The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1900-04-25
The Nineteenth Century Can
Boast Numberless Scientific
But Few Imaginative
Thickers.
POETRY ON THE DECLINE.
ByJ W, Jarrett, Jr. Sand Cave Flat.

literary world at the present lie, will not
the time come when poetry will not be
written" And indeed the tendency OF
literature appears TO be in that direction
In the early ages of our literature
rhyme was written almost to the exclu-
sion OF prose, and even until the begin
ming of the present century poets far ex-
ceeded prose writers in both quality and
quantity OF works. At that time very
little was known about science and al
most no novels were written. The only
prose writing then in existence were a
few essays on miscellaneous subjects and
fewer histories.
In the seventeenth century Shakes
peare and Milton were the centralfigures
in English Literature: both were
writers OF verse. Lord Bacon wrote some
excellent essays which were scarcely
noticed. People cared nothing for 30
deep thinker as Bacon.
In the next century we find Pope,
Gray, Goldsmith and Burns dazzling
England with their rhymes and Sir Isaac
Newton at the same time working in
obscurity on knotty questions in Natur-
al Philosophy. What cared the people
of England for science?
1t is astonishing how little progress
the world had made in the line of
science. Few discoveries had been made
in the preceding two thousand years.
A little had been done in Physiology
and Astronomy, but aside from this
nothing more was known than had been
known to the old Grecian PHILOSOPHERS
But in the latter part of the eighteenth
century radical change took place in
the line of thought The great polit-
ical upheavals in both the old world
and the new caused a revolution in
mems minds. Thinking men turned
their minds to political problems. The
good rather than the pleasure Of man
kind was studied.
In the bsginnii g OF the present CEN
'r y, when the governments of the world
came in a measure settled, some wri-
ers again took M the old theme, poetry.
But the enchantment OF the Goddess
Imagination wae broken and gradually
thinking men turned their attention to
subjects of more importance to man
kind. This wave Of thought resulted in
the great inventions and discoveries that
have made the nineteenth century noted
for its progress
The study OF scientific subjects has
caused the reasoning powers of the
worlds mind to be developed to the
detriment Of the Imagination. This has
produced NAKED change in our litera-
ture, which cha &c is due Chi, fly TO the
fact that the writing OF poetry has given
way to prose. A careful student of liter
AZURE cannot fail 10 See this fact.
Tue noted writers of the nineteenth
century are chiefly writers OF prose. And
the deepest thinkers are men who think
on scientific questions. With oil our
boosted learning and culture we have
had no poet in the present century who
! has come near the genius Of shakespeare
or Milton. True we have had a few
poets such as Tennyson and Longfellow
who wrote excellent poetry. But even the
best works OF these contain finer art and
less imagination, or what the old writers
called fire, than the works of the old
poets. Their writings are more practI-
cal, more in touch with the everyday
happenings of the world. And the ben
Eft derived from such writing is eppar-
ent. Then il is true the present century
has produced no Grays or Goldsmiths,
neither cid the eighteenth produce any
Macauleys or Huxleys, We have nothing
to compare with the "Elegy in a Coun-
try Churchyard." neither have they
anythiDgt to compare with "The Descent
OF Man"
Poetry is evidently on the decline and
prose is taking it's place, it being more
useful to man. Poetry is the result OF
imagination, prose the result of deep
thought. Poetry is suited to the mipd
of chivalric, fun-loving people, prose
to the mind of practical progressive
nation. This is an sge Of science, an age
Of progress, an age Of people who live in
the present, not in the deeds Of ancient
heroes.
Some have affirmed that poetry is the
produ.ion of diseased mind This no
doubt is a mistake, but i, is an evident
fact that some OF our greatest poets, and