The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-03-04

Ponsal. The MacMian 60, sloo rof sac
by Lowman & Hanford)
What shall the minor poet do with his
poems?
This is a burning question-for the minor
poet. II the answer should also be burn
ing-but the subject Is too serious for poor
Jokes When you come to think of It. the
chief difference between a major poet and
a minor Is In the way they make other
people feel. As far as subjective sensa-
lions go, they are probably very much on
the same level Each sees the vision. feels
the incommunicable thrill; but the one in
seeking for expression achieves words that
are flame, while the other finds but ashes
There is nothing that leaves a reader so
cold, cherries and depressed as poem
that IL not a poem and yet comes near 20
being one. 1t causes a lump in the throat
like the one that comes at the sight OF
unfinished and abandoned houses upon
whose hearths the homexfres are destined
never to be it, But minor poets seldom
think OF the agony they may be causing
other people, though they are acutely con-
scious OF the discomfort which other people
may give them.
These reflections are aroused by THE
Lutte and Lays" by Charles Welles Stuart.
small volume whose contents indicate -e-
fined tastes. en- affectionate nature, mod
erately good ear for rythm, and large
supply OF the pretty commonplace OF ex-
preston. There Is also indicated in these
lines sensitiveness to criticism calculated
to make a reviewer pause.
IF one should say on glancing through
These records few:
How small land II is'-though true,
cannot think IL might brook
That such should look
Again on thee, land OF my book"
Now. IL an amateur poet feels like that
about 1t. he should learn to keep his verses
out OF print. II his feelings are easily hurt,
there is absolutely nothing else for him to
do. With the kindlest feeling in the world
for all poetic effort, and the most pro-
found respect for genuine poetic achieve
ment, one still cannot pretend to think
that any given set OF stanzas is a poem
when II isn't. Nevertheless " to the writ
er those verses feel like a poem why. then
for him they are poem. He can, and
probably does. get much fun out or
writing them as Browning did out of
rabbi Ben Ezra" or Tennyson from
Crossing the Bar" lie has right to
this run. II Is n gift to him from the UNI
seen universe. but like many other preci-
GUS experiences II Is intended solely for
his own use. An amateur poet who has
the right feeling about his verses ought 10
love them too much to submit them TO the
cold glare of an unsympsthetic world I'M
less he has assured himself by many tests
that they are calculated to command the
worlds respect even II they cannot win it's
affection.
In "the spacious days of great Eliza
beth" when every other man was a pretty
good poet, just IA every other girl now
plays the piano, they did not disturb them
selves In the least about publishing A
poet no more wanted Recognition" for his
verse than a man who dabbles In water
color nowadays wants recognition for his
sketches, or than woman who embroid-
ers wants recognition for her Battenberg
center pieces They wrote verses for the
joy there was In It for them. /, was an
accompishment--one of the devices Cor
enriching and making interesting ones own
life. When they thought Of II. they showed
their performances to their friends. and
II the work was really above the average
these friends showed II to others and so It
got about that Phillip Sidney. or whoever
else. had a very pretty knack at verse
making That was reward enough-that
and hts own pleasure. There is no doubt
that they were very wise about some
matters IN the Elixabethan days, and -se
might advantageously pattern after them.
C'rhe Lutte and Lays" by Charles welles
stuart Tho Macmillan CO. For sale by
I.owmsn 4 Hanford)
The author of The Light 81 scarthcy''
tells US In preface. which Is better worth
reading than prefaces usually are. that
/ This book Is his dream chiid''-that IL Is
tho result OF haunting thought long
| communed with. In his own words the