Excerpt from Pieces of Eight: A Sequence of Twenty Four War-Sonnets
Here you have a knockout blow with a vengeance. The sonnet as a whole is not one which we can approve from a technical or a sentimental point of view, but it has points. Henley might have plumed himself on the line about the creaking corsets and the last line, a tour de force, in its way reminds us of the withering ironies of Byron. It is only fair to Mr. Chaloner to add that not all his sonnets are concerned with . . . general thumping. Some of them show the tenderer emotions proper to a poet. We like him best, however, in his character as metrical bruiser. He is always on the side of the angels even if he is frequently over vigorous; and his book is well worth possessing. We gather that he has undergone personal troubles of no light or of ordinary nature, and it is pleasant to note that, despite these troubles, he still retains a sane and reasonable outlook upon life, for when he likes he can be quite pleasantly humorous instead of acridly bitter."
It is very meet and right that the discoverer - for that is what Lord Alfred Douglas - the then editor of the Academy - undoubtedly was - it is very meet and right that Lord Alfred Douglas - the descendant of that famous Marquis of Queensbury who compiled the rules that formerly guided the mighty right of the peerless John L. Sullivan - of Boston, Massachusetts - the former champion of the world - and now control the dusky member of his formidable successor Jack Johnson - the terror of 'white hopes' - but only until a second John L. Sullivan - shall arise, and put him down and out, for the count - it is very meet and right that the discoverer of the hardest metrical hitter America has as yet turned out, should be the lineal descendant of the Marquis of Queensbury. It is a case of "In hoc signo rences" with us. We at once printed the Academy's review in the edition of "Scorpio" sent out for review to the American press; and consequently our work was treated on the strength thereof - with a respect - from the vast majority of critics, from ocean to ocean - North and South - which was highly satisfactory. Now, alas, the situation has changed. The very correct and desirable attitude of neutrality - advised and urged by President Woodrow Wilson, concerning the European war - has closed the columns of newspapers North as well as South.
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