In many of these brief, tense poems the
reader confronts a mask, as it were, with appalling and
distorted lineaments; but behind it the poet smiles, perhaps
sardonically, but smiles nevertheless. In the real countenance
there are no tears or grievances, but a quizzical,
humorous expression which shows, when one has torn the
subterfuge away, that here is a spirit whom life may menace
with its contradictions and fatalities, but never dupe with
its circumstance and mystery.
All this quite points to, and partly explains, the charm
of the poems in _ A Shropshire Lad _. The fastidious care with
which each poem is built out of the simplest of technical
elements, the precise tone and color of language employed
to articulate impulse and mood, and the reproduction of
objective substances for a clear visualization of character
and scene, all tend by a sure and unfaltering composition,
to present a lyric art unique in English poetry of the last
twenty-five years.
I dare say I have scarcely touched upon the secret of
Mr.
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