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A NIGHT IN AVIGNON
A NIGHT IN AVIGNON
BY
CALE YOUNG RICE
Author of "Charles Di Tocca," "David,"
"Plays and Lyrics," etc.
NEW YORK
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
MCMXIII
_Copyright, 1907, by_
CALE YOUNG RICE
Published, March, 1907
TO
DONALD ROBERTSON
A NIGHT IN AVIGNON
CHARACTERS
FRANCESCO PETRARCA _A Young Poet and Scholar_
GHERARDO _His Brother, a Monk_
LELLO _His Friend_
ORSO _His Servant_
FILIPPA }
} _Ladies of light life in Avignon_
SANCIA }
MADONNA LAURA
A NIGHT IN AVIGNON
SCENE: _A room in the chambers of PETRARCA at Avignon. It opens on a
loggia overlooking, on higher ground, the spired church of Santa Clara
and the gray cloisters of a Carthusian monastery. Beyond lie the city
walls under glamour of the blue Provencal night._
_The room, faintly frescoed, is lighted with many candles; some
glittering on a wine-table heavy with wines toward the right front. A
door on the left leads to other rooms, and an arrased one opposite,
down to the street. Bookshelves and a writing-desk strewn with a lute
and writings are also on the left; a crimson couch is in the centre; and
garlands of myrtle and laurel deck the wine-table._
_GHERARDO, the monk, is seated by the desk, following with severe looks
the steps of PETRARCA, who is walking feverishly to and fro._
_Gherardo_ (_after a pause_). Listen. Another word, Francesco.
_Petrarca._ Aih!
And then another--that will breed another.
_Gherardo._ Dote on this Laura still--if still you must:
Woman's your destiny.
But quench these lights and set away that wine.
_Petrarca._ And to no other lips turn? hers denied me?
Never, Gherardo!
_Gherardo._ Virtue bids you.
_Petrarca._ Vainly!
I've borne until I will not ... For it is
Two years now since in the aisles
Of Santa Clara yonder my heart first
Went from me on mad wings.
Two years this April morning
Since it fell fluttering before her feet ...
As she stood there beside our blessed Lady,
Gowned as young Spring in green and violets!...
_Gherardo._ And these two years have been inviolate;
Your life as pure as hers,
As virgin--
Save for the songs you've sung to her; those songs
This idle city echoes with. But now----
_Petrarca._ Now I will open all the gates to Pleasure!
To rosy Pleasure--warm, unspiritual,
Ready to spring
Into the arms of all
Whom bloodless Virtue pales.
For, of restraint and hoping, I have drunk
But a vintage of tears!
And what has been my gain?
_Gherardo._ Her chastity.
_Petrarca._ A chastity unchallenged of desire--
And therefore none!
Aih, none!
For, were it other;
Could I aver that once, that ever once
Her lids had fallen low in fear of love,
I'd bid the desert of my heart burn dry--
To the last oasis--
With resignation!
But never have they, never! and I'm mad.
(_Pours out wine._)
_Gherardo._ And you will seek to cure it with more madness?
To cast the devil of love out of your veins
With other love and lower!
_Petrarca._ Yes, yes, yes! (_drinks._)
With little Sancia's!
Whose soul is a sweet sin!
Who lives but for this life and asks of Death
Only a breath of time before he ends it,
To tell three beads and fill her mouth with _aves_.
Just for enough, she says,
"To tell God that He made me"--as He did.
_Gherardo._ And to blaspheme with! O obsessed man.
(_Has risen, flushed._)
But you will fail! For this vain revelry
Will ease not. And I see all love is base--
As say the Fathers--
All!... and the body of woman
Is vile from the beginning.
_Petrarca._ Monkish lies!
(_Drinks again for courage._)
The body of woman's born of bliss and beauty.
Only one thing is fairer--that's her soul.
_Gherardo._ And is that Word which says thou shalt not look
Upon another's wife a monkish lie?
(_Silence._)
Your Laura is another's.
_Petrarca_ (_torn_). As I found!
After my heart became a poison flame--
Within me!
A fierce inquisitor against my peace!
After I followed her from Santa Clara,
That mass-hour,
To an escutcheoned door!
After and not before ... And such another's!
Ugo di Sade's!
A beast whose sullen mind two thoughts would drain;
Whose breath is a poltroon's;
Who is unkind.... I've seen her weep; who loves
Her not.... And yet the fane of song I frame her,
The love I burn on it, she laughs away.
To hide her own?... I will not so believe.
_Gherardo._ Nor should you.
_Petrarca._ Yet you bid me quarry still
The deeps of me to shrine her?
And be Avignon's laughter?
A mock, a titter on the tongue of geese
That gad the city gates?
