Poet v. Society

THE PILGRIM OF ETERNITY. BYRON - A CONFLICT. John Drinkwater. Doran ($5). The Pilgrim of Eternity, whose fame

Over his living head like Heaven is bent

An early but enduring monument.

Shelley's lines and a single sentence from the book explain Dr. Drinkwater's selection of a title: "It is the conflict of Byron, the essential poet, with this other Byron begotten by society upon his weaknesses, that is really the leitmotif of his story."

In opening the book one's interest is all in Drinkwater and one closes it with a keenly reawakened interest in Byron. Byron's latest biographer is not an apologist for his life: degraded profligacy he denies, all else admits. But the ultimate verity is, that in 16 years, having produced 80,000 lines of poetry, "taking all tilings into consideration, variety of readers, caprices of fashion and extent of appeal both as to classes and nationalities, Byron is, next to Shakespeare, the most famous English poet."

In this book we have a poet's interpretation of a temperament, a dramatist's portrayal of a life of extraordinary energy, a thinker's analysis of its complexities, a humanist's pitying comprehension.