New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-12-17
Poetic Education
and Slang
by courtesy Of The Ne,g Republic

PAL
II the poetry in his pupils hearts miy.,
find a way 10 tell them what yeyb,,
poetry is, and all about the technique ~ ..
construction, without once opening a booL =,
drawing them away for a moment from u,
fields Of their own pleasure. For not onlv /,
the prevailing attitude Of the senses poetic !,
childhood, but children are continually adm,
ing and creating for their enjoyment pos..
forms of speech. They surround thenselv.,
with an evolving paraphernalia Of vivid s,s
unnecessary expressions, by which they r.i,
force their joy in the strong flavor Of life. |.
happens, however, that the finer discrimir.
atoms Of pleasure-qualty which we call "tas,.s
and "the sense Of beauty" are not deyelons5
very early, and therefore this poetry Of iryen.
lie conversation is not usually exquisite. a,
even beautiful. II does not sound Ike the "a
quent rendition of polite lyrics in a drawr,
room. 1t sounds raw. II sounds like SHAH
speare having good time. And in a soci.,v
which worships Shakespeare next only 10 Co
there is no sin against propriety equal 10 thu,
Of introducing on ones own account some o.
Shakespeare's ways Of having good time. Fo,
this reason the rich fruitage Of poetry TIA,
ripens continually in the playground Of h,
young is never harvested, and the rank AL,
and power of it rarely stains the pages n
polite literature. Educators look down upo,
it as one Of the things 10 be eradicated in urs
pairing child TO take his place in a society
whose principal ideal Is elegance. But thirk
we may say without exaggeration that current
slang contains more genuine and compelling
poetry than current verse. And if there is on.
place in the world where childrens apprecis.
ton of the motives which impe poets 10 u,.
language as they do might appropriately BE-
gin, it is in this virile poetry Of their owl
creation.
Just as we distinguished two ways Of e.
periencing or perceiving things-the way Of
adjustment and the way Of realization-so We
can distinguish two ways Of naming things
Things may be named with practical name
which tells US what they are tor which classi
fes them for scientific or everyday purposes
or they may be named with a poetic name
which tells US what they are, what they feel
like, which engenders in our sensibility vivid
awareness of their presence. An oriole 10 tax.
an extreme instance, may be called ictsrp
gaibulo, or he may be called fre-bird. And
wherever anything is TO be identified with
words a similar alternative arises The words
may indicate only a handy classification, or
they may convey the taste Of a quality in e1.
perience.
1t is custom for literary professors and
professors of elegant virtue 20 tell their pupils
that all slang is the result of Incidence. We
use a slang word, they say, merely because
we are too lazy 10 think up the Correct
word. This casual and sweeping general,.
ton is a result of Incidence in these professors
moments studious examination Of the sub
ject-matter would show them that even among
practical slang words the expressions which
fill that hasty purpose of ignoring discrimins'
tons are exceedingly few, that fully hall
Of the practical slang makes a new and valued
discrimination in the chld's environment, and
that moreover more than half Of all slang
not practical at all. but vigorously poetic IN
its intent supplying a new creative word for
thing, or a quality, or a mood.
The words bluff and crib and funk, for IL
stance, are entirely practical. They are In
portant items in the technique Of school life.
Huf and hunch are as ingeniously fitted into
the mechanism of social life as any words
They are skilfully formed instruments.
Pussytoot, on the other hand, is verb o.
poetic quality. Up-agGinst-t Is more subty
so. She's a gloom. he's q butter-fngers
fGnnel-mouth. hare n heart, start sonethHg'
PIT your foot IL these expressions are al
keenly poetic, and they are strong