A type of fools that sigh while others kiss?
"Francesco Petrarca!
Who never clasped his mistress--but in a sonnet!
Who fills empty canzone with his passion--
But never her ears!
Never!--though she was wed against her will
To an unlettered boor out bartering--
One whom she well could leave!"...
I'll not, Gherardo!... Sonnets?
(_Tears several from desk._)
Vain, all!...
(_Casts them away._)
But Lello comes! and brings me Sancia!
Filippa! merry Filippa and Sancia!
We'll drink!--wine of Rocella!
Wine of the Rhine! Bielna! San Porciano!--
And kiss!
(_Throws back his head._)
Kiss with the lips of life and not of ...
(_A knell has begun to beat from the church without. He hears it,
and, awed, sinks, crossing himself, to the couch._)
(_GHERARDO, exalted, shudders._)
_Gherardo._ It is the knell of Matteo Banista,
Whose soul is gone for its licentious days
Upon steep purgatory.
(_Prepares to go._)
Your sin be on you ... and it will.
_Petrarca_ (_fearful_). No!... no!
(_Starts up._)
But hear, Gherardo, hear!
(_His words come stifled._)
There in the cloister have you peace--in prayer?
In visions--penances?...
Swear that you have! swear to me! once!... but once!
And I...! ...
No, never!... never!
(_He wipes his brow._)
While we are in the world the world's in us.
The Holy Church I own--
Confess her Heaven's queen;
But we are flesh and all things that are fair
God made us to enjoy--
Or, high in Paradise, we'll know but sorrow.
You though would ban earth's beauty,
Even the torch of Glory
That kindled Italy once and led great Greece--
The torch of Plato, Homer, Virgil, all
The sacred bards and sages, pagan-born!
I love them! they are divine!
And so to-night...! ...
(_Voices._)
They! it is Lello! Lello! Sancia!----
(_Hears a lute and laughter below, then a call, "Sing, Sancia";
then SANCIA singing:_)
To the maids of Saint Remy
All the gallants go for pleasure;
To the maids of Saint Remy--
Tripping to love's measure!
To the dames of Avignon
All the masters go for wiving;
To the dames of Avignon--
That shall be their shriving!
(_He goes to the Loggia as they gayly applaud. Then LELLO cries:_)
_Lello._ Ho-ho! Petrarca! Pagan! are you in?
What! are you sonnet-monger?
_Petrarca._ Ai, ai, aih!
(_Motions GHERARDO--who goes._)
_Lello._ Come then! Your door is locked! down! let us in!
(_Rattles it._)
_Petrarca._ No, ribald! hold! the key is on the sill!
Look for it and ascend!
(_ORSO enters._)
Stay, here is Orso!
(_The old servant goes through and down the stairs to meet them. In
a moment the tramp of feet is heard and they enter--LELLO between
them--singing:_)
Guelph! Guelph! and Ghibbeline!
Ehyo! ninni! onni! [=o]nz!
I went fishing on All Saints' Day
And--caught but human bones!
I went fishing on All Saints' Day.
The Rhone ran swift, the wind blew black!
I went fishing on All Saints' Day--
But my love called me back!
She called me back and she kissed my lips--
Oh, my lips! Oh, onni! [=o]nz!
"Better take life than death," said she,
Better take love than--bones! bones!
(_SANCIA kisses PETRARCA._)
"Better take love than bones."
(_They scatter with glee and PETRARCA seizes SANCIA to him._)
_Petrarca._ Yes, little Sancia! and you, my friends!
Warm love is better, better!
And braver! Come, Lello! give me your hand!
And you, Filippa! No, I'll have your lips!
_Sancia_ (_interposing_). Or--less? One at a time, Messer Petrarca!
You learn too fast. Mine only for to-night.
_Petrarca._ And for a thousand nights, Sancia fair!
_Sancia._ You hear him? Santa Madonna! pour us wine,
To pledge him in!
_Petrarca._ The tankards bubble o'er!
(_They go to the table._)
And see, they are wreathed of April,
With loving myrtle and laurel intertwined.
We'll hold symposium, as bacchanals!
_Sancia._ And that is--what? some dull and silly show
Out of your sallow books?
_Petrarca._ Those books were writ
With ink of the gods, my Sancia, upon
Papyri of the stars!
_Sancia._ And--long ago?
Ha! long ago?
_Petrarca._ Returnless centuries!
_Sancia_ (_contemptuously_). Who loves the past, loves mummies and
their dust--
And he will mould!
Who loves the future loves what may not be,
And feeds on fear.
Only one flower has Time--its name is Now!
Come, pluck it! pluck it!
_Lello._ _Brava_, maid! the Now!
