Victorian poets. Rev. and extended

Front matter

Heth t* oe a ie ad

Ch.

ae

Preface To The Thirteenth Edition

HE origin of the book now presented in an enlarged

form is given in the Preface to the edition of 1875. While it was an outgrowth, as stated, of a few essays each relating to a single personage, its main value, from the ultimate point of view, consisted first in the statement of what appear to me the true canons of imaginative art, as applied to the office of the poet ; again, in studies of the creative temperament derived from sympathetic examination of its possessors; and finally, in a record of the progress of song during a noteworthy period, and of phases reflecting the thought, passion, ideality, of the specified country and age.

Chapters VII and VIII, in which miscellaneous groups were considered, though written as an afterthought, and not possessing the artistic unity of other chapters, proved especially serviceable in the last-named capacity. My gain in comprehension of the general drift was greater than any fancied loss through deviation from an eclectic literary standard. They completed, moreover, the annals of the period, and gave my book a practical if secondary value as a work of reference.

Vi PREFACE TO THE THIRTEENTH EDITION.

Whether its early welcome at home and abroad, and the favor still vouchsafed to it, have been due to the quality of my argument, or to the need of such a record, or to both together, it is in view of this encouragement, and of the changes incident to the close of the typical Victorian epoch, that I add the supplemental matter which extends our survey to the present year.

_ This seems the more expedient, because in a later trea-

_tise, Poets of America, I have applied the same method of criticism, with similar objects in view, to the poets and poetry of my own land. The rise of true poetry here was singularly coincident with that of the Victorian school in Great Britain, and my home-survey applies to the fifty years now ending with the celebration of Her Majesty’s prolonged reign. The Victorian Poets, as enlarged, and its companion-volume thus proffer a general view of the poetry of our English tongue for the last half-century. The supplement itself, beyond that portion devoted to the afterwork of veteran leaders, is necessarily compressed and inclusive: in other words, is written upon the plan of Chapters VII and VIII, to discover current tendencies and the outlook, and to enhance the reference-value of the entire work.

After a lapse of time which enables me to examine my original chapters almost as if they were the production of another hand, it would be strange if I did not observe certain portions that would be written differently, with later and perhaps riper judgment, if I were to write them now.

PREFACE TO THE THIRTEENTH EDITION. Vil

I see that frequent attention was paid to matters of art and form. Technical structure is of special interest to the young artist or critic. There was a marked and fascinating advance in rhythmical variety and finish during the early influence of Tennyson. I do not regret its discussion, since throughout the book persistent stress is also laid upon the higher offices of art as the expression of the soul, and its barrenness without simplicity, earnestness, native impulse, and imaginative power. The American treatise, less occupied with technical criticism, and examining its topic in connection with the formation of national sentiment, enabled me to finish all I desired to say concerning poetry. These books are hopefully addressed to those who will read the two together, and each of them not in fragments but as a whole.

As to the brief opinions with respect to younger singers, I think that a good deal of what was said has been justified, and in a few cases notably, by their subsequent careers. Examining the more elaborate reviews of other poets, I wish to amend in some degree my early criticism.

With the comments upon Landor, Hood, Mrs. Browning, Tennyson, Rossetti, Morris, and Swinburne, I have no serious disagreement. What is said of the last-named four, in the new text, is in keeping with what was first said, and illustrated by an account of their recent works.

I confess, however, that the prominence given to Procter seems hardly in accord with the just perspective of a synthetic view. It grew out of the writer’s distaste for two characteristics of latter-day verse: on the one vill PREFACE TO THE THIRTEENTH EDITION.

hand, the doubt and sadness of that which is the most intellectual ; on the other, the artificial tone of that offered by many younger poets, in whom the one thing needful seemed to be the spontaneity so natural to “ Barry Cornwall.”

