The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1877-11-02
That Dreadful Poetry.

"Current Topics" Of the Democrat ana
Nronicie, touches us In "A tender spot
and he must excuse us II we yield "a Tho
c%ontagion and do a little weeping ana
wailing on our own account. Our theme,
Of course, i obituary poetry; that mys.
terious misfortune that oyertakes All
editors several times a week and make.
life a burden almost too great "a b.
borne. Ii 81. Paul had been an Office
journalist instead Of an occasional cor
respondent. tb~eologians would never
have engaged ia controversies over the
thorn In the flesh that tormented him
all his life. They would have known by
applying 10 any editor that all the trials
Of his life combined would not equal
the annoyance he suffers in the reccp-
ton and disposition Of original poetry,
especially that Of the obituary order.
"The most frequent poetic fever,n saws
the unhappy person In the Democrats
sanctum, ais that which affects the be-
reaved person" He continues:
"A mother has lost a child aud yearns
for the sympathy she Is surely entitled
TO. She comes into the newspaper Office
70 receive nothing but respect. whether
her gown be Of calico or silk, and Is
quite AS likely To be one as the other.
She says a friend has written d little
tribute to her lost darling. evidently
thinking that the loss is known 10 All
the world, SO large il her grief and 80
little is there on earth for her outside
the memory Of that dead child.
"'Ihe verses are good she is told.
as the average of these verses, out
81 think them beautiful, y she inter-
rupts, unconsciously as indignant as if
her grief, instead Of the poetry, had
been criticised. MY friends all think
them beautiful and appropriate, and il
is at their request as well as my own de-
sire that | come here
"She i told kindly as possible that
their publication would be no credit TO
her or to the memory Of the child that
the publication Of one such poem brings
a thousand more, and it would be inn
possible, Of course, 10 print them all.
1--WE have taken your paper several
years she says with a glieved look,
and would prefer il for this d TO
any other;' and after a moment she
goes out, feeling hurt and Inundated.
and leaving the person she has inter-
viewed feeling somewhat as if he had
been stealing sheep
This Is true "a the life. While read
ing II, we live over again a thousand
such interviews. We frequently meet
on the street, countenances that recall
spectral recoltections of scenes in which
we were compelled 70 fortify our hearts
against the inconsiderate but almost
heart-broken appeals Of mourners who
had come 10 us with dreadful memorial
verses for which they begged a place in
our columns. They could not be ap-
peased by showing them that the poetry
was execrablc in sentiment and con
struction, however good it might be in
intention. One in a thousand such poems
may be worthy Of publication. Ninety
nine may be regular in composition but
are a. commonplace as the alphabet,
nine hundred are without rhyme
reason, without sentiment or emotion.
ragged rs the edge Of a saw, savorlcss
a meal without salt, poor, limping,
angrammatical, misspeiled, burlesquc
productions which, if published, would
child, orparent,o or brother,
Dr sister almost into ridicule with the
intelligent public. tits a favor 10 these
and 70 the memory Of their lost
treasures 10 refuse the request, yet that
refusal almost invariably gives pain and
sometimes Oilpn>e. Occasionally. the
IN lis good nature offers To mend
The unjointeai thing, to patch up its dress
80 that il may ut least pass
lnnoticct. But what a task Is that Iii
were better for him 70 grind out IN en-
lrely original article. In other eases,
rejection, he sees, with mournful
interest, the same unhappy production
y the corner q a contemporary; and fire.
luently il Is returned 10 him impercep-
lbly amended, in some case three or
our times, until the hidc0us nondescript
him in his dreams.
There are not a dozen memorial poems
n existence worth reading. Except
'mong men and women OF the rarest ,
grief does not express
tself naturally and forcibly in verse.
would be just rs reasonable to gauge
he pressure Of a grave or measure n Z,
nlourncr's tears BY the pint as 70 sub /.
luc his sorrow TO the harness Of rhyme
md rhythm. We beg our friends to send \
I no obituary poetry. We will take ,
ne risk Of losing some Tennyson's sin
lemoriam y for the sake Of exemption \
rom the annoyance, perplexity and I
rouble which inevitably cnsuc upon the :,
Of those few verses in
memory Of somebody's darling.-Bos- =
~ HcraiI. \