NIGHT OF THE NEXT DAY
SCENE: _The terrace of Act I, but lit wanly now by the
moon, whose sheen is cast like a pall over the
city and kindles the Bay to quivering silver. Thro
the open door of the house and from the window of
Porzia's chamber which is just above the image of
the Virgin, light falls streaming toward the Pan
and toward the deeply shadowed bower. A stone seat
is set to the front centre._
_Osio, haunted and desperate, stands without the
bower, watching Matteo who is stealthily coming
down from the pedestal of the Virgin where he has
climbed to listen, and who crosses the terrace to
him._
_Osio._ Her words! give me her words--and them alone!
What were they?
_Matteo._ I could learn no more, Signor.
The fever is tossing her.
_Osio._ To peril of death?
She is sinking now down into ceaseless Hell,
Where he shall follow?
Is swooning low to it?
And to eternal flame?
_Matteo._ I do not know.
But burningly she sleeps. (_Uneasily._) Shall we not go?
[_Looks around._
For if we here are found--
_Osio._ They have not brought her
The Sacrament?
_Matteo._ No priest is there, Signor.
_Osio._ The child, she asks for it?
_Matteo._ I seemed to hear
Signora Bianca say that since the morning
When it was borne in secret to the tomb
She has not.
But still her moan's of Signor Rizzio,
Who has not yet returned, tho still they seek him.
_Osio_ (_bitterly_). Her blood be on his head! upon his head!
And not on mine, that has not swayed to schism,
If death is calling now for her damnation.
No, I am pure of it!
_Matteo._ But should he come?
[_Again looks around._
_Osio._ I'll fear him not. Never! For odium
It were to God that I a moment should--
Him black with unbelief!
But come he will not ... since he left deluded.
Or if he should a voice has pledged to me
Full absolution if--
_Matteo._ What, Signor?
_Osio._ Peace!
He will not. So again mount up!
_Matteo_ (_unwillingly_). Signor!
_Osio._ Mount, mount, and strain the most to get me more.
[_Matteo loathly crosses and again ascends the pedestal. But
scarcely has done so when a knock comes at the gate. He
steps down into the shadow of the image--Osio into bower.
Then Marina appears from the house hesitantly._
_Marina._ Who knocks? Signor Aloysius, is it you?
_Aloysius._ Ai, ai! and weary: open!
[_Being admitted._
This day! this day!
The search till he was found; and then the toil--
The patient physic poured
Vainly it seemed unto the proud or poor.
[_Taking off medicine pouch._
But it at last is done. Now, the relief--
He came reluctant? and to her outpoured
A lava of wild purpose and revenge
When he was told?
_Marina._ He? (_staring_) Signor Rizzio?
You have not brought him?
_Aloysius._ Brought? Is he not here?
_Marina_ (_dismayed_). Signor!
_Aloysius._ But how? but how? (_dropping pouch._)
Not he? and Bruno?
Who had been with him,
Whom he had but left
To search, sudden it seemed, for Osio?
Not Bruno! whom I pledged to find and lead him
Here to her--since we learned that Osio
Has fled from Naples?
_Marina._ Signor, neither! none!
[_Involuntarily._
O he must come, or she will die!
_Aloysius._ ... Die?...
_Marina._ New evils gather ever in vendetta!
_Aloysius._ You run from them too rapidly to death,
Which comes but when it will--and not from sleep
In which I left her.
_Marina._ But her sleep has grown
To fever that has flowed into her brain!
Her heart is full of moans,
Her lips of murmurs!
She tore the crucifix from off her neck
And flung it from her, saying that it was
The arms of Osio; and then cried out
That she was virgin and immaculately
Had borne a child, that now was laid in the tomb,
But should arise again. Then would she start
And say there is no God, but only stars,
But stars, a heaven of stars! For which Signora
Bianca ignorant arose and chid her.
_Aloysius._ And all unduly did! This must be stayed,
Not made immedicable.
Go in; prepare the herbs that I left with you.
[_She goes--as he stands pondering--past Bianca, who enters._
_Bianca_ (_pausing, then with resolute bitterness_).
So you have come and have not brought him? Well,
The insult of this secrecy must end,
The shrouding and affronting soil of it.