While I thought the first of these characteristics too excessive in the poetry of Arnold, the cultured master of his school, I paid full tribute to the majesty of his epic verse. But I was unjust in a scant appreciation of what is after all his most ideal trait, and his surest warrant as a poet. For this fault I now make reparation in the supplement.

One or two errors of fact have been corrected in the original chapter on Browning, our most suggestive figure at the close of a period which Tennyson dominated in its prime. My feeling with respect to some of this profound writer’s idiosyncrasies is still unchanged. Yet in view of my extended recognition of his matchless insight and resources, — and conscious of my own respect for the genius and personality of one to whose works I was guided in youth by kindred that knew and honored him, — it is hard. for me to understand that even his uncompromising worshippers can discover between the lines of my criticism ~ traces of hostility. The chapter, however, is defective in one important respect. Drawing a sharp distinction between the histrionic, objective method of the early dramatists and that of Browning, I did not at once follow it with an incisive statement of the qualities in which his power and effectiveness consist. A praiseworthy reader — by which, as before, I mean one who accepts an essay in its

PREFACE TO THE THIRTEENTH EDITION. ix entirety, and does not hang his approval or disapproval upon a single point —can find these qualities plainly set forth in the comments upon Dramatic Lyrics, Men and Women, Pippa Passes, etc. But that there may be no doubt, and to make up for possible shortcomings, I have referred in the supplement at some length to the specific originality and nature of this poet’s dramatic genius.

Beyond these modifications, I have none with which in this place to trouble the reader, — deprecating, as I do, finical changes in prose or poetry once given to the public, and choosing to let a treatise that has been so leniently judged stand in most respects as it was originally written.

A revision and extension has been made of dates, etc., in the marginal notes, and some pains taken to insure correctness. The new Analytical Index covers both divisions of the book. My thanks are again due to friends, especially to Messrs. R. H. Stoddard, R. W. Gilder, Brander Matthews, George R. Bishop, — and to Mr. William T. Peoples, of the N. Y. Mercantile Library, — for the use of various books which were not already upon my shelves, and which my London agents were unable to procure.

i Ge; NEw YorRK, July, 1887.

TO

GHEORGHE RIPLEY, LL.D.

WHOSE JUDGMENT, LEARNING, AND PROFESSIONAL DEVOTION HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE

ADVANCEMENT OF CRITICISM,

AND FURNISHED AN ENVIABLE EXAMPLE TO MEN OF LETTERS,

This Volume is Enscribed,

Ee rs as ee ee |

Preface To The First Edition

HE contents of this volume chiefly relate to the design announced at the beginning of the introductory chapter, but I will prefix a brief statement of its scope, and of the principles that underlie its judgment. Although presented as a book of literary and biographical criticism, it also may be termed an historical review of the course of British poetry during the present reign, — if not a minute, at least a compact and logical, survey of the authors and works that mainly demand attention. Having made a study of the poets who rank as leaders of the recent British choir, a sense of proportion induced me to enlarge the result, and to use it as the basis of a guide-book to the metrical literature of the time and country in which those poets have flourished. It seemed to me that, by including a sketch of minor groups and schools, and giving a connection to the whole, I might offer a work that would have practical value for uses of record and reference, in addition to whatever qualities, as an essay in philosophical criticism, it should be found to possess.

XIV PREFACE.

To this end Chapters VII. and VIII. were written; sidenotes have been affixed throughout the volume, and an analytical index prepared of the whole. There is much dispute among the best authorities with respect to literary and biographical dates, and a few matters of this sort remain open to doubt; but in many instances, where the persons concerned are still living, I have been successful in obtaining the requisite information at first hand.

