The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-05-10
DO PEOPLE READ POETRY
Ono Newspaper Answers the Question,
Showing They Do.

1
Showing They Do.
An eastern periodical has been trying 10
answer the question, "Do people read po-
etryS" and to that end has interviewed
publishers and various literary persons
supposed to have information on the sub
ject. The conclusion drawn from the data
so laboriously gained is to the effect that
they do read it. OF course they do, but it
was hardly necessary to take such pains to
! find out. A little reflection and observa-
tion would have answered as well.
A magazine or newspaper editor must
be aware, II he will stop to think, that If
only those people read poetry who write it
large proportion of the population may
be classed as readers. Perhaps the readers
Of other peoples poetry are hardly so nu-
merous, but there is no doubt that poetry
Is widely read and is fayorably regarded
by persons who make no literary preten-
sons. Ask tho very domestic woman or
the woman In remote farmhouse If she
keeps scrapbook, and she will in all
probability acknowledge having thus pre-
served a few "pieces Of poetry taken,
the most OF them, from the one weekly
paper that comes to her home.
The clubwoman reads poetry, Of course.
She has to II she would stand we'll, but Ii
is not SO certain that she engages in the
perusal for personal enjoyment. 1t is
sometimes because she must know about
"tone color" and who the poet prophets"
arc, and what Browning meant, and
what Whitman was driving at, and all the
rest of the poet lore-but she reads it, and
the clubwoman, as we all know, makes
up good part Of tho community. What
she reads and processes to like is Of
course only that class Of verse admitted
by magazine editors to be poetry, and 1t Is
not exclusively this which Is meant when
IL Is asserted that all mon and women
read moro or less poetry.
The verses that the woman out on the
farm has In her sorapbook. that even the
olubwoman has tucked away in her desk
or her pooketbook along with samples Of
silk, or that tho man Of business carries
In his vest pocket until the bit Of paper is
worn out, would not always pass muster
with the critics. Their meter may come
times be faulty, the thoughts may be mere
sentiment that appeals to tho heart; they
JouCn tnc eIHOblOus, HUI tLlc INtelleCt bloHej
they speak Of common experiences-of
love and longing and loss of home, Of
mother, of child, sometimes of religious
faith, but always a tender sentiment. The
man and woman who cherish these verses
would resent being called sentimental, but
one SO callous as not to be moved by gen
uine sentiment even crudely expressed, Is
rare.
Comparatively few read volumes Of
verse-poetry, the best of it, is luxury
that even the elect are apt to take In small
tho public has learned in
stinctively to pasr by most magazine verse
as having nothing in It, That 1t is perfect
In form and classic In thought means
nothing II soul is not there, and it is
mechanism rather than soul that Is usual
ly disoernible 1t is the poetry found in
the corners of newspapers that is read and
cut out and learned by heart, the verses
perhaps contributed by amateurs perhaps
taken from the masters, but chosen be-
cause they speak the thoughts and aspira-
tions, the hopes and loves and griefs COM
mon to humanity. Not all Of 1t is what
the critics know as poetry, but 1t is poetry
to the readers, and If that Is not final
test it Is one sufficient to answer the ques-
ton mentioned in the beginning
Journal.