I'll sift in doubt no more, but have the truth.
_Aloysius._ Signora?
_Bianca._ O, fatality's in the world,
From atom to infinity it may be,
But there is also sinning. Which is this?
And whence is it
If she though sunk in sleep
Says ever "I must go into the bower!"
And ever with elusive lips "the bower!"
Whom would she meet?
_Aloysius._ The bower?
_Bianca._ Whom! or if
No guilt is in her why this grievous haunting?
_Aloysius._ I will go to her.
_Bianca_ (_angrily_). So to evade confessing?
To avoid granting
That it is Osio?
That it is he has been her paramour?
That he it is has plundered her with passion--
Whose proof is the child
Which Heaven has struck dead?
Will go? Nor first deny
That rightly Rizzio has turned from her
And now perchance is seeking Osio----
[_Breaks off, for the gate opens and Rizzio slowly enters. A
deadly purpose is on him as he looks around._
_Rizzio_ (_at length_). You clothe my thought,
Bianca, in the flesh
Of speech that I have shunned: but we shall know----
Soon know, for I have tracked him to this gate.
[_To Aloysius, solemnly._
Where is he?
_Aloysius_ (_amazed_). He?... Osio?
_Rizzio._ So! reveal him!
_Aloysius._ But--this is error!... he is gone from Naples!
_Rizzio._ Or wrapped in lies is hidden here for her?
By the very God of the world, I say---- (_With restraint._)
But ... no!
_Aloysius._ And "no" until you trust it! For her fate
Is not as you suppose.
_Rizzio._ Nor his? Nor he!
This bigot whose religion's lechery?
This monk to whom licentiousness is God?
This monster I illimitably loathe?
[_Searching as he speaks._
I say that he is here; that I will find him;
That, I have tracked him to you, and ... (_suddenly_) Aha!
[_Discovers Matteo under image._
Aha! from Naples he is gone? from Naples?
[_Drawing Matteo forth._
But leaves his shadow here?
_Matteo_ (_terrified_). Signor! Signor!
[_Cringes._
_Rizzio._ From Naples he is sped, but at the feet
Of the Virgin he adores drops this devotion?
[_Slowly, terribly._
Unpitiable toad--of filth begotten!
Pander who should go down into the Pit
And be the go-between of burning lusts,
Where lurks he?
_Matteo._ Signor! (_chokes_) Signor! I will show.
You shall have all; but let me live, Signor.
I have a father crippled who would starve
But for the gold I get....
And she, Signora Porzia's innocent.
_Rizzio._ And virgin too! with that obliteration
You'll clothe her! Heaven's Queen, do I not know
What Nature and conception are!
_Aloysius_ (_trembling_). Ai, so!
And of them there is no denial here.
That she has given birth, herself has told you,
Herself.... The child _was_ hers, but----
_Rizzio._ Born of miracles
And of imaginations and of dreams?
Is this Judea
And a day divine,
Not Italy and unregeneration,
Where God deputes the world to Borgias?
The father of it was he--he and no other!
_Aloysius._ But in her innocence she--
_Rizzio._ Yielded! Yielded!
And clung to him as the harlot moon to earth.
_Aloysius._ No, no!
_Rizzio._ Thro nights and nights!
_Aloysius._ Never; but duped
And unaware she took his arms for yours,
Believed, tho by yon moon, I know not how,
Unless she was entranced,
That you had come to meet her in the bower,
And----
MARINA _enters suddenly terrified_
_Marina._ Signor! Signor Aloysius! O quick!
O come to her! She has arisen!
_Aloysius._ Risen!
_Marina._ O, in her sleep! and will not to her bed
Return, but says with eyes empty of sight
That it is time----
_Aloysius._ For what?
_Marina_ (_hesitant, distressed_). To ... meet him in
The bower!
_Aloysius_ (_quickly_). I will come to her.
_Rizzio_ (_burningly_). Ah! ah!
[_Starts before him._
And drug her now with opiates to prevent her?
Or waken her and bid her to deny?
Did I not deem it? and will you feign further?
Did I not say that Osio is here?
There in the bower is he, there! and she
Has planned to meet him.
_Marina._ Signor! no! no, no!
'Tis you that she would meet!
