POETRY.
ON SEEING A PICTURE CALLED "A WINTER GALE IN THE CHANNEL" (Painted by Henry Moore in 1872, when it was exhibited in the Royal
Academy ; now in the possession of Mr. H. Smith Wright, Lenton
Hall, Notts.] (See Spectator, 22nd June, 1872.)
r.
I LOVE this ocean picture's pale reserve :
No tints unnatural of purpling grain, Azure, or opal, mar the rough, grey main, The sweep, the swing, the long froth-churning curve, The shore-ward working and confused swerve Of yellowing water : white blooms wear such stain, All dashed and muddied with the April rain.
No poor ambition did the painter serve !
Well that no laboured ship or sun-burst broke The strong monotony of that sky and surge ; Leave, only leave, the line of stormy smoke,
The sea-birds dashed upon the nearer verge,—
Brave in its truth, this ocean piece shall be The type for us of Homer's harvestless sea. Nor only this—lesson of more than art ! Who dares, strong in simplicity, despise The evanescent beauties that arise Before his gaze, and in true thought apart, Look on straight forward to life's very heart Who dares, by gift supernal rendered wise, Deem truth more beautiful for all true eyes Than garish things made merely for the mart : Whether he paint, or write, or live his thought,.
To that which he produces shall be lent An immortality of ravishment, One day it shall be own'd divinely wrought ; And all the sternness of its strength shall be Like the grave beauty of this pictured sea.
Lenlon Hall, May 10. WILLIAM DERRY AND RAPHON
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