Mr. Watson’s Best work shows a true balance between “understanding” and “imagination,” and that in his less satisfactory work he is affected by the two extremes; excessive romanticism on the one hand, as in The Prince’s Quest, and excessive intellectualism on the other, as in some of his political and philosophical poems.
The rhythmic felicities that star many of his odes and sonnets, remind us, clear-versioned outlook, of such masters as Milton and Wordsworth, It reveals also the essential attitude of the man towards life. He has little really of the eager, adventurous spirit of the Romantic.
He is at his beat as thinker in verse; his weakness as a poet to-day is the weakness-was it not illustrated in Meredith-of overweighting his verse with thought. He has never betrayed into those realistic extravagances. Dignity, strength, and lucidity are his, at his best.