Omaha daily bee., 1914-12-17

and in northern Africa as beautiful as
rare Persian carpets, with the mixture of
wild flowers growing luxuriously under
semi-tropic suns. There are deep caves
and blue grottoes: there are curious con-
tortions of nature to be found in forests,
and beauty Incompatible in the heart of
great woods and in the jungles.
There are petrified trees there are SUI
perb vines and magnificent orchids making
glorious old stumps and dying trees.
There are vast deserts, naked of verdure.
desolate, with gusts of blowing sand and
beautiful beyond words
And there are made lands in Holland,
trim and green, with their background of
windmills and their borders of neat
homes, each a flower box Of bloom; and
these. too, are beautiful.
All are scenery. How senseless and alb
surd 1t would be were some mountain
climber to declare mountains only were
meant by the word scenery" how ridic-
ulous for the mariner to say, "Only
marine views are meant by scenery" or
for the tourist in the caravan TO claim
the word for his beloved desert alone.
Equally limited is the view of the critic
who says there is only one kind OF poetry
in the world of literature.
There are as many kinds of poetry as
there are intellects in the world.
History tells us that the first form of
poetry was the hymn. originating in the
sanctuary.
Hymns TO the sun, the moon, the stars
and the unknown gods. Then men turned
to descriptions OF nature; and then began
the narratives of warriors and songs of
their praises. So was the epic born. These
epics were first transmitted from genera
ton to generation, and naturally under
went many changes before they were
finally written down. The "Lais' Qays)
were sung by wandering musicians to the
accompaniment OF the harp, and from
these troubadours. singing their songs Of
love ana chivalry. sprang the first ideals
of courtesy and the protection Of the
weak by the strong, So great is the
power OF song.
Annie Lemp Konta tells us IN an inter-
esting manner how. between the periods
of lyric and narrative poetry. a great
school OF didactic verse came into exist
ence. Learned literature written by
ecclesiastics began to filter into popular
literature. In the fifteenth century
knlghthood waned; alleaory and romance
in literature waned with It, and melody
was born.
oliver Basselin. native OF a small town
I'm Normandy. in 1890, was the poet who
created the word vaudeville" At least
his songs created the word. They were
first called Vaux de Wire, meaning the
worth OF his native village Wire. And
from "VauX de Wire" came the corrup-
tion vaudeville. This poet introduced the
custom OF singing after repasts. His
songs made a new era in verse, and were
first put into print in 1876. And so on
down through the centuries, poetry has
come TO us in many new forms and
shapes, with many new purposes and
ideals. and with each new form and new
purpose the critic rises with his dissent
ing voice and cries This is not poetry"
Without doubt every poet who ever
dared wander into new paths has heard
this cry.
But the true poets have continued TO
sing otherwise the world would still
have only its odes and hymns TO the
sun as in the dawn of poetry. First
ana forever says one critic poetry
must be beautiful; it must deal with
beauty But even that is not tru,
Nature in the awful upheavaI Of an
earthquake or volcanic eruption, Is moi
beautiful. But it is terrible in its exhibi.
ton OF power and contains sublimity
and grandeur. A deserted cabin on 4
lonely marsh Is not beautiful; yet Il may
be a fascinating plcture-one which
haunts the memory. The twisted old
lightning-blasted tree is not beautiful
nor the old weIl-curb on the farm. MOI
a thousand and one other bits OF scenery
which the eve retains and the heart re-
members despite their lack OF real
beauty
And poetry may express power and
sentiment and feeling IN the same way
as these scenes do, while being Quit.
apart from beauty.
Thomas Bailey Aldrich says 10 the
critic in his poem Appreciation"