SONGS OF
THREE COUNTIES
 
AND OTHER POEMS

WITH as much grace as if a monoplanist should attempt to write a preface to a book on flying for an albatross, so may a writer of mere prose attempt to pen an introduction to a book of poetry.

The bird and man both use the air, but with a difference. So do the poet and the man of prose use pen and ink.

Familiarity with tools, used in two branches of one art (or trade), is apt to prove a snare.

Music and poetry, the most ethereal of the arts upon the face of them, are in a way more mathematical than prose, for both have formulæ. Hence, their appeal goes quicker to men’s minds, and oversteps countries and languages to some degree, and makes it difficult to write about them. Of late, young poets, those who have bulked the largest in the public eye, those that the world has hailed as modern, have often been obscure. What is modernity? To be modern is to touch the senses of the age you write for. To me, a fool who owns a motor-car is just as great a fool as was a fool of the stone age.

The only true modernity is talent, and Lucian of Samosata was as modern to the full as Guy de Maupassant. The poet for whose verses I am writing this my introduction, preface, foreword, call it what you will, is one of those whose meaning he who runs may read.

Does she do well in making herself clear? I think so, for though there are those who prefer a mist of words, holding apparently that poetry should be written in Chinook, or Malagasy, this opinion must of necessity be of the nature of what Ben Jonson called a “humour.”

Few men to-day read Eupheus and fewer Gongora. Yet in their time their concepts were considered to be fine flowers of poetry. Those who wrote so that all men could understand, as Sapho, Campion, Jorge Maurique, Petrarca, Villon, and their fellow-singers in the celestial spheres where poets sing, crowned with the bays of the approval of countless generations, all wrote clearly. Their verses all were clear as is the water running over chalk in a south country trout-stream, such as the Itchin or the Test.

I take two specimens of Miss Radclyffe-Hall’s poetry to illustrate what I have said. She writes of a blind ploughman, whose prayer is to his friend to set him in the sun.

One sees him sitting, wrinkled and bent, and ploughworn in the sun, and thanking God according to his faith, for light interior, for that interior vision which all the mystics claim.

This shows the poet in an unusual light, for most poets write on far different subjects; but here is one which is eternal, and has been eternal since the time of Œdipus.

Again in the verses, “Thoughts at Ajaccio,” she shows a love of the earth and of its fulness, a feeling which has been the birthright of all English writers of good verse from the remotest times.

This is the feeling that has inspired so many poets, and shows the writer not striving to be modern or filled with strange conceits; but with a love and trust of the brown earth, from which all poets take their birth, and into which they all return.

I
 
WALKING OUT

* A legend is attached to Raggedstone Hill in Worcestershire. The Hill was cursed by a Benedictine Monk. From time to time a great shadow rises up from it, spreading across the surrounding country. Woe betide those on whom the shadow falls, as it brings with it terrible misfortune! Many of the people living near Raggedstone still firmly believe in this legend.

I
 
THE THRUSH’S SONG

53II
 
WILLOW WAND

55III
 
A WINTER SONG

The following poems from “’Twixt Earth and Stars,” by Marguerite Radclyffe-Hall, have been set to music:

“A Song.” Chappell and Co.

“Italian Spring.” Boosey and Co.

“On the Lagoon.” Boosey and Co.

“A Sea Cycle.” (No. XV.) Chappell and Co.

“Let not the Morning Break,” etc. The John Church Co., Ltd.

“Shall I Complain?” Metzler and Co.

“Gentle Dame Priscilla.” Chappell and Co.

70The following poems from “A Sheaf of Verses” are set to music:

“In Couples.” Chappell and Co.

“To My Little Cousin.” Chappell and Co.

“To a Baby.” Chappell and Co.

“Butterfly.” Chappell and Co.

“Our Little Love is Newly Born.” Chappell and Co.

“Hands and Lips.” Chappell and Co.

71The following poems from “Poems of the Past and Present,” by Marguerite Radclyffe-Hall, have been set to music:

“The Birth of the Rainbow.” Boosey and Co.

“On the Hill-side.” Boosey and Co.

Fruit of the Nispero, Nos. III., XI., XXIV. Boosey and Co.

“The Silver Rose” (From Three Songs of Nowhere Town). The John Church Co., Ltd.

“The Garden.” Chappell and Co.

“To a Lily.” Chappell and Co.

“A Farewell.” Chappell and Co.

“‘Good Morning,’ said the Thrush.” Chappell and Co.

“The Hills of By and Bye.” Chappell and Co.

“The Rhyme of the Shepherd.” Chappell and Co.

“The White Bird.” Chappell and Co.

“Fruit of the Nispero,” Nos. I., VIII., XIV., XX., XXIII. Chappell and Co.

“A Song of Youth.”

“To a Child.”

“Fruit of the Nispero,” No. XVI.

72The following poems from “Songs of Three Counties and Other Poems,” have been set to music.

“Walking Out.” Chappell and Co.

“Eastnor Churchyard.” Chappell and Co.

“Willow Wand.” Boosey and Co.

“Miss Radclyffe-Hall has an exceptional gift for enshrining a single thought or fancy in a little lyric or a song. The little pieces ... most of them catch a real thought, and sometimes—as in “A Reflection”—one which makes the reader pause and meditate. Many of her pieces seem to have been put to music, and they deserve it.”—The Times, October 6th, 1910.

