THE LOOKING-GLASS
35
Euripides .
Crowley
does
the
same,
as
we
see
in
“
The Tale of Archais , ” also
in
“ The Mother's
Trag
edy ” and
“
The Fatal Force ” ;
but in these two latter
dramas
with this important
difference ,
that
instead
of applying Greek style
to Greek scenery , he applies
it
to
a totally
different
end , namely
to
the
expres
sion
of
modern
surroundings ,
or
to
his
own in
trinsic
ideas , as in
the last -named
play , which , even
more
so
than
in
“ The Mother's
Tragedy " is , as we
shall
see later
on , a
subtle
discount on
present -day
morality .
What Beardsley
and Whistler
did for art , Crowley
is now doing for poetry .
Beardsley
, especially
, suc
ceeded
Rossetti just as Crowley
is now superseding
Swinburne . A poetic iconoclast to the very backbone
,
we find Crowley , especially
in his later works , break
ing away
from
every
poetic
convention
and restraint .
At first it makes
itself apparent
in “ The Star and the
Garter ,” which was unwound from that same tangled
skein
from
out
of
which
Browning
had
ravelled
“ Fifine,"
and
then , in the full power of
manhood
,
in
“ Why Jesus Wept ” ; which one day will find
its
historic
niche
in
the
temple
of
Poetry
,
somewhere
between
the
“
Hudibras
”
of
Butler and
the
“
Endy
mion
”
of
Keats
.
Though Crowley
,
as
can
be
clearly seen throughout
his works
,
is
not only
a
great admirer but also
a
dis
ciple
of
Browning's
,
he
nevertheless
vigorously attacks
that great master's
cacophony
and wilful obscurity
of
meaning
,
in
that eccentric
curiosity
of
diction
“
The
Sword
of
Song
,”
in
which our ears are assailed
by
the
most
monstrous diversity
of
‘
noises
,
following
in
a
Rather than
Sophocles
or
Aeschylus
.