . ■' wears-.'v ; //■: V ! ;/ Her name for flower upon it, and his trees';: ; :| /.-. Mix.their■. deep-English song with Veronese." '■ j ..If, however,: .we read on, : ,'tho glamour .and i ' the oharni gradually seem\ to disappear, . not [/: ;. . because -.there/ is .any real deterioration Mn,' . the. verse, _ but: because wo begin to reab'so: . ;that what is.delighting us.is an/artifice rathor-. , .than a'natural: gift. To borrow a metaphor . fi : from music,: the. execution; : liant, is of .tho mcchanical , by skill ;rather 7 ,than byi ';/ :, moro closely we read Mr. Swinburne's ;poeiry," the more clearly'does this'.defcct stand-biit. : : . Indeed, it is hardly too , much t/o say that . //. the real way to enjoy .his versG is to road, ,; or,, still lietter, t<V6poak, it in' short quota-. ■, tions. Take, /for, oxainplo, .that- magnificent . ; couplet in the poem on. tho .launching of tho V / -Livadiaj ; the great .yacht which was do-. /: •' signed ,'as ( a floating 1 , city; of ,:refuge':fp"r ... the Tsar, but which ho never used:— . ;; "■, "With Death' for 'helmsman and Despair-for '//;.'' ./■'■■.;stay ./•-■ ' -- - '-.■.//./ -■;■ - And the white foam .to: cover the White Tsar." Th? 1 ' >' s a glorious .piece, of /metre and rhe- . f/: • ; ho"wever, /though ".'the" {' ■ i ; car is delighted, by one such anvil stroke. P. / it wearies when they aro repeated again and i ;. / again with: mechanical precision. '. Talto" :.another],example.,/.- Who; can read without/ a. thrill ct rapture the - couplet :— / ; "And husherl the torrent-longued ravines / ..With/thunders our tambourines"?. - ;* ./ iWo turn to tho poem, tho. Preludo to "The Before • Sunrise,"' and. find plenty of lines to match those but here, as before, our delight is spoiled by .the mechanical' way in which the effect' is V produced. Wo,turn from such ''intricacies of/laborious song" to ' the simpler rhythms i of. 'an ! older, . /austerer tradition./": Browning . never approached; Mr. Swinburne in thbmat- '. ter of metrical science, and Tennyson, great student as ho was t of our literature and<dan- '. guago,. had nothing like his. younger.. .contemporary's learning.; And.yet in "/': how far ,moro; ni|oving' ;are/,the, ;hanrioriies . produced. Mr. Swiriburno could never'have written ; the .'''Toccata/of ;'paldgpi's;"t Again, if ho/.hai tried 'to'; ! a'dapfcfor -lyrical, pur-', poses, the quatrain' 'of Omar— he used "it, of-, oourso unadapted; 7 in; his. '.'Laus Veneris'.'-j' as did 7 Tennyson in "The Daisy," how very ■' different 'and howfar less satisfying would in'all'probability/have'been the result. ":; If wo attem.pt to follow in. detail Mr. Swinburne's method of dealing with English motres, .we shall realise what, for want of a better phrase, y we have called tho mechan-' ical nature of his' music. Again and -'' again •wo * * seo .that in the course of his wido-' reading ■ho has .. - noted :'. ... somo ■ metrical '• .device,; used perhaps accidentally by. an ' earlier poet, _ and has '~,. realised that it.could bo fashioned.into a new and .conscious metre.'. •'All the">w<jrld/knows, . : and is delighted by, .the .charm and mpvomeht vf Mr. Svntiburne's ."■-'■ "If you wore April's lady • . And I were lord in May.' Yet coihparatively few! people realise that the genesis of .the metro is to .bo found in a second-rate song -in; one of Drydon's ' plays. To show wo aro not exaggerating, let ns contrast ?a verso, from Drydon's lyric with ono from that of Mr. Swinburne. Hero is Dry-, dell's commbnplace and conventional song:— ' ' "The passion you pretended , '. . Was.only.to obtain; ' . . ' But when tho charm is ended The. charmer you disdain. Tour love by ours we measure, ' Till we have lost our treasuro; . For dying is a pleasure, / ■ When living is a pain." ' / Hero is tho noble use Mr. Swinburn© mado of this vulgar example:— . .. . .. ' "If' you ■ were/April's'lady : . And I wero lord in Hay, -Wo'd throw; with leaves for-honrs ' V And draw for days with flowers,' Till-day, like nijlit, were shady, ;;Arid night: were .bright like day, ,; . ' .If you were April's lady / And I were lord iii'Jlay.'; -Jo d««bt the rhymes are very differently

arranged by. Mr. Swinburne, and with i'ar greater skill, but wo cannot doubt that Drydon's song is the.crudo briar on which by grafting and , selection Mr. Swinburne grew his many-petalled rose. . ■ I A commoner example' of -this power of adaptation is, of course, to be found in the ''Dolores" measure. Mr. Swinburne saw that tho anapaests Praed.had used for humorous verso and drawing-room satire might easily bo employed for serious poetry. Again, till his time, with one, or. possibly two, exceptions, dactylic and semi-dactylic measures were unknown in our poetic literature. Mr. Swinburne, howovor, must have noted Waller's exquisite song, which begins:— '. "Hylas, .oh-Hylas,. why sit we mute Ivow that ouch bird saluteth tho spring? ,; Tin up tho-slackened strings of thy lute, ' : Nover mayst thou want matter to sing." Liko a scientific gardener, ho took the flower ; transplanted it, crossed.it, and developed it till ho gave tho world such a measure as that of "Hesperia":— . ■ .