BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 740, 12 February 1910, Page 9

BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

IHE ECLIPSE OF POETRY

tho modern '. .'l 1 ® 11 : .iias . lost: his .taste .for " poetry is ' Ouo of- the .inqst ' curious and - puzalirig :r Eymptom's'of Uhe' age. : rFroni: thoibegiii-; jung until withiu recent: years' poetry was \' ; tOO oue art-form .tliat really/ appealed to -{r. J?' peoples.!'.-In iiiost. of tho o " l , c r.'crts ; \vo :]iavo been: rather. : .secpnd-, rate,. and : hwhenv,we; attained -distiuctidn

:° n and; . ~ -.briefinter\ r als. ; ,Iu- music, sculpture, >; in- P?iuting,^«reiiv arphitecture;:;Britain- will/ - hardly: go • down, to the ages; alongside of ' .Bome othfer nations. " .'Por the .supremo , artists,, be, it. in colour or inarble or - ■■■}60und,::.the.' world does not turn to us;' wo : have had iio Pheidias -ov no '. Rembrandt or Kupluiel,.iio Bcetlioven: or : :3lozart. :Nor n'ere' tho .plastic'orpic-; "ff-;-%;V'torial ;arts"'ovef:^really- popular;; they ; were ,:. cultivated chieflyi for. the benefit of a j select, rather . aristocratic body of pat- ; xoiis; and- th'at was true also,' -except/ per- ' : -';., ; haps, ? for, a : short.. period,in ~ the six- ' teenth -and- seventeenth centuries,. 'of. ' ■I'lusic. :: But poetry '-was, until - of; late, 7'i ; , always.popular; the:,posts"from.';Caedmon ■ . to* Xennyson wroto for the peepb. and f' understood ; and appreciated' by more,'as;.a*rule;,thcy 'were . - ; the" most popular, of; all tho .writers, -tho'' ,'. :". - : Vritors wliose importance was; recognised, ■' ;' ■ ; .W4io .'really ;gavo tho -note -to - the : literatare of their,- age.,- Novels,'essays,'worksof. philosophy and. religious controversy: :. ..-niignf'';b&' read, but-, tho- poems. h<vL an . . undisputed^-primacy. .It is inbt.'- a' mere ' . - accident '.that the' : only'' rnlly:'great; Eiig- : lish dramatist is alsof the 1 first 'of '.albEng-:;-lishypoetj.: : iAndj if..:jou ;wish to.-"divido ' tho'-histoi-y of Englisli: literatureinto i . : . • periods Jou would .naturally and, as a j / :;> ™afer-;of^couMe,;:;label;^an: .epboh.'with j y': : : - Jjio'name of-a poet; you would' speak of : ' .;' the " Age of Chaucer,- the .' Age of Spenser, ; the Aga ,of. Milton, the ,Age of ; 'Pope, the ! of :t^e : .tige 1 of; Teiiny-i -; • son.mdyßrowwngV.'."';Bu't',the poets. WeVe' y :',: ;;' uot ,■ only - hano'ur-ed; they '-'were ; read. - . Judged, by the test of circulation and authors"profits, ,one. sees thait. they, were ,* ?absorbed.-V By" a -public.--almost; as "wide as ; that, which - has " since '.cdnfined . itself / to ■ '- v-the novels.' . Crabbe could make quite a .:, : ; ': f . ,, espectablo income : oufc.'of poems ; which : . vrould; now- hardly pay ..the expense -of pulilie'atiou. l H r ßyron ... could ;obtain.; a 1 ?if v cou P'® of? thousand pounds- ■ for.'a single ; -. .. canto. of ;"Childe -Harold;-' - T and Tenny- / ' Mn'.'madorsomethiug- liko a 'fortune 1 : out " ... ?f liis, verse..- : And the issue oi' a new ':::/ ' -Tplume by/one- of the recognised masters i^.-^^*^- ; -^'®y®t~ n^Vffl«ely''or4itcrai^'j.:bnt: .' of popular :inteiMt;W';7^ ", ".