"HISTORY OF ENGLISH POETRY"

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 778, 30 March 1910, Page 5

"HISTORY OF ENGLISH POETRY"

With this sixth volume (says the 11 "Westminster Gazette") Professor i Courthope brings to completion his His- f tory of English Poetry—the arduous, ! learned, and comprehensive labour of J upwards of fourteen years. The au- i thor's design throughout has been to I trace the correspondence ; between the 1 history of English poetry and the history of our own political and constitu- : tional development. And in keeping - with this design he has sought in this , concluding volume to . describe "the < varied effects produced on the English 1 imagination by the French Revolution, and tho numerous attempts made by poets of genius to evolve out of their own imagination new forms of the art, unconnected with the stream of national tradition." The difficulty of tracing consequences so involved., elusive, and obscure,; even, if this view of the facts and of their bearing is fully adequate and sound, needs no demonstration. But with its intention expressed . so directly ,it , is easy, too, to see that , a work so' conceived must rest,not only upon a just and clear perspective of history, but also upon a most delicate insight and,, the . most deliberate judgment of what .poetry essentially, is, and the exact significance ofsuch controversial terms as romantic, classical, imaginative. And though, of course, the reader is not long. in donbt of what Professor Courthope means by these and kindred terms,, and what would have been, his definition of the particular form of,, poetry now under consideration had he been so adventurous as to suggest one, apparently conflicting statements sometimes occur in.' this volume; and many critics, and perhaps even a greater number of poets, will be inclined to disagree very profoundly with the author's remarks, on individual poets, and "with many "of his judgments in general. -'A theory—even a sound theory—is. a. useful, servant, but a tyrranical master ; and we cannot help feeling that Professor Courthope has been tempted . to regard with far, more_ spirited satisfaction poets in their relation to_ : society rather than pacts in their relation to poetry.- The assertion, for instance,..; that l , the genius of .poets acknowledged to be .so , intensely dissimilar—in surroundings, .' ji'ersonality, and powers. of mind—as . Burns , and Blake "reflects the. power, exerted on the individual imagination by the. rising spirit of Democracy" is not only to some extent contrary to the assertion maintained above and: elsewhere that the Romantic . Movement marks an actual brealdng-away from the/ national tradition, and this, . too, to the conclusion arrived at on p; 449, that "the unbroken continuity, of our national life is reflected in all the changes of our art and literature," but it remains also,-' efter many pages of close argument, as questionable as the fact is elusive which it is intended to illustrate. Tho mere fact,, tooj that the author, after dealing with Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley, and_ Keat?, returns to. the consideration of Crabbo in a chapter entitled, "Anti-Romanticism," seems , to point to a certain bias in favour, ; of verse beloved' by' such readers as prefer their poetry ..to . keep well'. within call of their prose, and against such poets as'have the rarer 'and mo're'in•timate things of' life for their theme. , It is "indeed precisely this difference in their'.subject, matter that divides ' the. poets of the . eighteenth century from, those, of, the Romantic Movement. .. It* cannot,' of course, be denied that inasmuch as a : poet is<a sensitive ; and intensely animated, member of so- | ciety he_must also, reflect in'his .-work the collective ' consciousnessj : aspirapions,_ and-.progress'' Of . his 'getieratiofi.. ' But it would be even more contrary 1 to experience to overlook the fact, that' he is usually at heart in direct-hostility. | to his; environment. He sings'/for' the; 1 most'part to. those who refuse to hear any, notes, of the voice of the charir.er save those to which their' ears are,, already attuned. And it is because in, Pope the very spirit of poetry—rapture, exalted imagination—is all 'but; absent that he is so representative' of his prosaic age. Even in Scott's poetry, there is little that is beyond the emotional and imaginative reach , of the ordinary man. Such- poets are great, and .beloved writers for different reasons from those which prove them' to bo poets. And though we do not for a moment intend to imply that Professor Courthope has ignored the intense individualism and the isolation of genius, we feel that in this labyrinthine, pursuit of a great idea lie has, apart even from a personal preference, held a little too closely to a preconceived ; hypothesis. To be compelled to tulo :out the Romantic Movement as excep- - :tional casts' a. strange: shadow on any. [ theory elncidating the itrend of English . poetry. " , i With regard to lesser matters, we i must confess thai, this-volume rarely . fails to supply the reader 1 with that . most irresistible of all. incentives to , reading on and., on—namely, opportuni- ' ties for the- most whole-hearted dis- . agreement with the author's particular ; criticisms • and conclusions. On-. the ; question of poetic diction, for instance, , Professor,,Courthope remarks of Byron, l ' "who always wrote as a nobleman," that: "To expect a spirit so .active, and impatient to be always in search of words answering to shades and niceties ol : perceptions-is to' setup a failse standard i of' judgment. . . . The . sim- • plicit-y, the clearness, .the; nervous [ strength of his diction, and the free i movement; of .the blank verse, are evi- ; dence of the amplitude of . the poet's

