Poetry in Monthly Excells

One recognizes in the November Monthly, as contrasted with last year, a lighter and more graceful touch, sacrificing perforce something of robustness and broad appeal, much as would have been expected had the chief editorship passed to Mr. Nathan. The somewhat too numerous and too brief "items," written chiefly-vae victorious-by the editors, leave an impression of studied word painting with little that demands expression.

The poetry excells. Hillyer's "Retrospect" indubitably sings,--though in a well-worn tone; Dos Passos admirably conveys the spirit of the prairies; and Nelson's "Madam" strikes an original vital poetic note. His readers, however, should not turn the page. The remaining verse is more conventional. Hillyer's first sonnet too clearly recalls Drayton; his second, Donne: they constitute studies rather than self-expression. The anonymous run on sonnet appears at line fourteen to have missed connections. Howe's sapphics, on the other hand, are metrical and in phrasing delightful though artificial.

In prose the number stands redeemed from commonplace by two mystical allegories of Paulding--not sufficiently dissimilar for one number--and Dos Pasasas's "Orientale," a clever, and entertaining story. Angels, however, is a singularly unsophisticated widow. Whittlesey in "The Old Order Changeth," seems an echo from last year, simply human and realistic--not of the order of The Smart Set. This order serves well for phantasy and the light touch, not for exposition, where, as in "The Movie and the Theatre" it proves neither delectable nor informative.