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For Sympathy, For Utterance, For Awakening: Reception of The Great Companions

Brief notices of Henry Bryan Binns's The Great Companions (1908, 1911). None of these criticize its whispered gayi!eration "essage, !#t rather, the iterary "erits or ac$ thereof, in Binns's e%ec#tion. &igitized !y 'oog e Boo$s. (han$s, 'oog e) * +itche ,antine 'o# d, c#rator, -ea.es/f'rass./rg

//////////////////// Recent Poetry, Current Literature, Edward Jewitt Wheeler, editor, Volume 45, 1908, 41! From London comes a volume of Whitmanesque verse by Henry Bryan Binns, entitled The Great Companions! "#$ C$ Fifield, publisher%$ The most effective thin&s in the volume are the fe' poems 'hich are not in the Whitmanesque form, tho they also sho' the Whitmanesque spirit$ The same thin& may be said of other imitators of the &ood &rey poet! ( )rnest Crosby, for instance$ The restraints of rhythm and rhyme seem to be unduly ri&id and &allin& at times, but they force the poet into compression, and the painsta*in& 'hich they e+act is far better than the facile soarin& on rhapsodic 'in&s 'hich renders so much of the 'or* of Whitman as 'ell as of his follo'ers aimless and inchoate$ We reproduce t'o of ,r$ Binns-s rhythmic productions. / reprints The Comin& of ,an! and Liberty$!0

The Bookman, Volume 4, "e#tem$er 1908, %

TH) G1)#T C2,3#45246$ By Henry Bryan Binns, 76$ net$ "Fificld$% ,r$ Binns is the author of # Life of Walt Whitman,! and his ne' boo* is conspicuously the result of his discipleship$ His prose poems, or 'hatever 'e choose to call them, are divided into para&raphs invariably consistin& of one sentence each$ Thus their appearance corresponds 'ith their real dis8ointedness, and this is the less 8ustifiable because it is not easy to find proofs of any such universal inspiration as drove Whitman to the same form$ The discipline of normal prose 'ould be no bad thin& for the 'riter, 'e should say$ Here and there he submits to the discipline of verse, rhymed and unrhymed, and seldom 'ithout advanta&e$ #t the end of The Comin& of ,an,! for e+ample, there

are some stan9as of 'hich these are specimens. / e+cerpt from The Comin& of ,an!0 That is a &reat deal more brief and more clear than ,r$ Binns-s prose$ :et even so the time should no' be ripe for an e+pression of Whitman-s ideas in a much less vapourish form than this$ The core of ,r$ Binns-s 'or* is sound$ 5t is &enuine if it is not inevitable$ 5t ma*es for sympathy, for utterance, for a'a*enin&; and 'e 'elcome it$

The Bookseller, Newsdealer and Stationer, Volume 5 &1911', % 0! The Great Companions By Henry Bryan Binns$ Wide <=>, cl$, ?<$@@$ "2ut$% # fra&mentary poetic appreciation of The Fello'ship of the )arth,! The Aoice of Humanity,! Tree Life,! The Comin& of ,an,! The City,! 2ne of London-s Lovers,! 3ioneers,! Love-s Body,! For Comrades and Lovers! and Liberty$! There are e+quisite ideas here e+quisitely e+pressed, in 'hich nature, reli&ion and love are the dominant themes$ The poetic ima&ination of the author is e+pressed in blan* verse$

The Independent, Volume (1 &1911', 4)! $$$$ 5f any one cares to try once more to demonstrate that Walt Whitman 'as a &iant, 'e recommend the story of Whitman-s imitators and disciples$ Beside them, at least, Walt 'as divine$ 6uch is one-s conclusion after connin& the pa&es of The Great Companions ( a little boo* of prose and verse by Henry Bryan Binns "4e' :or*. Huebsch%$

International Journal of Ethics, Volume 19 &1909', 140! TH) G1)#T C2,3#45246$ By Henry Bryan Binns$ London. #$ C$ Fifield$ /3oems in the style of Walt Whitman and )d'ard Carpenter$0

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