In Dr, Ziacker's compilation, 25 poets, the chief figures of the Ew pean' Romantic Movement, are represented, Ten of them are English, eight German, and seven French. The English poets predominate in number and space, naturally enough, because of the fact that for the German and French it was necessary to use translations, Dr, Zucker in his introductory remarks expresses the hope that book may stimulate among Chineve students an interest in comparative literature, as one aid toward a better understanding between the Orient and the Occident. We add a fervent "Amen."
The first place in the book is given to Jean Jacques Rousseau, a Tomanticist, if ever there were oriel Rousseau in his youth devoured sentimental novels depicting the heart-rending adventures of lover 'These trashy things and the over drawn lives of Greek and Roman! heroes by Plutarch formed the chief Jiterary food of the young man, After '@ brief description of Rous-tean's life, Dr. Zucker gives Sylvia's Walk" as an example of Reusscan's sentimental verse, Prom Ged, whois oar hom Wordsworth's poetry of childhood "tinged by the remembrance' his own infancy, when the world had been lighted by some bright gleam [which he interpreted to be. the result of a spiritual vision freshly come from a celestial home. He thinks of his mature imaginings as efforts to recapture the truths which infeney. possesses without effort; this is the meaning of the Hine, "The child is father to. the man." But what does the average Chinese student make of the wonderful lines? According to Dr. Zucker, there is something about Wordsworth that makes him akin to {the Asiatic. To Wordsworth this life not a beginning for the individual; the poet believes in a pre-existence of the soul—a charming doctrine widely held in. the Ori Moreover,—Wordsworth despises the life of cities—modern progress—because it distracts mtn from his main mission in_ life, namely, the building up of an close communion with Nature, Dr. Zucker in introducing Burns, speaks of him as "the most widely appreciated poet in all the modern literature" of Western nations." This is lueed igh praise, Cly. Zucker "thinks that Burns. will probably appeal the Chinese student also, because the great Scots poet can in. many respects be compared to China's great lyric poet, Li Po, Both bad the same genius for expressing a wealth of sentiment la a few brief, rmusfeal verses. Both were unawed by" titles or would-be greatness; they were democratic and' simple in their conduct of life. Both, too, had a great amount of un convention. ality, both had a weakness for wine fand conviviality; in short, both manifested the lack of careful living often associated with men genius.
In the Burns poems as they appear in Dr. Zucker's volume, dialectical forms have been eliminate.
as far as possible, a thing which, says Dr, Zucker, "Tam would have gladly view of the fact that his poems ave now being read in #0 di land as China'
Scots, who have with Wallace bled clem te your toop bole Or to vietoryi SY 8
One could fill columns with choice sits from Dr. Zucker's compilation We earnestly hope that the book seit Vaal well, among "our Chinese Zucker's efforts, suggest that the publishers issue in due time a second Jedition, choicely bound and printed, remembering the bit from John Keats, which Dr. Zucker (naturally) includes in his book today thine of beauty is a joy forever:
Its loveliness increases; it wi From Rousseau to De Musset, the last in the book, the poets "are introduced in chronological order. Romanticists, such as Wordsworth, Scott, Byron, Shelley and Keats, as, ge" expects, have several pages allotted to each, but we are glad that posts such as Heine are given due space.
The Two Grenadiers," "The Pilgrimage to Kevl and several of his shorter Lyrics are uneluded, Most _reade remember Heine's poem, "The which never ase into nothingness
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.