The yellow book: an illustrated quarterly (4.1895)

By James Ashcroft Noble 123

specimen of what may be called the decorated style of poetic
architecture.

“ An opulent soul

Dropt in my path like a great cup of gold,

All rieh and rough with stories of the gods.”

“ The sun is dying like a cloven king
In his own blood ; the while the distant moon,

Like a pale prophetess that he has wronged,

Leans eager torward with most hungry eyes
Watching him bleed to death, and, as he faints,

She brightens and dilates ; revenge complete
She walks in lonely triumph through the night.”

“ My drooping sails

Flap idly ’gainst the mast of my intent ;

I rot upon the waters when my prow
Should grate the golden isles.”

“The bridegroom sea

Is toying with the shore, his wedded bride,

And, in the fulness of his marriage joy,

He decorates her tawny brow with shells,

Retires a space to see how fair she looks,

Then, proud, runs up to kiss her.”

These and such things as these were what the admiring critics
loved to quote, and that they were indeed “fine passages” could not
be denied even by people whose tastes were for something a little
less gaudy. What was denied by those who were able to preserve
some calmness of judgment amid the storm of enthusiasm was
that this kind of fineness was the kind that goes to the making
of great poetry. The special fine things were ingenious, striking,

and