- - The. decline ;has been, sudden. ".Forty, years' ago we still had several poets;who were the chiefs of our' imaginative liUraV; -had not only. Tennyson - and: v ; Browning, but,-, also;, Swinburne,:. Matthew :• ; ; , AnKild. i Dante :Gabriel, ': and . Christina 1 :.;- . i.'Sossetti,:William Morris,;; George: Mere-" 'fJl'tb-', 4". ace'gone, ,ar.d they have ' left' iio successors, not merely .in acbieve- - ment,-, but .'in -influeiico; an<l 'reputation. . ';;; there.is; an abundanco of i-admirablo • verso produced, .which, in' its technical - 'quality at least,, may challenge compari- :■, ■ ' Kon with" the best work of .the Victorians. '-.'-The names o£ .Mr. I'William: Watson,■ Mr. . . Stephen/Phillips, .'-Jfr.; Ifcrbert Trench, :•' r * Mr. - Laurence Housinau, Shorter,; Sir.' Wi . V urged;, in .disproof of :.' the, opinion t that. w'e . '; live in aii.- unpoetical age. . .But these poets, jexcellent. as is'their verse, do not Uie public ear.' ,; They write for t. .j ■ cultured aad . • in.-" / .- d«d ;.that ,it/'dws.\:iiot , ; onable .itliejn ■ to - "-:, writing in 'metre.-' .'There' is one poet : ofnly.' aniohg those just v;.iv.:',::ymehtioned—^ivhaSo- 'v'eTses h'aVo been fvery: . . highly (and;, justly'.eulogised by the best s.;;'. liying>,cntios.%lfe-told:!me .that ;of; ene 'sold exactly gKVi. ;thatJohn • 'Davidson, (,one',of : .most origirial.,arid iT' ' : P°werful;>geniu^f^:46urjUime;^a ; i:true ; : ■' .V: ypoet was' engageed a whichvat?leiigtli 'drove^him| K:- P 1 .: -:K'y. to patnohc erfiotio&'tiiicr ch^^atimeiit^of.-. ,' ; . action. f - lXos ; t-;bf : Mr.-'Kipiing's., readers, - : little,.con"Mption","-)]6w , rich' , , liis: .verso 'is' '->The ; ibest /bfe-Slx'i ■'LKipliiig's"ball:ids.- .. . may survive the best* of his stories, but' • ■{-■ ■"it'-if ". cohfined-- him'selfi to Vpoetry,' : r:thougl(:hp -might,hayej>btiined,the-Nobel; P«ze.-Ae would scarcely have, bcconie --idol; of, the bookstalls;.'.-Moreover, Mr. r ;M>,Kipling;is:far : :better..kndwn' ; for :hi6 v spir-' I ; ,,y.';.itea; joiiraalisni}ml;rhymejthan' for . those; ". ; .-': ,e'xciuisito lyrics:and.allegories, : alniost per- •... fectj in. form and - expression, which touch j tfarhigherlevel of .poetry.':, ' ,f ßiiy,iny .English posies! vrk-;■•,i:-'' : : that- ba-vo your own, , , ,-, '-Buy thein., for. a bvother's sake,' : 1 ' -s" .• Weed'ye'trample underfoot. : o ' lf.loods his heart abrim, -' ". : , , : - Tjlrd; ye never ;heeded, , * V,V: . i; 'Oh,..'slie, calls : his dead, to him}'.£>, , " faiv'-.our/: homes :,'ax-e iet'.- 'rouhd:' /.- Seven/Seas; 1 ■ V;.- ■■■' •• . Woe for'us;if ;we';,f6rget; -we" that hold by ■Cc-vv.-;; these,! ;.. -, Unlo .each ' his mother—bleach, ' bloom, y '. : and.bird and land—. :"- - ... Masters of the Seven'- Seas; oh; love and-: - V; V: understand ("y, >.; ". Or' there'is • Uidt' lthyme ot':Tni6:;Thohias;'':wlth" sucli' V7;;stanzasr asj.this . .. :.; .."True Thoinas smiled "above his harp, - ' ■' t " rn^yiis - ftce ' s; '-blown I ,before'the'Vvastrel/wihd;-. .y. . . • Thethistledown she.floated by." : -y' / / But'there ;aro of' Jir, Kip-' •i- '^'ho.. do not --.remeniher; i : :'^'";.^: t n« s B.;^hes ) .;though:,they,:have all a quotv able-knowledge;?- of -'Absent-miiided ; VWi,, M, if "Jlan-i r : dalajr , -liycs l ' it is" chiefly. 'I believei be•,v :. - cause ; j.t has,: be'en : .:sp:;admirably: :; |idapte'd ; 1 u. -..