The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-21

That ia not poetry. II Ia tommy-rot.
1t is silly sentimentaism. 1t Is a cheap
and commonplace announce ment of an
emotion which ought to be treated with
respect even by the person who cherishcs
1t. Ii man desires to inform the world
that he grieves over the loss OF his mot her
1T would be much more importa ant if he
didn't-he ought TO contrive to do 1t in a
lofty and elevrting style. II has been done.
1t ought to be possible to do it again And
what about the melody to which such
sentiments are TO be set? Ought that not
to be one of high dignity and genuine rathos?
Surely. But what usually happens when
the great American composer of popular
songs gets in his deadly work?
Nine times out Of ten he vampe up an
awkward. limpng tune for the stanza
and save. his one tottering little idea for the
refrain or chorus. And what Is this idea
when he comes to it? Three times out of
four it is very bad imitation of the old
fashioned Sunday school hymn turned into
waltz time Just to disguise it. 1t is a per-
feet companion piece to the poetry. In
that one respect il commands all praise.
In appropriateness it is not excelled by the
noblest fruit of the genius of Schubert.
This depth of pathos which the gentle
man mentions is IA variable quantity
song Is work OF art. and like every other
work of art il must appeal to the emotions
through the understanding. That is to
say. the language must be comprehensive
TO the person addressed before he can BIZ
touched by the subject matter. 1t would
be futile to expect an Irish emgrant to find
an echo of his emotions in French exiles
song. He would not know what it was all
about. so. too. it would be hopeless to ask
emotional sympathy from an Italian peas
ant listening to Beethovens Adelaide.
The great mass Of people who find deep
pathos in the stilted and prosaic expressions
of the popular song writers do so because
the text is of that plain matter sort
which they have no difficulty in under
standing. The music Is OF precisely the
same sort. To call the text poetry is to
degrade the title OF a noble art. Accord
ing to Mr. Stedman, Poetry is ryhthmical.
imaginative language, expressing the in
vention, taste. thought. passion and insight
of the human soul" Hector Berlioz de-
fined music az the art of moving intell-
gent men, gifted with special and prac-
tised organs, by combinations of tones.
In the text Of the popular song, as written
by the eminent authors known to our cor
respondent. the invention, taste, thought,
passion and insight are those Of people
who have not equal portions of these things.
Passion they certainly have. for that is the
common possession; but what OF their in
vention. which is a rare gift of the intellect;
taste, which is the product of culture;
thought. which is purely intellectual
habit, and insight which is very special
grace of Nature?
To be sure the world is full of poetry.
Emerson said: Wherever snow falls, or
water flows, or birds fy. wherever day and
night meet in twilight wherever the blue
heaven is hung by clouds or sown with
stars. wherever are forms with trans
parent boundaries. wherever are outlets
into celestial space. wherever is danger and
awe and love. there is beauty. and though
thou shouldst walk the world over. thou
shalt not be able TO find a condition in
opportune or ignoble.'
But it takes a poet to put these things
into -rhythmical, imaginative language
In the texts Of the popular songs OF the day
there is not as a rule. the slightest trace of
imagination. The old rhymes Of Mother
Goose are nearer to real poetry than these
metrica pieces OF bad prose. With
out Imagination there is no poetry. Take
the lyrics of Robert Burns. Written in
apparently the simplest possible style.
they are shown by examination TO be alive
with imaginative reproduction of emotion,
and that is the quality which enables them
to communicate feeling to readers.
In their music the popular songs OF the
day are as prosaic as the texts. The melo-
dies consist OF cheap phrases, founded
upon the oldest and most threadbare musical
formulas, poor in outline, shallow in har-
monte substance. and in nineteen cases
out OF every twenty out OF keeping with
the sentiment of the words In certain
sense they answer the requirements OF
Berlioz.
They do reach the emotions OF persons
possessed OF special and practised organs
They are specialized and practsed in this
one class Of music. These persons have
taught themselves to believe that they are
listening to a direct and natural embodi-
ment of emotion. chiefly because they have
never cultivated the taste necessary to the
understanding Of genuinely artistic ex-
preston For precisely similar reasons
thev prefer the novels of Charlotte Braeme
and the Duchess to those OF Thackeray,
the comic pages of the red. white and blue
weeklies to the works of Mark Twain or
Frank stockton, the verses OF Will Carleton
to those of Keats. Old William Cowper,
a rather prosaic poet himself. once said:
There is In souls a sympathy with sounds.
And as the mind Is pitched the ear Is pleased
With melting airs or martial. brisk or grave.
Some chord In unison with what we hear
Is touched within us. and the heart replies
That summarizes the situation perfectly.
As the mind is pitched the ear is pleased.
Some chord in unison with what we hear
is touched" Gentle reader when you are
moved by the depths Of pathos which you
find in these trivial, nimsy, artificial popular
songs. it is because they just about reach
your level You have left to you only
the weak mans never failing retreat
-well. they're good enough for me-"
No one sill quarrel with you for saying
that. You have right to like anything
that peases YOU Only you must not try
to make us think it is good because you
like it, And when you come to us with
preachments about popular song writers
having a knowledge of the deep. emotions
Of the human heart and setting them forth
in manner true to nature. just stop mo-