The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-05
A NEW VOICE IN THE CHOIR.
George sylvester vierock. VINO 10 20 Add
MUSIC ana intellect 60 Engiish Poetry.

49,
To THE EDITOR OF TIE suS-Sir: A new
and thrilling chapter is to be added to the
history Of literature. Of late duh PACED. Out
Of the ashes Of poor old dead Poesy rises the
viereck Phoenix. Over the clash and clang
Of q million triphammers moulding this age
Of steel Ia beginning to prevail the sound OF
a sweet young voice. Through the Cimmerian
darkness Of this beniehted twentieth century
leaps and flashes the light Of a new inspiration.
And so on. till the stock Of metaphors IL ex-
hausted. A world Rrovelling at the feet OF
the modern goddess Commerce Ia TO be ex-
allied and redeemed by the New Poet. IL Ia
beyond dispute that he is amply endowed
with commercial acumen.
George Sylvester Viereck Jagged 2) has
heralded himself as the prophet and his work
as the pattern OF the New Poetry. In the
preface to his "Nineveh and Other Poems"
he blithely announces that not only IL he to
run the raw materials through a new mould.
but also In the processes Of manufacture he
IL TO use a new formula patent applied for.
He will introduce into the poetry Of the
English language the new elements OF music
and intellect; which. as THE EVENING SINS
reviewer recently remarked. will interest
readers Of Swinburne and Browning. Will
hs add imagination to Coleridge. simplicity to
Wordsworth. faith to Tennyson?
In an interview printed last week In the
oooh bhppltIttht vi Nv NV MI NiFltth
is quoted to the effect that while Mr.. Swim
burns has Influenced me. my spirit IL essen
tally different from his" This IL not in
credible. my critics seem to me to be in
2 position Of a man who enters for the first
selects his adjectives with delicate discrimi-
n~ation.l or course the first objects that
strike him there are the familiar objects:
IL takes him some time to familiariZe himself
with q new aspect OF the landscape"
Christ. Napoleon and Oscar Wilde t"Iet the
q NJ. TSiersciEs III life o and w osf .ne More iosei hmsrn
icanism might have. been expected. in his
choice Of a hero, OF the author of this clever
whether he went in for sports of any kind he
replied: u were to, play golf, what would
s9 fstSes 81 Say A% written ht !SIaereh. thar ne b soa sba
German Emperor to-day"-that the illustra-
ton is not drawn at random is made clear in
his press agent to publish-"rsther have
written the Game at Love. than be President
Of the United states; The House Of the Yam;
All the Russias," Ia 1t only as a German
American. or is 1t in a more subtle sense that
"a sort Of Colossus of Rhodes. with one foot
.%aEshausEs Of B. e. ass the Colossus has been
sublime sgotism! And the philosophy be
hind e? What is it else than faith In the
from the housetops; at first the echoes will
be your only allies. but ere long they may be
joined by the voices OF the multitude unwill-
ing 10 be left out" The dear public. often
stung. never learns, It il the philosophy of
the heroic pose and fantastic guise so fool
ish that we despise ourselves for being vexed
by H.: Well. the clay feet OF the idol will
crumble.; the false idol OF to-day will lie on
the rubbish heap tomorrow. Truth Is i'm
mortality as surely as Immortality IL true,
and sincerity Ia salt. II IL the poets who sing
from the heart h dwell longest, most cher
lshed. in the hearts OF men and the heart of
Man.
II Mr.. Viereck's work is good, IL will m 20
good" without the sid OF theatrical press
agentinR: II IL Ia not sound at the heart, its
little day of fame will be run out before his
clamorous hawking OF its merits has ceased
TO resouDd in the market place-and the
balance OF the universe will be restoredl A
new form has not been invented, and IL Ia
almost a automatically demonstrable promo
not support new forms IL IL hard to see how
the mechanical requirements and restrictions
or rhythm and metre can he twisted into
new forms, of true poetic value. Even Cole
ridge we are told. was in -Christabel" merely
reyiving an early and disused metrical
or poets there are two kinds: The singer
interpreter. TIL first enthralls us with har-
monies OF sweet sounds: the second clothes
truth in garments of beauty, leads and teaches
va. In both kinds the spirit OF poetry is
the same-and old: ct it II ever new.
Tor new light comes to us r~evelant OF new
beauty. The law OF God and His universe
do not alter, but our insight into them, our
knowledge OF them grows.
MT Viereck Ia young. He might well spare
q little time from the writing Of poetry for the
deeper study Of its place and meaning. T..
NEW YORK, July 4