Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-01-08

IHt Nv w eAAS AShSoA WHY Is
WIZ ~ that they write so
little. while they talk
SO much. Thus 1t is easier to describe
them than to define Them
what is "decadent" poet? To every
one outside of France the name has come
10 De applied to those young poets who are
petter known for their eccentricity than
ior lnelr poetry. Properly a "decadent' is
Youth VINO follows vaguely in the trail
OF Paul Verlaine. Labels are plentiful in
france; and sometimes 1t is easier to found
scnoor than to write anything at ALL
AS to belonging to School" that is the
easiest of all. You only have to say so.
30 the decadent' is the grand-nephew of
the farnassian" and cousin in the twelfth
degree to the "old romantic
ne is the son of the moderniste,
grandson of the idealiste
And has dash of the realistic
And so you can work it out for Yourself
but, as some footnote ought to go with
every genealogy, it may be stated that
the decadent" is young poet who, being
unable to elevate himself, is more or less
resigned to stay on earth. He rather likes
the earth; he prides himself on liking it.
ana mat Is why he calls himself decadent
II is not necessary to have either per-
sohahty or originality, but it is important
70 use certain words and to cultivate
certain look. 1t is we'll to talk of Schooner
hauer and Darwin. He adopts these names
because ihey are SO little known in France
AS cold fact the ''decadent" does not
know Schopenhauer, and he has never
S'udled Darwin. But he proceeds tolerant
ly from Maxeville beer to green absinthe
beer again. ~ >
Afar off the "decadent" initiates the man.
ner OF Baudelaire, who got some inspira-
ton from our Edgar Poe, but mixed his
own art with it. So the ''decadent" has
- hi Il
YET IN mis- ears ring golden bells, and his
heart is full of bitter heroisms These often
stretcn 10 plasphemy and the unmention-
aDle The bitter heroism of Jean Richepin.
Wheh ne was younger man. brought him
to Jail. W
Fell From Grace.
Al That time sub-class of the dccadents
hirsutes' or hairy fellows" were lifting
up their voices. They took that name
from fichepin. who possessed a splendid
head OF bristing black hair Others called
them ''hydropaths," because their temper
ainent was so surcharged with heat that
only Ice cold baths could bring them down
10 normal. 1t was also a gentle satire on
their distaste for water as a beverage: be-
cause the second in Importance of the band
was Raoul Ponchon
While others grew more serious and s+,u
mere fell away to sing no more RaouI
Ponchon has remained through years. and
sun remains as he began-the drunken poet
OF the drunkards. The third of them in
Importance, also. Maurice Boucher was at
mat time not vegetarian, to say the least
although he has since bloOmed into the
mystic, hieratic poet-prophet of the mario
. net. theater. which attempted to revive
the mysteries of Isis And now TODAY
this very week, to show how evolution
causes souls to turn and squirm, this very
Maurice Boucher has written songs for
little boys and girls.
The minister of public instruction opened
plo1c competition some months ago for
the best words adapted to forty melodies
gathered from the common people in the
provinces by enc OF the librarians of the
Conservatory of Music. These were to serve
rs songs in the state primary schools
Maurice Bouchor won the competition! His
soi:ss are 81" eet and pure and pretty. on
subjects like THE Brave Men of Old"
''Sainte Geneveve" and 1.-THE Christmas
Reveillon." The "reveillon' is the midnight
supper on Christmas eve, when children
are permitted to sit UP.
Jai WI dams une armoire
Certain gateau dOre;
Je crofS due fon va boire
In doiSt de vim sucre!
nave seen in closet certain gilded
cake; and 1 believe that we shall drink a
niger OF sweet wine.'D And then: Our
mouths are watering at the thought OF
goose and chestnuts"
Who They Are,
So ais well that ends well. In the midst
OF all those who pretended, with black hair
worn in fine disorder, Maurice Boucher
had the poet In his. So had Raoul Ponchon
VINO continues drunken, blasphemous and
dirty. So had, more than all, the great
Jean Richepin, whose product of today
might "eil pretend to the Academy were
II not for all his decadent outrages and
freaks Of those years in the early eighties.
OUTSIDE or France 1t is enough to bunch
these people all together and call them de
caaents." But you will scarcely find
wi tab = civ oysl,r
young twangers of the Tyre today have seen
a dozen OF their genus come and go in Just
as many years; and of their hordes there
are nlImberless ones not yet known
u have read your researches" writes
Glistave Clutches to an interviewer of the
Echo de Paris, morning paper which de-
sired to make list Of all these song birds
lately. They move picturesQuely through
all the countless esthetics of the day. 1t is
as If were reading over again the Temp
tation of st. Anthony. 1 have seen delling
PEST me symbolists. instrumentists. deca-
dents. naturalists and neo realists, super
raturalists, psychologists, ParLassians
msgicians. positivists. Buddhists, Tolstoiz-
ers and Ibsenomaniacs. l have heard fierce
imp ecations, Otter laughter, cries Of pity,
solemn anathemas. subtle analyses, ALSO
lutte synthe5eS, proclamations elouuentIy
1mprovised. Everything has been said, re-
said. unsaid." Evolution" cried Paul
Bonnetain, as he took his own turn in
adding to this Babel: Evolution of a tor
toise wriggling on its backr'
They do not dwell in harmony together
certain poet of hypnotic phenomena,
when asked to give frank opinion of his
rivals to another of the morning dailies,
said: II cannot persuade myself to belabor
tie masters, to use my fiEgernails on the
writers of my own generation, to cleave in
twain my younger brethren, nor in any
way to trumpet mediocrity or what is be-
meath mediocrity. Nay. I cannot even ut
ter my own praises" And yet it will be
noticed that he got there all the same.
Not every man can be a poet,
No more than a sheep can be a goat"
There must be a reason for this. Where
do all these squabbling, sobbing and hair
pulling poets Of the gay French capital
come from? have said that 1t Is easier
to read about them than to get to see
them, though it is easier to get to see the
great majority than to find their poems In
the shops. where the booksellers regularly
have never heard of them.
Each year some young man who appear
ed to be like all the others shoots up into
fame or notoriety. as Catulle Mendes and
Jean Richepin shot up years ago. true
poets. But the great majority content
themselves with book and absinthe and ap-
pearing in reviews. Here the true secret
lies of their fertility and barrenness at
once-tne habit Of establishing reviews.
How Their Verses Are Published.