Page:The Dial (Volume 68).djvu/158

130 And these four extracts, though I did not choose them primarily for that purpose, illustrate what is, after all, the most important item in Mr. Squire's poetical equipment. I mean his rhythm. He is one of those poets who appeal in the first place by their rhythm, just as others appeal mainly by vowel-melody, and others by the evocation of pictures. I do not mean that any good poet does neglect any one of these three constituents of good verse. They are the indispensable channels through which feeling is conveyed or aroused; but any given poet will appeal chiefly by one of them, and with Mr. Squire it is rhythm. He is one of the few living men (Dr. Bridges and Mr. De la Mare are others) of whom it can be said that he has made definite and genuine discoveries in this direction. Most of our poets (and no blame to them) prefer to perform on the instruments which their predecessors have left them. Others, whom I like less, merely sit on the keyboard, as Liszt said. But Mr. Squire has made real discoveries of real value. The lovely, fluent stanza of Rivers, capable of assuming innumerable different shapes without losing its individuality, proves the worth of his metrical invention.