E441100B. A Drama of Exile.
The Columbian Magazine, November 1844, p. 240.
Addendum to The Brownings’ Correspondence, vol. 9.
Two handsome volumes, forming a very acceptable addition to the poetry of the day. Mrs. Barret—or Miss, whichever be the right—in our poor judgment far excels Miss Landon, Mrs. Kemble Butler and all the modern lady poets of England; excels them all in this, that her poems are mostly remarkable for thought, not passion or mere diction. Most of them have a meaning which is worth finding out; they address themselves, and wholesomely to the mind of the reader, stirring it up to profitable uses or adding something to its possessions. Her writings are the poetic utterance of an earnest, strong-minded, thinking woman who has something to say, and desires to say it in plain, straightforward, forcible language, caring more for the thought than the expression. Only occasionally she bewilders herself and her readers with transcendental word-twistings of the German school; but even in these the idea is generally beautiful, when you have got at it. There are no fugitive or occasional pieces which we read with so much satisfaction as Mrs. or Miss Barrett’s.
C. Wilkins Eimi
Reviewed:
A Drama of Exile, and Other Poems (EBB), New York: Henry G. Langley, 1845.
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