The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-05-14
GERMAN POETS IN AMERICA
FIRST % THEN DATE BACK 70
COLONIAL DAYS.

Thelr lnanence New Very Great--FranE
PaStOrins. WhO WrOte About lSOO,
TIE Father q Them All-Nlany writers
Here WhO Claim German Descent.
To the militant Puritan I oppose the
militant pagan says George sylvester
Visreck. a German-AmeFican poet and
one Of the organisms % the lately launched
national poets organization.
In America We have not one literature.
but many he says. Each Of the great
nationalities especially the 0erman-has
ia own poets; the traditions Of German
American poetry go back more than two
hundred years. Many important anthOlO-
uies show this. There are some posts now
living and writing In America whom I
would place above Bliss Carman and
William Vaughn Moody. but are barred
from recognition both here and abroad
since they write the GERMAN language in
America.
-Of late. however. there has been an
other development. Whereas but q few
years ago only Anglo Saxon names among
tho poets were 10 be found in tho pages Of
our histories. the citation Of such names
~ NuhArdt. Shehauer. Anspacher. Lud-
wig Lewisohn goes 10 show the promi-
hence being taken by Germans in Ameri-
can letters.
The spirit Of the work Of these men is
Teuionic Of tolerant freedom and
broad thought and speculation. The
WORK is called decadent here. conservative
in Germany. Personally have decided
10 abandon writing in the German Ian
Euage. but TO try 10 retain lie spirit. Il II
the spirit TO he found in the work Of NJ
hArdt, whose English form is. neverths-
less. faultless. Of Edna Fern. who received
the prizs az a German American flower
festival some years ago In Baltimore: the
spirit, in other trends. Of the philosophy
Of Or. Carus and Prof M1nstsrburg.
both Germans. Il is exemplihed In
one-fonrth Of the poets represented in
The Younger Choir. a hook Of poems re-
Gently publlshed with an introduction by
Edwin Markham.
Tbs nine German-American poets.
including myself. Eere James Oppenheim.
Reginald Wright Kaufman. B. Russell
Herts. Louis Untermsyer. Leonard Van
Noppen. Edwin Davies schoohmAker.
Ludwig IsWisohn. Muriel Rice ana ner-
man schehauer
The German poetry in America Of the
past has been harActeTiged by a curious
dual feeling 81 diasonanCe, which now
bids fair 20 pass away. " the men of q
generation ago the Influence % whoss
work IL now beginning 20 he felt kOnrad
Mes might be vailed the Heine Martin
nrencher. who published a hook recently
not written IN German h the NilIon. the
anarchist Who has gwen pictures 81 the
tramping life. In the same first class with
thee 10 ud0 BrachvOgel and his messages
from a German American father 70 son
The German American hterMtuFE %
such potent promise. aocordinn 10 Mr.
Viereck. begins with thu writinM of the
patriarch FrunR Daniel PasiOrus. the |
founder 81 Germantown, about 1900. I
Kourad Baissel and Johann kelpina WerB
contemporaries of influence.
The dialect literature u the Ptnnsyl- I
vania Germans was a product II the /
niDeteenth CENTURY. In tina language 1
wrote Henry HaThaugh and Henry l.. I
Fisher N homely simplicity, piCtnriRg the /
4utlM !uasuins gunlhA lATNeas aEpe i
butter hOilings, huaking haea- IN folk /
poema Of mnch historical value. An Eng /
bah writing poet. Whittier. borrowed i
all tho materials ave the language IN 4
he MAUD Mullsr.- Barbara FristChie.
sCObbler KeeAar's Vision The pennayl- i
vania Pilgrim and The Palatine-
Hans Hreitmann's Ballads show a
rough carioature ~ the Germans Of the \
middle II the last century by Charles
Leland. who also translated into English i
tho lyrical poems ~ Heine and Schsdel
% the intellectual German pioneers and /
political refugees netrly all pat their 4
New World experiences into verse. Y
Among, these are kAEpar Butz. Kari ,
Heinrich Schnauner, kduard Donsch. /
Julius Dresei. Julius 0uRler NJ. A Ratter- 4
mann DR. Gustav Brnhl. writing under the .
nen name Of Kara GiorG. Eduart L.ayh. .
TheOdOF KirchoH. the poet ~ the Golden
Gaie.' and p. &. Castelhun. ChaFles f
SealEfeld OCarl Posfh and Friedrich 1
6erntAckeF. n0veliats. a. vel a. Nlkolaus 4
Lenau tNiembach Won Strehlenanl. poet.
who wrote u travel experiences. publish
ing their work In German. furnished sug-
gegtions % writer's here and abroad.
The eecond Ecneratlon always has
widened ~ inhJIeaos Bayard Taylor. %
German blood, and who's wife was a
German. daughter Of Prof HaBann. the
astronomer. In his studies in and trans
lations % German literature left an in
drience reaching down n our own time
Joaquin Miller. Whose song Of the
Sierras,' made him known A. the singer
n the Far West, had a German mother
and a father Of German blood. His hap
iismal name was CincinnatIs Heine
Miller. the pseudonym Joaquin being
an adoption.
Henry Thnrod. ~ wartime poetry. Wis
n German family In south Carolina
John Godfrey SaHe was the grandson of
4 Mississippi German. h