Wyndham, George. Ronsard and La Pleiade: with selections from their poetry and some translations in original metres. $2. Macmillan.
An introductory essay tells the story of Ronsard and the Pleiad and shows how French and English literature were influenced by the school; then come the “selections,” which contain the best of Ronsard, Du Bellay and lesser folk; the volume concludes with sixty pages of translations of lyric poetry and sonnets in original metres.
“Mr. Wyndham is well fitted for the task. He has caught the spirit of Elizabethan England, and written admirably and with insight of its greatest poetry. The necessary compression of treatment leaves us in some hesitation as to whether the author has not assumed a great many things on very questionable authority.”
| + − | Ath. 1906, 2: 648. N. 24. 1500w. |
“Mr. Wyndham has felt, not only the importance but especially the grace of Ronsard and his school; and he shows, with delicacy of sentiment, how that grace pervaded their lives no less than their works.”
| + | Lond. Times. 5: 381. D. 16, ’06. 2470w. |
“His translations are faithful.”
| + | Nation. 84: 57. Ja. 17, ’07. 280w. |
“He shows us the astonishing fact that it is possible to be a politician and yet to have the instinct, much even of the craft, of the poet. Mr. Wyndham writes sharply and emphatically, not lingering by the way, and often flashing a rapid illumination as he goes. Here and there his lines creak or cloud.” Arthur Symons.