THE OXFORD MAGAZINE

Oxford, England

29 November 1899

(Page 130)

POETRY.

The Tale of Archais. By "A Gentleman of the University of Cambridge." (London: Kegan Paul, Trench. Trübner & Co.)

We should not be much surprised to find that the “Gentleman of Cambridge University” was the author of Songs of the Spirit. There is the same delicacy of touch in each. Archais, a woodland nymph, is beloved of Charicles, “the darling of the dawn.” The maiden has to share the terrible doom laid on her mother:—

I, her child, sore defiled

With evil parentage, am now (most just

Unpitying Zeus) condemned with her, I must

The hated semblance of a serpent wear.

Charicles vows to free her, and the tale goes on to relate his visit to Aphrodite for aid, and the judgement of Zeus which overtook him for his rashness: follows the outwitting of the god, and the happy meeting of the lovers once more in human form. It is essentially a tale of love—the love that craves fulfilment; frankly pagan, but one with all Nature.

The author has sought expression for the highest form of bodily love, and has found it without voluptuousness; his song runs as clear and free from the pollution of sensuality as Songs of the Spirit are free from morbidness and dècadence. We shall look with interest for more work from the same source.