The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-12-08

restraint.
Mcneil Had No New Theory.
MCNEIL. it must be noted, proclaim.
ed no new theory of loveliness. lefr
metaphysics untouched and introspec-
ton unuttered, yet he has taken our
hearts in his strong, gentle-fingered
hands and laid them close against his
own. there to feel the warmth and
~cleanneSS and truth of him.. He has
done a difficult thing. and therein lies
his especial merit: he has given ox-
preston to the mood and circum-
stances of his people.
Next to Importance TO giving hu-
mainly a new and better understand
ing of life, and only a degree less in
value, is the ability to sum up the
mood through which that humanity
has been passing. Whenever a peo-
| pie continues to ace the same prob
lem through a stretch of years. 10
hold the same attitude even if uncon-
~sciously, there comes one who gives
form and order to the drawn-out state
OF mind. Richard Burton in his
Anatomy of Melancholy analysed
has dominated England for the preyi-
Gus sixty years. Mckenzie epltomiz-
ed the early novel of sentiment in his
frankly entitled MAN Of Feeling"
For US McNeill did much the same
thing. He looked at life about him,
~ WAN NAoAOlAs olt0 u III
into poetry. He caught the glamor
of the South; the gracious r~eticence
Of its women, the courtly Difference
OF its men, the suave gentility of liv-
ing, the odor Of a Southern rose gar
den, October and arbutus-things we
love the better for hearing Mcneil
tell us what we have always thought
of them.
The frequent brevity of his poems
and the stimulating abruptness with
i fA>vy o-l 1@-@
impressed; yet it is an old familiar
scene beautified, heightened and made
fvivid-and we are glad to have it so.
The technical form is often unpreten-
Itious. almost to a~rtlessness, but that
again is good art. The freshness Of
his conception stands forth resplen-
didly.
No better delineation of rural life
ana or the negro nature is to be found
In Southern poetry. McNeill. more
over, Is OF the order of Cavalier poets
which the South more than any other
section is best qualified to produce.
His present popularity is richly merit
ed by the warmth and sweetness OF
his singing.
; What Next?
Thus far has native poetry develop
ed. What is next to come? Surely
these four gentlemen who have
wrought St splendidly would be the
l first to say that the great Towering
I or Carollnlan poetry is yet to be. 1t
is inevitable. Inspiration is on every
r hand. Inclination exists in each To-
4 cality. Precedent has been set. Ability
s waits only to be guided.
: Herein lies the obligation Of the
! State. II we wish, to encourage the
: native poetic instinct to fullest ex-
preston. to stimulate it to fine pro-
S coming generation Of writer's that
poetic feeling alone cannot result in
S true poetry until it has been refined,
: polished, restrained and supported BY
s greater feeling and more work.
It is good to stand before Mount
y Mitchell or beside the rapids Of tho
French Broad and feel the scene
strongly enough to be moved to eX.
preston. We need to feel more of il.
y In the variegated life about us drama
be seen by the finer senses. Walter
Pater says: How shall we pass m ST
swiftly from point to point and be
+ present always at the focus where the
greatest number of vital forces unite
= in their purest energy? To burn al
ways with this hard gem like fla anne,
4 TO maintain this ecstacy, is success In
:. u life"
IS Yet telling lone is no warrant for
the expression OF feeling in the mos,
d exact and demanding of all the arts.
C Poetry is a stream whose banks are
well defined. whose channe must be
g known. Poetic feeling must be made
is TO klndle a great desire for real facili-
" or expression. Unnumbered writers
is OF verse in North Carolina have glow
If ed with feeling and turned immediate-
n iy to expression. If. with the feeling
IS once expressed, they have been too
prone to let it stand and make it's bid
o 1or rank as literature. they have done
n a very human thing. Who does moi
e know the pleasure OF weaving part
e, icoiored words into the patterned like.
o ness OF an idea. And once it is done
only the most level headed apprecia-
&c tor Of the relatiyeness of merit car
< resist the praise Of others less able
e than himself. Only those who have
r tired know how difficult it Is to write
n. even half we'll. The coming poe,
+ must feel mJSt "h,,rn o,u,o- -;.l