Page:Poet Lore, volume 26, 1915.djvu/250

236 poems of the present time, and it is only after further acquaintance with Thompson's work that they seem less important.

The first poem, 'Before Her Portrait in Youth,' and the last one, 'Her Portrait,' have been very highly praised, chiefly for their spirituality, their refinement of passion, which is indeed their distinctive feature, so it is perhaps small wonder that, when read after the other poems, they seem to lack the warmth and intensity one learns to expect of Francis Thompson. In 'Before Her Portrait' there is a delicacy of expression and a reverence that is beautiful, but there is no wonderful beauty of expression.

In 'Her Portrait' the poet has written line after line of 'quaint conceits'; they seem almost too artificial, too much elaborated.

It is distinctly characteristic of Thompson's poetry to have a quick succession of changing figures, but he is unsuccessful in this poem, which after two or three readings seems unconvincing and without appeal. Much of the poem is a complaint for the poet's inability to find expression for the loveliness he would praise, and at the end is an epilogue, 'wherein he excuseth himself for the manner of the "Portrait, declaring the boundaries of the lady's