The Tenth Mute. By Edward Thomas. (Martin Seeker. Is. 6d.
net.)—Edward Thomas, who fell in France last April, was known before the war as a true lover of Nature and an appreciative critic of good literature. This little book, to which Mr. Freeman has prefixed a brief memoir, shows that he knew our English poets well, and is, indeed, chiefly interesting for the quotations from them. The purpose of the hook is to show how woman, " the tenth Muse," influenced the poets from Chaucer to Keats and Shelley ; but the author did not take hie theme very seriously, and contented himself is most cases with very brief comments on his select extracts. Lander, Byron, Kettle, and Shelley are treated more fully than the rest. There was a good deal of truth in the cynic's remark that the less one knew of the private life of poets, the more likely one was to enjoy their poetry.
Previous page
