The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-05-19

4
most helpless of noodles? Doubtless they
| have each and all had their share of that
kind Of "taffy," and have had their brief
days when hope printed their names in the
list of accepted contributors to 1.-THE At
! lantic" and 1.-THE Century," and from that
/ vantage ground glanced forward to the
period when the same names shall shine out
IN gilt on the backs of neat volumes, that
| everybody seemed anxious to possess. But
| they are poets, as said, poets who have the
| true touch of genius, which is not, as some
suppose, cranky devevelopment of abnor-
NAL qualities, but simply good endowment
of common sense, refined by culture, COM
munion with nature, and study Of the
beautiful in its manifold forms. And being
thus endowed they soon perceived the I'M
trustworthiness of all such gilded trifers,
and learned also that harder lesson for the
young to master, that while praise does not
make, and excessive praise, beyond ones
merits, is of no advantage neither do bitter
words and malevolent criticisms kill. Should
you ask one of those, he would most likely
say to you that the poets remuneration
must flow from a few sources the pleasure
that he finds in his own work, the refining
and lettering, the broadening and deepening
of his own soul, and the pleasure which
| he confers upon Others, being the chief.
If man writes only in the hope of pecuni-
airy gain he had best abandon poetry at once.
A few years ago bad spelling caught the
|
rhymes Another type of fun is dominant
now. and you may study the Detroit Free
Press and the Texas Siftings for the peculiar
| style OF literature that blossoms out in
laughter and seeds in good hard cash. But,
! you ask me, if State has in its borders two
dozen persons who can and do produce real
poems why so few of them are recognized by
the great magazines? That is a hard ques-
| ton to answer, and one who is not behind
the scenes OF the aforesaid great magazines
and familiar with the critical methods,
| the poetical tastes and literary and
| personal prejudices of the editors, can
scarcely give an intelligent guess at the
causes which operate to admit one contribu-
tors rhymes and refuse another of, perhaps,
equal merit.
All editors have certain models which
contributor must approach, in some way, to
receive favor. All are governed by what
they suppose to be the popular requirement.
| The magic of an established name is thing
that none can resist. A reputation already
established hides many defects in an au-
thor's work. All are taken with the strange
| ness OF good rhymes from sources that have
been so surrounded by events as to make
them the unexpected thing that will at
tract attention, and, last, but by
no means least, the poet knows
as well as any one when he has written well,
and if, in burst of confidence, he submits
good bit of work to the reigning potentate of
a magazine and has 1t rejected, as il is very
sure to be, if he has not won reputation
through the humber press beforehand, it
falls like dead weight of encouragement
upon him. for most poets are modest, and
| however much they may put on an air of
indifference to the fate of their rhymes they
are, In fact, as tender and easily touched by
harsh criticism, neglect or refusal of their
work as they would be by personal insult
or slight So it happens that but
few poets have the cheek and per-
hair orb
publishers until 1t meets with success. This
is, perhaps, as it should be, for the demand
made by the magazines is filled hundred
times over. The editor of the Atlantic
Monthly recently remarking about the deli
cacy of his task in selecting poetry for the
magazine from the amount of MSS. received,
said that as much was offered them each
month as they could use in year. A large
part of tina, may be doggerel from conceited
simpletons, cut 1t is probable that they often
return poems that they know to be fully
| equal to some already accepted and paid for.
But there is very narrow limit to the ability
of magazine to make use of poetry. So
it may be roundly stated that but few writer's
OF rhyme can expect to win place in the
magazines. What then2 You ask, 'Shall
the poet abandon his art2'' Not it he loves
his art and the music sings in his soul aud
cries for utterance. He should write and
revise and study and print when he can do
so to the pleasure of others, but he must not
| grow great and put on airs. The chances are
that if he should ever chance to sing
a song that the world will want to remem-
| Der that it will not find it out until he is
dead. i know of a man who recently pub
| lished little poem that has been copied by
| perhaps thousand newspapers and put in
innunerable scrap-books and private collec-
tons, and yet if that man was in need of
square meal and had to trust
to his poetic powers, or his ability to hoe pc.
tatoes or saw wood for it, he would put much
the most abiding confidence in the latter
| forms of effort.
1t all comes to this, then, that while true
poetry is the highest form of art, and as it
has been in the past, and probably will be in
the future, the most enduring, the hum
BILE bard must sing, because the music and
the haunting spirit of poesy is in his soul,
and not as a money making business. The
praise of partial friends, high-stited editorial
notices. and rose-colored picturings of future
success, cannot watt the young bard onward
to fame. He who is not favored by the great
makers of literary opinion, must work and
wait till he wins an audience of lis own, and
that audience will be small or large in pro-
portion as his merits are little or great.