The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-06

A Poet OF sim and Buxaboo.

Of expectation. that We took up Mr.. George
Sylvester Viereck's "Nineveh and Other
Poems' (Mofat. Yard 4 co.,. The poem
called sNineveh' here is concerned with
the city Of New York. 1t begins with
recognizable and spirited description. The
skysorapers are steel ribbed monsters
and Babylonian towers. Trains on the
elevated roads glide by like gilt scaled
serpents and in the subway creep TO their
secret lair. A thousand lights are jewels
in the hair Of the city; the sea is her girdle
and the sky her crown. Her lifeblood
throbs. her lowered pulses 6y: she stands
immense. GREATNESS and defiant. awaiting
her lover. the poet who shall explain her.
who shall find words for her splendor. her
madness and her sin. her dreams In iron
and her thoughts Of stone. The plain
enough and brave enough intimation Is
that this poet and lover has arrived and
10 row and here singing his song OF inter
probation.
So far it seems to be an agreeable song
Tor 9 Workers to listen TO. IL enters
sonorously and 1atteringly the porches
OF the ear. Over the leaf the metre changes.
In quicker time the celebration OF the city
continues. This new Nineveh Is set upon
a base Of rock and steel. and it reaches
from where the under rivers fret high up
to where the planets reel. All well so far.
We are proud enough Of the tunnels and
the elevator shafts that run up forty stories.
Huge dragons in a blazing coat OF mail
displaying themselves above the gables
Of the town do not disturb us, though they
puzzle us a little. We accept them. With
their monstrous trail and their pillared
pathways up and down they add fear and
mystery to the wonder OF the show In
the bowels OF the deep. where we can well
believe that no man sees the sun. whatever
may be the power and privilege OF the
fishes, the human tide. unfavored with the
hahn OF sleep. rolls on and on. The waters
OF the Hudson lave the granite shore,
and the salt sea wave brings oil and wine
and precious ore.
This is a handsome enumeration. Dur
understanding iG that the oil comes largely
from Pennsylvania through pipes. but this
is not TO impugn such a reasonable ropo-
sition as that the salt sea a bring some
oil. We remember the oil OF Macassar,
commended by Byron. though not i'm
proving to upholste cry Of delicate tints. and
olive oil. the sort that is not made from
cottonseed. These come by the salt sea
wave. il they come at all, and up to this
point the poem Of "Nineveh' 10 qualified to
be entirely pleasing to New Workers.. But
with startling and bitter suddennees il
changes. II, the poet says, the ocean
| should rise and overwhelm New York. the
cleansing obviously consequent would be
INSULT oient, since the stain Of one delirious
night not all the tides can wash away"
II It can be proved that this is not bad we
will agree never more till Jacks day to put
| salt in our eggs. Smoke arises from the
city. To be sure IL is possible to regard
this merely as what we may call ~variously
industr rial and domestic smoke, issuing
! from chimneys, but we think we detect
SYMBOLISM. Here Ia a shattering and
g~rievous passage. beginning with the
smoke:
Thick pours the smoke Of thousand nres,
Life throbs and beats relentessly-
But loi above the stately spires
Two lemans: Death and Leprosy.
what fruit shall spring from such embraced
All. even thou wouldst quake 20 hear!
He bends TO kiss her loathsomo face,
She la~ughs-and whispers In his ear.
sit not TOO proudly on thy throne;
Think on thy sisters. them that fell.
Not all the hosts of Babylon
Could I'VE her from the Jaws Of hell.
Ia the reader scared or have all the Teddy
bears cheapcned terror in his accustomed
eyes? -Nineveh' In a decomposition in one
| sonnet and twenty-four quatrains. After
the unpleasant establishment of Death and
| Leprosy above the steeples the poem pro-
| ceeds in the mystical and unwholesome
strain that seems TO be is authors only
habit. Never once does any sense of humor
or OF health divert the poet or restrain his
! muddy feet. He tells lis that painted and
! bejewelled women glide through the park
on noiseless wheels, that their laughter is
! shrill and loud and mad. that their red lips
will suck the victims life blood out and
that il was Ashtoreth who gave them their
| beauty and their strength. 1t u remark
| able how the later poets Of eroticlsm and
mysticism love to decorate their lurid
| manufacture with the name OF Ashtoreth.
They would not replace II with Venus or
A~phrodite-no. not for an extra sixpenoe.
The painted aides in the park. prey OF
pawnbrokers, rivals Of mosquitoes, would
be puzzled enough to hear who il was that
| lowered them with their beauty and their
proclivities. But the name Ashtoreth here,
after all, has a mechanical warrant; IL is
| needed to rhyme with death-a shameful
| one, down TO which the feet Of these sin
ners 90.
And there is still plenty and worse in the
| poem. The virgin daughters OF the city
know the smile a wsnton wears, and. obi
on many a boyish brow the blood red brand
| of murder flares Something terrible and
most vaguely set forth Is abroad. They
I'VE do not know who) fly like doves before
| the gathering storm; In every heart there
| dwells a worm; they crown their temples
to the flutes OF sin; the crimson wine cannot
veil the horror from their sight; they are
bound to see where il turks with hideous
leer, causing women to blush md men to
be white with fear. The poet repeats that
the course OF Nineveh is downward. He
rhymes Nineveh with free and sea and
merrily, as though to take 81 il what ad-
vantage is possible before the c~ataclysm.
Meanwhile he loves It 80 that he will abide
with 1t, not minding the danger. NJ tool"
he cries, contemplating the finish. Here Is
the last OF this already famous poem;
A.A x.. I Iova Ahas love unbiased