Gycia Part 21

"The whole of this last portion of the poem is exceedingly beautiful.... Nor will any, except critics of limited view, fail to recognize in the Epic a distinct addition to their store of those companions of whom we never grow tired."--_Athenaeum_, March 3rd, 1877.

"We believe that the Epic will approve itself to students as one of the most considerable and original feats of recent English poetry."--_Sat.u.r.day Review_, March 31st, 1877.

"Thought, fancy, music, and penetrating sympathy we have here, and that radiant, unnamable suggestive delicacy which enhances the attraction with each new reading."--_British Quarterly Review_, April, 1877.

"The present work is by far his greatest achievement; the whole tone of it is n.o.ble, and portions, more especially the concluding lines, are excessively beautiful."--_Westminster Review_, April, 1877.

"The work is one of which any singer might justly be proud. In fact, the Epic is in every way a remarkable poem, which to be appreciated must not only be read, but studied."--_Graphic_, March 10th, 1877.

"We do not hesitate to advance it as our opinion that 'The Epic of Hades' will enjoy the privilege of being cla.s.sed amongst the poems in the English language which will live."--_Civil Service Gazette_, March 17th, 1877.

"Exquisite beauty of melodious verse.... A remarkable poem, both in conception and execution. We sincerely wish for the author a complete literary success."--_Literary World_, March 30th, 1877.

"Will live as a poem of permanent power and charm. It will receive high appreciation from all who can enter into its meaning, for its graphic and liquid pictures of external beauty, the depth and truth of its purgatorial ideas, and the ardour, tenderness, and exaltation of its spiritual life."--_Spectator_, May 5th, 1877.

"I have lately been reading a poem which has interested me very much, a poem called 'The Epic of Hades.' Many of you may never have heard of it; most of you may never have seen it. It is, as I view it, another gem added to the wealth of the poetry of our language."--_Mr. Bright's speech on Cobden, at Bradford_, July 25th, 1877.

"In the blank verse of the 'Epic of Hades,' apt words are so simply arranged with unbroken melody, that if the work were printed as prose, it would remain a song, and every word would still be where the sense required it; not one is set in a wrong place through stress of need for a mechanical help to the music.

The poem has its sound mind housed in a sound body."--PROFESSOR MORLEY _in the Nineteenth Century_, February, 1878.

"I have read the 'Epic of Hades,' and find it truly charming. Its pictures will long remain with me, and the music of its words."--OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, April, 1884.

THE EPIC OF HADES.

_ILl.u.s.tRATED QUARTO EDITION._

"Of Mr. Chapman's ill.u.s.trations it is pleasant to be able to speak with considerable admiration, not only because they are a fortunate echo of the verse, and represent the feelings and incidents of the 'Epic,' but because of their intrinsic merits.

There is in them a fine and high inspiration of an indefinite sort."--_Athenaeum_, March 29th, 1879.

"'The Epic of Hades' is certainly one of the most remarkable works of the latter half of the nineteenth century. Here is an _edition de luxe_ which may possibly tempt the unthinking to search for the jewel within the casket."--_World_, February 12th, 1879.

"The exquisite aerial feeling of 'Eros and Psyche,'--by far the best of the drawings,--in which the figures seem literally to float in ether. 'Laoc.o.o.n' is grand and dignified, and all deserve to be noticed with attention."--_Graphic_, January 25th, 1879.

"These designs of themselves would be of the highest value, and when they are placed, as in this book, by way of ill.u.s.tration of a text which is full of power, their value is not easily estimated. The book ought to be one of the most cherished gifts that any lover of poetry or the pencil could desire."--_Scotsman_, January 23rd, 1879.

"The author has been most fortunate in his ill.u.s.trator. The designs are gems of drawing and conception, and the mezzotint is admirably adapted to the style of drawing and subject. This is truly a charming addition to the literary table. It is seldom one sees figure ill.u.s.trations of such graceful and powerful beauty, and so thoroughly in sympathy with the visionary subjects of the author."--_Art Journal_, April, 1879.

"'The Epic of Hades' has already won a place among the immortals.

The lovely and terrible figures of the Greek mythology have never received a more exquisite consecration than at the hands of the author, who, with the true divination of the poet, has known how to interpret in the modern spirit the profound and pathetic fables of antiquity without vulgarizing by modern affectations their divine simplicity. This beautiful poem appears now in an _edition de luxe_--a setting not unworthy of such gems. The designs are noteworthy for their tenderness of sentiment and their languid grace."--_Daily News_, April 2nd, 1879.

GWEN:

_A DRAMA IN MONOLOGUE._

"The charm of this beautiful little poem is its perfect simplicity of utterance; its chastened and exquisite grace. There is nothing very new in the incidents or in the characters of this most touching story, except in its unconventional ending, which takes the reader by surprise. The genius of the author has closed an idyll of love and death with a strain of sweet, sad music in that minor key which belongs to remembrance and regret."--_Daily News_, January 22nd, 1879.

"We have read this new work with the interest arising from the expectations which the author had quickened in us, and with the hope of finding those expectations confirmed. We are not disappointed, for we have here the same selectness of language, the same high, pure tone, the same delicate power of touching the deeper chords of thought and feeling, which have previously won our attention and sympathy."--_Literary World_, January 17th, 1879.

