Cale Young Rice

“ She shall die for it! God, whose stars
Are vermin, she shall die!
Myrrha. O!
Arduin (frenziedly) . Die, die, die!
As trustless women should: until no womb
Of lies is left in the world! Die, and be shut
Again into the curst sarcophagus
From whence I brought her ...
Myrrha (in his grasp) . Sir!—help!—sir! do not!
O, I will love you! [48]
Arduin. ”

“ 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 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 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Before the hermitage of Vishwamya and Rishyas, in a forest near the Ganges. It is an open space spread with kusa-grass and over-hung with trees—the hermitage itself being a cell constructed of earth and of hanging roots of the banyan, and having by it an altar before which lies a deer-skin. Glimmering lights and running water penetrate the shades, whose sacredness is soon disturbed by the appearance of Sunandi, wantonly compelling Koïl, with alternate harshness and wheedling, to enter with her. ”

“ He pours the ingredients, and quickly fumes arise. They clear and a liquid is seen in the bottom of the glass. With a cry he starts toward the sarcophagus, when Myrrha's face—which, excited, has parted the curtains—stops him enspelled. Rhasis, unnerved, quits the room—leaving them agaze. ”

“ Sanko should be
My Fuji mountain.
Him would I cling to,
Nor would I hunger
To stray far from him
With a white priest! [57]
To stray far from him
To foreign gods
That hang on a cross.
[Again bowing.
Is he not strong?
O-Umè. Be silent!
[To herself, troubled.
The lips of the old!
The lips of the old!
Ama. Is he not brave?
O-Umè. I care not.
A samurai is he—
One whose sword is his soul.
Ama. And should his tongue be
Like that of the other,
The priest of the pain-god?
[Immovably.
Is he not kind?
O-Umè. He is kind.
Ama. Kind! as O-Umè is cruel! [58]
O-Umè. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The Springfield Republican says: "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."
"Mr. Rice is one of the few present-day poets who have the steadiness and weight for a well-sustained drama." ”

“ Isotta (at length, from the couch, gathering strength) .
No, I have come for saving, Giorgione.
Now I can speak—but there is little time,
(Strangely) For Night is coming.
Giorgione (startled to questioning) . Isotta?
Isotta.The still Night,
With Death's dark Gondola to waft me o'er.
[Then as he realizes.
Nay, stay, stay! leave me not. There is no help. [21]
For it must be.... A voice Beyond has said it.
And ere I drift out on the darkening ebb——
Giorgione. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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
Minnie Maddern Fisk says: "No one can doubt that it is superior poetically and dramatically to Stephen Phillips' 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." ”

“ 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." ”

“ Hurries weeping off with Sunandi, who has stood in terror. Rishyas stands dazed, then comprehension dawns upon him and he falls by his father's body in a storm of anguish.
THE END
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.
"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. ”