A reference to the notes and index will show what seems to my own mind, after the completion of these essays, their most conspicuous feature. So many and various qualities are displayed by the poets under review that, in writing of their works and lives, I have expressed incidentally such ideas concerning the aim and constituents of Poetry as I have gathered during my acquaintance with the historic body of English verse. Often, moreover, a leading author affords an illustration of some special phase of the poetic art and life. The case of Browning, for example, at once excites discussion as to the nature of poetic expression; that of Mrs. Browning involves a study of the poetic temperament, its joys and sorrows, its growth, ripeness, -and decline. Hood’s life was that of a working man of letters ; in Tennyson’s productions we observe every aspect of poetry as an art, and the best average representation of the modern time; while Landor not only affords another study of temperament, but shows the benefits and dangers of culture, of amateurship, and of intellectual versatility as opposed to special gift. In Arnold we find a passion of the

PREFACE. XV intellect, in Procter the pure lyrical faculty, in Buchanan the force and weakness of transcendentalism, in Swinburne the infinite variety of melodious numbers, and the farthest extreme of rhythm and diction reached at this stage of metrical art. Horne, Bailey, Lytton, Morris, and Rossetti are each suggestive of important and varying elements which make up the general quality of recent imaginative song. The different forms of poetry — reflective, idyllic, lyric, and dramatic—successively or in combination pass under review, for the modern era has been no less composite than refined. If not so eminent for poetic vigor as the impetuous Georgian revival which preceded it, nor characterized by dramatic greatness like that of the early and renowned Elizabethan age, it is in its own way as remarkable as either of those historic times, and on the score of complex and technical achievement full of real significance to the lyric artist and the connoisseur.

In pursuing the general subject by an examination of the foremost poets, I have tried to convey a just idea of the career and genius of each, so that any portrait, taken by itself, might seem complete, and distinct from its fellows. In certain cases we are required to observe temperament, — in others, extended lyrical achievements or unusual traits of voice and execution. If my criticism seems more technical than is usual in a work of this kind, it is due, I think, to the fact that the technical refinement of the pericd has been so marked as to demand full recognition and analysis It is seldom that an earnest reviewer, whether lay or

Xvi PREFACE.

professional, can escape wholly the charge of dogmatism. Doubtless every reader will discover points that neither accord with his judgment, nor seem to him fairly taken ; yet I trust that there will be few who will not elsewhere find reason to consider my work something better than labor thrown away. After all, a critic speaks only for himself, and his opinion must be taken for what it is worth, —as being always open to the broader criticism of ‘ those to whom it is submitted.

The chapter on the relations of Tennyson and Theocritus, though somewhat in the nature of an excursus, relates to a matter which seems to me of more significance than the obligations of the modern idyllist to the ancient, — namely, the singular likeness of the Victorian period to the Alexandrian, manifest in both external conditions and poetic results.

Let me now say that this book is not the fulfilment of a deliberate plan, but that a peculiar train of thought and incident has led to its completion. There are times when a writer pauses to consider the work produced by his associates, and the influences by which this has been enlarged _or injured. Reviewing the course of American poetry, since it may be said to have had a pathway of its own, I have tried to note the special restrictions and special advantages by which it has been affected. Our men of true poetic genius, although they have produced charming verse of an emotional, lyrical, or descriptive kind, have seemed indisposed or unable to compose many sustained

PREFACE. XvVii and important works. At first I designed to write of the difficulties which they have experienced, consciously or unconsciously, —some of these pertaining to the youth of the country, and to the fact that, as in the growth of a sister-art, landscape-painting usually must precede the rise of a true figure-school. I might touch upon the lack of inspiring theme and historic halo, of dramatic contrast and material, and of a public that can appreciate the structure, no less than the sweetness and quality, of a noble poem. With various exceptions, there has been a want of just criticism; and even now a defect with many. of the poets themselves is a cloudy understanding of their true mission and of what poetry really is. Beyond the charm of freshness, no great success in verse is attainable without that judicial knowledge of the poet’s art which is the equivalent of what is indispensable to the painter, the sculptor, and the musician, in their respective departments.

