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Athenæum.
" IN him we have a
genuine songster. He has the true faculty of creative life ...... Few
poems in our recent outgrowth of poetic literature are finer than some
of these love-verses...... We have quoted enough to show that here is
another poet,--and one whose story and position as a teacher and
preacher clothe him with unusual interest.."
Blackwood's Magazine.
" GERALD MASSEY has
already won for himself a considerable name in lyrical poetry. He
possesses a large share of the poet's stirring inspiration: he has
within him the soul of a poet."
Edinburgh Review.
" MR. GERALD
MASSEY'S poems have already gone through several editions, and some of
them deserve their popularity. The most fastidious tastes will be
most charmed with such verses as these ...... There is a real glow about
all that Mr. Massey writes."
Spectator.
" THAT a man
struggling through such difficulties should write with a facility, a
melody, an elegance of sentiment, and a breadth of thought, quite equal
to any of our minor poets, and in these respects not far short of
writers scarcely to be reckoned as minor, is indeed surprising."
London. Quarterly Review.
" HIS love-poetry is
very pure and sweet, and frequently rivals the most genuine strains of
Burns." |
Times.
"IT is the
production of a young man who has fought his way to the Temple-gate
sword in hand. May the summer morning be fair as the spring dawn
is bright! We consider these poems to be most remarkable and
interesting."
New York Tribune.
"GERALD MASSEY may
anticipate a bright career among the modern masters of song. He
possesses gifts which are rarely accorded even to the most favoured of
mortals.
" None but the sternest or most narrow-minded critics
will doubt that Gerald Massey is born for a poet. He possesses a
teeming imagination, which luxuriates in all the glories of the outward
universe. Never before were the joys of marriage life sung in such
glowing strains:"
Chambers's Journal.
" IF the extracts we
have given do not suffice to show the promise with which this volume
abounds, we must plead guilty to a misapprehension of what constitutes
poetry of a high order, full of originality and freshness of feeling."
Examiner.
" THIS book contains
not a few lines and passages which may be fairly called immortal verse.
We give it our best letters of recommendation."
Church and State Gazette.
"HEARTILY do we
congratulate the age that sees the advent of such a poet as the author
of 'Babe Christabel.' " |
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Athenaeum.
BE the reader as Augustan in his requirements as those who are
unreconciled to Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats, (and such readers of poetry
still exist,) he will hardly deny the author of 'Craigcrook Castle' his
letters of enrolment among the poets. His new book is a book of
the time, inasmuch as some of its highest strains have been inspired by
the war from which we have just issued, our poet thinks, ingloriously ;
it is a page, too, from the book of his own life,--a page steeped in the
real tears of a great sorrow. In both we hear the earnest, sad,
passionate voice which would constrain us to stop and listen, --were the
years ever so gay,--were our own hearts ever so ignorant of yearnings
for those who will come no more. .....If we exchange the genial open-air
pictures for the house darkened by sorrow, we shall find like, music of
the song grow truer, deeper , and more impassioned. There are few
more touching revelations of Bereavement. ' The Mother's Idol Broken '
is a series of death-poems, which no mother will read without tears.
In ' Glimpses of the War ' will be found not a few fiery stanzas and
noble lines. Here is a dirge with a music in its wail which reminds us
of some wild national
keen, or coronach. Much more--some ripe in beauty,
some rich in promise--could be cited from this volume ; but the above
will lead many to read it, and justify the enjoyment and the hope we
have found in the appearance of one so full of some of Poetry's most
gracious gifts."
Critic.
"
'CRAIGCROOK CASTLE ' proves indubitably--if indeed that needed
proof--that its author possesses of a truth the high and sacred gift of
genius. What was embryotic in the former work is flower in this.
It shows a wider range of vision, a steadier pulse, and a stronger
grasp. The former volume was rich in promise, and this is as rich
in a yet richer promise.."
Examiner.
"
WE give a hearty welcome to another book from Mr. Gerald Massey, a young
writer who, through hard beginnings of life, has attained to much, and
undoubtedly is capable of more than he has yet achieved.
'Craigcrook Castle' deserves to be bought and read. There is
sufficient sign in the new book of increased maturity of thought.
Incomparably the best things in it are two little works produced under
the influence of genuine emotion, one called 'The Mother's Idol Broken,'
and the other 'Glimpses of the War;' which forms the most spirited
accompaniment to the whole tale of the late war, that has been produced
by any of our English minstrels. 'Lady Laura' contains much
delicate writing. We have read this book with enjoyment,--with
respect."
