chard Burton-his healthy optimism-his growth-Edwin Markham and his famous poem-Ella Wheeler Wilcox-her additions to our language-Edmund Vance Cooke-Edith M. Thomas-Henry van Dyke-George E. Wood
on Robinson-a forerunner of the modern advance-his
the earth, it may become as impossible to distinguish the note of a new imagist as the note of an individual robin. When the publishers advertise the initial appearance of a poet, we simply say Another!
ory, poets who were winter residents, were sufficiently uncommon. I
the next Maytime would bring forth. Had William Vaughn Moody lived longer, it is probable that America would have had another major poet. He wrote verse to please
s graduated at Harvard, and after teaching there, he became a member of the English Department
hich make for immortality. This dignity is never assumed; it is not worn like an academic robe; it is an integral part of the poetry. An Ode in Time of Hesitation has already become a classic, both
om Harvard in 1886, and later became Professor of Philosophy, which position he resigned in 1912, because academic life had grown less and less con
ely written. He is an artist in prose and verse, and it seems unfortunate that his professorial activity-as in the case of A. E. Housman-choked his M
Other Poems; and in 1899 a less important book, Lucifer: a Theological Tragedy. No living American has written fin
ll around my
n from the dis
e of all the m
ean in its v
ane insatiat
gion of his pa
battle all th
al sunlight g
sacred to t
iety that mo
inmost heart
rine; in peace
w tides pulse fr
iet broods fro
choosest not t
isdom to be
ward vision c
sdom to beli
d a world, an
faith decipher
soul's invi
science and
e is a torch
e pathway but
id of myste
tender light of
ne the morta
king of the t
OF SCHOLASTI
loister or wh
ight upon this
mpulsive held t
matin bell o
of the Heave
s in youth, or
heresy keep g
od, to write
at irrecov
hantoms, sense
rouble or the
stirred his lips
haos, and
husks of his
rs old, he became a member of the editorial staff of the Century Magazine, and remained there exactly forty years. His first volume of poems, The Winter Hour, was published in 1891, si
rt, politics, morality, and religion. Certainly his services to his country have been important; and many good causes that he advocated are no
ks, and poems attacking the omnipresent and well-organized forces of evil. I am quite aware that in the eyes of many critics such praise as t
y in harmony with contemporary historical judgment (1918) but has a Do
f the fathe
Lincoln what th
rst sentence of the preface to these verses, written by Nikola Tesla, has a reinforced emphasis-"Hardly is there a nation which has met with a sadder fate than the Servian." How curious today seems the individual or national pessimism
t can say "I am
e than e'
e took the doctor's degree in Anglo-Saxon. For the last twenty years he has been Professor of English Literature at the University of Minnesota, and is one of the best teachers and lecturers in the countr
itles), which came out in 1917, is his high-water mark. I am glad that he reprinted in this v
re than many pretentious diagnosticians; and his gladness in living communicates itself to the reader. Occasionally, as in Spring Fantasies,
852) who has produced many books, but seems destined to be remembered for The Man With the Hoe (1899). His other works are by no means negligible, but that one poem made the whole world kin. To a certain extent, the same may be said o
e world laug
d you we
e all owe her a debt of gratitude for being th
on is eve
is sett
philosophy of cheerful kindliness, founded on a shrewd knowledge of human nature. Verse is his mot
far talent can go unaccompanied by the divine breath of inspiration. She has perhaps almost too much facility; she has dignity, good taste, an excellent command of a wide variety of metrical effects; she has read ancient and modern authors, she is a keen observer, she is a
ought to be remembered, now that
. His versatility is so remarkable that it has somewhat obscured his parti
e swift,
e strong,
ighteous, pe
e wise, t
n falter
est to t
o walk in d
ise of t
nd times
n hosts h
imes the van
sen, gl
by wise
ken by
ster box
ing hands
he torch,
the sta
eart, life's
the depth
aphy. I do not mean to say anything unpleasant about Mr. Woodberry or the public, when I say that his poetry is too fine for popularity. It is not the raw material of poetry, like that of Carl Sandburg, yet it is not exactly the finished product that passes by the common name. It is rather the essence of poetry, the spirit of poetry, a clear flame-almost impalpable. "You may not b
otion like a
to the young-e
y is in imm
his muddy ve
lose it in, we
and social service, but the soul of the man is found in his books of verse, most of which have been first printed in England. He is a lifelong student of Petrarch, and has made man
ity great? Hug
ard? Vast mult
cling walls? Pa
st the count
n? Nay, these
s where glorious
rise whose names
turies gleam
rta, Florence,
ity's bright,
of the spirit
the unconqu
ity that I l
tone shall h
nd beauty of The Inn of the Silver Moon. In everything that he wrote, Mr. Vielé revealed a winsome whimsicality, and a lightness of touch impossible except to true artists. It should also be remembered to his credit that he love
ving produced many dramas and lyrics, which were collected in two stout volumes in 1915. In 1917 appeared two new works, Trails Sunward and Wraiths and Realities, with interesting prefaces, in which the antholog
remely good; and I find it difficult to read either blank verse or rimed drama, unless
uld think, to be more often than not, commonplace; but the fact is that most of his poems could not be turned into prose without losing their life. He has limitations instead of faults; within hi
(1901) gave her something like fame, though I have always thought it was overrated; it is certainly inferior to The Death of Marlowe (1837), by Richard Hengist Horne. In 1910 her play The Piper won the Stratford-o
ect happy, almost a golden age; homesickness for the England, France, Italy, America that existed before 1914 is almost a universal sentiment; yet when we read the verse composed during those days of prosperous tranquillity, when youth seemed comic rather than tragic, we find that half th
an really go down to business in the morning with his jaw set? Does every woman begin the day with compressed lips, determined somehow to pull through till afternoon? Even the
ese divagations by the number of cheery lyrics that she has felt it necessary to write. Now
r Sorrow
e down t
m everyth
at him th
ow, give m
tle sign
e given a
e I far
charmed my
wed them
enough in
hall see
excel-I mean child poetry. Her Cradle Song is as good as anything of hers I know, though I could wish she had omitted the parenthetical refrain
on the twenty-second of December, 1869, and studied at Harvard University. In 1896 he published two poems, The Torrent and The Night Before; these were included the next year in a volume called The Children of the Night. His suc
omewhat delicate health. But if Mr. Robinson is not a germinal writer, he is at all events a precursor of the modern advance. The year 1896 was not opportune for a venture in verse, but the Ga
he is a full-grown man, whose voice of resonant hope and faith is heard in the darkness. His chief reason for believing in God is that it is more sensible to believe in Him t
e creed, an
fies God's
that His w
creed of co
crimson, n
the twilight
promise
the starry
faith with
s to the lif
in ourse
hich is th
Children o
cloak that h
Children o
he ages wh
ther striking portraits of individuals, of which the most impressive is Richard Cory. More than on
ectual energy expended on him. Yet this volume contained what is on the whole, Mr. Robinson's masterpiece-Isaac and Archibald. We are given a striking picture of these old men, and I suppos
tly speaking, till the end of the book. Yet in reality the first poem, Flammonde, is the man against the sky-line
pt diluted Tennyson, and it won't do to dilute Tennyson. One might almost as well try to polish him. It is of course possible that Mr. Robinson wished to try something in a roman
excellent draughtsman; everything that he has done has beauty of line; anything pretentious is to him abhorrent. He is more map-maker than pa