Page:Poems PiattVol2.djvu/218

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

16

price paid for his time. Mrs. Piatt is greatly gifted. She is capable of fashioning flawless lyrics; she knows the rare trick of properly poising humour; she is a mistress of the art of writing poetry for children that appeals to the father and mother. . . . It is no easy matter to quote from a book wherein the contents are of such equal value. . . . It is no exaggeration to say that every page of these ninety-six is graced by some airy beauty of expression or thought. . . . If home-sickness can always result in such a poem as "A Word with a Skylark," we cannot wish Mrs. Piatt in America again."

The Daily Chronicle, August 4, 1893.

'Her "pictures, portraits, and people in Ireland" have a naive charm of artless sincerity and sunny good nature. Mrs. Piatt is especially happy in her treatment of Irish legends, as in "The Bishop's Thrush." She succeeds as few poets in preserving the true feeling of wonderfulness in her narratives."

The Freeman's Journal, August 4, 1893.

'We can only find room for one brief extract, but we advise every lover of true and touching poetry to secure for himself a little volume full of the genuine quality of a rare genius.

The Speaker, July 2, 1893.

'"In the Round Tower at Cloyne" is surely perfect after its kind.'

United Ireland, September 16, 1893.

'Whatever be the nature of her Irish sympathies, they are genuine and sincere Witness her touching verses on a very frequent scene at Queenstown, the mother on the pier, her son sailing away from her forever. . . . Note again how sweetly and affectionately she addresses "The Ivy of Ireland." . . . Need we quote more to make this little book sought for by all who love pleasant and graceful, and most sweet and companionable poetry? or to prove that we have done right—and that Mrs. Piatt herself does not say otherwise—in naturalising her among the women singers of Erin!'

Sylvia's Journal, September, 1893.

'A book which every poetry lover will want to possess.'

Cork Examiner, August 2, 1893.

'Her book has a charm which is quite uncommon, and we shall be astonished if it does not more than indicate the reputation her works have already acquired. It is not, perhaps, out of place to remark that the exquisitely printed volume bears on its cover a sketch of Monkstown Castle from the pencil of a local amateur.'

The Independent (Dublin), October 14, 1893.

'Certainly we owe this American woman a debt of gratitude for her book. Her love for her own, her love for her adopted country, jostle each other in many of these poems. It is in this very beautiful one (quoting "On the Pier at Queenstown"] This is not the only time Mrs. Piatt has commemorated the Irish tragedy of emigration. I doubt if any one Irish-born has done it so memorably.'


LONGMANS, GREEN & CO., London and New York.