A Literacy Corner

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12406, 27 March 1926, Page 12

A Literacy Corner

V (Conducted by

R.A.L.P

TENNYSON It seems lata in the day to write volume* about Tennyson. The hypercritical might even go so far as to regard this as a proof of insanity. If any one does that he can be easily brought to reason. This is a volume of the series of ‘‘Companion Poets,” the a:m cf which is to serve as an introduction to the reading of th# great English poets. The editor, Dr. S. S. Sopwith, of Shrewsbury School, declares that the best way of beginning the study of a writer is to Jearn something of his life, and of the influences that affected his work, to learn what to look for in the poet’s work, to read carefully and thoroughly a few if his greatest and most characteristic poems. It is on this theory, he says, that this series of “Companion Poets” has been planned. ' Therefore we have in this, the Tennyson volume, five of his classical poems—including the “Lotos Eaters,” apd “Ulysses”—two romantics—" The Palace of Art,” and “A Dream of Pair TSomen”—five “National” poems —including “Loeksley Hall” and the "Wellington Ode—two elegies—“ Break, Break," and “In Momoriam"’ (passages!—many son?;! from “The Princes*” and “Maud,” the “Revenge” and , “Maeldnne” ballads, and “The Passing, of Arthur,” from "Idylls of the Bang.*' If is a generous selection, with' a commentary preceding each poem, and there is a short life of the poet, and a short treatise oh the reading of poetry—that art which nearly everybody thinks he is great in, and nearly everybody fails to be more than small —with a special reference to the poetry of Tennyson. Having read much of this production, we have found it somewhat like the of Aladdin. Rub the lamp and you get your wish. Rub the volume and vyish for a renewal of your first enjoyment of Tennyson, with a better view and a new realisation of much missed in the hurrying time of eager youth. You' will have tenfold delight. The, plan of the ‘‘Companion Poets’* stands aihply and very pleasantly, justified. (Christopher’s, Berners street, London, W.I:) i

“BERTHA MORISOT” i Written by Armand Fourrean, and translated by Hubert this is a vivid, sympathetic, enthusiastic and very discriminating biography of the French r ainter who was the real founder of the impressionist school. If any one wants to know how fascinating a technical book of painting can be, let lim read this. biography. It is a veritable education in all the angles from which painting can he viewed. There are forty illustrations, which help by giving some idea of the pictures of this artist, famous in France, of her method, and of. her progress to her great maturity. But pictures in black and white can give very little idea. We mean in illustration of the. descriptive critical work For example, of a picture entitled, “Little Girl with Hyacinths,” we read -

The chief charm of this lies in the sauvity of its tender colour, ranging 'rom thd exquisite notes if hyacinths growing from ah .old faience pot, to the pale face of the child, the most precious flower in this clear painting, if slightly chflty .in its classic purity.

We have another description, fine, elegant, accurate, ending thus: .“A gentle silvery light floods the tresh complexioned faces of the young woman and child, and glances hghtly on the black cordage of one and the little blue frock of the other, while its quivering, grey dwells gently on the reddish brown. of the piano, and the purplish grey spread of wail, which forms the background.” Too much must not therefore be expected in the way of help from the forty illustrations. We learn, by the way, that the impressionist school is tin school which studies light to perfection, without forgetting the best of tradition. At the same time, it is made clear that the impressionists who make themselves ridiculous fail because they eliminate all the factors of their pictures except the light—an excess which, like all other excesses, entirely fails of its object. This and much more we get front this beautiful, spirited, _ discerning biography of a great painter red woman of delightful character. Her teaching was begun by Corot and ended by Manet, whose brother she married.

(The Bodley Head, London.)

“LAUGHTER AND TEARS” A collection of short stories, sharp, decisive, and whimsical, by tno Hon. Mrs Lionel Buist. They startle one sometimes by their patinas, and sometimes by their irresistible, unexpected and very original humour. (The Bodley Head, London.) Georges Clemenceau, ex-Premicr of France, has written a book called “Demosthenes,” which will bo published early in 1028. It is said to contain some very interesting utterances on modem world politics and politicians.

“THE! GRAND YOUNG MAN" Reading this story, by Esrne Wing-jield-Stratford, one is plunged into the feeling which used to be aroused by the clever Disraeli novels in the ’thirties and ’forties of the last century. These were full of feTTown celebrities, political and social and of every other kind, and readers were amused by guessing through the thin disguises. Like Disraeli of those days, this author recruits her characters—whom she draws with a master hand, also like Disraeli—from the men of to-day. The story is a web of intrigues, financial | and political, made up of class war and the braaen effronteries of big business. The “Grand Young Man” is on the side of reason, and is a very enigmatical character. He works with big business, foments strikes, becomes a Labour leader, betrays the extremists who are working blindly for big business, ! and eventne.Hy put a big business out ! of action. Tha mystery of him is deepened by his resemblance to a figure of the Devil in an old cathedral, and his descent from ancestors who betrayed every cause from the days of King Stephen through the Wars of the Roses ; and the Parliamentary Revolution. ; Thd leader of the big business is a fat, bloated, sensuous brute, stortoi ■ • ous and puffy, with an abnormal brain I capacity and a heart of stone. The lo- : cale is a great cathedral city, with much manufacturing industry going on within the compass of .its limits. And there is i a very original love story. The types, of: every social grade are drawn with amusing . if occasionally most vitriolic pen. A very readable .story, and suggestive enough to be instructive in these days of good spirits and bad struggling for the mastery of the financial and political worlds.