_Sancia_ (_dancing_). Come, pluck it! pluck it!
_Petrarca._ By my soul, I will!
(_Seizes her again._)
It grows upon these lips--and if to-night
They leant out over the brink of Hell, I would.
(_She breaks from him._)
_Filippa._ Enough! the wine! the wine!
_Sancia._ O ever-thirsty
And ever-thrifty Pippa! Well, pour out!
(_She lifts a brimming cup._)
We'll drink to Messer Petrarca--
Who's weary of his bed-mate, Solitude.
May he long revel in the courts of Venus!
_All_ (_drinking_). Aih, long!
_Petrarca._ As long as Sancia enchants them!
_Filippa._ I'd trust him not, Sancia. Put him to oath.
_Sancia._ And, to the rack, if faithless? This Filippa!
Messer Petrarca, should she not be made
High Jurisconsult to our lord, the Devil,
Whose breath of life is oaths?...
But, swear it! ... by the Saints!
Who were great sinners all!
And by the bones of every monk or nun
Who ever darkened the world!
_Lello._ Or ever shall!
(_A pause._)
_Petrarca._ I'll swear your eyes are singing
Under the shadow of your hair, mad Sancia,
Like nightingales in the wood.
_Sancia._ Pah! Messer Poet ...
Such words as those you vent without an end--
To the Lady Laura!
_Petrarca._ Stop!
(_Grows pale._)
Not _her_ name--here!
(_All have sat down; he rises._)
_Sancia._ O-ho! this air will soil it? and it might
Not sound so sweet in sonnets ever after?
(_To the rest--rising:_)
Shall we depart, that he may still indite them?
"To Laura--On the Vanity of Passion"?
"To Laura--Unrelenting"?
"To Laura--Whose Departing Darkens the Sky"?
(_Laughs._)
"To Laura--Who Deigns Not a Single Tear"?
(_ORSO enters._)
Shall we depart?
_Lello._ Peace! Sancia.
_Sancia._ Ah-ha!
(_Moves away._)
_Petrarca_ (_still tensely--to ORSO_). Speak.
_Orso._ Sir, you are desired.
_Petrarca._ By whom?
_Orso._ Her veil
Was lifted and she told me:
Therefore I say it out--Madonna Laura.
(_All stare, amazed. Silence._)
_Petrarca_ (_hoarsely_). What lie is this!
_Orso._ I am too old to lie.
_Sancia_ (_laughing_). Who was the goddess that his books tell of,
The cold one so long chaste, but who at last----
_Lello._ Be silent, Sancia! Francesco ... what?
_Petrarca_ (_to ORSO_). Lead Monna Laura here--
(_ORSO goes._)
If it is she!...
But you, my friends, must know how strange this is,
And how--!... I have no words!...
Wait me, I pray you, yonder, in that chamber.
(_They go, left, SANCIA shrugging. Then ORSO brings LAURA, whom
PETRARCA is helpless to greet, and who falters--yet nobly
determining, comes down._)
_Laura._ Messer Petrarca, ... I have been impelled
To come ... and as the purest should, boldly,
With lifted veil, to say ...
_Petrarca._ Lady!
_Laura._ To say--
(Of gratitude I cannot give another ...
For life to a woman is but resignation,
And that at last is shame) ...
_Petrarca._ At last ... shame----
_Laura._ To say--Love is to us as light to the lilies
That lean by Mont Ventoux.
The love of one pure man for one pure woman.
_Petrarca_ (_dazed_). Lady!...
_Laura._ Yes, and--I've been unkind to you.
Ungentle ever.
(_Shakes her head._)
But there's no other way sometimes for those
Who would be wholly true.
And yet ... do I owe _any_ truth to _him_?
_Petrarca._ To--Ugo di Sade?
_Laura_ (_bitterly_). Who is called my husband?
How I was bound to him, you know! and how
I've dwelt and have endured more than his bursts
Of burning cruelty. For still, I thought,
He is my husband!
And still--He is my husband!...
But now no more I think it--oh! no more!
Too visible it is
That he belongs to any--who sell love.
So I may innocently say to you
Who for two years have sung my name
Yet never once have turned unto another--
(_PETRARCA pales._)
I well may say ...
(_Stopped by his manner._)
There's something that you ... Ah!
(_Sees, stricken, his grief and shame. Then her glance goes round
the room and falls on the wine-table ... Then SANCIA is heard
within:_)
_Sancia._ Well, well, Messer Petrarca! How long will
You shut us in this dark--that is as black
As old Pope John the twenty-second's soul?
A pretty festa, this!
_Petrarca_ (_brokenly_). Merciless God!
