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The Spike or Victoria University College Review 1931

Rome

Rome.

Scarlet of Toga, tawny face i' the sun,
Swift canter and loose rein, and heavy tread
Of bell-yoked oxen, and light paces sped
By the young slave-girl when her work is done—
All clangour that from morn to eve may run
Ere night the heat of living hath outsped
And laid her as a city of the dead—
A thousand-thousand hearts that beat as one—

Aloft, apart, bathed in the sunny air,
Light upon light of marble, snow on snow,
Palace and tower rise candid, pure and spare
In the hot morning; while the doves swoop low
In such simplicity, the very skies
Are wooed to silence, amorous of their eyes.

This burst of production gave us "Jacques Choiseul," a stirring play of the French peasant caught in the maelstrom of the Reign of Terror. After the first scene (a crowded palace garden), which never satisfied its author, this play, completed in 1924, is one marked by strong characterisation, forceful situations and poetic beauty. The leading character himself dazzled by his new environment is an outstanding study of conflicting emotions.

During the Christmas vacation, 1924-25, "The Black Ship" was written. The idea and the characters had been working themselves out in Palmer's mind for some years; he had written scenarios and scraps of the dialogue long before the whole task was undertaken. The sunshine of January, 1925, the relief from study; swimming, boating, tramping—all these helped to consummate his best ideas. Here we have the best characterisation and the truest form in all his works. Sigurd's struggle against his wife's wishes and his final identification with them is splendidly handled. Gerda has persuaded Sigurd to murder Harald in order to restore their fallen fortunes. Later the wrath of Harald's wife pursues the murderers. The changing emotions of Gerda from defiance to fear of the "Black Lady" is the main theme of the play. The interest is maintained through changing scenes until Gerda and page 37 Sigurd, constantly attempting to escape their fate, die high above a Norwegian Fjord.

This play was very favourably commented upon by John Masefield and Arthur Mee, to whom it was sent for criticism. The actual stage work is of the highest order, but on too lavish a scale for the modern theatre. Perhaps some day a New Zealand cast may read or act this fine play announcing to this country that it has bred at least one person of unusual brilliance in the field of poetic drama.

Following "The Black Ship" came several sketches and one-act plays, such as "The Blind Crowder," "The Peasant," "Nightfall" and "Caprice Vennois." All of these have poetic if not dramatic merit. They were all meant for the s age, but not the stage of to-day. They have not the elements that grip modern audiences and make box-office profits.

The setting of "The Ghost of the Years" is Renaissance Spain. The Bishop of Saragossa sees the world of his youth slipping away from him. There is arising a new youth, a new world. His attempt to arrest this change by interfering in his ward's romance fails. This signifies to him that he must abnegate his wishes and character in favour of the rising tide of ideas. Except in the handling of the love scenes this play is, to my mind, equal to "The Black Ship" in dramatic ability. The poetry is more mature, however, adding to the fluency of the dialogue.

Here Palmer's literary output of significance ceases. During 1926 he was far too occupied studying for Honours, and teaching children, to write more than scraps of verse. And just when he had earned the leisure to write extensively, he died. The loss to New Zealand's, and, indeed, the world's literature nobody can calculate. It is not what has been written so much as what would have been that we must consider when we remember Eric Lee Palmer.

M. R.

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