-> ■■■'~-■ "Out of-the golden, remote wild West, whero . tho sea,without shoro is." :, Another oxamplo of Mr. Swinburne's marvellous. L capacity' for finding a tiny floissr self-sown in somo other poet's garden and developing it into a new variety may here bo given. ■;,;Thousands',of readers.know and rejoice in the hurrying words of Mr. Swinburne's ': "Rococo": — ■'Take hands and part with laughter, Touch lips and part with tears. . ; ■ Onoe more and no more after, . : ;.-.-. Whatever comes with years,., .'-. We twain shall-not re-measure , .'.' '. -,- • Tho ways,that left us twain, ,' Nor crush the lees of pleasure '■■'■-. " '. ~ . From sanguine grapes of pain." ' At-first sight it.seems as if Mr. Swinburne, by a judicious disposal of . his : emphatic words, had.contrived to discover an entirely new , rhythm' fdr iambic verso, for, unless bv accident, the students of our literature will recall no other poem which has quite this lilt. Yet, as a matter of fact, Landor. had used it before him. In this case again, no doubt, Mr. Swinburno had taken up and developed a metro that had; charmed him in /tlio work of a poet whom he so greatly admired. Hero is Landor's poem:— "If you no longer love', mi.. . ';• ' ••: ••.■'-• -, To friendship why pretend? i '.';..-,.•.••"■. Unworthy .was the lover,. . ; ... • ■-.'-• ' ■ Unworthy be the friend. . '' ■■.■'■■ I know there is another ■;.:..-■ ,'■'.■ Of late preferred' to '■'me;;'-,' ■ ' '•':■ Recovered is.your freedom.:- .'. . . " And I myself am- free J ■. I've seen the bird that summer. ■;■ Deluded from its spray . .. ::- .■ , Return again in winter ■ : . ■'.'■' :.' ~ And grieve sho fled away." "•'... ■■:'• Mr"; Swinburne's..poem is, of course,.a garden, variety, but it is , impossible not to recognise its/origin-in -Landor's simpler .lyric/ vlt may interest, our, readers if we give, yet one more example. In Shelley's Hollas" one of-the choruses contains the lines— ! • !; :: "A power from the unknown God; '~:.• j A Promethean conqueror came"- 1 - an 'exquisite verbal rhythm,, but, curiously enough, one which Sholley did not follow up. Mr.- Swinburne, however, .saw. what could be made of, this happy accident, and used it Jn that'memorable chorus in/ I ,' Atlanta in Calydon,'.', which so delighted the, world. in the<"sixties"':— ; ' ■ ': ;_ : '..■"''' ' I ".'■■: "Before the beginning of years; I ;■', Thore came to the making of man/'. .. •Though wo'have .pointed out. that, Mr, Swinburne was to some extent a "nurseryman" -;'in. the world of it must' not be supposed that wo fail, to realise the -wonderful '-...science, of', his achievement. If _ his metrical devices cannot claim -inspiration, they-have'at any rate' 1 given unfeigned ■delight to his-own generation, and will give it, wo believe, in future generations. Metrical triuinphs such as his will not die, but will survive-as .long as the English language. It-is, indeed,; to his metre that Mr. Swinburne wilf^owe■'. his share, of; inimortality. Straiigclyj; enough, at ; ; :the beginning of his career his ~verse was' thought. .to be '■-. unintelligible.;'■:'.. As a matter of "fact, it is ordinarily perfectly clear; Ho .was, not a.'poot .whoso thought's :ii'ere deep or subtle, arid as a rule - the themesj^ho'.chose,, were, simple and elemental! t But, though ; Mr. Swinburno was. in intent a tlecbi-ativo poet,, we must never forget.th'ato-hbfW.a'sialso; a triw-EnfJ-lishman. . He despised tho notion that a poet's 'business was merely, to give plea*: ' sure: to the, senses. ' Sprung from, a _ race or sailors,, he .was a.fervent ; lover of his country, r,while; lis ■passion'.for- liberty was ,dee'p iand siiicere. " ■'.:'• '. ' . ■". •■: . .

' .Before wo close our attempt '■' to estimate the debt of our literature to Mr. Swinburne, wo must say a word.-of him as.a critic, '.(jr..rather "an,appreciator, for dritic lie was riot. The bent of his genius led him both ;to' condemn ■:* arid .'i'ta'.-praiso. too 'strongly, but■ in-.spite , -of-'this:■defect-he was .a most interesting.-. and'*.'"stimulating commentator upon .other 'men's::work. : Our'""literattiro would 'be distinctly-the- poorer if we did .not"possess , his:writings on the Elizabethan ctramatists, ■and- especially ..'on 'Shakespeare, .for :in his- devotion to.-'Shakespearo ho never faltered;:. Occasionally',; indeed, his estimates ;d,f;;ihe Elizabethan poets ■came very near ; to.inspiratiori, ; as,:'for example,. in his description, of -Webster as!"a,'creek or inlet in the ocean , which is : . That was -worthy of Coleridge.or De Quincey.''; ■Mγ. Swinburne's writings on his poetic contemporaries are often most .vivifying.. The present writer will never forget ■the delight with which, as a boy, he read .(jhe essay'on the-poetry of Matthew. Arnold in. Mr. Swinburne's volume of-.l'Essays and Studies.' , Nothings could bo more delightful than the way in'which Mr. Swinburrie took his'reader; by the hand and led' him through that great and noble garden, pointing out, with fervour arid generosity all- the varied beauties of Ifiower and. border, of fountain and pleasaunce, of arching stoms and twining boughs. ..' ■ ,