THE NEW SATIRIC VEIN.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 710, 8 January 1910, Page 9

THE NEW SATIRIC VEIN.

''..That'.'':Williiim'. Watson's 'metrical .attack' ■upon,.'an : .:.iinknown gentlewoman, should be cabled with columns ..shows, we -trust, less a' , hankering" after, the sensational than the. rarity of .the event itself.. Satire -has pretty,well perished, just,as modern society,, seemed' to .need it - most. ,In an Englandj-that'■ once .had..Pope,-GifFord, .and .'Byfpn.'-you'r.ipoet;rarely: names a contpmporary: except to 'praise. ■' In fact;' ''.the;satiric'- -vein, \liardly-' outlasted the middle' of • the. nineteenth .' century. ■ Lowell's :'l , able : for.Qritics;" .with the "Biglow may ''be/regarded asithe af-terglow."^-.:The.;, poets, -Swinburne'- and Hugo 'notably,' 'continued; to ~ fulminate against., dominions and powers, -but 'the old,: traditions: of .personal; attack .were in'-abeyance. :■ Such a lacer'ation' : ';as/'tho. Italian -'poet Carducci .doalt-,to the ipedanitic -grammarian.'Fanfani was', exceptional: • :.'•At~this.:' point' .one : would-' gladly .yield tho thomo .to;! Mr.' Chesterton. - : He" : would: ip'roye:that'this.weakening of :thp contehtious/note;in"poetry'f.is the iudex'bf our! g&erali:moral''ilabbiness. , :':;*AVo ; can'.'Bear' demonstrating; the- futility' of s-'pre-;tending;,tq:-loyo:Ottr neighbour most of-the! tinie. unless.: wo : ; are isuffipiently. preoccu-' , pibd r hate.him heartily on :occasion;:----Ono : 'might.:also jciteAVhist-, ;lor's .experiments. in':the.:gentle art. of; making, enemies. -IBut in' spite : of. Eiiskin . ■and'.'''-'Arry,"^ : the'■':white-plumed cham-,;piori::reallyV;-hated : ',not individuals,'but jmiddlo-elass institutions. '"'Mr. H. ' G.'Wells.in'.a icharminj;., essay; on' the :"De--■ceyi'qf •!',comes:;,neirer. ; to espablishj'fig,;.the ..laws' , ipfj-wir."between; friends and neighbours.-- ..Has the: slow: music of- melodrama, ■ -'hasi the, insistent bdssoon ; of! commerce,, .replaced tho : ihvi|orating,dnimbeat:of.;6atir'e? '-Mr.-'Wat-son-rises to answer, .No. '■<'.:■'.■ " ': : ' /. hro to'; find i'tho?. sonneteer.^jrho l boldly; renewed - the'■; ample, manner of Milton '■' and ' Wordsworth;.'• iiusatire";a -running• mate, of Kipling. -.''The...Woman .with"the Serpent's Tongue": is too, obviously'the halfsister fof■ "Tho'Vampire.",-' Aiid Mr. Wat-, j son, departs'. from-.; tno .finer traditions "o%\ the sdtirical'cbde in.aiming.nbttoxripple -but'to'kill. The. appropriate response 'would.seem'.to be not a• more' stinging p6em,;bnt. a caning from , the inalp ;rola.tiyes.;,Where,\absoluto .violence, comes. in at i : the 'door, , ': ppetry. escapes • through; the •'■ window.' We', might refer, Mr.. AVatson and hi| ifollowersMto the.debate■■between•-.the French .arid the""ltalian:scbobls of -swords-' manship.:. The'ltalian , tactics aro summary;;direct, and formidable. In a bout, the ! Italiaii-:maestro will usually /pink: his man.. But lovers 'of the -".classic duel have justly r pointed but • that the institution exists,"not :ior the sake :bf slaughter, ..but for. adjusting, affairs of honour,' to secure which end it 'suffices- to win'-a mere tac-' tical.. or moral .advantage on the" stricken . field:' To' jump; in .tiger-like arid ■ impaleyour / opponent V abridges'-. a- stately tacle :and::'deprives' the event of that traditional .'.element - ;of" 'give-and-take which- essence alike of - true swordplay and fino manners. •./ ■'.•■,.-'.■ .'.-. , .Yet we heartily hope 'that Mr. Watson is: a flarbinger.'.'OHi , - age needs-.the. satirist. .Never ,were ipretence.and fatuity so full blown.: Just.one month of Pope or Boileau, or better.;, yet: a-, reincarnated Horace vouchsafed for a , .space", might help us to see ourselves;' one.Kabelaisiari laugh might dislodge the' tabernacles of conceit; in. which.:we sojourn so: coin-, placently.: Onocould.-wish that Mr. Wat'!son■ had.;chosen': to' be. less jan■■'innova-: ,tor -tliana-renewer of tho broken tradi-tion'of-classic satire.. -Why.should one wish, to slay folly- in institution or in.dividual? ■Tliore is, something cramping, to the imagination in so, definite a purpose." '.The excuse for satire is the immortality: of'folly.; The sport '. lies. in prodding. the: moiister, in 'making.' him forego ".the'i.j.ilemnity; througli which he imposes ' himself upon - mankind. ■The satirist should,'.in a.manner,, acquiesce in:the fatuity; of-, the world, that ho may. undermino it the 'more, effectually.:. He may ..even succeed, in loving, his: victim alittle, or ifthis.be.impossible, he should, at least find His themo' too engros'sing to be rashly exhausted.-■ -The. new satire, .when 'it does dome, will, .wo trust, partake rather of the'liumane. indirection of Erasmus \than of the bludgeoning of tho Kipling school." 'Of if Erasmus and Horaco!seem a-,shade too genial ,for work-a-day:purposes,'at least let us try,.to revive: tho merciless'wit of. Pope and the volcanic raillery .of ; Byron.—New York ;'^Post.^- v ■/,;;';:■.: : !:, '; , ■■■:/:.[, ~/. . .-