>,«>"itbe uses .of^ -jthe-' the, ■ drawii!g ; rdom. • •. '-. I J au is: (lead;-and. so'.are "Beatrice j-r,-;'.;;, and !Queen Maeve. and, . . w(iat,is..oi-,more importance, the senti- - ; m ept, . tho -im^igery,; tho . temper : of mind' . :wsociat.ed;--with them.; If .the poets want. : ; -' to revive '"oiir .interest,,. they' 'will -' perhaps' and: . ;. : 'v' * J°™^' o'lplace.0'lplace. things"'of ..'our buses; and! motorcars," of geutlemen who J; ,c P a and - boivler - ; hats - rather' ,- , -:than helniets. and chain ' mail; of/ladies ;. , who play hockey, and shop nt the stores;. -;K iO. sbiveriiig: in ,th"o mobt.'un•PictureSflUe:: rags j: and. they ;>ill"haye to .. transmute :into vei-se charged - with' pas;sion, not .the. cosmogony of either.Kamei', V'- -' al lJ;- e '. or-Milton, but the' world-pageant" --'- - .as it ls-revealed by modern ; physics andbiology. Aiul 1 believe that -. a poet, in Spenser's /.time;; must still "learned," '■; |S-Spenser*himself ..was, and Hilton, and :V; ; : ; .:,,pante;:aiid;Wprds\vorth;.and:Goethe,;not v .-r' ,to mentionxVirgi! and. Lucretius;' only. : ':-n? • be.learned with ..the'/learning, of . P W ?V age, not of one";dead ; aiid,''buried' ' long . ago.'lf we ~ are.; to'' have : a i'living' :: ! :;; : :/:/^ 'a poet .. that has. assimilated/and "' can ;., interpret the' message; of' our ' own. science, l our sociology, . jisycbol6gy,',,perhaps 'even .. our ;: ecoiiomicsand;.- politics.-;.. Tariff .' Reform ■ may not seein; at .first sight to lend -itself /easily ;toartistic; ,freatmerit. ' Yet it . ,means.;niore to us than the party squab-, /. -bios pfi Municipal.-Refprmers:/.and ' J'ro--1 ' ■ K/essives in -a . small/Italian (own some ■.'. :!ive centurics ago." V .' ': /;' ~' ; i -^ n if-; thesejcohditions. irero ful-' niled, '/could the poets .^recover.' their. :/. audience?.. Oho may doubt it; 'for poetry.appeals;.not'.merely - to .:the/intellect and ' " thp emotions, .but also .to' the : senses.. And ■' - it seems as. if tlie modern ./Englishman - "... had lost his sense of this 'lavticular form, ' and becbnie"'verse-dPaf/'and : metve- ; blind. The tasto: is .'like/' the. eye.' for fei colour :or the oar;for: music;-it is iii-.the first ;ibstanco by;means of a;purely; pliy/V; sical sensation that the artist e'onvevs h'is ,- •'■/ idea to tho: spectator; the . auditor;' or tho ; . : reader. " ;To: :,those '..persons—now ..rare ;■•';')•^A«liong;.bHr^f^^.W(l^ , still- love tile mere rhythm'.'and swing.of. the verse,• the pause : U. :-/ r and. dance, and .change andbalance of ' :,-/ the- lines; 1 the extjuisite' choosing of the right words, the' flame-like images' flash,:'/ing; and .fading;at; every step, ;.couvey a f; .///'sensuous, pleasnre of ■ the.-,purest! intensify.-. Our fathers h.-td this sense, as' one can sqo fV, ';; ; :by;.the ! electric .suddenness-;with which I ■ sometimes ; a;:' ringing ,'verso would /take I ; , hold of -the .nation, by, the; way in .which: ; ;';;..'.V .. they lingered over then' "quotation's from' . tho poets," played with- them, rolled ;.them delicately, under their tongues. /But ;,! • ;tho present generation has -apparently' - ■ almost ;los_t this', faculty, the ahcieiit, 'V long-standing delight in the .form ami ; Boruid of . versa: is disappearing fast. This may be .dno to/a decliiio . ill our artistic : . instincts, but possibly also to an accen-

tiifttioiivof th^nu' The 'wider undcrstuDd-iug;-?tho*'kceuer:!'appreciation• of ! music, may- havo contributed . to the • declino of lioetry;.fori;, verso, is - perhaps too-.repose-' : t'ul,;too plastic/- for tho complex ' modem 'toirtperaiiH'-ivt, which can only • fiiul, its response,in the moro* direct stimulus and tho fuller'emotional appeal of tho' art of tho • orchestra.—Sidney . Low, '• in "The' 'Standard."