The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-06-07
For The Messenger.
A Protest Against Certain Criticism.

1t mas DeCD-ItG d ShOJ~|A ~ III dtAN
Commonplace remark among the censo-
rious critics Of this continental and indus
trial age hat it is mercenary, tha it is
unitarian, that 1t has no ideals and in
splratfons. some of the more extreme Of
these critics have pursued their trite OBJ
servations to the extent of declaring that
this is az age of minor poets-that the
once fourishing art of poetic composition
has languished until it has become at
last a lost ar, perhaps never to be re-
vived. Opinions like these would not be
iterated and insisted upon did they not
present some apparent admixture CT
truth to the superficial view. To sucn as
sertions, however, I beg to ~strenuously
dissent as 1 vigorously protest against
the declaration that Romance and
Chivalry are not modern, but medieval.
characteristics. Cervantes doubtless
laughed SPANS chivalry away. but
in the light of recent development I
cannot believe that rex conditions have
taken away that love Of poetry, of ro-
mantle and chivalric life, which has ever
distinguished the American people. a.
country which from disinterested and hui
name motors engages in an expensive
war Of which it can scarcely see the end
in order to liberate from bondage and
persecution a tyrant-ridden island must
be chosen of God to exist for a higher
destiny than SpOlfation by the micers
and moneybags who have hitherto claim
ed too much of the wrong kind of nd
tional attention and too little of the right
kind.
/ am constrained to share the DID,
fashioned and, in some quarters. obsolete,
belief that he who writes the songs Of a
nation influences the thought and life
of that nation more than he who multi
plies It's laws. ! do not know how many
people are intrusted in the echnical de-
~VeIopment of poetry as an art, but 7 be
Eyra th1 no n CCE- IF tho Tun1ptN p "a "a
the same intense passion for daring deeds
moving events and great sentiments as
told in poetry and song that they had
when the "Wizard Of the North tuned
his harp beside the witch elm which
shades St. Fillan's spring" or ween
Sweetest Shakespeare. Nations child,
Warblcd his native wood notes wild"
SO fundamental, so intrinsically innate,
is the love Of the natural and normal hu-
man heart for poetry that l 10 not be-
lieve it ever suffers any particular de-
cline.
Speaking of this period it is. perhaps,
true that there are but few great poets
and but little great poetry. Take out two
or three epochs in the worlds history
and the same statement might possess,
more or less, truth with regard to any
particular period, for great poets and
great poems are few and far between. 1t
must be admitted, however, and in par
tfal aCquieScence to the familiar diCtuTn
OF those VINO complain OIL the UeC1ue1cc
of poetic sentiment and expression, that
certain conditions exist, which, while
they should be favorable to the groWtl
of great poetry, are in reality unfavOrable
and, indeed, inimical, to such q result. I
refer to the influence exerted upon the
public mind by the magazines. and I
hasten to re-enforce my humble opinion
with that of a NO less august authority
than Mr.. Frank L. Stanton, whose I'M
conventional versatile newspaper verse
commands, perhaps, a wider circle of
readers than that of any other. American
poet. / do not recall ever having seen a
poem from our most popular Judged by
his widely copied illusions and the COW
sequently evident numerical strength OF
his admiring readers poet appear in the
pages of a magazine. unless it was re-
printed from a newspaper. I am inform
ed that although the reputation he has
attained outside of the medium of the
magazines is sufficient to bring them il.
perhaps. as much revenue as a few OF
their prepOnderating advertising pages
contributor. I seek to apply the supreme
test and l ask YOU, sir. Ct invoke the re-
suits of your wide reading and research
and the mature opinion of your acutely
analytical and critical faculty., how
many of the worlds masterpieces OF
poetry would have been allowed to frs
see the light of publicity from the pages
of our Magazines? I understand that the
written by him to boom his theatrica
enterprises. Were he alive and writing
poetry ana plays to-day with a view tC
securing an audience through the maya
zines does anybody believe his manu-
scripts would be found 'available?'
Would not the supreme poet have beer
persistentIy and Systematically ignored
and taboOed by the magazines, which
are not content with the modest claim
of exercising a determining influence
upon the best literary thought, but AFRO
gate to themselves the position of dicta
tors of artistic standards and articles O.
literary values? Do you believe. sir. (ant
I ask hoping to elicit an answer that thu
average magazine would have published
Hood Fridge of Sights when the au
thor was to fame unknown? Do you be
1ieve that even a poet like Moore. in hi
1ighteSt and least serious sentimental veil
could have secured the publication o
any Of his poems by these purveyorS "
inane; insipid. lukewarm and neutral
aware. sir, that Rudyard Kipling, who's
poetic output gives virile promise of Ion
gevity if not immortality, hawked anN
looking for a publisher and was patron
lied. instructed and snubbed by a gradu
ate OF Yale or Harvard the point of fac
as to which one really does not matter
who rejected the contribution offered
magazine upon which this "brigth youn;
man" discharged the responsible func
tons of selecting it's literary material
I contend. sir, that the great poets Of al
ages and all countries would have eon,
to their graves with all, or nearly all. o
their music in them had they sought au
uie1ct through the UldStZlIttS ol IOu ~
which have acquires the reputation o
publishing but little Of vital interest. OFT
side Of their advertising pages. to tn
average reader who purchases then
month after month. reads through thei
pages as he would chase some elusiv
phantom. indulging the vain deiusion o
getting the best current intellectual an
literary pabulum. Articles written upo
almost every subject under the sun allie
to real intellectual interest. poems con
tributed evidently generally by parasite
favorites of the sanctum. "half tones
and "write-uDs'' of actresses in abbre
waited costumes manifestly inspired /
the counting room. driveling critiGue
which even the critics who write ther
do not understand, somnolent and am
biguous observations from the editor
easy chair" and a lot of miserable mis-
ceIIany make up the usual table OF cor
tents" and last. but not least. are
varied array of advertisements which r.
1ieve the otherwise intolerable tediun
and redeem tie publication from IN
-, 49, ,o of 1airr o6Sn1Jflly devoid of 1T