New-York tribune., 1906-04-08
Gbe aem9ork 0ribarore.
SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 1906.

The minor poet unQueStiOnably has his uses.
For one thing he occasionally makes for
mirth." The other day Mr.. Il. p. O'COnnOr
started competition for spring poets in the
columns of his paper. Seventeen hundred came
chirruping to his door. The conyentOnality
of the chirrups nearly drove him frantic. He
cannot understand why these singers have
not learned to avoid the phrases which have
been done to death. Here is part of his plaint:
I am justified in asking them to beware Of
calling the sun "Old SOL" and the nightingale
sweet Philomel" In nine cases out of ten it
is mere Clap-trap to call the fields "the lea-'
Expressions like tBOrean blast" 'puring rin.
bright harbinger,' precursor of the spring.
concerts of the feathered band" and so forth,
are to be sedulously avoided, and 1 think that
the young poet should think twice before he
uses words like zephyr and ''roundelay.'
Precisely-but what If the chirruper is con-
stitutionally untitled to think once, to say moth
ing Of thinking twice? If there is not an atom
of originality in his intellectual equipment;
If, in the matter Of passion, his soul is about
as susceptible as a dish Of cold rice pudding
why in the world should he be expected to
know better than to fabricate his poems out
Of the phrases that he fancies are poeticaI?
The dabster who has never felt anything be-
yond the range of the commonplace, and has
nothing on earth to say, is bound to fall back
upon the fearful joy Of playing with words
Mr. OCOnnOr ought to have remembered this
before he laid himself open to the in6iction Of
seventeen hundred spring poems.
Mr.. BrownelPs essay on Cooper in the cur
rent number Of "Scribners" is particularly vel
come at this time. The world is full Of the
silly noise made by the best seller and his
tOuts. 1t is good, therefore, to have an authori-
tative voice uplifted in praise Of a master who
Is only patrOniZingy mentioned if mentioned
at all, by those who shout the glories Of the
best seller aforesaid, or, lost in contemplation
Of Mr.. Henry James's works. twitter about
what they call literary art Mr. BrownelI re-
minds us of the eulOgistic things said about
Cooper by writer's like Thackeray Balzac and
Sainte-BeuVe, and it is desirable that he should
do so; but the main thing about his essay is
that it penetrateS to the heart of Cooper's
genius, and not only applauds his works, but
gives the most lucid demonstration of their
merits. These are, in the first place says
the critic, the merits Of a born story teller
and then he goes on to show how CoOper'S ro-
nance has a "solid and substantial alliance
with reality" how it is based upon nothing
so much as upon the bed rock of human nat
ure. he looked at his material as so much
life; 1t interested him because of the human
elements it contained lie had his limitations
He could be tedious. "Of the art of literature
he had perhaps never heard" But he had
genius, and he put into his pages characters
that live. Mr. BrOWnell constantly enfOrces
this fact Incidentally, he brings out other
points that are too often forgotten, as, for ex-
ample, that "the so-called noble red man.
whom he is popularity supposed to have in
vented, does not exist in his books at all"
The whole essay is OF pure gold It is as good
piece OF writing rs it is a piece of criticism,
though we wish it had not occurred to Mr.
BroWneIl to apply to open air Cooper q hard
sought word like "iracund"
Among the many questions raised by the over
production of novels nowadays is one which il
Is particularly hard to answer. Why are thev
written? Mr.. Lang, who has small regard for
the average new tale, but like every one else,
g constrained to reflect upon the subject of
modern fiction, offers an answer to the difficult
question. "There are so many noveIists. prob
lbly," he says because the writing of novels
appears to be "A soft job, and success much
Df q lottery, while education is n1Iftn 11nnecos