Page:The Collected Poems of Dora Sigerson Shorter.djvu/10

Rh preferring the chase, like Adonis, was teased by his fair cousin's affection, and ultimately caused her death by his cruelty. Facts work on the Celtic mind in its imaginative exercise like flame of a lamp crossing the eyelids of a sleeper. Symbolism swallows Reality, but Reality is read through it, if we take the trouble.

A false rhyme may be found in this poet's ballads. There has been of late a cry for the more rigid enforcement of rhyme; strange to hear when the many writers of verse are wearing the poor stock we have to shreds. That hard consonantal smack on the ear of an exact similarity of sound is required in what is called our heroic verse, which relies for its effect on the timely clapper. In lyrics the demand for music is imperative, and as quantity is denied to the English tongue, rhymes there must be. Unhappily the monosyllables chiefly in request are a scanty lot Attempt to translate Heine, and our weakness in dissyllables baffles the experiment. An unrivalled instrumentalist like Mr. Swinburne, prince of lyrists, does marvels with the language. Lesser men, however correct their rhyming, betray the cramp of their hand in frequent repetitions of the rhymes. We can generally anticipate the line as well as