His first essays exhibit a
mania for finding strange words, or coining new ones, which should give
melody, to his verse. Whether this was a process of development or not, he
has in his later works gotten rid of much of this apparent mannerism,
while he has retained, and even improved, his harmony. He exhibits a rare
power of concentration, as opposed to the diffusiveness of his
contemporaries. Each of his smaller poems is a thought, briefly, but
forcibly and harmoniously, expressed. If it requires some exertion to
comprehend it, when completely understood it becomes a valued possession.
It is difficult to believe that such poems as _Mariana_ and _Recollections
of the Arabian Nights_ were the production of a young man of twenty.
In 1833 he published his second volume, containing additional poems, among
which were _Enone_, _The May Queen_, _The Lotos-Eaters_, and _A Dream of
Fair Women_. _The May Queen_ became at once a favorite, because every one
could understand it: it touched a chord in every heart; but his rarest
power of dreamy fancy is displayed in such pieces as _The Arabian Nights_
and the _Lotos-Eaters_.
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