(_Falls abased before LAURA'S look, tortured with remorse._)
O lady, what have I done beyond repair!...
(_She gathers her veil._)
What have I lost within this gulf of shame!
For a paltry pleasure have I sold my dream,
Whose pinions would have lifted you at last?
_Laura_ (_very pale_). I did not know, Messer Petrarca, you
Had friends awaiting.
(_Pauses numbly._)
I came to-night, as first I would have said,
With holy gratitude--
For a love I thought you gave.
With gratitude that honor well could speak,
I thought, and yet be honor;
With gratitude forgetful of all else ...
And trusting ... But no matter:
All trust shall be embalmed and laid away.
I go with pity; seeing
My husband--is even as other men.
(_She passes to the door and out: PETRARCA moans. Then LELLO enters
and comes to him anxiously._)
_Lello._ Francesco!
_Petrarca._ Lello!
(_Dazed._)
Lello! Have I dreamed?
(_Rising, with anguish._)
Did Laura come to me out of the night--
Come as the first voice breaking beyond death
To one despairing?
And was I lifted up to Heaven's dawn?
And then ...
(_Reels._)
God! am I falling...? shall I ever...?
Down this...? ... My friend stay with me!
No, go ... and take them with you--Sancia--all!...
I have slain the Spring forever!
The green of the whole fair world!... O Laura! Laura!
(_Sinks down on the couch and buries his face in his arms. LELLO
goes sorrowfully out._)
THE END.
[Illustration]
THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS
GARDEN CITY, N. Y.
PORZIA
By
CALE YOUNG RICE
"It presents a last phase of the Renaissance with great effect." _Sir
Sidney Lee._
"'Porzia' is a very romantic and beautiful thing. After a third reading
I enjoy and admire it still more." _Gilbert Murray._
"There are certain lyrical qualities in the dramas of Cale Young Rice
and certain dramatic qualities in many of his finest lyrics that make it
very difficult for the critic to resolve whether he is highest as singer
or dramatist. 'Porzia' is a poetic play in which these two gifts blend
with subtle and powerful effectiveness. It is not written in stereotyped
heroic verse, but in sensitive metrical lines that vary in beat and
measure with the strength, the tenderness, the anguish, bitterness and
passion of love or hate they have to express. The bizarre and poignant
central incident on which the action of 'Porzia' turns is such as would
have appealed irresistibly to the imagination and dramatic instincts of
the great Elizabethan dramatists, and Mr. Rice has developed it with a
force and imaginative beauty that they alone could have equaled and with
a restraint and delicacy of touch which makes pitiful and beautiful a
story they would have clothed in horror.... He turns what might have
been a tragic close to something that is loftier and more moving.... It
matters little that we hesitate between ranking Mr. Rice highest as
dramatist or lyrist; what matters is that he has the faculty divine
beyond any living poet of America; his inspiration is true, and his
poetry is the real thing." _The London Bookman._
"'Porzia' has the swift human movement which Mr. Rice puts into his
dramas, and technique of a very high order.... The dramatic form is the
most difficult to sustain harmoniously and this Mr. Rice always
achieves." _The Baltimore News._
"To the making of 'Porzia' Mr. Rice has summoned all the resources of
his dramatic skill. On the constructive side it is particularly
strong.... The opening scene is certainly one of the happiest Mr. Rice
has written, while the climaxing third act is a brilliant piece of
character study.... The play is rich in poetry;... in it Mr. Rice has
scored another success ... in a field where work of permanent value is
rarely achieved." _Albert S. Henry (The Book News Monthly)._
"Mr. Rice apes neither the high-flown style of the Elizabethans, nor the
turgid and cryptic style of Browning.... 'Porzia' should attract the
praise of all who wish to see real literature written in this country
again." _The Covington (Ky.) Post._
"The complete mastery of technique, the dignity and dramatic force of
the characters, the beauty of the language and clear directness of the
style together with the vivid imagination needed to portray so
strikingly the renaissance spirit and atmosphere, make the work one that
should last." _The Springfield (Mass.) Homestead._
"It is not unjust to say that Cale Young Rice holds in America the
position that Stephen Phillips holds in England." _The Scotsman
(Edinburgh)._
"Had no other poetic drama than this been written in America, there
would be hope for the future of poetry on the stage." _John G. Neihardt
(The Minneapolis Journal)._
FAR QUESTS
CALE YOUNG RICE
"The countrymen of Cale Young Rice apparently regard him as the equal of
the great American poets of the past. _Far Quests_ is good
unquestionably. It shows a wide range of thought, and sympathy, and real
skill in workmanship, while occasionally it rises to heights of
simplicity and truth, that suggest such inspiration as should mean
lasting fame."--_The Daily Telegraph (London)._
"Mr. Rice's lyrics are deeply impressive. A large number are complete
and full-blooded works of art."--_Prof. Wm. Lyon Phelps (Yale
University)._
"_Far Quests_ contains much beautiful work--the work of a real poet in
imagination and achievement."--_Prof. J. W. Mackail (Oxford
University)._
"Mr. Rice is determined to get away from local or national limitations
and be at whatever cost universal.... These poems are always animated by
a force and freshness of feeling rare in work of such high
virtuosity."--_The Scotsman (Edinburgh)._
"Mr. Cale Young Rice is acknowledged by his countrymen to be one of
their great poets. There is great charm in his nature songs (of this
volume) and in his songs of the East. Mr. Rice writes with great
simplicity and beauty."--_The Sphere (London)._
"Mr. Rice's forte is poetic drama. Yet in the act of saying this the
critic is confronted by such poems as _The Mystic_.... These are the
poems of a thinker, a man of large horizons, an optimist profoundly
impressed with the pathos of man's quest for happiness in all
lands."--_The Chicago Record-Herald._
"Mr. Rice's latest volume shows no diminuition of poetic power.