But with regard to the causes of the success and failure of our own poets I easily perceived that some of the most important were not special, but general: belonging to the period, and equally affecting the verse of the motherland. This led me to make a study of a few British poets: first of one, Landor, whose metrical work did not seem, upon the whole, a full expression of his unusual genius; then of others, notably Tennyson, who more obviously represent the diverse elements of their time. In order to formulate my own ideas of poetry and criticism, it seemed to me

XVili PAE LACE.

that I could more freely and graciously begin by choosing a foreign paradigm than by entering upon the home-field, and that none could be so good for this purpose as the poetry of Great Britain,—there being none so comprehensive, and none with which myself and my readers are more familiar. Affection, reverence, national feeling, or some less worthy emotion, may be thought to prevent an American from writing without prejudice of Bryant, . Longfellow, Whittier, Lowell, and the rest; doubtless there are considerations which sometimes render British journalists disinclined to review Tennyson and Browning with that indifferent spirit which characterizes their judgment of eminent American poets. Lastly, upon a survey of the last forty years, I saw that what I term the Victorian period is nearly at an end, and that no consecutive and synthetic examination of its schools and leaders had yet been made. This led me to go on and to complete the present work.

It follows that these essays are not written upon a theory. The author has no theory of poetry, and no particular school to uphold. I favor a generous eclecticism, or universalism, in Art, enjoying what is good, and believing that, as in Nature, the question is not whether this or that kind be the more excellent, but whether a work is excellent of its kind. Certain qualities, however, distinguish what is fine and lasting. The principles upon which I rely may be out of fashion just now, and not readily accepted. They are founded, nevertheless, in the Miltonic

PREFACE. XIX canon of poetry, from which simplicity no more can be excluded than sensuousness and passion. The spirit of criticism is intellectual; that of poetry (although our curiously reasoning generation often has forgotten it) is normally the offspring of emotion, —secondly, it may be, of thought. I find that the qualities upon which I have laid most stress, and which at once have opened the way to commendation, are simplicity and freshness, in work of all kinds; and, as the basis of persistent growth, and of greatness in a masterpiece, simplicity and spontaneity, refined by art, exalted by imagination, and sustained by intellectual power. Simplicity does not imply poverty of thought, —there is a strong simplicity belonging to an intellectual age; a clearness of thought and diction, natural to true poets, whose genius is apt to be in direct ratio with their possession of this faculty, and inversely as their tendency to cloudiness, confusion of imagery, obscurity, or “hardness” of style. It may almost be said that everything really great is marked by simplicity. The poet’s office is to reveal plainly the most delicate phases of wisdom, passion, and beauty. Even in the world of the ideal we must have clear imagination and language: the more life-like the dream, the longer it will be remembered. |

» The traits, therefore, which I have deprecated earnestly are in the first place obscurity and hardness, and these either natural,—implying defective voice and insight, or affected, —implying conceit and poor judgment; and secx PREFACE.

ondly that excess of elaborate ornament, which places decoration above construction, until the sense of originality is lost —if, indeed, it ever has existed. Both obscurity and super-ornamentation are used insensibly to disguise the lack of imagination, just as a weak and florid singer hides with trills and flourishes his inability to strike a simple, pure note, or to change without a sliding scale. .

But among true poets of the recent schools some have gone to the other extreme, putting the thought too far above the art, and have neglected melody and finish altogether, as if despising accomplishments now so widely diffused. This also is a fault common in an advanced period, especially in one eminent for speculative and metaphysical research. I have not overlooked this heresy, although steadfastly opposing meretricious efforts to attract notice by grotesque, fantastic, and other artificial means. If such methods prevail in an over-ripe country they should not in our own, and I point to them as errors which American poetry, as it gathers strength, should be able easily to avoid. And thus seeing how poorly charlatanism - and effrontery can make up for patient, humble endeavor and experience in art, we must discern and revere, on the other hand, those gifts of inspiration which endow the born poet, and without which no amount of toil and learning can insure the favor of the Muses. As to the latter requirements, the instinct of the world, that would not recognize Bulwer and still pays tribute to Burns, is almost