vocabulary, and of, hi 3 acquaintance with the best models of . English dramatic Though rapidity'_ of' composition led him sometimes into grammatical errors ... tho swiftness and strength of liis theoretical style carry the attention away from these > minnte blots. In the same .way the general vastness of, his conceptions swallows up petty quibbles iof diction-', . . . and metrical jingles which M. Arnold cites as a proof of Byron's insen- • sibility 'to the true artist's fine passion ■; for the correct use and consummate ' management ot words.'" ' ■ , "There is no difference," quotes Dr. Johnson, "between the porcupine of , Malacca and that of Europe, but that the former grows to a larger _ size." And when we reflect on the difficulty . of commenting on these bristling pas-; sages we seeni to be. penetrating furtlier into the wilds of Malacca.

When we return, indeed; to the question of poetic diction in Keats, to whose genius,-, unlike Byron's, Professor Courthope remarks, "Tho cold principle 'Art for art's sake' was not abhorrent," we learn not only that in August, 1818, "he had made the acquaintance of Fanny Brawne (a vain and vulgar person) and gradually conceived a-.passion for her, which absorbed his imagination, and, mixing itself with the disease that was consuming him, at last mortified his powers of composition"; but that he did not, "hesitates for-a moment to. mix with' his literary archaisms the; vulgar colloquial idioms of the society, in which he moved" . V . and that, quite apart from "vulgar and sensuous imagery," even in his later poems, "of those vulgar trivialities: he never '(except in "The Eve .of St. Agnes") , quite got rid." . ' v -

One such vulgar triviality cited-is the use of the word ."honeymoon"; and another is contained'in tho line "'Good- 1 , bye! I'll soon be back.' 'Good-bye 1' said she." Judgments apparently so . capricious as these are not easy to harmonise, and we cannot help feelingthat a little more consideration'seems to have been shown to Byron's "minute blots," such as, 'There is no traitor like he,". "There let him lay!";': and'. "Let he who made, thee answer ."that,", than that nobleman qilite deserves.' " Even in praise the author-is'a little :: jndiscriminate: "Once the unsatisfied imagination of the poet .(Shelley)' discovered an"external object.which seemed ;.' oxactly to: typify 'the nature of its own emotion, and grouped around it a multitude of images with an absolute per-, fection of art. I need hardly, say that I refer to the divine lines 'To a' Skylark.'" Whereas, beautiful though Shelley's most popular lyric undoubtedly is, it has''almost •, as many remarkable - flaws in its construction as beauties 'of fancy. "Once," too, is surely a little ; . niggardly. And does,a lark "typify; the nature of its . own emotion", more "exactly"" than' any ' other . living .. creaiture? How many representative poets, moreover, of; the ' great , Irish, school of poetry will concur with the statement, however much modified, that: "Moore's 'Irish Melodies' are. compositions which fairly entitle him to be regarded as scarcely less ; . the j national poet of Ireland than Burns is of Sco> , land"? '

Professor Courthope wisely "resolved not to extend his conception of history-. beyond" the period of- Scott. We rather wish he had not. ventured even soy far across the frontier as to • remark that: "As the 'idle singer of an empty day' to small' circles of refined, sympathisers, " the modern 'poet is incllneS,, like':,the: story-tellers'in the 'Decameron,' to" seclude, himself" from the'vision of : a plague-stricken world in the pfeasant gardens of; Art. ". Artistic monasticism like this. : We think of Mr.. Doughty's.-r' IDawii; in; ■ Britain," and his', drama,. 'The Cliffs"';: of- Mr. Hardy's "Tho. Dynasts"; : of Mr. NoyeS's 1 "Drake"; of poets'like Mr.' ,: ' Bridges," ' 'Mr.; Newbolt, Mr." Binyon, Mr.;' Sturge , Moore, Mr; and": all "devoted, each according to his power; and according . to. his . ideal, -to: the .'England : that English poets,have..helped to setin the high place: - she holds in: the worldof our day.. We remember songs. aiid lyrics like those: of Mr. Danes,' and of many another poet, that need not shun comparison even with- 'the riches' of "England's Helicon";'and we speculate ' in vain what ' 'idle singers" can mean' in this dejected passage. -And as for "an " empty day," Professor Courthope himself ■ sums that phrase up in his "Conclusion": "As I lay down my pen ,we are being asked to decide whetheror" not we will abruptly take our leave of , the great - continuous. traditions of th€ past." We venture to wonder whether in life' or in poetry any nation ever has abruptly .taken leave; whether it is even possible for a vigorous nation abruptly to take leave, of its great continuous traditions. However that may be, there are few in the dust and heat of ", this, great contest wfyo will not echo in their hearts the author's ■ aspiration:.-"May-the judgment of my countrymen be guided in this matter to a decision, consistent with the .whole- genius,, o' their history!"