2 JULY 1881, Page 23

Gleanings. By Wilfrid B. Woollam. (E. M. Jones, Cambridge.) —Mr.

Woollam should not "glean." Gleaned corn is poor stuff, at the best. Let him sow and reap, if it may be. This will take more time, but the result will be more satisfactory. We do not, indeed, take the responsibility of advising the writer to pursue the career of poetry. We will frankly say that in this little volume we see little but a fairly-cultivated taste, and some little gift of melodious expression. A poet is a " maker." There has been no real " making " here.—Records of the Heart. By Stella. (Trubner and Co.)—A volume of incoherent, erotic verse, composed in the style of the

"L. E. L." school. Stella has some command of verse, but she is careless, and quite indifferent to form. Poe, we think, had, more than any other American poet, the poetic quality ; but this does not justify Stella's admiration, which takes the form of imitation.