The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1914-04-24
POETRY IS INTENSELY
VITAL AND PRACTICAL
DECLARES DR.. MINIS
THE DISTINGUISHED WANDER.
6ILT PROFESSOR LEcTUREo
BEFORE STUDENTS CLUB,
Poet IS The SEER OF The AGES
Is Interpreter of Individual and Ma.
tionaI Hopes and Asprations.-Po
etry Is Flower of Human Speech
One Perfect Method of Expression

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intensely practical and vital, tn flow.
err of human speech, the ultimate ey.
preston of the human tongue and
, mind at the wonder and beauty of all
nature, DR.. Edwin Minis, of Wander
bilt University, delivered a striking
address on Poetry" Thursday after.
noon before the Students Club at the
home of Mrs. Joseph l.. Hutton.
THE season of the year, sprlrgtimo
with all its glories, the time when ma.
ture is bursting into bud and flower.
ing forth in all its grandeur and splen.
dor is peculiarly suggestive of the
subject on which shall talk 10 you
this afternoon. Many have erroneous
conceptions of poetry, that it is i'm.
practical, something removed and
separate from human life and its
problems. They conceive of the poet
first as fool, but when his greatness
becomes realized, as seer. Others
think of him as a rhymster, jinglcr
while others have the conception tlat
he is man living in dreamland. And
yet he is one of the most real and
practical of men, for he interprcts
our world and it's meaning to US. He
is the guide, the mouthpiece II the
world about us, who voices our aspi,
rations and desires in times CT pros.
perity and soothes us in the time of
our gloom"
Poetry once had 'undisputed sway
1t was the first form of literature. In
later centuries and years, however,
it has had a hard struggle. Other
forms of literature, as fiction, prose,
newspapers, and magazines have
come to dispute it's claim. 1t still
remains, though, the flower of human
speech, the supreme method Of ex.
preston of human thought, the most
effective and appealing way OF say.
ing things. When at the close CT tie
eighteenth century it seemed on the
point of dying out, Goethe revived it
in Germany and put it in the mouth
of every native. Victor Hugo in
France in the nineteenth century
dashed the people into defiance Of IA.
poleon III with his poems. TennysOn
and Browning at later date rescued
the English world from the thToes OF
science. Recently Kipling aroused
the world from it's materialism and
commercialism, and to the tune o.
his ballads the English soldiers
marched to battle. His Recession
all voiced the sentiments and ideals,
the sorrow and anguish of the Brit.
ish nation over the death Of VictO-
ria
Poetry is immortal 1t is the nat
ural and inherent form of speech, it
is a part of the lives of primitive pao'
pies. 1t went hand in hand with the
dance as the expression of their Joys
and sorrows. 1t was the lingual ye'
hicle of their social life. In the
course of time, poetry was not com
but the poet became individu'
al. Yet the communal spirit sur
wives still. The sonnets of Shakes
peare breathe it, and the poems Of
Burns are but survivals Of it. lie
took the primitive ballads of Sc0Ia1d
and revised their words, but kept
them to the same music There vas
little of the original about him, lie
came from the heart of the people
and he interpreted in lyric fo"m all
their human hopes and aspirations
His poems were but words set to mu'
Sic"
In conclusion, poetry is great De-
cause it interprets life. Its rdatloh
to life is vital. 1t is not so far distant
or removed from religion its6t loT
it ministers to the deepest rotS OIL
life. He who sings of life is not an
Idler, as many think, but seer
leader, prophet. If love in all N'
phases, love, the divinest thing in U.s.
Is more than romance, then poetry
which interprets and sings it'll Wci''
while. The poet in all ages has 0reH
the prophet and seer of men the hls'
priest and Interpreter of ndure ne
sees , hears and realizes wildly 'ne
things that are about us, ali invests
them with a new and symlbllc 'leaN
ing that was not revealed 10 US. NJ
has the magic gift of uterance a.
we'll as this deeper insigh into me"
meaning. He keeps us atare Oh i"'
freshness and vividness o. things. i"
reaches the climax when J. sets grew
nuggets of wisdom in nIsicaI lCI"
Poetry is the one perfect speech %
nan, and it is to it, as MattI''"
Arnold says, we must tuh to s9st'''
and cheer ourselves