The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-10-17
ON THE LOOKS OF POETS

r.. n. Sothern does not think that
stage types should he dominating in
al! productions. He does not regard
, as just. therefore. the criticism Of his
! fat and buslnesslike poet in The Two
Virtues
There is nothing 50 absurd said
Mr.. Sothern last night in his dressing
room. "as a stage tradition. Neither
in heaven nor on earth nor under the
earth was there ever anything like
the conventional stage poet. He never
existed in actual life. He is the r..
~fection, doubtless. of the comic poet
Of the funny paper. I doubt If anybody
ever saw a thin. gaunt, slnpdaisy poet.
Even | have written poetry. once
published a book IF verses. ana look
At me-
: IL, - that when came To east
CIdHdt J'rrOiS'. In. pseudo poet OF
Mr.. SUtr"'S comedy. | selected in Dr-
lando DAILY a type that exactly suited
my notion al least II what "a poet
should and would look like. and yet
play. N" aesthetic policeman OF the
drama said. 'bne of the mos curious
things about the performance was the
casting If q mug stout comedian. or
lando Daily, in the role of a poet. An
ether overload of the playhouse said:
Does Orlando Daily imagine that it is
Electrically or economically correct to
dress ana portray IA poet as il he were
a huoyant habitue NJ the most FASH
,onable par, Of Bond Street ana its
tailors:
Look here, continued Mr.. Sotheru.
"oue Of my critic friends says: MIR.
Sothern's poet looked ike a well fed
business man. Now please have a
look at this in the biography of Robert
Browning; Mr. Browning, ample OF
girth. was of,cn mistaken for "A plls-
porous business man.
Here we have rev called the fact
that the terberuscs of the drama have
had no acquaintance with poets. dead
or alive; that all they know about
poets are their r~aricatures in farce
comedy and the libellous pictures they
have seen of them in Lire. PHck or
Jady,.
From the criticisms il VIII be seen
that u play samplers consider that
10 write poetry II is essential thai a
man should he a characterization in
dress and of starved gauui, emaciated.
slckiy appearance, As to sartorial
eirects, where except ON he stage did
one ever see a poet dressed lik. A rag
picker? MOI, surely, in real life.
Take the poets of any age ana YOU
VIII nnd h a they have been exquisite
handles Have you ever seen the pic.
lures of Sir Philip SIdney, Sir Walter
Raleigh. Richard IuveNice and the
D-adro!l uf poets 81 the Elizihethan
era ana daring thu l;rsturationp Have,
" l"oh al them. iu, will discover that
h"N We're tnristd, encrustcd, en-
\el"ped in lacos. s.iks. vr!Ncts. Jewels
and all manner ~ lovely personal en-
d.. az
btIllsllIntnts. Do our critic friends
Imagine that these poets were IN.
known To the i.ond Street of th.ir
time, that the! We're not seen AT court
ana on stately occasions:
Then there was Samuel Rogers. th,
banker poet, a friend of all tn. inn
portailt peopl" of his time. he WAS rs
careful in his dress as Il modern l,Jy
preparing herself for the opera. TN.
time was never present when lnus,,
possessing the poetic faculty were "A
dirty ana III kept crew,
Poets IN I'll ages have taken
naturally la sartorial splendu.s. IN.
starved rhymer with ragged clothes
never existed in real life. H. ! m.rcl,,
the creation Of the dramatists and the
comic artists. took about YOU in our
time and where will you find "A
stage poet in real life. Almost all re-
nownAd poets nave been eminent
dandies, The greatest poet Of ltaly is
Gabriel dAnnnnzio. lie is the best
dressed man in Italy, cast your eye a,
France. The matchlcss dandy of tho
Partisan boulevard il a poet Edmund
1 Restand.
| English poets, AZ ! have instanced