(Duckworth, Henrietta street, London.)

“THE BROKEN TRIDENT” There are hooka , which Englishmen are condemned to read as punishment for alleged political blunders. We remember, away .jbaok in the early “ ’seventies,” “The Battle of Dorking,” in which a British army refending London with great heroism in front of the picturesque little town of Dorking encountered a Prussian army, and was considerably massacred. Immediately thereafter the blunders pf the War Office, spread over many generations, were drawn in the blood of the unfortunate riflemen and proclaimed by the wailing voices of ruined citizens and bereaved widows and orphans. After copiously weeping, over his ruined castle the Englishman Of that day was invited by the busybody writer—a distinguished general, addicted to military criticisms and the study of great campaigns, it was said—to fortify- the obsolete old fnbrio properly, according to modern ideas, chiefly Prussian. This is the self-imposed mission of the enterprising Mr E. P. Spanner, in “The Broken, Trident.” He follows the method of Jules Verne, by which he evolves far Germany an enormous assembly of airplanes of wonderful powers; described, as his master nsed to do, with scientific accuracy of detail. Germany has, it will be seen,' taken to the air side of the controversy between fleets and airships, while good old Britain under the sway of innumerable admirals, first cousins .of the impiortal Commodore Trunnion, sticks to the battleship and other marine decoctions of the scientific kitchen.

War is declared by Germany at the most convenient moment for her. The British air forces go> off gaily to seek the enemy, and' annihilate him, ; n spite of his superior numbers, and ignorant, of course, of his superior machine power. They win a great victory as they suppose. What else can they think when they destroy countless airdromes and explode countless machines getting ready for. flight, and explode countless tons of enemy bombs awaiting shipment in the airplanes getting ready far a deadly start! ’ y

Never was surprise moreoompleter—until the British get hold of 1 their end of the surprise. .All these waiting ’planes, anir bomb stacks- were camouflage , misleading the innocent Britisher, a camouflage - served by patriotic Fritzes cheerfully facing death to deceive the enemy by looking after machines never' intended for anything but destruction. But before these victorious Britishers . start from their field of massacre for home they ' are ent off by • a multitude of ‘ enemy ’planes starting from concealment of forests and unex-

pected desert places, and destroyed to a machine. While the War Office is digesting the had news the enemy planes crowd over the chief docks of Britain and destroy them' to a dock. Then they obliterate all the links of tho railway transport. Then they turn their attention'to the sea, and cripple the merchant shipping . and the British battle squadrons without letting the admirals know what is hitting them. The thing is done from 20,000 feet up in the air, with a vast bulk of newly tremendous lights, which light up the scene while dazzling the enemy below, who is not to see what is above the infernal dis-' play of light. Then tho enemy opietly sends all the prisoners captured to London, with

an ultimatum demanding peace on certain terms, with the alternative of destruction to the principal pities of tho British Isles. It is refreshing to learn that the Hun is as merciful and civilised ns he is superior, offering very reasonable terms. He does not wish to destroy his unprepared and rather foolish enemy. His chief aspiration is to be friends with him. And thus is. peace made, and the world is ruled henceforth by Germany and Britain. The book _is not agreeable raiding for the Britishers who rule the waves and never shall be slaves. But the storv is told eminently well, with all sorts of touches giving the semblance of truth to an otherwise bald- account. And certainly tho semblance is too near the truth to be pleasant to the unconquerable Anglo-Saxon people. Far our nart, we would rather read Jules Verne over again, for obvious reasons. Whether the book will settle the great controversy of the ships of the air and the ships of the wnter the experts must decide far themselves. (Williams and Norgate, London.) i Macmillan’s have published "The Svay Operas,” boing the complete text of the Gilbert ami Sullivan operas, as originally produced in 1875-1896.

From the “Putnam Book News”: A humorist who had been staying at S'tratford-on-Avon asked his landlady one day: “Who is this Shakespeare I hear so much about down here ? Was ho a very great man ?” To this jocular question the landlady made serious reply: “Lor’, sir, ’e worn’t thought nothing on a few years ago. It’s the Americans as ’as made ’im whnt ’e is.”

The lady who writes as “E. Barrington,” and who is Mrs Adams Beck, has another story appearing, "The Way ot Stars.” There were published simultaneously “The Life and Letters of W. T. Stead,” hv Frederic AVhvte, and “A Life of Mussolini,” translated by Mr AVhvte. We are now to have another of Mr White’s translations, “The Pionoers of the F'■'".l f h Revolution.” the first, volume in Messrs Benn’s “Library of European Political Thought.”