Fecundity is a mark of the genuine poet, and a glance through these
pages will demonstrate how rich Mr. Rice is in vitality and variety of
thought.... There is too, the unmistakable quality of style. It is
spontaneous, flexible, and strong with the strength of simplicity--a
style of rare distinction."--_Albert S. Henry, (The Book News Monthly,
Philadelphia)._
THE IMMORTAL LURE
CALE YOUNG RICE
It is great art--with great vitality. _James Lane Allen._
In the midst of the Spring rush there arrives one book for which all
else is pushed aside.... We have been educated to the belief that a man
must be long dead before he can be enrolled with the great ones. Let us
forget this cruel teaching.... This volume contains four poetic dramas
all different in setting, and all so beautiful that we cannot choose one
more perfect than another.... Too extravagant praise cannot be given Mr.
Rice. _The San Francisco Call._
Four brief dramas, different from Paola & Francesca, but excelling
it--or any other of Mr. Phillips's work, it is safe to say--in a vivid
presentment of a supreme moment in the lives of the characters.... They
form excellent examples of the range of Mr. Rice's genius in this field.
_The New York Times Review._
Mr. Rice is quite the most ambitious, and most distinguished of
contemporary poetic dramatists in America. _The Boston Transcript (W.
S. Braithwaite.)_
The vigor and originality of Mr. Rice's work never outweigh that first
qualification, beauty.... No American writer has so enriched the body of
our poetic literature in the past few years. _The New Orleans Picayune._
Mr. Rice is beyond doubt the most distinguished poetic dramatist America
has yet produced. _The Detroit Free Press._
That in Cale Young Rice a new American poet of great power and
originality has arisen cannot be denied. He has somehow discovered the
secret of the mystery, wonder and spirituality of human existence,
which has been all but lost in our commercial civilization. May he
succeed in awakening our people from sordid dreams of gain. _Rochester
(N. Y.) Post Express._
No writer in England or America holds himself to higher ideals (than Mr.
Rice) and everything he does bears the imprint of exquisite taste and
the finest poetic instinct. _The Portland Oregonian._
In simplicity of art form and sheer mystery of romanticism these poetic
dramas embody the new century artistry that is remaking current
imaginative literature. _The Philadelphia North American._
Cale Young Rice is justly regarded as the leading master of the
difficult form of poetic drama. _Portland (Me.) Press._
Mr. Rice has outlived the prophesy that he would one day rival Stephen
Phillips in the poetic drama. As dexterous in the mechanism of his art,
the young American is the Englishman's superior in that unforced quality
which bespeaks true inspiration, and in a wider variety of manner and
theme. _San Francisco Chronicle._
Mr. Rice's work has often been compared to Stephen Phillips's and there
is great resemblance in their expression of high vision. Mr. Rice's
technique is sure ... his knowledge of his settings impeccable, and one
feels sincerely the passion, power and sensuous beauty of the whole.
"Arduin" (one of the plays) is perfect tragedy; as rounded as a sphere,
as terrible as death. _Review of Reviews._
The Immortal Lure is a very beautiful work. _The Springfield (Mass.)