"At the close of the tale the heart swells with pathos, and the tears all but force their way into the eyes. To turn from the most noteworthy of modern poetry to the verse in which 'Gwen' is written is like turning from a brilliant painting to a fine statue. We are scarcely sensible of want of colour, so refreshed are we by purity of outline. All, indeed, is graceful, good, and poetical work, as pure and limpid in flow as a brook."--_Sunday Times_, February 2nd, 1879.

"The piece as a whole will repay very attentive perusal, while here and there in it there is a particular choice bit of work.

Here, for example, is a fine lyric ... and here a love-song of rare and exquisite beauty."--_New York Evening Post_, February 20th, 1879.

"Few among the later poets of our time have received such a generous welcome as the author. He has been appreciated not by critics alone, but by the general public.... The charm of 'Gwen'

is to be found in the limpid clearness of the versification, in the pathetic notes which tell the old story of true love wounded and crushed. Nothing can be more artistically appropriate or more daintily melodious than the following...."--_Pall Mall Gazette_, October 8th, 1879.

"The poem is, as a whole, tender, simple, chaste in feeling, and occasionally it rises to a lyrical loftiness of sentiment or grows compact with vigorous thought."--_New York "Nation"_, March 27th, 1879.

"The writer has gained inspiration from themes which inspired Dante; he has sung sweet songs and musical lyrics; and whether writing in rhyme or blank verse, has proved himself a master of his instrument. He knows, like all true poets, how to trans.m.u.te what may be called common into the pure gold of poetry."--_Spectator_, July 26th, 1879.

THE ODE OF LIFE.

"The 'Ode of Life' ought to be the most popular of all the author's works. People flock to hear great preachers, but in this book they will hear a voice more eloquent than theirs, dealing with the most important subjects that can ever occupy the thoughts of man."--_Westminster Review_, July, 1880.

"The many who have found what seemed to them of value and of use in the previous writings of the author, may confidently turn to this, his latest and, in his own view, his most mature work. It is full of beauty of thought, feeling, and language."--_Daily News_, April 8th, 1880.

"Full of exquisite taste, tender colour, and delicate fancy, these poems will add considerably to the reputation of their author."--_Sunday Times_, April 25th, 1880.

"The author is one of the few real poets now living. Anything at once more sympathetic and powerful it would be difficult to find in the poetry of the present day."--_Scotsman_, May 11th, 1880.

"Next to the 'Epic of Hades,' it is his best work."--_Cambridge Review_, May 19th, 1880.

"Here is one standing high in power and in fame who has chosen a n.o.bler course.... The experiment is successful, and though we must not now discuss the laws to which the structure of an ode should conform, we rank the poem in this respect as standing far above Dryden's celebrated composition, but below the Odes of Wordsworth on Immortality and of Milton on the Nativity, which still remain peerless and without a rival."--_Congregationalist_, May 1st, 1880.

"A high devout purpose and wide human sympathy enn.o.ble all the writer's work, and his clear language and quiet music will retain his audience."--_Nineteenth Century_, August, 1880.

"In all that respects technical points, certainly the most finished work we have yet had from the author's hand, and here and there the phrasing is exquisite. For ambitious aims, and for art which so far has justified those aims, for elevation and refinement, these poems are in advance of any of the author's former works."--_British Quarterly Review_, July, 1880.

"Any notice of recent poetry would be inadequate without a reference to the 'Ode of Life.' The only fault we have to find with this really remarkable effort--a sort of expansion of Wordsworth's famous Ode--is that it is rather too long for its ideas; but it possesses power, sweetness, occasional profundity, and unmistakable music. It is, when all is said and done, a true 'Ode,' sweeping the reader along as the ode should do, and

'Growing like Atlas, stronger for its load.'

It appears to us to bring definite proof that the writer's pretensions have not been over-stated."--_Contemporary Review_, February, 1881.

SONGS UNSUNG.

"Some of the more important pieces make almost equal and very high demands alike on my sympathy and my admiration, and I hope you may long be enabled to cherish the enviable gift of finding utterance for Truths so deep in forms of so much power and beauty."--_Letter from_ MR. GLADSTONE, November, 1883.

"The reader of his former work will probably commence this volume with considerable expectations. Nor will he be altogether disappointed, although he will probably wish that Mr. Morris had given the world more of his exquisite cla.s.sical workmanship."--_Fortnightly Review_, November, 1883.

"'The New Creed' is, in some respects, his most striking achievement. The poem is one well suited to his mind, but we are not aware that he has ever before written anything at once so impressive, so solemn, and so self-restrained. The last two lines have all the happy energy of the highest poetry."--_Spectator_, November 10th, 1883.

"In reading it one feels constantly 'How worthy this book would be of beautiful ill.u.s.trations!'"--_Academy_, November 24th, 1883.

"The volume is full of the sweet fruits of a large experience; a profound study of the many problems of life; a clear insight into human nature; and the book as a whole ranks among the best gifts which the press has in recent years bestowed upon us."--_Leeds Mercury_, November 21st, 1883.