Los Angeles herald., 1891-11-28
FICTION AND POETRY
Considered by the Friday
Morning Club.
Papers Read at the Meeting
Yesterday.
The Literary Tendency of the Last
Decades Work.
Mrs. Marian Waterman on Modern
Poetry and Fiction-An Interest
Ing Study of Modern
Fiction.

At the meeting of the Friday Morning
club yesterday the guests OF the club
were Mrs. G.. A. Root, Salem, N. Y; /;
Miss Cavileer, Pembina, N. Dak.; Mrs.
A. LIE Maise, Tropico, CAL; Mrs. J. /.
Walker, Miss Margaret Shepherd, Ven
tura, CAL. Mrs. w. G. Wharton, Apple
ton, Wis. Mrs. Yda Adds Storke, San
ia Barbara.
A resolution OF sympathy and condo
lence was passed to Mrs. Wills, on the
death OF her husband, before the pro-
gramme of the morning was begun.
The subject OF the morning was The
Tendency of the Last Decade in Fiction
and Poetry. The first paper, from Mrs.
Marian G. Waterman, was entitled Mod
ern Poetry and Poets. This paper was
delightfully."- dainty and full of poetic
harmony and bits of romance.
Critics differ as to the definition of
poetry. Herbert Spencer, Swinburne,
Edwin Arnold. Browning, each has his
own Interpretation, but eac h holds it as
a means of expressing harmonies of
thought deeper than common speech.
The poetry of the world is it's frozen
history.
Poetry, mystical, tender, wonderful,
falls like veil across the years, and the
gray old world wrapping itself therein,
as with garment, says pathetically, II,
too, am fair"
In English poetry this is the era of
transition. After Milton, dreary 81
lence; at length the passion of Byron,
the simplicity of Wordsworth, the imag-
ination of Shelley, and the marvellous
delicacy of Keats.
In the school of the later years we find
perplexing songs in divers keys, an era
of change in thought and feeling, OF
great advance in scholarship in the
idyllic period. OF this school Alfred
Lord Tennyson is master. None may
deny his exquisite lyrical power and
perfect melody.
Contemporaneous with the poet lau
reate are the Brownings, Robert and
Elizabeth the latter represents woman
among English poets.
Sir Edwin Arnold ranks high in the
gentle ant; perfect in Oriental imagery,
exquisite in pathetic tenderness, the
world owes him heavy debt.
The greatest trouble to our American
poets is, they need no mention. The
boy on the curb knows Paul Revere's
ride; the laborer in the field
can repeat The Psalm of Life.
Whittier, Holmes, Emerson and Bryant
still sing on. Whitman sends out half
broken harmony in Goodbye, My
Fancy. Aldrich, Stedman and Lathrop
are in their zenith.
49, 1nsr T ~ y
alone who dares to dip his pen in the
e-blood of the nation, write the
epic poem of America. We are in the
twilight of poetry, the time of waiting.
great era is ending; we wait in the
dusk to review the career of those whose
work therein closes.
Mrs. Hooker's paper followed on The
Tendency of Modern Fiction. The paper
was full of a rare charm, sparkling with
wit and humor and abounding in good
anecdotes spicily told:
We are in transition state, and crit
les differ as to the tendency towards the
realistic or the romantic. The rate at
which fiction is provided is alarming.
In England alone it is estimated that
three novels day issue from the press,
but small proportion OF which are
worth reading. James Payn recommends
literature as profession to any new
conner, and Walter Besant thinks it may
s'be taught"
There is no recipe to produce a sue
cessful book, though the range allowed
must be great in generation which
buys thousands of copies of both Robert
Elsmere and Mr.. Barnes of New York.
We have tendency toward brevity; no
time in this age for the voluminous.
Some OF our critics hold we make fatal
error in our modern works by confning
ourselves to narrow fields in our por-
travail of character and range of type.
The great American novel is yet to be
produced-we cannot picture it, if it is
to give a general representation of
American manners, in country so
large, with elements 80 varied and OF so
many nationahties. Rider Haggard says
we are destroying our own literature;
that our books are stolen from English
authors; since Poe and Longfellow we
have hardly produced a tirst-class au-
thor.
Though not worth while to refute
this. it may serve to remind us OF what
we owe to some of our national story
| tellers. Gable first occurs to us, with his
wonderful pictures of Creole life; Grad
dock, Mark Twain and Helen Hunt Jack
son, and then by a wide leap to
Mr.. Howell's realism of New York and
New England life.
In short stories American authors are
more proficient than their English RI
walls. No English author has produced
anything at all comparable to some OF
the highest artistic qualities of Haw-
thorne's Twice Told Tales and Poe's
tales OF mystery and imagination.
Rose Terry Cook, Sara Orme Jewett,
Constance Fennimore Woolsen, Mary
Wilkins, Annie Trumbull have all pro-
duced sketches faithful and realistic
Scudder, Stockton and Davis must not
be passed over.
Two of the curious developments OF
the times in fiction are the partnership
name and the syndicate story. Ltera-
ture is an affair of advertisement and
noise. and is used like books, clubs