Republican._
The action in Mr. Rice's dramas is invariably compact and powerful, his
writing remarkably forcible and clear, with a rare grasp of form. The
plays are brief and classic. _Baltimore News._
These four dramas, each a separate unit perfect in itself and differing
widely in treatment, are yet vitally related by reason of the one
central theme, wrought out with rich imagery and with compelling
dramatic power. _The Louisville Times (U. S.)_
The literary and poetical merit of these dramas is undeniable, and they
are charged with the emotional life and human interest that should, but
do not, always go along with those other high gifts. _The (London)
Bookman._
Mr. Rice never [like Stephen Phillips] mistakes strenuous phrase for
strong thought. He makes his blank verse his servant, and it has the
stage merit of possessing the freedom of prose while retaining the
impassioned movement of poetry. _The Glasgow (Scotland) Herald._
These firm and vivid pieces of work are truly welcome as examples of
poetic force that succeeds without the help of poetic license. _The
Literary World (London.)_
We do not possess a living American poet whose utterance is so clear, so
felicitous, so free from the inane and meretricious folly of sugared
lines.... No one has a better understanding of the development of
dramatic action than Mr. Rice. _The Book News Monthly (Albert S.
Henry.)_
COUNTRY LIFE IN AMERICA
THE WORLD'S WORK
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO., GARDEN CITY, N. Y.
MANY GODS
By
CALE YOUNG RICE
"These poems are flashingly, glowingly full of the East.... What I am
sure of in Mr. Rice is that here we have an American poet whom we may
claim as ours." _The North American Review (William Dean Howells)._
"Mr. Rice has the gift of leadership ... and he is a force with whom we
must reckon." _The Boston Transcript._
... "We find here a poet who strives to reach the goal which marks the
best that can be done in poetry." _The Book News Monthly (A. S.
Henry)._
"When you hear the pessimists bewailing the good old time when real
poets were abroad in the land ... do not fail to quote them almost
anything by Cale Young Rice, a real poet writing to-day.... He has done
so much splendid work one can scarcely praise him too highly." _The San
Francisco Call._
"In 'Many Gods' the scenes are those of the East, and while it is not
the East of Loti, Arnold or Hearn, it is still a place of brooding,
majesty, mystery and subtle fascination. There is a temptation to quote
such verses for their melody, dignity of form, beauty of imagery and
height of inspiration." _The Chicago Journal._
"'Love's Cynic' (a long poem in the volume) might be by Browning at his
best." _Pittsburg Gazette-Times._
"This is a serious, and from any standpoint, a successful piece of work
... in it are poems that will become classic." _Passaic (New Jersey)
News._
"Mr. Rice must be hailed as one among living masters of his art, one to
whom we may look for yet greater things." _Presbyterian Advance._
"This book is in many respects a remarkable work. The poems are indeed
poems." _The Nashville Banner._
"Mr. Rice's poetical plays reach a high level of achievement.... But
these poems show a higher vision and surer mastery of expression than
ever before." _The London Bookman._
_Net, $1.25_ (_postage 12c._)
NIRVANA DAYS
Poems by
CALE YOUNG RICE
"Mr. Rice has the technical cunning that makes up almost the entire
equipment of many poets nowadays, but human nature is more to him always
... and he has the feeling and imaginative sympathy without which all
poetry is but an empty and vain thing." _The London Bookman._
"Mr. Rice's note is a clarion call, and of his two poems, 'The Strong
Man to His Sires' and 'The Young to the Old,' the former will send a
thrill to the heart of every man who has the instinct of race in his
blood, while the latter should be printed above the desk of every minor
poet and pessimist.... The sonnets of the sequence, 'Quest and
Requital,' have the elements of great poetry in them." _The Glasgow
(Scotland) Herald._
"Mr. Rice's poems are singularly free from affectation, and he seems to
have written because of the sincere need of expressing something that
had to take art form." _The Sun (New York)._
"The ability to write verse that scans is quite common.... But the
inspired thought behind the lines is a different thing; and it is this
thought untrammeled--the clear vision searching into the deeps of human
emotion--which gives the verse of Mr. Rice weight and potency.... In the
range of his metrical skill he easily stands with the best of living
craftsmen ... and we have in him ... a poet whose dramas and lyrics will
endure." _The Book News Monthly (A. S. Henry)._
"These poems are marked by a breadth of outlook, individuality and
beauty of thought. The author reveals deep, sincere feeling on topics
which do not readily lend themselves to artistic expression and which he
makes eminently worth while." _The Buffalo (N. Y.) Courier._
"We get throughout the idea of a vast universe and of the soul merging
itself in the infinite.... The great poem of the volume, however, is
'The Strong Man to His Sires.'" _The Louisville Post (Margaret S.
