RECENT VERSE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1921, 11 December 1890, Page 34

RECENT VERSE.

A gentleman who has travelled 65,000 statute miles, as has " Ralph," the author of " The Girdle of the Globe," is entitled to our respectful attention, even when he attempts the role of Childe Harold, and endeavours to embody his experience in verse. The metre which v Ralph " has chosen for this purpose is, perhaps, better suited for a rollicking nautical song than for a narrative poem in 10 cantos, but it reads easily, and though it does not reach any very high level of poetical excellence, and is often no better than doggrel, is likely to afford considerable amusement. In time we reach the Mormons : And (he Mormons I oh, Great Scott ; Whit a haggard, scraggy lot ; And on frail mankind What blot, And what tbamel For all modesty ii dead, Both with young and hoary head, Whern tho sacred nuptial bed 'S but; a name.

" Poems, with Two Additions ; " and " Rosalie : a Tale of the Wye," are the respective titles of the two parts into which Mr John Sibree's volume of verse is divided. What the two " additions " in the first part may be is a point that has puzzled us much, for the author cannot mean to exclude any two of his pieces from the category of poems. Mr Sibree shows to best advantage in his ballads, which are written with plenty of spirit. The lines "To Sleep," are very beautiful, and much above the ordinary level of the book, but they have appeared before. " Rosalie : a Tale of the Wye," is a romantic poem, which takes us back to the Middle Ages. The author's acquaintance with the historical lore of the Wye country, and his deep appreciation of its beauty, find full expression in his poem. The hero's escape from death and the heroine's from a convent, where it was sought to immure her, are among the exciting incidents of the story.

There is genuine poetry in the little volume entitled "Cassiope, and Other Poems," by Boleyne Reeves, though the best of them are too long to lend themselves to quotation. The lines on " Wasted Power " are vividly conceived, though it is rather hard to be always pointing the moral at poor Coleridge. Lady Wild way is an impressive but unpleasant invective against a worldly woman. The following is in the author's lighter style : — He eaid he doated upon flowers, Then plucked a rose and straight began To tear and strew it leaf by leaf. I shut my heart against the man ! And, when he ventured to propose, I said I would not be his Rose. He said tbe country was his joy, And, Faying so, proposed a ride ; But all the way he praised his horse, Nor had a word for aught beside. He bore my " No " with much regret, As much as 'twere a losing bet. Alike in interest and in execution this volume is above the average of the day.

" Alypius, and Other Poems," by the Rev. H. J. Bulkeley, is a volume of poems, inspired chiefly by scenes of Continental travel. The first poem, which is conceived with some vigour, represents Alypius, the friend and pupil of Augustine, describing remorsefully to his master how he had been led by vicious companions into the circus, and witnessed the bloody games with the pleasure of his unregenerate days. As for the other verses, they are mostly very thin, and Mr Bulkeley's veise, though fairly correct, is not musical. Some of them may be read with pleasure by his friends.

—Land in the busy parts of Melbourne is selling at £900 a foot.