New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1896-09-23
the. people. as sllc....
And as poetry itself, SO is the sing in.s.

ar angeS his words, but also In the hlSn
er accent he giyes to some of them. By
trying at once to bring the accent in har-:
mony with the words, giving the voicea
higher or lower pitch, making it louder.
or softer, Keeping it up at the more. i'm
portapt expressions, q melody lis formed
that rejoices his ear, as the thought ut
tered fills his soul with delight. You
can observe something similar in small
children, whom an enthusiastic DISPOSE
ton always give their words a melody.
If singing and poetlzing were not na-S
sturally united, no such. thing as. a spoeti-
Cal language could have. ori .gsinated, nor
could it have received that musical char
acter, which we notice even in the old q
est works of poetry This alone explains
why everywhere and i'll all nations. poets
and singers were formerly one and the
same; they appearing as different per.
sons only when poetry had developedsso
far as to be able to exist without a melo-s
dy that is made simultaneously.
After having thus seen where poetry.
has first originated, and where it is con-
Sstantly renewed, namely in the feelings
and phantasy Of those untouched by
higher erudihon, it will be easier to give
- j & 49, y ~ E.ss
a definition of it, and say What it is.
Passing by Aristotle's definition, who
says 1t is an imitation of the facts Of ma
sture, and Plato's, who calls it an imita-
ton Of the dreams of man, we will say
that it is the free play Of the creative
phantasy and Of the mind in Its most
general meaning, as influenced by the
surroundings of man; say creative
phantasy, for even in the simplest poems
things are not entirely taken sthey are,
but invention plays a part, although this
becomes more important as natural poe
try is gradually changed INTO artistic po-
etry. And it is to the latter kinl that
Z . = y . T u . s%s$ + Z 4
the name. poetry, principally refers, the
word being derived from the Greek
''to make;;'' the word poet then
means maker, j. e. inventor, and, to be
sure, an inventor Of ideals by free lmlta-
ton Of nature, by putting together sin
gle traits found in different objects OF
individuals to an idealized and therefore
.poetical picture or character.
In classic antiquity poetical works
were generally imagined to be made IN
der the direct influence Of god; says
the Roman poet: 'Est dens in nolns,|
agitante calescimus ills" There is a god
in us, we grow enthusiastic as he incites
us. Also did they personify the high
fright of the poet BY the Pegasus, a horse
with wings that preferred to storm
through the air and carry the rider up to
the heights of Olympus, rather than strike
the ground with the firm hoof. But then
they saw also that not everybody could
manage that horse, and they said, 'sPoe-.
tae nascunter, non funt, Poets are born,
not made.) tNow we know that almost
any young man or woman may at a GER
tain age compose some stanzas, OF at
least make a few rhymes we may also
by close application to the study Of me-
ter, rhythm. and poetics generally, learn
to make poem that is good in form and
sensible in contents. Yet for making
real poetry we want the Unborn poetical
genius il higheraor lower degree. ]
may refer here to the learned and inter
esting remarks Of Theodore Watts in the
Encyclop. Brit, vol. XIX, about rela-
tive and absolute vision and the three
classes Of poets. We see from all this
that poetry, as we usually understand It
now,is an art, which, like the other arts,
requires study, if the natural talent
should be fully developed, but cannot
amount to much without this gift.
The principal divisions of the history
Of poetry arc % that of classic and orr.
entail poetry, and 60 of modern acciden-
tai poetry.
| Among the oriental nations, the Him
doc, Chinese and Jews are sby far the
most ;,,o,,nrtont. Int fhn;r !, !, !,