REVIEW OF NEW BOOKS.
Christine, and Other Poems. By Thomas Buchanan Read. Boston: Wm. D. Ticknor & Co. 1 vol. 12mo.
This is a volume to make “the cold reviewer’s rhyme-freezing face,” melt into smiles. It is the production of a young painter, who has already won an honorable reputation as an artist. Several of the poems have been printed in various periodicals, and in that form attracted considerable attention: but the majority, we believe, are now published for the first time. They evince refinement of thought and sentiment, richness and warmth of fancy, and singular delicacy and strength in the use of language. Perhaps the finest characteristic of their diction is the feeling they display of the harmony of sound and color, in the expression of thought and emotion. The music of the verse corresponds to the imagery which flushes through it, and thus the figures which the poet’s prolific fancy conjures up, are all endowed with life and motion—or rather seem to make the harmony in which they move. His thoughts and sentiment give continual evidence of being born in music. This is a test which few rhymes will bear, and of itself proves the possession of the true poetic feeling. The poetry of Mr. Read is essentially musical thought.
Among the excellent pieces contained in this volume, we would call the attention of our readers to the dreamy beauty of Christine and the Bride of Dottenburg—the elevated feeling which animates the dilating imaginations of the sonnet “To the Master Bards”—the mystical charm of The Winnower, Inez, Arise, The Twins, the Windy Night—and the pensive beauty and sweetness of A Leaf From the Past and Sunlight on the Threshold. Throughout the volume is manifested an imagination to discern and express the poetical aspects of things. We hope that a collection of poems so rich in thought and feeling, and richer still in promise, will have the extended circulation it merits.
Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son, Wholesale, Retail, and for Exportation. By Charles Dickens. With Illustrations by H. K. Browne. New York: Wiley & Putnam.
From the numbers already published of this new novel by Dickens, we think it promises to be one of the most entertaining of his works. With some drawback on the excellence of the characterization, arising from his desire to produce startling comic effects, the characteristics of the work are the same as those displayed in the others, and they are as good. Mr. Dombey is overcharged in the delineation almost to caricature, but he still vividly suggests the character intended to be hit. The class to which he belongs richly deserves satire, as pomposity is as habitual a vice in a large number of Englishmen as the hypocrisy of Pecksniff. Miss Tox promises to be as interesting as Miss Miggs, in “Barnaby Rudge.” Mrs. Chick will give room for much satire on the obvious hypocrisies of character. Polly Richards is a grand portrait, overflowing with humanity, and true to the first principles of the heart. Miss Nipper is a good specimen of the snappish domestic, proudly vulgar and insolently low. Florence, the heroine, is an exquisite creation, not yet fully developed, but as promising almost as Little Nell. Walter is capital, and will go directly to the heart of all boys of spirit. The other characters are of various degrees of merit and originality, but all add something to the interest of the work.
The peculiar humor of Dickens, or his power of blending satire wit, fancy and humor together, is very prominent in “Dombey and Son.” His pathos is no less observable. The felicities of expression scattered over the narrative, would alone reward its patient perusal. The style of Dickens is worthy of study for its beautiful and sparkling peculiarities. It is one of the most original in English literature, and is the exact measure of his genius. His qualities as a novelist cannot be disconnected from his style. A criticism of his diction involves a statement of all his powers and peculiarities, for they interpenetrate it, and give it all its life and character.