The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1888-02-04
SUGGESTIONS TO POETS.
Professional Hints which Amateur verse.
Makers May value.

ffOreS8tOuht f1IuvS WulCu h"Hu0uT verNos
Makers May value.
"As for subjects" said tho modern
poet "the world Is simply alive with
them. In the first place. there is the
morning paper, suggesting subject
after subject. A man with an alert
eye and rather a wingy imagination
will find enough material in u morn.
ing paper for an epic, a lyric or two.
and half dozen assorted elegies.
Equally suggestive is observation.
There are hundred droll, weird,
melancholy things happening every few
minutes. All you need do Is to keer
your eyes about you somewhere, and
use them on the slightest provocation.
As for the melancholy things, J
wouldn't do much with them, at least
II I was u beginner, with reputation
to make. Just jot them down some.
where, if you want to. FOR II future day;
but don't try to wo.k them off al
present. The market for melancholy
poetry just now is limited. and
Tennyson is supplying It very fully. ]
would use the weird but charity; but as
for the droll just bury yourself in it.
You were asking, you know. what kind
of poetry sold ths best; we'll, that's the
kind. In fact, in the case Of all un.
hoard-of-beginner, 1t is the only kind
that will sell NJ all. There seems to be
great desire among the common peo-
pie to laugh. and timely, well-con-
ceived jest, set to a tripping and rhyth-
mical measure, will supply long-felt
need in the aching heart of the average
American citizen, irrespective of age,
sex or previous condition Of servitude.
1t is not necessary to add that your jest
must be crisp and fresh. with the odor
of new-mown hay about it, and spark
ling with the dew of early morning.
Don't imagine for moment that any
old gray-beard of joke can be dressed
up in the swaddling clothes of infancy
and be palmed off on the community as
u recent arrival. 1t will be nosed from
afar, and pelted with horso-chestnuts.
That respect should be shown to old
are is an excellent rule, but not appli-
cable to jokes. They must be rs young
and virgin as the snow flakes from
heaven; otherwise they 60 into the ca.
pacious nav of the 'Assyrian Pup OF
the Office Cat or other manuscript
annihilator.
"Don't essay the sentimental; that is.
not for cash. for the demand is not
especially loud or imperative. and it is
easily supplied by those eminent mas
ters of verse who have long been in the
public eye and write their names in
three sections. The truth is, the ap-
petite for the sentimental, especially
the erotically sentimental. is not very
general. It is confined to a number Of
young girls, and to Il few unbalanced
persons who are OH the point Of pair
ing off-a number comparatively small
in any wcll-ordered community.
Healthy, contentcd, single persons.
of course, do not care for this kind
reading, while to the married and set.
tied, and eternally tied for this world
and the next lower, nothing comes so
with the force of u personal insult as a
piece of sentimental poetry. Avoid it.
If you must write it. write it, and hide
it carefully between the leaves of the
family Bible; and perhaps some day
your literary executor will find it and
give it to Il clamoring world; but just
now the world is not clamoring.
"Of course, you and l both under
stand that this humorous poetry, if you
prefer. is not poetry at all. But that s
not the point. You want to know what
you can put together in the shape OF
meter and rhyme that will sell. and
that's what am telling you. We call
it poetry, because that is tho general
market name for it. John p. Lyons,
| in Writer.