Richard Le Gallienne, who has a personality which accords with that of
the traditional poet, is an Irishman by birth. In spite of his critics,
his place in the world of letters is assured, mainly by reason of his
poems, of which he has issued three volumes. Robert Louis Stevenson,
an Elegy, is one of the best known of Mr. Le Gallienne’s works, and
ranks among the classic elegies of the English language. It is not
too much to say that it compares favorably with Gray’s Elegy in a
Country Churchyard, Swinburne’s Ave Et Vale, and Morris’ Wordsworth’s
Grave. In Mr. Le Gallienne’s verses, love, romance and dainty imagery
are effectively mingled, and, as a rule, the results appeal to both
heart and ear. His more ambitious works are those that have to do with
literary criticism. He has also written books on Kipling and Meredith,
which for vivid, close-range studies of the lives and purposes of
two writers whose ideals are diametrically opposed, have rarely been
equalled. The output of so-called literary criticism is so voluminous
that it “tires by vastness,” yet the demand for the product of Mr. Le
Gallienne’s pen still exists. He is also the author of a number of
novels. That he is of industrious habits is proven by the fact that,
while only thirty-six years of age, he has produced thirty works, the
last being an English rendition of the odes of the Persian poet, Hafiz.
Mr. Le Gallienne is an example of the possibilities that are inherent
in every man, who, having determined on a given line of work, proceeds
to follow it to success. He has never been to college, but has educated
himself and so possesses all that belongs to a college curriculum. He
has undergone the disappointments, deferred hopes, and all the rest of
the unpleasant things that belong to the struggling literary man, and
has conquered. The moral is obvious.