Poems. By Frederick G. Tuckerman. (Smith, Elder, and Co.)—Mr. Tuckerman,
who may possibly be an American writer, is a persistent and by no means unsuccessful imitator of Tennyson. He possesses to a rather remarkable degree the faculty of picturesque word-painting, and writes verses which are frequently musical and generally effective. He is occasionally somewhat careless in his rhymes. "Woodland " and " Midland," for instance, will hardly satisfy a sternly critical ear ; and such rhymes as the following appear to us to be out of place in verses which are intended to be of a serious east :—
"Is left on the hill tops ; While bitter winds blow, Swept down from those chill tops And summits of snow."
Passages like the following, too, may, perhaps, be regarded as showing that Mr. Tnckerman does not always recognize the boundary which separates picturesqueness from affectation :— " While terebinthic tears the dark trees shed, Balsamic, grument ; And pine-straws fall into his breast, or spread A sere red sfrewment."
Previous page