PREFACE. Xx1 unerring ; as to the former, it often is for a while deceived ; so I have found occasion to write of dilettanteism, lack of apprenticeship, and of the assumption of those who would clutch the laurel “with a single bound.” Finally, the intellectual activity of our time constantly demands a reviewer’s notice; and passion, rare in an idyllic period, must be sought out and welcomed at every visible turn,

The spirit of the following chapters has now been indicated. I have made few quotations, depending on the readers means of acquaintance with the poetry of his time. In treating the abstract portion of my subject, where some generalization has seemed requisite, I have tried to state my meaning in brief and open terms. Much originality is not claimed for either manner or thought. My effort simply has been to illustrate, through analysis of the careers of various poets, what already is widely understood among philosophical critics. No single sketch has been colored to suit the author’s ideas, but each poet has been judged upon his own merits; yet I think the general effect to be as stated.

I trust that it may not prove a wholly thankless office, since it certainly is not one frequently undertaken, to write a purely critical volume, exclusively devoted to the literature of another land. Criticism, like science, latterly has found a more interested public than of old. The catholic reviewer will not shut his eyes to the value of new modes, but even that conventional criticism, which holds to accepted canons, has its use as a counterpoise to license xxii PREFACE.

and bewilderment. As to the choice of field:—while I would not reassert in behalf of any verdict, least of all in behalf of my own, that “a foreign nation is a kind of contemporaneous posterity,” it yet may be true that from this distance a reviewer can advantageously observe the general aspect of British poetry, whatever minor details may escape his eye.

In concluding this work, I wish to acknowledge my ‘ obligations to friends who have assisted me in its revision:—to Professor Roswell D. Hitchcock, D. D., for valuable hints concerning recent hymnology; to Mr. Richard H. Stoddard, for access to his choice collection of English verse; to Messrs. William J. Linton and George P. Philes, for important data relating to the recent minor poets; and especially to Mr. Robert U. Johnson, of New York, and Mr. Henry H. Clark, of Cambridge, for careful and -unstinted aid, at a time when, from prolonged illness, it was impossible for me to verify the statistical portion of my volume, or even to revise the proef-sheets as they came from the press.

1 ORE, NEw YorRK, July, 1875.

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XX1V CONTENTS.

CHAPTER =X.

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TWELVE YEARS LATER: A SUPPLEMENTARY REVIEW . . . 4I5

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HE main purpose of this book is to examine the lives and productions of such British poets as have gained reputation within the last forty years. Incidentally, I hope to derive from the body of their verse, —so various in form and thought,—and from “the record of their different experiences, correct ideas in respect to the aim and province of the art of Poetry, and not a few striking illustrations of the poetic life. In reviewing the works and careers of these singers, especially of the large number that may be classed as minor poets, we naturally shall be reminded of a process to which M. Taine has made emphatic reference in a history of previous English literature, and in his analysis of the one poet selected by him to represent the quality of recent song. This process is the insensible moulding of an author’s life, genius, manner of expression, by the conditions of race, circumstance, and period, in which he is seen to be involved. But on the other hand, and chiefly in our recognition of the few master-spirits whose names, by common and just agreement, hold the first places upon the list under review, we shall observe with equal certainty that great I A

Design of the present work.

Taine’s theory: thatan author ts governed by his period.

Gentus, however, ts largely independent of place or time.

Illustration of the former statement ;

and of the exceptions which con- Jirm and modify it.

