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BY PROF. WM. HOUSTON,
M.A., TORONTO.
ROBERT BURNS is best
known in literature as a lyric poet. He is in most of his writings
intensely subjective, and subjectivity is perhaps the most
characteristic rote of the true lyric. The current of the emotions ran
strongly in the man, and they found natural and spontaneous suppression
in his verse. It does not follow, however, that he was lyric only. There
is in many of his poems ample evidence of his possession of dramatic
power of a high order. With the proper training and suitable opportunity
he would probably have come nearer to rivalry with Shakespeare than any
modern dramatist has done.
To substantiate the
correctness of this view it is necessary to consider the nature of
dramatic power as manifested ill literature. The most important element
iii it is the creation of character. The greatest lyric poet may he
incapable of doing more than uttering his own emotions the dramatist
must be able to create per- sons and endow them with individuality of
thought and sentiment. Shakespeare may have been ''Prospero" or ''Prince
Hal,'' but he certainly could not have been all of his great characters
at the same time, and could not have been "Shylock" or ''Othello" at
all. Scott had great dramatic power of the kind referred to, but lie
chose to devote himself to the production of prose romances rather than
dramas, for the latter of which he was in some ways quite unfitted,
notably by his low grade of poetic genius as compared with that of
Burns.
Hardly less important
than the power just spoken of is what may be called intensity of
expression. In this respect Burns, like Shakespeare, was, supremely
endowed. The mild light of the genius of Wordsworth was the perfect
antipodes of the fervor of Burns, which neither Tennyson nor Browning
often matches. In this respect Kipling is exceptionally gifted, though
he labors under serious artistic disadvantages in others. Scott's style
of expression was fairly suited to the epic, but would never have done
for the drama. If to these characteristics we add humor and pathos, of
each of which Burns was a Perennial spring, all that was needed further
was training, followed by opportunity. It has been said that Burns was
incapable of the sustained application necessary to the production of a
great literary work. 0mm that point no one can speak with authority. The
conditions of his literary activity were not such as to stimulate him to
continuous effort, but very much the reverse.
Burns has not written any
strictly dramatic poem, though lie tells us that in his early years lie
purposed "courting the tragic muse," and a short remnant of a play is
usually published among his works under the title, "A Tragic Fragment."
For proof of his possession of dramatic power, therefore, one is forced
to cite such poems as "The Jolly Beggars," "The Twa Dogs," "Holy
Willie's Prayer," the ''Address to the Deil,"
The Auld Farmer's
New-Year Morning Salutation to his old Mare," and "Tam o' Shanter."
There is in each of these the true and unmistakable dramatic character,
though only time first is dramatic in forum. The differentiation of
characters ill is complete, and is accomplished with marvellous ease,
skill, and certainty. Time poet who wrote this cantata, indeed, almost
extemporized it; if he had been fated to move in a wider sphere, and
collie in contact with other dramatists and time actors who exhibited
their works, might have accomplished as much as Shakespeare himself, who
has done nothing better than it in the way of either character sketching
or graphic description.
Three of the poems
mentioned above exhibit Burns as sympathising intensely with the lower
animals, while his address to Satan is characterized by qualities,
ranging along the whole gamut from ,grim satire to moving pathos, that
have challenged increasingly time admiration of the best judges of
literary excellence. Burns' "Deil" is a perfectly original and truly
dramatic creation, quite as much so as Goethe's "Mephistopheles."
While I have singled out
here a few poems, the dramatic element runs through a very much larger
number, and I feel quite sure that those who have not learned to
recognize and appreciate it have bee deprived of most of the pleasure
which all acquaintance with time poems of Robert Burns is calculated to
impart.
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