Page:Genius, and other essays.djvu/166

GENIUS AND OTHER ESSAYS than the house of joy. And nothing but affection for the poet can be awakened by the touching pathos of the lyrics in which he records his portion of the "one great Sorrow" which is "all over the wide, wide world." One can see that only the deepest wounds could yield such blood-red flowers of pain. In "The King's Sentinel" we also observe an exquisite passage which no one could have written but a father who had lost a darling child.

Mr. Stoddard's few poetical faults—neglect of synthetic structure, too great use of the parenthesis, occasional failure to simply express his thought—are rarely noticeable in this collection. And there are charming bits of sunshine, showing the natural lightness of the poet's heart, which flash in upon its pages here and there. Such is that wise and healthful poem, "The Country Life," from which our limits will not permit us to quote. We trust that the eminent publishers, to whom America has been indebted for admirable presentations of her foremost poets, will ere long give us in one compact volume the contents of this and Mr. Stoddard's earlier collections; nor can we refrain from expressing a hope that he himself will not suffer his devotion to those more exacting literary pursuits, in which he has a practical and scholarly eminence, to prevent his composition of some larger poetical work which shall be the measure and evidence of his full creative power.

In conclusion we reprint the grand Christmas Hymn, which will take its place as a standard portion of our choicest national song.

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