Press.
"MR. GERALD MASSEY is one of the most vigorous of our rising poets.
' The Mother's Idol Broken ' is remarkable for much plaintive and
beautiful verse. ' Glimpses of the War ' indicate, in bursts of
song, the great actions of the Crimean struggle. The death-ride at
Balaclava is extremely spirited. The finest descriptive piece is
near the end of the volume. The description of Charmian's habitual
beauty is superb. There is in Byron nothing finer than 'Only a
Dream.' "
Tait's Magazine.
"
'CRAIGCROOK CASTLE ' will probably be the most popular volume of poetry
during this autumn. ' The Mother's Idol Broken,' a tale of
domestic joy and sadness, is told in touching verses ; and the subject
is so very common, they go to every heart. In ' Lady Laura' the
truths are bitter, and burn to the heart. Mr. Massey hits hard at
competition. ' Glimpses of the War' vindicate the poet's right to be a
soldier's minstrel. Some of these are magnificent war-strains,
equalling anything ancient or modern." |
Economist.
" WE shall but add
to the general voice of welcome in sounding the praises of ' Craigcrook
Castle.' Among the longer poems, 'The Mother's Idol Broken' and 'Only a
Dream ' are almost perfect of their kind : the remaining three are
equally well written, and contain lines which might appear to indicate
higher flights of poetic power ; but there is a real human interest in
the others which always proves the Surest passport to the heart. The
present volume reminds us more of the modern German poetry of Redwitz
and Giebel, than of any English author. But we must claim for our
countryman a healthier tone and a wiser choice of themes,--more of the
warm common light of day. His descriptions of nature show a close
observation of her ways, and a delicate appreciation of her beauties.
His images, however subtle and delicately woven, are never false. In '
The Mother's Idol Broken,' which contains some of the most beautiful and
striking images in the volume, the feeling is never overpowered and
hidden by the working of the imagination. We hardly know how to choose
from it, the beauty of the poem is so well sustained throughout."
Illustrated Times.
"
IT would not be very easy to recollect anything while reading ' The
Mother's Idol Broken,' which is unquestionably the gem of the book.
To speak of it as a cluster of gems would be more just. It is no
unworthy companion to ' In Memoriam.' It is to that wonderful
'cairn' of precious stones, heaped to a dead friend's memory, what a
golden-haired child is to a brown-bearded stalwart man. To step
aside for a moment from the ordinary path of criticism, let us confess
ourselves of the class for whom they have been written, and thank the
author, in the name of his fellow-mourners, for his complete and
beautiful expression of their common woe. There are many rich
libraries and many scanty book-shelves in all the lands where English
can be read, wherein the volume containing ' The Mother's Idol Broken'
will be found side by side with 'Dombey and Son' and 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'
for more years to come than can be predicted."
Thomas Aird, in the Dumfries Herald.
"REJOICING in the
new, free eloquence of our poetry, disenthralled from the artificial
sing-song of Pope, we are equally ready to hail a fresh set of young
poets in our own day, who are pushing out on all sides for varieties of
style, measure, and form. Gerald Massey belongs to the new choir.
He has certain imitative characteristics ; but all his best things are
his own, drawn from the depth of his own distinctive genius.
Pathos, and love, and a purple flush of beauty steep and colour all his
song. We are always anxious about a young poet's second
production, if it follows soon after the first. Mr. Massey,
however, has disappointed our fears. His second volume has all the
bloom and richness of the first, and more maturity of thought. The
whole of ' The Mother's Idol' is excellent. In ' Lady Laura' we
have exquisite passages. In ' Glimpses of the War ' we find pieces
of great spirit. The battle of Inkerman is brought vividly before
us. The pieces beginning ' Czar Nicholas,' and ' There was a poor
old Woman,' show a new vein,--a vein of deep, quiet sarcasm. They
remind us of Béranger. Every lover of fresh poetry will add '
Craigcrook Castle' to his treasury."
People's Paper.
GERALD MASSEY has produced another volume of poems, which contains some
of the most beautiful passages in English literature. The entire annals
of literature afford nothing more beautiful, nothing more pathetic, than
' The Mother's Idol Broken. ' Gerald Massey's Ballad of Inkerman is
decidedly the finest war-lyric ever produced." |
