The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1907-06-06
Is the Spirit of Poetry Dying?

Poetry teaches the romance of self-sacrifice and
the secrets OF noble endeavor. 1t is an inspiration
to greater achievements, not forgetting the deyo-
ton we owe to others.
There few adventures in life where poetry
does not WELD its influence, for even among the
unlettered sort of crude rhyme is recognized,
much OF which is learned in infancy and in after
years treasured as sweet recollection of childhood
days. Negro field hands will often engage in
rhyme making to keep up the spirit of the CONVEX
sation, and the making the best rhyme, be it
ever so void OF sense or sentiment, is hailed as a
genius.
Poetry seems to have grown up with the human
race and history does not show an instance where
it has not been a factor and force with civilized
nations.
The writings of the ancient Hebrebs are filled
with the finest of poetry and are unsurpassed in
beautiful imagery and comparisons. To illustrate,
let us place ourselves in land like Judea, place
where rain seldom falls, and listen to the impas-
stoned words of Isaiah in his prayer for rain:
THE wilderness and the solitary place shall be
glad and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the
rose For in the wilderness shall waters break out
and streams in the decert; And the parched ground
shall become pool; And the thirsty land springs
be grass with rushes and reeds.''
In sublimity probably no poet has exceeded
Isaiah. David was master in soft and tender
writing, but yielded in descriptive power Dob.
To read the Psalms makes one feel that all nature
is poetry-the pictured resplendency of dawn. fol-
lowed by the upward march of the sum- the glory
of noon; the paradise OF evening clouds; the
tinted beauty of sunset skies, and the white and
CIV - ;r.b&
Would not the older writings Of Holy Writ be like
a statute book OF laws, void of sentiment and
beauty, without the Psalms?
The poetry of Homer created gilded halo that
will live forever above the fiery valor of ancient
Greece, and much of Rome's march to empire
would be like single track sandy shore were
it not for the verses of Horace, Virgil and Lucan.
Could Germany boast literature without the
poetry of Goethe, Schiller and Heine? Would
France hold any literary prestige if Verdi, Voltair
and Victor Hugo were forgotten? And think of
old England without Chaucer, Shakespeare, a
Milton and Lake School, The heather hills OF
Scotland will shine forever from the pages of Scott
and Campbell, and the Emeral Isle is proud of her
Tom Moore. Byron has analysed every passion
the human heart can feel; Mrs. Browning enlarged
the scope OF christian faith and hope, and Thomas
Hood makes us sensible to the pathos of despair,
of suffering and of want. Longfeow teaches
sympathy, patience and love; Bryant shows us
God in nature, and Nathan P. Willis eulogizes
heavens greatest gift to humanity mothers
love.
1t is doubtful that single American lives who
does not from the bottom OF his soul thank Francis
Scott Keys for the "Star Spangled Banner and
DR.. Holmes for cold Ironsides." And to-day mag
azine readers are thrilled by the heart-songs Of
Theodosia Garrison, Edwin Markham and Ella
Wheeler Wilcox.
Poetry stands second to music only in influence
for good the SOUL and it is well to trust not the
man or woman who condemns either.
w. P. ALLEN.