Baton Rouge tri-weekly gazette & comet. [volume] (Baton Rouge, La.) 1865-18??, 1867-02-26
Poetry and Poetry So-called.
From the Mobile Tribune ]

0So w gov to5CtAoi, Will d ldluL luoH
of sense in them, few lines that end
respectively in cat and fat head and
bed, lizard and gizzard, and
straightway he starts for a newspa-
per Office. He does not care a con-
tinental about having them pub
lished-just dashed them off for
amusement-an another paper would
like to get them, but he prefers Civ
ing it to. this one, &c.
The propristors who make it q
point to please as many people as
they can without compromising
themselves, give a place in their col.
umns to the damnable SANDER on the
moon, a young lady, an infant, lap
dog or whatever be the subject Of
the verses so-called, and secure the
love and patronage of the author
forever after-particularly if he 'just
dashed off the verses for amuse-
ment." Hence the horrible disfg-
urement of newspaper columns with
hobbling rhymes.
Now, we hold that humorous or
witty conception of the brain can be
expressed more pitbily in verse than
in prose, when the person capable of
conceiving such thoughts is prof.
cient in the mechanical construction
of the Verse. But when such fabric
is reared it is no more poetry than
the actor on the stage is King of
England or Prince of Denmark.
Still, such masquerading is very
pleasant to look at when it is we'll
done. While there are hundreds
that can accomplish this much there
is not one that can conceive a poeti-
cal thought. When once conceived
there is no difficulty in expressing it.
Language lends another word to
distinguish this kind Of writing from
poetry proper. For if Poe's Raven
is poetry-and no one has ever ven
tured to deny that it is-Pope's
Dunciad is not, delightful as it is to
read, and so much the more because
it is told in his exquisitely we'll ex-
ecuted verse
What melancholy fact it is, then,
that SO many men who are utterly
incapable of describing a dog fight
in respectable machine verse, should
be tempted to mount a spawned,
broken winded Pegasus, and founder
through the ETHEREAL region Of true
poetry, exclaiming eureka! when
they strike note that reminds them
of the sounds they have heard from
a true poets Tyre. A discovery that
ought the rather to make them de-
spair, for they should know that they
are as far from being poets on that
account, as is the sea from being
the heaven, because it reflects the
heavens moon and stars.
For our part when we want half
column or SO of bastard poetry, in
which moonshine and rosebuds are
discussed in very fair metre, We have
two or three hundred exchanges from
which to clip it. We prefer that
method to reading over manuscript.
As for machine poetry we can grind
it out any day fast enough to keep
busy our whole force of compositors,
and when we think it we'll to put in
a little of the real article, we have,
we think, nearly all that has been
born in the world, put up in some
half score of volumes, with none of it's
aroma lost on account of age. It
will be seen then, that we are fully
provided for in the matter of poetry
Of every description, and not likely
to feel offended if any production
gust dashed off for amusement" goes
towards building up the reputation
Of some other paper.
In regard to the poetry so.called
that is often attached to marriage
notices and obituaries, as tails are to
:adpoles, we always receive it thank
:ully unless it be on friend) for it
brings us SO much line, and by
placing l t under it, we prove to the
world we, are in no wise responsible
or it. But we promise to do some
all old haunting if such a liberty is
AIKEN with our name after death,
IN event which we hope is a long
way of.
1@ There are Chinese laborers
low on Louisiana plantation. The
Natohitoches Times of the 9th says
We are informed by Mr.. Arthur
Chaler that the coolies working on