on. They represent, as the poet told his son,
"the dream of a man coming into practical life and ruined by one sin.
It is not the history of one man or of one generation, but of a whole
cycle of generations." And the old poet added these fine words:
"Poetry is like shot silk with many glancing colors. Every reader must
find his own interpretation according to his ability and according to
his sympathy with the poet."

Other fine poems of Tennyson which one should read are the noble _Ode
on the Death of the Duke of Wellington_, _Break, Break, Break_, the
perfect songs in _The Princess_, and _Crossing the Bar_. If you read
these aright you will wish to know more of Tennyson, the poet who
reconciled science and religion and kept his old faith strong to the
end.

BROWNING GREATEST POET SINCE SHAKESPEARE

HOW TO GET THE BEST OF BROWNING'S POEMS--READ THE LYRICS FIRST
AND THEN TAKE UP THE LONGER AND THE MORE DIFFICULT WORKS.

The greatest of English poets since Shakespeare, is the title given to
Robert Browning by many admirers of recognized ability as critics. For
his dramatic force and his insight into human nature there is no
question that Browning deserves this high rank. In these two qualities
he stands above Tennyson. But a large part of his work is written in a
style so crabbed that it acts as a bar to one's enjoyment of many fine
poems. Only the most resolute reader can go through _Sordello_ or _The
Ring and the Book_, the latter, with its interminable discussions of
motive and its curious descriptions of half-forgotten legal and church
methods of the seventeenth century. If one-half this long poem of
over twenty thousand lines had been cut out, it would have been vastly
improved.

[Illustration: ROBERT BROWNING FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY HOLLYER AFTER
THE PORTRAIT BY G.F. WATTS, R.A.]

The advocates of Browning hold that the study of the poet's
obscurities is good mental discipline, but I am of the belief that
poetry, like music, should not demand too great exertion of the mind
to appreciate its beauty. Wagner's "Seigfried" and "Parsifal" are
altogether too long to be enjoyed thoroughly. The composer would have
done well to eliminate a third of each, for as they are produced they
strain the attention to the point of fatigue, and no work of art
should ever tire its admirers.

In the same way Browning offends against this primal canon of art. A
man who was capable of writing the most melodious ver