HELLENICS. Walter Savage Landor's collection entitled (Hellenics' consists of poems on Greek subjects, originally written, for the most part, in Latin. They were trans lated by Landor and published with additions in 1847. The pieces are properly idylls. in the sense used of the non-pastoral writings of Theocritus, and it is to these works of the Alexandrine school and to their Roman coun terparts that Landor's poems bear the closest resemblance. Their classicism is invariably softened by a touch of sentiment and romance.
Some of the are brief narra tives or epyllia dealing with mythological or semi-mythological incidents; others are little dramatic scenes, portraying, for example, an encounter between Menelaus and Helen at the sack of Troy. Among the tales the loveliest is Hamadryad,' which tells of the unhappy love between a forest nymph and the mortal Rhaicos. But it is in the briefer pieces, such as 'Iphigenia and Agamemnon,' which re counts the sacrifice of Agamemnon's daughter to Diana, and a classical death bed scene, that Landor is supreme. The stat
uesque quality of these little poems places them among the highest examples of purely classic art in English. The charge of coldness often made against Landor does not apply here; for beneath the atmosphere of calm beauty there is a deep emotion made more poignant by the poet's conscious reticence. Brevity, purity of style and perfection of external form were Landor's ideals. There is little in his poems to catch the popular ear —no striking phrases, for example, or highly-colored pic tures; but for lovers of the classics and to readers of taste and judgment they will al ways have a strong appeal. Consult (Works edited by C. G. Crump, 1891-93; essays by De puincey, Saintsbury, DeVere; see bibliography in Cambridge, of English Literature' (Vol. XII).