Cp.“ Poets of Amerzca” 3: pp,

IHE PERIOD.

poets overcome all restrictions, create their own styles, and even may determine the lyrical character of a period, or indicate that of one which is to succeed them. |

Among authors of less repute we therefore shall find more than one rare and attractive poet hampered by lack of fortune and opportunity, or by a failure to harmonize his genius with the spirit of his time. For example, several persons having the true dramatic feeling arose, but cannot be said to have flourished, during or just before the early portion of the era, and were overborne by the reflective, idyllic fashion which then began to prevail in English verse. These isolated singers — Taylor, Darley, Beddoes, Horne, and others like them — never exhibited the full measure of their natural gifts. The time was out of keeping; and why? Because it followed the lead, and listened to the more courageous voices of still greater poets, who introduced and kept in vogue a mode of feeling and expression to which the dramatic method is wholly antagonistic. These successful leaders, no less sensitive than their rivals to the feeble and affected mood which poetry then had assumed, and equally familiar with the choicest models of every age and literature, were more wise in selecting the ground upon which the expression of their own genius and the tendencies of the period could be brought together. They persisted in their art, gathered new audiences, and fulfilled the mission for which they were endowed with voice, imagination, and the poet’s creative desire. This surer instinct, this energy and success, this utterance lifted above opposing voices, are what have distinguished poets like Tennyson, the Brownings, Rossetti, Swinburne, from less fortunate aspirants whose memory is cherished tenderly by our

CULTURE AND SPONTANEITY.

united guild, but who failed to reach the popular heart or to make a significant impression upon the literature of their own time.

It is an open question, however, whether a poet need be conscious of the existence and bearing of the laws and conditions under which he produces his work. It may be a curb and detriment to his genius that he should trouble himself about them in the least. But this rests upon the character of his intellect and includes a further question of the effects of culture. Just here there is a difference between poetry and the cognate arts of expression, since the former has somewhat less to do with material processes and effects. The freedom of the minor sculptor’s, painter’s, or composer’s genius is not checked, while its scope and precision are increased, by knowledge of the rules of his calling, and of their application in different regions and times. But in the case of the minor poet, excessive culture, and wide acquaintance with methods and masterpieces, often destroy spontaneity. ‘They shut in the voice upon itself, and overpower and bewilder the singer, who forgets to utter his native, characteristic melody, awed by the chorus and symphony of the world’s great songs. Full-throated, happy minstrels, like Béranger or Burns, need no knowledge of thoroughbass and the historical range of composition. Their expression is the carol of the child, the warble of the skylark scattering music at his own sweet will. Nevertheless, there is no strong imagination without vigorous intellect, and to its penetrative and reasoning faculty there comes a time when the laws which it has instinctively followed must be apparent; and, later still, it cannot blind itself to the favoring or adverse influences of period and place. Should these forces be

Diverse ef- Sects of culture upon spontaneity.

The critic’s province.

Cp. ** Poets of Amerwa 99 : Lp.

26, 223.

Aspects of the time under review.

TILE PERIOD.

restrictive, their baffling effect will teach the poet to recognize and deplore them, and to endeavor, though with wind and tide against him, to make his progress noble and enduring.

In regard to the province of the critic there can, however, be no question. It is at once seen to be twofold. He must recognize and broadly observe the local, temporal, and generic conditions under which poetry is composed, or fail to render adequate judgment upon the genius of the composer. Yet there always are cases in which poetry fairly rises above the idealism of its day. The philosophical critic, then, in estimating the importance of an epoch, also must pay full consideration to the messages that it has received from poets of the higher rank, and must take into account the sovereign nature of a gift so independent and spontaneous that from ancient times men have united in looking upon it as a form of inspiration.

As we trace the course of British poetry,—from a point somewhat earlier than the beginning of the present reign, down to the close of the third quarter of our century,— we observe that at the outset of this period the sentiment of the Byronic school had degenerated into sentimentalism, while for its passion there had been substituted the calm of reverie and introspective thought. Two kinds of verse were marked by growing excellence. The first was that of an art-school, taking its models from old English poetry and from the delicate classicism of Landor and Keats ; the second was of a didactic, yet elevated nature, and had the imaginative strain of Wordsworth for its loftiest exemplar. We see these two combining in that idyllic method which, upon the whole, has distinguished the recent time, and has maintained an atmosphere un-