Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1907-07-25
Poetry In Our Time.

Poetry In Our Time.
Ambassador Bryce Of Great Britain
and Ambassador Reid Of America have
recently spoken On the subject of poet
~. Reid told the Britishers at home
that they had produced no poet since
Tennyson. Mr.. Bryce answered the
question put by an American, Who r
the coming poets of England? by ask
ing another. Said he: .ysx:.rr ~ 4~s.,-
But who are yours? That is the ques-
ton for you. Who are writing you songs
and stirring your heart-or isn't our
heart being stirred? Nothing is more i'm
portant than that each generation and
each land should nave its W poets.
Each oncoming tide Of life, each age, re-
Quires and needs men Of lofty thought
who shall dream n sing for 1t. who
shall gather up Its tendencies N fornu-
late its ideals and voice it's spirit, pro-
claiming its duties and awakening its en-
thusiasm. through the high authority Of
the poet and the art Of his verse.
Any generation is indeed bereft among
whom poetic inspiration might seem to be
dying out. However much we enjoy and
prize the old singers, new ones are need
81 to express the ever changing attitude
of man to nature and life. There are i'm
mortal themss-but changing accents and
Both Mr.. Bryce and Mr.. Reid are
scholarly men. They do not need songs
to stir their hearts, but they have the
pride. in literary culture which If I'M
satisfied leaves a deep void neverthe-
less. Mr.. Bryce is not alone in feeling
this want in the days life. The life Of
the English race is the poorer in all its
realms and reign for lack of great sing
ers. From the day when Burns first
published, 120 years ago, until Lowell
died there was never a five years with
out some verse which was to last as
long as the words in which it was sung
were spoken.
This is yer We are in a dearth and
famine of great verse, such as fell be-
tween the silence of Milton and the
song Of Burns. Even this space had
Dryden and Pope, as we'll as Collins
and Gray. 1t enjoyed Goldsmith, and
1t shared the lesser song of men like
Prior and Akenside, Shenstone and
Gay.
The match Of all but the greatest of
these car still be numbered. Lesser
singers the world always has and every
tongue perennially enjoys. But singers
who command a general attention and
possess a universal inspiration have
disappeared.
The Longfellow centennial provoked
discussion in the vein taken up by the
two ambassadors representing the Eng
lish speaking peoples. English review.
ers have told us that we were to hope
for inspired writer's on the lines fol
lowed by Bliss Carman and James
Whitcomb Riley. Others have said
that P%ur1tanism dulled Imagination In
this country and even lay as a weight
upon the genius Of Longfellow. But
Puritanism and the doctrines behind it
have ceased to dominate American
thought for half a century. Evolution
has had full swing, ven in orthodox
circles. Men have been thoroughly dis.
abused of the belief that they are heav.
en- created and heavenward bound and
taught instead that they are simply
what they make Of themselves. Really
Darwinism, as the crowd interprets it,
has given the world for an inspiration
germ the doings and destinies of beings
sprung from tadnoles and nothing no
bier. Not to speak of the divine Milton,
rollicking burns and rebellious Byron
had something holier In their souls
than that. Milton's concept Of Satan
was that he was a fallen angel, and
some of Byron's heroes might have be
come like those ''sons Of God" who In
spired the Hebrew epics, but for their
hopelessly human nature Joined to
their seductive environment. Some one
has said that Satan is Gods ape. Who
can imagine that the greatest genius
that ever lived would arrive at Para
disc Lost" by starting from that propo-
sition? Evolution makes men and wo-
men the mere apes Of angels without
the possibility Of promotion to their
estate.
We have indeed singers In plenty for
II 49, 1AA