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" That is a very discerning pen which likens
them to those topmost peaks of unascended
Heaven—which are Michael Angelo's."
The Times Literary Supplement of March
28th, 1918, wrote :
"TheSonnets are full of singular excellence/
revealing a graceful fancy and a true literary
taste."
' And it was said in a letter to a friend by
Mrs. Henryson Caird, a well-known writer:
" The Sonnets seem to reach the high
watermark of human development. "
The Scotsman (February nth, 1918) commend-
ed their " melodious dignity and their impas-
sioned ardour for ideal beauty.
I am tempted to go on quoting more opinions,
but these, I imagine, will suffice. The first Sonnet
of this series, Ideal Beauty, is well worth quoting.
" As one who wanders lone and wearily
Through desert tracts of silence and of night,
Pining for love's keen utterance and for light,
And chasing shadowy forms that mock and flee,
My soul was wandering through Eternity,
Seeking, within the depth and on the height
Of being, one with whom it might unite
In life and love and immortality------------"
Regarding spiritual aspiration in poetry, " The
soul's quest after ideal beauty and goodness,"
Nizamat Jung once wrote tome, " 'becomes a
means of communication with God. But human
aspiration can only find poetical expression in
language and seeks to image forth beauty for its
c*