Anderson)._
"The poems possess much music ... and even in the height of intensified
feeling the clearness of Mr. Rice's ideas is not dimmed by the obscure
haze that too often goes with the divine fire." _The Boston Globe._
_Paper boards. Net, $1.25_ (_postage 12c._)
A NIGHT IN AVIGNON
By
CALE YOUNG RICE
_Successfully produced by Donald Robertson_
"It is as vivid as a Page From Browning. Mr. Rice has the dramatic
pulse." _James Huneker._
"It embraces in small compass all the essentials of the drama." _New
York Saturday Times Review (Jessie B. Rittenhouse)._
"It presents one of the most striking situations in dramatic literature
and its climax could not be improved." _The San Francisco Call._
"It has undeniable power, and is a very decided poetic achievement."
_The Boston Transcript._
"It leaves an enduring impression of a soul tragedy." _The Churchman._
"Since the publication of his 'Charles di Tocca' and other dramas, Cale
Young Rice has justly been regarded as a leading American master of that
difficult form, and many critics have ranked him above Stephen Phillips,
at least on the dramatic side of his art. And this judgment is further
confirmed by 'A Night in Avignon.' It is almost incredible that in less
than 500 lines Mr. Rice should have been able to create so perfect a
play with so powerful a dramatic effect." _The Chicago Record-Herald
(Edwin S. Shuman)._
"There is poetic richness in this brilliant composition; a beauty of
sentiment and grace in every line. It is impressive, metrically pleasing
and dramatically powerful." _The Philadelphia Record._
"It offers one of the most striking situations in dramatic literature."
_The Louisville Courier-Journal._
"The publication of a poetic drama of the quality of Mr. Rice's is an
important event in the present tendency of American literature. He is a
leader in this most significant movement, and 'A Night in Avignon' is
marked, like his other plays, by dramatic directness, high poetic
fervor, clarity of poetic diction, and felicity of phrasing." _The
Chicago Journal._
"It is a dramatically told episode, and the metre is most effectively
handled, making a welcome change for blank verse, and greatly enhancing
the interest." _Sydney Lee._
"Many critics, on hearing Mr. Bryce's prediction that America will one
day have a poet, would be tempted to remind him of Mr. Rice." _The
Hartford (Conn.) Courant._
_Net 50c._ (_postage 5c._)
YOLANDA OF CYPRUS
A Poetic Drama by
CALE YOUNG RICE
"It has real life and drama, not merely beautiful words, and so differs
from the great mass of poetic plays." _Prof. Gilbert Murray._
Minnie Maddern Fisk says: "No one can doubt that it is superior
poetically and dramatically to Stephen Phillips's work," and that Mr.
Rice ranks with Mr. Phillips at his best has often been reaffirmed.
"It is encouraging to the hope of a native drama to know that an
American has written a play which is at the same time of decided poetic
merit and of decided dramatic power." _The New York Times._
"The most remarkable quality of the play is its sustained dramatic
strength. Poetically it is frequently of great beauty. It is also lofty
in conception, lucid and felicitous in style, and the dramatic pulse
throbs in every line." _The Chicago Record-Herald._
"The characters are drawn with force and the play is dignified and
powerful," and adds that if it does not succeed on the stage it will be
"because of its excellence." _The Springfield Republican._
"Mr. Rice is one of the few present-day poets who have the steadiness
and weight for a well-sustained drama." _The Louisville Post (Margaret
Anderson)._
"It has equal command of imagination, dramatic utterance, picturesque
effectiveness and metrical harmony." _The London (England) Bookman._
_T. P.'s Weekly_ says: "It might well stand the difficult test of
production and will be welcomed by all who care for serious verse."
_The Glasgow (Scotland) Herald_ says: "Yolanda of Cyprus is finely
constructed; the irregular blank verse admirably adapted for the
exigencies of intense emotion; the characters firmly drawn; and the
climax serves the purpose of good stagecraft and poetic justice."
"It is well constructed and instinct with dramatic power." _Sydney Lee._
"It is as readable as a novel." _The Pittsburg Post._
"Here and there an almost Shakespearean note is struck. In makeup,
arrangement, and poetic intensity it ranks with Stephen Phillips's
work." _The Book News Monthly._
Net, $1.25 (postage 10c.)
COUNTRY LIFE IN AMERICA
THE WORLD'S WORK
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO., GARDEN CITY, N. Y.
DAVID
A Poetic Drama by
CALE YOUNG RICE
"I was greatly impressed with it and derived a sense of personal
encouragement from the evidence of so fine and lofty a product for the
stage." _Richard Mansfield._
"It is a powerful piece of dramatic portraiture in which Cale Young Rice
has again demonstrated his insight and power. What he did before in
'Charles di Tocca' he has repeated and improved upon.... Not a few
instances of his strength might be cited as of almost Shakespearean
force. Indeed the strictly literary merit of the tragedy is altogether
extraordinary. It is a contribution to the drama full of charm and
power." _The Chicago Tribune._
"From the standpoint of poetry, dignity of conception, spiritual
elevation and finish and beauty of line, Mr. Rice's 'David' is, perhaps,
superior to his 'Yolanda of Cyprus,' but the two can scarcely be
compared." _The New York Times (Jessie B. Rittenhouse)._
"Never before has the theme received treatment in a manner so worthy of
it." _The St. Louis Globe-Democrat._
"It needs but a word, for it has been passed upon and approved by
critics all over the country." _Book News Monthly._ And again: "But few
recent writers seem to have found the secret of dramatic blank verse;
and of that small number, Mr. Rice is, if not first, at least without
superior."
