Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-05-18
BY Luc1EN B1UPHocKs
"DUT you Americans" say our fol

| OF lnlS doesn't state whether the audience
was shocked because there were only three
or because there were as many as three
However, the three chosen are Edwin Ar
lington Robinson. Arthur Dawson Ficke anc
a man named Masters, whose first name Mr.
Powys didn't know.
The first and greatest of these because he
is the greatest American poet, was once
highly praised by Theodore Roosevelt, and
| later by Alfred Noyes the English poet
Neither boost" has given Mr. Robinson
half his deserts in the way of intelligent ap-
probation. Partly this is due to the difficulty
in following his thoughts; sometimes his ex-
preston, often his feeling, is obscure. But
when you have once found it, it is worth the
search
Form and Substance
The other two poets chosen by the English
critic are more direct, and Edgar Lee Mas
ters Is the more direct of the two. No two
men could be more different in every respect
Mr. Ficlte chooses to bind his thought in the
straightest and soberest chains His latest
and most impressive book is series Of
ffty-seven sonnets
1t may not be quite fair to Mr.. Ficke to
judge him by his latest brief work; the only
excuse is that 1t is much better than his
other poems. If you want man with a
message to America you do not want Mr..
Ficke. If you want man who understands
human beings, particularly in their relations
to each other, and most particularly in the
most fascinating and important relation of
all, which Is love- you do want Mr.. Ficke
The "Sonnets of Portrait Painter deal
with the unhappy love Of man for a
woman. The story is very slender; the emo
tions are full and true. You know that the
painter has loved honestly, and If he isn't
as direct and as simple as most people. why,
you must admit that some men aren't as
simple and direct as others, and let It go at
that. What is more likely to be true is that
the painter" of these sonnets expresses
what we all feel but cannot express our
selves. Every man who has been in love
knows exactly the feeling that his beloved
is something higher and more beautiful than
all the rest of the world. So every man will
appreciate what this poet means when he
says:
You, the bright madness tightening the curse
OF reasons dull reign in the universe.
1t is that way with everything Mr.. Ficke
has done. He has expressed something which
would he useless If it weren't exactly what
the world has always felt. To read his book
is easy enough, But one has to go through
a vast variety of experiences to under
stand it.
Spoon River Folks
The Spoon River Anthology" of Mr. Mas
ters is absolutely different. The author has
taken little town in the Middle West Spoon
River, has taken it's people, who are sleep
ing ION the hill" and has let each one speak
his own epitaph, to take the place of the
meaningless words carven on their head
stones.
First, just by way of example, there is the
story-poem OF Hold Putt. This is what he
says of himself:
Here | lie close to the grave
OF Old Bill Piersol,
Who grew rich trading with the Indians. and
who
Afterward took the bankrupt law
And emerged from 1t richer than ever.
Myself growing tired OF toll and poverty,
And beholdlng how Old Bill and others grew
in wealth,
Robbed a traveller one night in Proctors Grove,
Killing him. unwittingly, while doing so.
For which was tried and hanged.
That my way of going into bankruptcy.
Now we who took the bankrupt law In our
respective ways
Sleep peacefully side by side.
That is the beginning, You go farther
and with each turn of the page you come to
a real character, and usually to a real
tragedy. Doc HILL known to all Spoon River
for his kindness, tells why he gave himself
to his people. His wife hated him, his son
went TO the bad When the people came to
his funeral he was glad.
But Oh dear God, my soul trsmbled scarce
able
To hold TO the railing OF the new life
When 1 saw Em Stanton behind the oak tree
At the grave.
Hiding herself and her grief.
Country Town Ambitions
This may not be your idea OF poetry, but
you cannot resist the feeling it brings up in
YOU because the feeling behind it is so true
The gallery of these portraits is, perhaps.
The inest composite picture Of life in eoun-
try town Of the United States that was ever
made. There are great ambitions and little
ones; Margaret Fuller wanted TO write
novels like George Eliot. but she married
Slack, the rich druggist, and bore him
eight children. so she had time; Albert
schrding wanted to be County Super
intendent OF Schools, failed and died, but
the reason which he himself can tell is that
he was jealous OF his children's successes