The Poems of Sir William Watson. 1878-1935. (Harrap. 7s. 6d.)
The Volunteer Laureate
SEVERAL collective publications of Sir William Watson's poems have appeared ; the latest of them (as a preliminary note informs us) contains the writer's favourite pieces, exhibiting such revision as he made during his last days with a view to a definitive -edition: Those who are acquainted with his books as they formerly came out may make some comparisons illustrating his idea of the poetic art. In 1892, for example, Watson delighted his already numerous audience with " Lachrymae Musarum," . which •had as title-poem a threnody on Tennyson, and included among the other pieces a long lyric on Shelley's centenary. Both compositions gained particular notice, and both reappear now ; but the text has been readjusted, or retouched. Order, concision, minor rhythmic energy liave been ivorked. for. Marks. df fashion, like the Arnoldian italics in " Revolt is transient : -what must last
Is that pure strain "
have been sometimes removed.
I have named two pieces, and they are remarkable per- formances, in which Watson took - illustrious poets as his theme. It is extraordinary how frequently. literature, or its
makers, (tailed forth his own verse. His latest collection attests this, and yet is far from including all that he penned as Parnassian observer. From the little book " Lachrymae Musarum," he did not recapture the lines on Lamb, on Coleridge leaving " Christabel " a tantalising fragment, on Tennyson's " Foresters," and on " our new censor " He preserved, however, from elsewhere (one need scarcely name " Wordsworth's Grave ") poems in honour of Chaucer, Scott, Hood, Arnold, Burns, Shakespeare, and others, with a profusion of rhymed comments on temporary or permanent aspects of the world of books. His metrical forms likewise represent a constant reference to a kind of pantheon of great examples. With all this consciousness of authority, Watson was not prevented from saying things in his own way which were heard with admiration at first and may recur in future.
His concern with diction may have acted as a barrier between him and the keenest experience. But, studious to convey romantic enthusiasm without romantic excess, he occasionally comes within sight of the distinction ascribed by him to ,
"Gray, who on worn thoughts conferred That second youth, the perfect word, The elected and predestined phrase That had lain bound, long nights and days, To wear at last, when once set free, Immortal pellucidity."
Besides literary questions, Watson had a fluent source of poetical activity in the affairs and leaders of public 1:fe.
To name him is to recall the author of " The Purple East " and Ode on the Day of the Coronation of King Edward VII." His attitude in this part of his writings is handsome if the utterance is hollow. Perhaps the thin contact with the external, the sensuous world which monotonises his poetry generally is his worst enemy in political verse. In acclaiming Edward VII he wishes to mention the time of year, and this is how he does it :
" Lo, at the Earth's high feast, ere Autumn bring His afterthoughts on greatness to her ear, And with monitions of mortality Perturb the revelling year, Thou goest forth and art anointed King."
But it would be unfair to leave him there ; for on his seventy-sixth birthday he wrote of his one remaining wish— to see England
" Strengthening the Forts of Peace, that they may tower Impregnably mighty, and invincibly great."
His imagery had not altogether lost its old flamboyancy, and his notion of the poet as hero was still operative.
EDMUND BLUNDEN.
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