The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-08-09
4 DEFENSE OF POETRY.
wHAr OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES
SAYS ABOUT 1T.

he PrOnounceS II q ~oAN -
cers search for Rhymes-Its Defense
"a claims Presented-Its Advan-
taees and Limitations
r,rom the Chicago Daily Nslrs.
Not long ago Oliver Wendell Holmes had
-. rom an unknown young corre-
sno,dant regarding the writing OF poetry,
y r-born in the course OF his answer, the
" LID. when you write in prose you
80 80. Won mean; when you write in
soy -, saw what you must" A little
:; an article under the title, THE
- pt,.,oirg Mania" in the Atlantic Monthly,
n Holmes taxes a surprising position with
~. 70 the whole subjec. of verse
-.ririnp He says: Rhythm alone Is
.a,ber and not a very long one. But rhymes
arc iron letters; it is dragging chain and
Ill 70 march under their incumbrance; 1t
lea clog dance you are figuring In, when
Won execute your pas Seht.
avon want TO say something about the
Loo,-arIx- bodies. and you have beautiful
line ending with the word stars. were you
xrrjting in prose, your Inauguration, your
go yonr rhetoric, your musical ear for
tba barmunies Of language would all have
mi NAV. But there is your rhyme fasten-
inc You by the leg, and you must either re-
i9ct the line v hich pleases you, or you must
SS.bin vour hobbling fancy and all your
ny, "n-I thoughts into the traces which are
i,i+cbad to one of three or four or half
80, sarvieeablo words. You cannot
Pc any use Of cars. l will suppose;
ven have no occasion to talk about
Scars the red planet Mars has
ba.n used already; Dibdin has said
anougb about the gallant tars; what Is
there left for you but barsl so you give
M YOUR trains of thought, capituiate TO
necessity. and manage t. lug IN some Blno
of allusion, in place or out OF place, "nlch
will allow YOU to make use OF bars. Can
there he imagined a more certain process
for breaking up all continuity of thought,
for taking out all the vigor, all the virillty,
which belongs to natural prose as the
vehicle of strong, graceful, spontaneous
thought, than this miserable subJugatlon OF
intellect to the clink of well OF Ill matched
syllablesN
Il is surprising that the protest that, on
reading such words as these, comes to the
lips of thousands that love poetry and know
why they love it, has not been voiced.
Ii is, Of course, to be admitted that the
framing OF thoughts into rhymed
rhythmic lines of corresponding
length presents difficulties. These
difficulties arise from the fact that the
chances are that words will not SO arrange
themselves 1t happens occasionally that
they do, and one will find that he has used
perhaps half dozen lines of equal length,
all rhyming, and this naturally. The eff
feet is, If course, ridiculous, and now they
must be reconstructed and the appearance
OF verse avoided. Here is an actual diff
Guilty in the writing Of prose. The recon
struction may break the continuity of
thought, take out all the vigor and all the
virility but il must be made. 1t will be
said that the difficulty is not often to be ex-
pected 1t is not urged that it is; the argu-
ment does not depend upon that.
There are a thousand laws that restrict
the wiitingof prose. We do not feel them
bacause we are accustomed to comply with
tnem. 1t is Moliere that makes one of his
characters surprised and increduious when,
after hearing disquisitlon on prose from a
learned doctor, he Is told that he has used it
all lis lite. Why do we submit to these
llmitGtl' MS rather than be "natural?1 First
because there can be no natural without
Law. and second, because we find these laws.
limitations though they be, help in ac-
clmpIisning what we are about. Without
them we would have only disjointed words,
OF some use TO be sure, but incompetent to
express higher ideas And the laws by
writing are legion beside the few further
ones under which We construct verse.
ne question, then, is thrown on entirely
different ground. With these considera-
lions IN mind it is not to be settled by point
ing out the difficulties of verse or turning
the laugh on the poet laboring under his
limitations. The question is Are the ad-
Vantages which these rules lend great
enough TO overbalancs the limitations they
Agl
question fairly.
The effect sought by combinations of
words into prose Is merely the expression
OF IDEAS No one will claim for it anything
more. When 1t rises to eloquence or to
"nat some call "prose-poetry" it is nothing
effec t. w Aoi
In poetry it is not so. Expression of
.oought Is not the only thing sought; not
eVeu Vne principal thing. Let not this be
100 quickly rejected. 1t will be- admitted
that ii music the effect does not lie in anr
expression of Ideas A composer NAV at
.lngV thls and, after fashion, be under
Isoou " lew critics, but the charm is not
-'SS great 10 these who do not understand.
:. tIe connection between music and poetry
lelt universally. The effect in both is in
s saIl mere physiological one-that of the
VOW vow VI the regularly recurring stress of
bo eIu Oh the harmony of sound. Some
wv o"Tt has been useless to INQUIRE why
r rn,s power In its employment then.
u Tsse mas secured an advantage over prose
-T a. II s crlhced anything to gain it9
NJ rne ulncultles Of combining sense with
Saf {Ie are not so great after all. 1t NAV
| 80 -! " Sald that In no case is 1t necessary
oss nee sense; it is true e less direct a
s .1a oic5luI EXPIRE sion is often made neces-
yar,:e 4ne conventional picture of the
bsnd l7[ With his rhyming dictionary in his
49, VIZ, us pen thrown aside and his brow
ta'aeu' struggling after rhyme. is not a
low ou r. IL Is astonishing what ease fol-
i0"S little practice. 'o ioA-
III. anu then, as has been urged. noetrv I'M
mon p tt does not depend for it's effect
e6rIo vue t9rclble expression of an idea II
itc sa.1 the powerful aid of harmony In
IA stu IN Its flow and beat lies power
eyc tr Sne soul. to send sweeping over it an
w ttibSeulent an elevation, that brings tears
hue Vue eyes and lends memories If f91ds 90 onS
SHADOW. u lailng rain, of long evening
Of thst ~. ~ walks under bursting moon
felt sd ~ inner wind which De Quincy
Dol Of sta atli surprising beautiful, the SYM
Two ,U' fd Is that effect the same upon all
speski narclefs OF poesy were the other dev
sonp ba a,s5; OIL Percy Bysshe Shelleyis little
IL ARISE from dreams Of thee
O 'ne nrst sleep of the nightp
d the root ie1erred to the unutterable sadnase
\ wbar AZ lng OF these lines threw over hi,,o
q to hin, 1 49 other, surprised, exclaimed tho
ecstas- 'He eAect was Of the highest inv oF