“Miss Marguerite Radclyffe-Hall is already known to many readers as the author of some sweet and dainty verses. Her latest book should widen the circle of those acquainted with her work, for it shows her once more as a tender singer of the spells of love, the beauty of Nature. There is in many of her poems a wistfulness that is of beauty rather than of sadness, while her power of expressing her moods and thoughts in simple and melodious rhythms is, perhaps, more markedly shown here than in her earlier work. Here is a haunting little piece from a trio of ‘Stuart Songs’ (quotation). Part of the charm of this lies no doubt in the trick 74of refrain, but, with her few simply chosen words, the writer has suggested much of tenderness and tragedy. Many of the pieces seem to have been written with a view to musical setting, and express a mood, a sentiment, in tuneful fashion, and with a note of true sincerity. Here is a beautiful picture, ‘In Liguria’” (quotation).—Daily Telegraph, November 16th, 1910.

“Poems of the Past and Present, notwithstanding their number, maintain a standard consistently high. Fastidious workmanship, and an instinct towards poetical grace in language and rhythm, are, apart from inspiration, the two essentials for the writing of lyrics; and the volume possesses both in a marked degree, besides an appreciable share of the rarer quality. Though the personal note is seldom absent, and the dominance of love as a theme makes more than ever for monotony nowadays, these potential drawbacks are to a great extent redeemed by the freshness and fancy which go to the painting of, among many others, such a haunting little picture as the following from ‘In Liguria’ (quotation). With her power of delicate visualization, her keen sense of colour and music, and a technique almost flawless, the author should, as her poetical horizon broadens, produce valuable results.”—The Athenæum, December 3rd, 1910.

“One meets with many excellent lyrics scattered through the pages. What is characteristic of the 75best of them, which are to be found among the unrhymed verses, is a certain Southern, almost Oriental atmosphere, like the scent at dawn of those strange blossoms of which she sings. This is the appropriate setting, sometimes of a happy licence of imagination, in a set of verses which will repay perusal by a reader of poetic sympathies.”—The Scotsman, October 13th, 1910.

“A poetess with a very charming gift ... her little book should have a great vogue as a Christmas gift-book.”—Daily Express, July 7th, 1910.

“Miss Radclyffe-Hall is facile, flowing, and often really musical; it is not surprising that so many of her verses have been used by composers. Such a lyric as ‘A Farewell,’ calls aloud for setting.”—Pall Mall Gazette, December 2nd, 1910.

“Many fair and gentle thoughts are gracefully expressed by Marguerite Radclyffe-Hall. Especially charming are the lyrics in the song sequence, ‘Fruit of the Nispero,’ and the three little ‘Stuart Songs’ of Mary the Queen.”—The Lady, December 29th, 1910.

“There are a great many poems in this little volume, all showing evidence of considerable facility and talent.”—Evening Standard, September 22nd, 1910.

76“A book of verse that appeared lately, by Miss Marguerite Radclyffe-Hall, will, I know, delight you, for it is written with true poetical feeling, and touches on so many subjects besides that of love, that it is sure to please the taste of many and various readers. Amongst the poems that I recommend to your notice are ‘An Italian Garden,’ ‘A Sonnet to Elizabeth Barrett Browning,’ which breathes a deep and reverential appreciation of our great poetess’s worth, ‘The Voice,’ and several numbers in a series called ‘Fruit of the Nispero.’ It is easy to imagine that many of these tuneful numbers should have been set to music, for there are in them such tender harmonies as must appeal to musical people.”—The Lady, November 17th, 1910.

“Her volume is full of pearls; they are to be gathered from every page, and sometimes they are very brilliant. ‘The Hills of By and Bye,’ ‘Before Sunrise,’ ‘A Little Child,’ ‘In Liguria,’ and others are beautiful poems; and ‘The Graveyard at Orotava’ is based on an exquisitely poetic sentiment, the last two verses showing a high quality of imaginative power. Miss Radclyffe-Hall’s style is individual and remarkable for combined force and clarity. Very few living women poets are at all her equal.”—Sussex Daily News, October 26th, 1910.

“This is a book of really good verse. All its ‘small songs’ are musical and delicate, but in 77addition it has the rarer virtue of complete sincerity.... There is no striving after effect by phrase or artifice. Every lyric is the simple melodious expression of a poetic thought.”—Evening News, October 19th, 1910.

“Miss Radclyffe-Hall’s latest book should widen the circle of those acquainted with her work, for it shows her once more as a tender singer of the spells of love, the beauty of Nature.”—Liverpool Express, November 22nd, 1910.

“Many of her pieces are just adapted to musical setting, for they express a mood, a sentiment, a graceful fancy, with a note of real sincerity.”—Christian Endeavour Times, December 22nd, 1910.

Repeating titles have been removed from the front of the book.

Punctuation has been normalized, including standardization of hyphenation and punctuation between poem titles within the book and those in the Table of Contents.

The division “Rustic Courting” as placed before the first poem has been added to the Table of Contents.

The contributor R. B. Cunninghame-Graham, as presented on the book’s original title page, is otherwise presented as R. B. Cunninghame Graham.

In the poem “The Meeting-Place”, the line “My love would come to me!” has been retained non-indented as in the original, however, there is a possibility this is a printer’s error, as that line does not follow the pattern of indentation of the rest of the poem.