Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-06-19

1t seems to me that any studied at
tempt to produce rhymed verse vers
libre, or other forms Of poetical ex-
preston, will always fall short Of
satisfactory accomplishment.
The thought, enthusiastic with
praise. warm with love or gratitude.
ecstatic with gladness, incandescent
with indignation or hot with anger, is
the force which makes the poem q
poem, and IT must do the work of ex-
preston, welding words into literary
adequacy.
To do this the instrument, the man
who holds the thought, should have a
ready vocabulary, and all the neces-
sary colors of meaning at hand. He
need not be scholarly or cultured, but
he must be ready. An expert In the
use of things which require extraor-
binary skill in the handling. else the
work will be "botched"
The poetical thought will remain
latent-no circuit be established,
and the poet himself get no response
from those who, otherwise, might ap-
preciate him.
A few can touch the magic string
Alas for those that never sing,
But die with all their music in themi
DR.. Holmes has often hnmorously
referred to the mechanical yersifier.
and says somewhere that he always
feels like a cobbler putting new top
leather to an old pair of boot soles
when he is fitting sentiments to
venerable jingles.'
So, am sure, do all true poets feel
But poetical sentiment or thought
is not necessarily poetry. The right
words properly arranged to please the
ear. satisfy the intellect and stimulate
feeling are essential in order to carry
the thought from its genetic crypt to
the fertile soil.
It is matter of transportation, not
Interpretation. If grand or beauti.
full sentiment limps on crutches, it
will not get far. That does not mean
that it should rise In closed cab or
fly above our heads in an airship; 1t
simply demands adequate carrying.
And to supply that the poet himself
must be technical master, versed in
words and their shades Of meaning;
he must have fancy, eloquence.
fiuency, taste, restraint.
With these qualities, unconsciously
his though will clothe itself in suit
able attire. 1t was q true poet whu
said:
al do,,t kr,., tI,+ 49,, ,,,,,s+ h,..aI,
any bones in o poets mechanism be
fore his thought can dance in rhythm,
but read your Milton and see what
training, what patient labor it took
before he could shape our common
speech into his majestic harmonies. !
The skilled surgeon about to per.
form an operation Knows what be
wants to do; also he knows how to
do it.
The unskilled practitioner knows
equally well what's to be done, but
he cannot do it. He would make 4
botch of his fine conception, simply
because he is not practised in the art.
All appreciative lovers of poetry,
think, are glad to have poetry rsei
free" as Mr.. Louis Untermeyer ex,
presses It In Wells phrase.
That is, It is fortunate we are liy,
ing in an age which grants to all poets
the privilege of dressing their thought
In what form they please, provided /;
serves to convey the sentiment in the
very pleasing and clearest way, rhym
ed, unrhymed, conventional or not.
Because we may write vers libre il
not reason at all why rhymed verse
cannot be true poetry. Most of oui
best poetry is rhymed, because UP to
Whitman's time land a little later
poetical unorthodoxy was almost Al
much crime as religious unortho
doxy was in the middle ages.
And IS, as the author Of Challenge
says, we have come to poetical rem,
Nuisance, free from self-imposed and
Hself-destroying traditions; free from
over-decorated backgrounds, its schoi
arly training; free In a great measure
from ;tself," we have all the more
cause to guard our privilege from de
generating into a vulgar license.
Untrammeled CT free verse without
any thought in it Is worse than
rhymed nonsense. The one jingles, the
other lis to laugh AS an example:
Civilization. s
Everybody kind and gentle, and
men giving up their seats in the cal
for the women
what an ideaI.'i
AS Mr.. BodenheiIn says i'm recen1
number of The Little Review: with
some poets free verse is still the bois
ferrous convict" newly escaped anc
"capering down the road The new
wine mas gone to his, head
In more dignified way, one or twG
of our real poets are taking themselve,
too seriously, offsetting their splen
did verses by the cheap advertisement
of q truism:
Poetry is created beanty-eyen i
sometimes the beauty be of Goth,
grotesque" So Miss Lowell tells us
Mine is polyrhythmicaI. . cries Mr.
James Oppenheim
Undoubtedly, this newly gained lib
erty will subject Us to the work of dull
and uniDspired poetasters, and uncon
Ventionelity being in order. we shall