The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-06-14
in The LITERARY FIELD
PLENTY OF NEW BOOKS, AND NOT
ALL OF THEM FICTION.
The Verdict of an Editor an Uncer-
tain Thing-The Literary Trend
Personal Notes.

II Is high time for us TO take a manly
and modest attitude toward our verse, saws
Louis How, in the June Reader. For while
little of IL is fairly good. most of IL is bad.
Whoever has read much native criticism
of native verse knows the extreme rever-
ence which usually makes it absurd. By the
score our American poetastres have been
made into poets. Scarcely one of them,
however small, has lacked his need of
fiattery, direct or indirect. which was hard
ly the most stimulating food for his talent.
Small or crude must that section be which
cannot show its sheaf. The South boasts
her singers TO keep up her equality with
New England, and the West, in its various
subdivisions, makes desperate efforts TO
get into the game" He who has not seen
a library of these precious volumes will
never imagine how many are the contrib
utors. They are like locusts for number.
And apparently. unless the editorial tone
of the collection is disingenuous, each indi-
vidual was thought well of.
Now for all this widespread satisfaction
there must be some cause. While, in a
word. one may find it in our characters
tic national complacence about what we
consider our virtues; one may still go
deeper and discover four causes. The first
is a mistaken chauvinism, which proelaims.
in effect. just we can support ourselves.
having food independent of Europe, can
we revel in the literature we produce for
ourselves. Connected with this is the sec
ond cause-our insularity. We are out of
the main current of Western thought, and
being from our youth nourished (poorly)
on our own poetry, we become accustomed
to IL, even to liking tx. Here Ii is, we say,
tremendous amount. We neither know
nor care about some ones remark that,
considering what an unpoetical people Its
quality would indicate. the quantity is truly
marvellous. We know simply that here 1t
is; not a poor thing, but our own.
Nay, We are far from thinking IL poor.
We have too much culture for that-false
culture. Without following the suggestion
Of supply and demand between bad verse
and false culture / will call the culture the
third cause for pride in the verse. We are
pleased with both. We love to show how
cultivated we are. While our low state OF
taste leads us to prefer fourth-rate verse.
our GORGEOUS assumption of good taste
causes us to exploit il. Unframed natural
taste, though vulgar, is not necessarily in
sistent, frequently not naughty; whereas
Unframed taste acquires the prlde that as
tresses one and bores. This phenomenon
is probably at Me root of the whole matter.
Ii is, however, supported, and so are the
chauvinism and the insularity, by the fourth
Ss'uSc, winch 10 Slhply int SeCuVHdl iANdHJ
already mentioned. All of them, moreover,
are intensified by our national trait of kind
illness. This genial, but too genial. habit
accords to our verse an acceptation, pres
emily an admiration, an adulation, which
settle ii in high place. Some readers,
while admitting all / have said, may con-
tend that at least our poetry is valuable as
shadowing forth the best traits of our
American character. If they will make
themselves a list, not an a poSteriori list,
of what they think our finest national char
acteristics they will find that our verse does
not live up to them. The great poets lead
their people; ours have too generally not
even followed. If they then hold that cod
ding what versifiers we already have may
encourage the yet undiscovered rising gen
ius, / will say: Rather encourage him by
showing that we can appreciate the real
value of poetry; i will besides urge that
between the true pset and his public there
is no give and take, for the true poets deal
ings are with his heart alone.