Poems by John Clare. Selected and introduced by Norman Gale.
(G. E. Over, Rugby. 3s. Gd. net.)—Mr. Gale's introduc- tion contains a biography of Clare,. a quite plain-epoken piece of writing, in which to attempt is made to gloss over the poet's faults. Clare had just the amount_ of ability which is most dangerous to a man's character. It was enough to lift him out of his place ; it did not lift him high enough. His verse was remarkable as written by a farm-labourer; it was never really good. Mr. Gale thinks that the public which refused to praise, or even to read, him were " blind bats." It may be so; we must own to the same blindness. The verse has the common fatal fault of not being interesting. It is not thoughtful ; it is not even sonorous ; one never feels disposed to read it aloud. It is not even minutely true to Nature. Tennyson would never have spoken of hares darting out "to crop the dewy flowers."
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