The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-03-03
POLITICS AND POETRY.

| David Bennett Hill continues to excite
| conflicting emotions. Here is Texas poet
that asseverates in rhyme that:
I'm heavens own peaceful dome his name
! shall watt
Lies richest blessing
On the other hand, here is a prose writer
who asks: docs the id fool suppose
the people viii elect to the presidency a
man who does this sort of dirty work for
himself" 1t will be seen that there is a
| broad chasm between the poetic and
prosaic estimates of David. Most of US,
| lacking political bias, will lean towards
the prose writer, having a righteous hor-
ror of any irresponsible poet who will call
upon the Muse to hand out a supply OF
divine affiatus for the edifcation of a New
York politician.
| Any attempt to commingle poetry and
New York politice is at once both diaboli-
cal and execrable.
| 1t is true that Horace used to write
| odes TO be sung alternately by boys and
girls to boom Caesar Augustus annual
/ triumphal marches; but the glitter of
| golden spoils and the majesty OF lions from
| the jungle; the imperious beauty of con-
quered Zenobia; the clink and jangle of
| the measured tread of the mailed legions
licensed poetry; an Albany convention
hall, with an lndiscriminate confusion of
plug hats aud tobacco-stained shirt fronts
and cut and dried endorsement most en-
phatically does not.
Homer as poet touched upon Trojan
politics, but the rape of Helen has some
elements Of poetry that the theft of New
York legislature is entirely lacking.
4 L l.
the unavoidable result of his trying to
avoid missing the names of any Of the
prominent Greek politicians of the time.
This is his catalogue of ships, which has
the same lucidity of narration that dis
tinguishes an unabridged dictionary or
that part of the Book of Numbers which
says: And of Kohath was the family OF
Amramites and the family of Izharites
and the family of the Hebronites and the
family Of the Uzzielites," and so on ad
infiuitum.
Homer only nodded occasionally, but
this was his prize nod If he had taken
Ward McAllister's plan and curtailed the
Grecian four hundred, he might be more
popular and stand today with Thomas
Brewer Peacock in the heart of the
masses.
Alexander Pope and another of Hude-
bras wrote political poetry, but it was
satire and not encomium.
Even in England today, the poet laurate
is called upon to jot down a few stanzas at
every royal birth, death or jubilee, and
even in that country where the old forms
and tenets, the exaggerated right of princes
and the unquestioning loyalty of the peo-
pie still obtains this meets with derision.
But poetry and politics will never do in
America. Our rushing. money getting,
sharp competitive existence, may have.the
happy interims, when the heart will drink
in some divine melody, but never, when it
appertains to modern politics.
Prose will suffice David Bennett Hill
can control the saloon vote, capture the
primaries. fix" the conventions, boss
Tammany and steal the state legislatures
for years to come, but it will be done to
the laborious measure of reportorial prose;
not to the pompous pace of mellifiuous
rhyme
The ward politician is not inclined to
poetry: no more than poetry is inclined to
him. For that reason the country at large
would dislike to see David Bennett Hills
name watt life's richest blessings in
heavens own peaceful dome"
1t is not at all like Hill. AS frst-class
waiter, he would rather watt Democratic
convention than ''life's richest blessings
any day in the week