The times., 1898-02-13


European models.
But the verse of Field and Riley, at
their best, is always intensely Ameri-
can. Take Fields Little Mack for eX-
ample, and contrast it with Lowell s
Biglow Papers" Both are dialect po-
ems, but the one is comprehensive to
the average man in any section of the
country; the other can only be appre-
ciated by a man of New England tradi-
tons. Compare THE Courtin' with
Riley's "Nothin' to Say or "Griggs-
bys Station" The New Englander will
appreciate both. but the man without
New England traditions will miss half
the force of the former poem, demurely
comic as ii is In dialect, which is, de-
spite all the fun that has been made of
It, as worthy vehicle for the express
sion of the common feelings of common
people as the Scotch of Burns or the
patois of the Provencal singer-in dia-
lect poetry, Field and Riley are un-
doubtedly first.
And even in the poems written in
more serious and classical English there
is no trace OF Old World ideals. The
American woman at her rareSt, the
American man at his gentlest, furnish
romance and heroism enough for these
singers. Field treated King Arthur 5
court to dose OF unmerciful satire in
his Proper Trewe Idyll OF Camelot. ."
and that romantic institution Jared even
worse at the hands of Mark Twain.
whose youth was spent in this same re-
gion. That Old Sweetheart of Mine. "
the sweetest and most womanly OF
Rileys creations. were when she was a
child "a pink sunbonnet and a little
Checkered dress" and followed Loyalty
the customs OF the district school. Al
though Fields vagrant fancy roams
over all departments Of literature, IL Is
perfectly evident that he reads Horace
and Reranger and Old English ballads
with the eyes and the brain OF an Amer
lean man. and the little bit OF wo-
man" I'm one Of his mere serious poems
never could have been anything but an
American girl The ''eyer-womanly,
without any accessories of siiken gowns
or coronefs, is fair enough to inspire
these poets. wherever they may chance
90 find her.
In their descriptions Of nature the
writers of this new school show a sub
tie. but very real, characteristic in COM
mon. There is a sensitiveness to the
sights and sounds OF nature, in them
selves. not as a frame for mans doings
or embOdiments Of essentially human
emotions. which is. In its highest de-
velopment. absolutely new. This quail
ity is to be found most notably in the
work of Eyaleen Stein, whose sympa-
thetic portrayal Of nature amounts 10
genius in itself. There is delicacy OF
touch and sympathetic feeling. which
is less conscious and more unStudied,
than in the work OF the older poets.
There is. in word, the unworn joy of
living, which one may feel alone in the
fields on a summer day. 1t was once
said by Olive Schreiner that nature Is
jealous mistress, and only yields her
best to those who seek her with undi-
Vided heart The self-centered poet
cannot do this. A man must have some
thing of the old pagan Inconsistencies
of the problems of life; he must not
regard himself as the center of the uni
verse: he must take things as they come.
or he cannot write a true nature-poem.
This sensitiveness in the Western school
is melancholy, quaint or whimsical, ac-
cording to the nature Of the author, but
1t is always there. in one place or an
other sometimes almost grotesque from
its inconsistencies. sometimes finished
with the skill and daintiness OF a fine
water color. Here, for Instance, is an
Old World tradition transplanted, and
ethereallzed by Riley in a thistledown
bit of verse:
Q, it was Puck! / saw him yesternight.
Swung up betwiNt a phloXtop and the rim
Nlirring his raklsh wings withali his might,
And pursing his wee mouth, that dimpled
white
Andred, as though some dagger kee n and
slim
Had suunC him there, while ever faint
and dim
His eerie wa rulings piped his high delight;
Til ], grown iubilant, shrill answer made.
AT which, all suddenly. lie dropped from
And peenng after, meath the evcrgade.
what was a.. do you think. saw him do?
/ saw him peeling dewdrops with a blade
OF starshine. shafpened on his hat-wing
shoe.
And here is the same elfish note. with
a human quality. In The Cornstalk Fid-
die" by Dunbar:
When the oorn's all cut. and the bright
Lake the FURNISHED speaTs Of a field Of
gold,
when me rich on tie nubhinsdine.
And the frnSt comes white. and the wind
blows cold.
=.
Then You take stalk that is straight and
long,
with an expert eve to its worthy points,
And You think OF the DubhlIng strains Of
song
That ar. bound bet veen ITS .pithy joints
And you cut out strings with bridge in
With a corHsrals low for a cornstalk fiddle.
Then the strains that grow as you draw the
o'er the yielding strings with practiced
Ana the nnsic's flow, never loud but low,
Is the concert note or a fairy hand.
on, your dainty songs are misty riddle
Tothe simple sweets OF the cornStalk fiddle.
And here is a picture of dusk in a gar
den. by Riley:
The primrose flares its baby hands,
Wide open, as the empty moon,
Slow lifted from the underla nds.
Drifts up the azure-arched la aGoon:
Thu sha dowS Oh the garden walk
Are frayed with riffs of silver light.
And tnckiing down the poppy-stalk
The deWdrop streaES the night.
O'er folded blooms,
On swirls of musk.
The beetle boomS ldown the glo0ns
And bumps along :he dusk.
This sympathy with nature comes out
even more forcibly in the dialect verse.
Frank comradeship with birds and trees
is the keynote of Riiey's ''Knee-Deep in
june"
Mr. Rlueiay. full o sass,
In them baseball clothes of his,
Sportin' round the orchard, les
Like he uwne the premisesi
out in the fields kin siZz,
Put flat on Your back, | guess.
In the shades where glory is
That's jes' what I'd like to do
Stiddy fer n year er two!
And here is a bit of a Song of Sum-
mer." by Dunbar:
Squirt a tippin' on his toes,
Sos to hide an view You:
Whole fiocks of camp-meetin' crows
Shoutin' hallelujah.
Pecka hwood erpon de tree.
Tappin' like a hannah,
Jaybird chattin wifi a bee,
Tryin' to teach him grammar!
And here is bit Of Fields reminiscent