O England, little mother by the sleepless Northern tide,
Having bred so many nations to devotion, trust, and pride,
Very tenderly we turn
With welling hearts that yearn
Still to love you and defend you,—let the sons of men discern
Wherein your right and title, might and majesty, reside.
In concluding this, I greatly fear, lamentably inadequate study, I come to the collection which follows, and which, as intimated above, represents the work of Mr. Carman's latest period. I must say at once that, while I yield to no one in admiration for Low Tide and the other books of that period, or for the work of the second period, as represented by the Songs from Vagabondia volumes, I have no hesitation in declaring that I regard the poet's work of the past few years with even higher admiration. It may not possess the force and vigor of the work which preceded it; but anything seemingly missing in that respect is more than made up for me by increased beauty and clarity of expression. The mysticism—verging, or more than verging, at times on symbolism—which marked his earlier poems, and which hung, as it were, as a veil between them and the reader, has gone, and the poet's thought or theme now lies clearly before us as in a mirror. What—to take a verse from the following pages at random—could be more pellucid, more crystal clear in expression—what indeed, could come closer to that achieving of the impossible at which every real poet must aim—than this from "In Gold Lacquer" (page 12)?
Gold are the great trees overhead,
And gold the leaf-strewn grass,
As though a cloth of gold were spread
To let a seraph pass.
And where the pageant should go by,
Meadow and wood and stream,
The world is all of lacquered gold,
Expectant as a dream.
The poet, happily, has fully recovered from the serious illness which laid him low some two years ago, and which for a time caused his friends and admirers the gravest concern, and so we may look forward hopefully to seeing further volumes of verse come from the press to make certain his name and fame. But if, for any reason, this should not be—which the gods forfend!—Later Poems, I dare affirm, must and will be regarded as the fine flower and crowning achievement of the genius and art of Bliss Carman.
R. H. HATHAWAY.
Toronto, 1921.
THE BOOKS OF BLISS CARMAN: POETRY AND PROSE
LOW TIDE ON GRAND PRÉ: A BOOK OF LYRICS . . . . . . . . . . . . 1893
SONGS FROM VAGABONDIA (WITH RICHARD HOVEY) . . . . . . . . . . . 1894
BEHIND THE ARRAS: A BOOK OF THE UNSEEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1895
A SEAMARK: A THRENODY FOR ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON . . . . . . . . 1895
MORE SONGS FROM VAGABONDIA (WITH HOVEY) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1896
BALLADS OF LOST HAVEN: A BOOK OF THE SEA . . . . . . . . . . . . 1897
BY THE AURELIAN WALL, AND OTHER ELEGIES . . . . . . . . . . . . 1898
A WINTER HOLIDAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1899
LAST SONGS FROM VAGABONDIA (WITH HOVEY) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1901
BALLADS AND LYRICS (A SELECTION) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1902
ODE ON THE CORONATION OF KING EDWARD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1902
FROM THE BOOK OF MYTHS ("PIPES OF PAN," No. I.) . . . . . . . . 1902
FROM THE GREEN BOOK OF THE BARDS ("PIPES OF PAN," No. II.) . . . 1903
THE KINSHIP OF NATURE (ESSAYS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1904
SONGS OF THE SEA CHILDREN ("PIPES OF PAN," No. III.) . . . . . . 1904
SONGS FROM A NORTHERN GARDEN ("PIPES OF PAN," No. IV.) . . . . . 1904
THE FRIENDSHIP OF ART (ESSAYS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1904
SAPPHO: ONE HUNDRED LYRICS (500 COPIES) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1905
FROM THE BOOK OF VALENTINES ("PIPES OF PAN," No. V.) . . . . . . 1905
THE POETRY OF LIFE (ESSAYS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1905
COLLECTED POEMS, 2 VOLS. (500 COPIES) . . . . . . . . . 1905 (1904)
THE PIPES OF PAN (DEFINITIVE EDITION) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1906
THE MAKING OF PERSONALITY (ESSAYS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1908
THE ROUGH RIDER, AND OTHER POEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1909
ECHOES FROM VAGABONDIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1912
DAUGHTERS OF DAWN: A LYRICAL PAGEANT (WITH MARY PERRY KING) . . 1913
EARTH DEITIES, AND OTHER RYTHMIC MASQUES (WITH MARY PERRY KING) 1914
APRIL AIRS: A BOOK OF NEW ENGLAND LYRICS . . . . . . . . . . . . 1916