_Rizzio._ And not this croucher,
[_Of Matteo._
Who is alone and purposeless? not he?
Nor him he pledges craven to reveal?
_Marina._ O, Signor, no!
_Rizzio._ Lies! and a world of lies!
[_His words writhing._
And now you shall not hold her: she shall come:
Shall go into the bower. She shall take him
Before your very breath unto her breast.
_Marina._ But, Signor, she is asleep.
_Rizzio._ Go, lead her.
_Marina._ She
Knows not what she is doing!
_Rizzio._ She shall learn!
_Marina._ O Signor, no, no, no!
_Rizzio._ I tell you, then,
[_Starting toward house._
That truth is still my star, and that no shrinking
Shall stay me, tho all night contains would quench it.
[_Is near door, when Porzia herself like a wraith appears--and
at the same time Osio is seen in the entrance to bower.
Before Porzia's sleep-fixed eyes Rizzio falls back: her
somnambulant speech breaks faintly._
_Porzia._ The night is as a spell. No more of physic.
Return unto your couch. The Inquisition?
To take him? from his very nuptials take him?
He is no bigamist, Monsignor Querio.
[_Pauses._
Yes, Rizzio, at midnight!... Yes.--Ever
The arms of Osio round me instead!
This choking shroud of fever that defiles!
[_Moans, trying to throw it off._
But, peace; the child will wake. My little one,
My baby!... lift the candle to its face.
[_Again moaning._
O that is Osio, not Rizzio,
I see within its eyes! Yet do not kill him,
No, Rizzio, do not kill him, tho he is
Your brother and has done it: I have borne
Too much and they would prison you again.
Or if they did not, still the stars we love
Must not turn into ... drops of bloody vengeance!--
But, peace to this! (_moves forward_) for it is time to meet him.
_Marina_ (_withholdingly_). Signora!
_Porzia._ Time to meet him in the bower.
[_Is nearing it._
For now he is returned and all the night
Is like a spell to draw my soul unto him.
[_With Osio before her._
Yes, Rizzio, I come; you see, I ... I ...
[_Is reaching her arms to him when a shudder takes her. Her
hand goes up to her brow and her gaze wanly flutters. Then
suddenly her trance breaks and she shrinks screaming._
It is not he! not Rizzio! Not he!
Marina! Bianca! Help! not he! help; help!
[_Sinks wildly back to the seat._
_Marina_ (_who runs to her_). Signora, no! not he! not he! but we
Are here and he is come and you shall see him.
[_Kneeling._
See, you have dreamed!...
_Aloysius_ (_by her_). And have awakened, Porzia,
Awakened from imaginings and terrors;
For you are ill....
_Marina._ And knew not what you did!...
But now look round you and all shall be well.
[_She looks and, finding Rizzio, rises again bewildered._
_Marina_ (_who understands_). It now is he, Signora; do not fear.
_Porzia._ Rizzio! Rizzio! Rizzio!
_Rizzio._ Porzia!
[_He sobs._
_Porzia._ O, is it dreams? I pray do not deceive me.
I think that it is he, but O so many
My thoughts have been and full of pain to me
That truth shall never more, alas, be true,
Or trust be ever utter trust again
Till peace has come to me as pure as that
To earth, from the rainbow's woven amulet
Upon the brow of God--peace wed to kindness.
And to deceive me now were less than kind!
_Rizzio._ My Porzia! (_Falls weeping at her feet._) Deceit at last
is o'er!
And not he, even he, who wrought this wrong
And who would forge that rainbow into fetters,
Till I could wish
The eternal tooth of pain
And of remorse should tear him--not he, now,
[_Rising; to Osio._
Shall turn my heart from love unto revenge.
But "pagan" tho I be, I bid him go!
[_Points to gate, and Osio tortured, flings it open--and goes.
Then when Matteo has followed, Rizzio turns tenderly to
Porzia. The horror falls from her as he folds her finally
to him--while the moon that had clouded, shines on them
bright and still._
THE END
THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS
GARDEN CITY, N.Y.
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 the nature songs (of this
volume) and of the East. Mr. Rice writes with great simplicity and
beauty."--_The Sphere (London)._
"Mr. Rice's forte is a 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 diminution 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 Paolo & 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.)_