NOTES

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLVI, Issue 18, 1 May 1919, Page 26

NOTES

George Wyndham's Essays We have no patience with those politicians or patriots who condemn straightway the man whose views are not as theirs. It particularly hurt us recently to read the words in which a sincere Sinn Fein writer ridiculed George Wyndham's no less sincere efforts to right the wrongs of Ireland. It is a great fault in any man not to be able to put himself in the place of his opponent, or at least not to try to see things as they appear to him. George Wyndham, with his education, his associations, his traditions could not well view Irish affairs from the standpoint of Sinn Fein, even if Sinn Fein were in his day the power it has since become. We believe George Wyndham's efforts were mistaken but we cannot believe they were not sincere; and for sincerity surely there is always room for admiration. His Irish experiences broke his heart; not through Ireland's fault, but through the fault of the British politician who had not the courage to defend the man whose shoes he was not worthy to loose. Balfour lives to this day, a spineless, dilettante, aimless creature, half-politician, half-sophist, thorough in nothing and ineffectual as the wind that sweeps over his beloved Golf Links ; Wyndham whose career he helped to wreck is dead but can there be any question as to which was the better man? With the blood of Lord Edward and Pamela in his veins, with a heart beating bravely and hotly for lost causes, George Wyndham threw himself into Irish politics, and as many another good man failed, he failed sadly, but the fact that he did fail in no wise lessens our admiration and respect for him. Failure in this world is often nobler than success. For this romantic figure, this knightly scion of the old Geraldines, we have a very tender reverence; and it was with much delight we recently came upon the volume of his essays which will perpetuate his memory and keep it green when his politics are long forgotten. Shakespere's Poems In this goodly volume of. essays there is fine reading on romantic literaturefor the romantic always held him in literature as in life. We will pass overall the rest now to dwell a moment on his illuminating and enchanting study of the Poems of Shakespere. People of liberal education are familiar as a matter of course with the Plays of the great English poet, but only .the inner circle know the Sonnets and ' appreciate their wonderful loveliness. George Wyndham's essay will- help to lead all who read it to investigate for themselves : Shakespere's claims to be accounted our greatest dramatist but also our greatest lyric and elegiac poet. "In most of his Sonnets," says George Wyndham, "Shakespere's hand does not falter. The wonder of them lies in the art of his poetry, not in the accidents of his life; and, within that . art' not

so much in his choice of poetic themes as in the wealth of his IMAGERY, which grows and shines and changes above* all in the perfect execution , of, } his j VERBAL MELODY, That is the body of which his IMAGERY is the .soul, and 1 the two make one -.creation so' beautiful that we are. not concerned .with S anything but its beauty.'.'!;; In the pages in which our essayist studies these perfections he shows himself a true critic and ,an enlightened student ;of poetry. .He: does for Shakespere what Stopford Brooke did for .Tennyson; he gives us a key to unlock a treasure-house of , rare loveliness and pure melody. The essay is certainly "a valuable contribution to critical literature, and for penetrating, appreciative wisdom it. ranks with the very best work of the kind we possess: it is doubtful if even Dowden or Arnold have done better. .We feel that we will not weary our readers by quoting a few passages .which he selects in illustration of ■ his theme. . Shakespere's Verbal Imagery 'Most of Shakespere's images are painted—but the word is too gross to convey the clarity "of his art — in so transparent an atmosphere as to seem still a part of nature showing her uses of perpetual change. In the Sonnets we watch the ceaseless Fassiny of the Year :—■ . .

“Three winters cold

Have from the • forests shook three summers’ pride; Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turn’d; In process of the seasons have I seen Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burned. .

“Sap checked with frost and lusty leaves quite gone.

“. . lofty trees ... barren of leaves Which erst from heat did canopy the herd.

“That time of year thou may’st in me behold When yellow leaves, or few, or none, do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang.

“Often in his themes he illustrates his effects with images from Inheritance, or Usury, or the Law. . .

“When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past.

"He draws also upon Journeys, Husbandry, etc. "O, no it is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken : It is the star to every wandering bark. . . When forty winters shall besiege thy brow And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field." Verbal Melody and Eloquent Discourse To .illustrate Shakespere's eloquence and melody we have the following : • —■ "Be wise as thou art cruel; do not press

My tongue-tied patience with too much disdain Lest sorrow lend me words, and .words express The manner of my pity-wanting pain. If I might teach thee wit, better it were, Though not to love, yet love to tell me so. . . For if I should despair, I should go mad, And in my madness might speak ill of thee. . .

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate : 'Rough, winds do shake the darling buds of May And summer’s Tease hath all too short a date. .

“How like a winter hath my absence been, -' From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting: year 1 : - What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen ! What old December’s- bareness everywhere.”

“The cankered* blooms have all as deep l a die .. As the * perfumed., tincture. of. the roses,”