9 JULY 1864, Page 22

Sonnets onthe Months and Other Poems. By John Askham. (Gratton.)

• —When a poet prefaces his poems with the statement that he eats his bread in the sweat of his brow, and that be knows that they are written under the least favourable circumstances, one generally expects to find that he does not know the A B C of his art, that his lines will neither scan nor rhyme, and that he has simply mistaken the desire to write poetry for the capacity. Mr. Askham is not a -writer of this sort. His culture may be self-acquired, but it is genuine. His poems aro simple, melodious, and polished. Sometimes he strikes a higher note, and gives us a descriptive sketch of vigour and even originality, as in the poem entitled the "Grinder."