134 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



And with that one word who shall quarrel ? It is strange to find so 

 often the pseudo-philosophical delusion that limpid language and 

 glowing imagery and polished verse are a small part of poetic drama ; 

 yet from many of our critics one would be forced to conclude that 

 these are non-essential trappings, and that Shakespeare, for instance, 

 would still be Shakespeare if stripped thereof. In the nature of things, 

 poetic drama cannot live without these three; for here, at least, the 

 raiment is a part of the body and the more lustrous and luminous 

 the raiment, the greater the body's vitaUty and beauty. 



One criticism, however, is both pertinent and instructive: that 

 he is greater as a poet than as a dramatist. Herein he seems to 

 follow a long line of honorable predecessors from Aeschylus to Shakes- 

 peare ; for the law of progress seems to be that tragic poets shall be 

 poets before developing into great writers of tragedy. "Their lips 

 must have power to sing before their hands have skill to paint or 

 carve figures from life." In whatever points the author of Marpessa 

 might fail when he advanced to the composition of tragedy, he could 

 not fail to write poetry, and from the opening act of the Rimini drama 

 to the closing speech in Nero our expectation is not disappointed. 

 In Faust some of the translations fall short of our demands. The 

 vigorous curse, for instance, lacks the spear-Uke penetrating power 

 of the original, and the haunting spinning-wheel song sinks to verse 

 like this: 



Gone is my peace, and with heart so sore 



I shall find it again nevermore. 



If he be not near me, the world is a grave 



And bitter as is the sea-wave. 



My bosom is aching for him alone — 



Might I make him my very own ! 



Might I kiss but his lips till my mouth were fire, 



And then on his kisses expire! 



On the whole, however, it would be fair to say that in the latest 

 as in the earlier plays complete lucidity of meaning is expressed in 

 varied beauty of language and verse. It is true thatjie is most 

 successful in the lyric moments; but he is scarcely less eft'ective in 