"With instinctive dramatic and poetic power, Mr. Rice combines a
knowledge of the exigencies of the stage." _Harper's Weekly._
"It is safe to say that were Mr. Rice an Englishman or a Frenchman, his
reputation as his country's most distinguished poetic dramatist would
have been assured by a more universal sign of recognition." _The
Baltimore News (writing of all Mr. Rice's plays)._
_Net, $1.25_ (_postage 12c._)
CHARLES DI TOCCA
By
CALE YOUNG RICE
"I take off my hat to Mr. Rice. His play is full of poetry, and the
pitch and dignity of the whole are remarkable." _James Lane Allen._
"It is a dramatic poem one reads with a heightened sense of its fine
quality throughout. It is sincere, strong, finished and noble, and
sustains its distinction of manner to the end.... The character of
Helena is not unworthy of any of the great masters of dramatic
utterance." _The Chicago Tribune._
"The drama is one of the best of the kind ever written by an American
author. Its whole tone is masterful, and it must be classed as one of
the really literary works of the season." (1903). _The Milwaukee
Sentinel._
"It shows a remarkable sense of dramatic construction as well as poetic
power and strong characterization." _James MacArthur, in Harper's
Weekly._
"This play has many elements of perfection. Its plot is developed with
ease and with a large dramatic force; its characters are drawn with
sympathy and decision; and its thoughts rise to a very real beauty. By
reason of it the writer has gained an assured place among playwrights
who seek to give literary as well as dramatic worth to their plays."
_The Richmond (Va.) News-Leader._
"The action of the play is admirably compact and coherent, and it
contains tragic situations which will afford pleasure not only to the
student, but to the technical reader." _The Nation._
"It is the most powerful, vital, and truly tragical drama written by an
American for some years. There is genuine pathos, mighty yet never
repellent passion, great sincerity and penetration, and great elevation
and beauty of language." _The Chicago Post._
"Mr. Rice ranks among America's choicest poets on account of his power
to turn music into words, his virility, and of the fact that he has
something of his own to say." _The Boston Globe._
"The whole play breathes forth the indefinable spirit of the Italian
renaissance. In poetic style and dramatic treatment it is a work of
art." _The Baltimore Sun._
_Paper boards. Net, $1.25_ (_postage, 9c._)
SONG-SURF
(Being the Lyrics of Plays and Lyrics) by
CALE YOUNG RICE
"Mr. Rice's work betrays wide sympathies with nature and life, and a
welcome originality of sentiment and metrical harmony." _Sydney Lee._
"In his lyrics Mr. Rice's imagination works most successfully. He is an
optimist--and in these days an optimist is irresistible--and he can
touch delicately things too holy for a rough or violent pathos." _The
London Star (James Douglas)._
"Mr. Rice's highest gift is essentially lyrical. His lyrics have a charm
and grace of melody distinctively their own." _The London Bookman._
"Mr. Rice is keenly responsive to the loveliness of the outside world,
and he reveals this beauty in words that sing themselves." _The Boston
Transcript._
"Mr. Rice's work is everywhere marked by true imaginative power and
elevation of feeling." _The Scotsman._
"Mr. Rice's work would seem to rank with the best of our American poets
of to-day." _The Atlanta Constitution._
"Mr. Rice's poems are touched with the magic of the muse. They have
inspiration, grace and true lyric quality." _The Book News Monthly._
"Mr. Rice's poetry as a whole is both strongly and delicately spiritual.
Many of these lyrics have the true romantic mystery and charm.... To
write thus is no indifferent matter. It indicates not only long work but
long brooding on the beauty and mystery of life." _The Louisville Post._
"Mr. Rice is indisputably one of the greatest poets who have lived in
America.... And some of these (earlier) poems are truly beautiful." _The
Times-Union (Albany, N. Y.)_
_Net, $1.25_ (_postage 12c._)
Transcriber's Notes:
Text in italics is indicated with underscores: _italics_.
Punctuation has been corrected without note.
The letter o with a macron on page 17 is indicated by [=o]Project Gutenberg
A Night in Avignon
Rice, Cale Young