The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-01-13
DEFENSE OF THE POETS.
Their Melancholy Verses the Mere
Expression of Passing Moods.

A few weeks ago an editorial appeared
in the Journal. decrying the tendency of
the fn-de-siecle poet TO sing in strains OF
sadness and distress. 1t is not my present
purpose so much to justify or defend this
fact as to explain it.
In the first place / cannot agree that 1t
is only the minor poet who sings in the
minor key; or that the classic bards of the
past. as a rule, have not resorted to-somber
and melancholy themes. 1t is true that they
have sung of joy as well as OF sorrow. of
hope as well as of despair, but the most
famous works of the masters. almost with
out exception, deal with the darker things
of life-wit disappointment, sorrow, pain
and death.
Poe's Raven, Burns's Highland Mary.
Longfellow's Evangeline, Tennyson's Enoch
Arden, Goethe's Faust, Dante's Inferno
all acknowledged masterpieces, display
much more of sorrow than of joy. And the
fundamental difference between Shak-
spores plays and the modern drama is that
the plot OF the former is not so perverted
and distorted as to make the denouement
invariably happy. Shakespeare has never
been accused of being morbid or ~dyspeptfc.
He held the mirror up to nature in all her
phases and 1t is rather the fault of nature
than Of the poet that the most powerful and
rloomiest and erimmest scenes The trlla
duty of the play wright, the poet and the
novelist is much the same. But in the ma
ture of things the poet is rightfully accorded
more latitude of selection and more license
of imagination than the others.
Among AL the myriad moods OF mind
it is his prerequisite to choose that which
best suits his purpose. And that which is
most emotional, most passionate. most po-
tent in pathos is apt to appeal to him first.
The modern minor poet Is not a profess
sional writer. His songs are sung in odd
moments of idleness, snatched from a busy.
prosaic career. A brief lulu of business
comes at twilight. YEARLY he leans back
sive, retrospective, sad-'drops into po-
dream dreams. H iost snhsnih he s deasa fp Fl xan faithl
less loves and the utter vanity and inanity
of life In general. If he made a business
of verse writing his. subjects. would be as
various as his moods, and. / am inclined
to think quite as often merry as other
wise; but. as it is. he writes only as some
spires him. / believe most of our little
poets are led to write in this way. and
the very mode of inspiration largely ex-
Indeed, the existence of this mood prompts
many to attempt poetry who otherwise
would never think Of such a thing. as wit
ness the doggerel rhymes constantly ap-
false lovers and lead children. And It
must not be doubted that their mournful
plants, nesting in out-of-the-way corners
of the newspapers. are sought for, read
and appreciated now and then. by an oc-
casional fellow-sufferer who lacks the abii-
ity to ~criticise, but has the heart to feel.
It must be owned that there Is an extreme
and bitter pessimism I'm some modern po-
etry which cannot be excused or accounted
for In the above manner. A strange at
mosphere Of morbid cynicism seems to pre-
vail to some extent. alike in the social ana
literary world. and the hysterical poet Is
bound to produce the pathological poem.
But the tiny sparrow who chirps heartily.
though not sm s unsteady, mus, or a eyen be s eog.
Paris, Ill. e. o. LAUGHLIN. 5