The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-06-13
MR.. NICHOLSON RONORED
DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS CON-
FERRED ny BUTLER COLLEGE.
In Accepting at Athenaeum Hall He
Delivers an Address ON "The
Future Of Poetry"

A large crowd attended the masters ad-
dress of Mr. Meredith Nicholson last night
at Butler College. The degree of master OF
arts was conferred on MIR, Nicholson by
President Scot Butler. The address was
given in Athenaeum Hall. Mr.. Nicholson's
subject was THE Future of Poetry He
said. in part: 1.-THE critics OF American
verse have fallen into the error of assuming
that we must necessarily produce in one
writer the prototype of the great masters
of song. but it SEEMS wholly likely that We
shall never have one universal genius
voicing the American spirit our life is too
various and complex for this. The epic has
thus far been impossible with US; perhaps
we shall never need 1t; or it may be that
neither epic nor dramatic literature Is TO
represent our greatest and best thought.
but that we SHALL in what are considered
the minor forms, express ourselves ade-
quately and greatly. 1t is hardly straining
point to say that our epic is being written
by such historians as Fiske, Winsor and
Woodrow Wilson. And future students will
not be sorry to find critical histories await
ing them, rather than tradition in meter.
Fashions change; legends and history. once
used, lose their freshness. and may hardly
be touched again; but the work Of the
present group of American poets reflects
the character and attitude Of our thought
and life, transitional and permanent, and
surely it is no unworthy or vain thing;
" The poet of all the people all the time,
we are all prone TO magnify the importance
of our personal preferences Some or us
would unhesitatingly give our ballot Tor
Lowell, others for Whittier, still others for
Emerson, and SO on through the list. But
forgetting for the moment those academic
tests that are so worthless In the larger
appraisement of poetry by the unfalling test
of the heart, and seriously striving to hnd
the American poet that Is most truly IN
digenOus and expressive of the America OF
to-day, it's aims. its essential rectitude, its
cept Longfellow. and. having in mind the
same test-particularly the home-ioVlng
| quality of our people-and seeking for a
name that is as dear as Longfellows TO any
similarly If not equally large audience. can
any one deny that 1T is the name of our dis
| tingushed fellow-citizen, James Whitcomb
Riley? He has done for us what no other
poet west of the Hudson has done for any
community-he has given to our SOIL the
| classic touch Of literature. He has linked
| our life to song that shall not pass utterly
away so long as there is such a thing as
| American literature. And so for toast
Longfellow and Riley. the poets OF all the
people all the time.
''fhe most promising outlook for English
poetry is In America. Our youth. our In
vention, our growing instinct for the beau
| tiful, our increasing cultivation that ex-
| tends to every corner of the great Republic
justify such belief. Whether we are to be
| limited to lyrical expression or whether oui
| flights are to be longer ones of the old liter
| ature-these and similar inquiries need moi
be taken so seriously now. But that poetry
| will not die in us-that we shall not merely
| lean upon 1t more and more as we shall
| lean also upon religion, but continue the
| creators of it, may be foretold without the
| risk of false prophecy; for the spirit OF
| democracy Is strong and sweet, and 1t has
| an enduring heart, and a message that 1t 1:
| good for men to hear"