New-York tribune., 1916-07-22
CRITICISM
AND BOOK NEWS
A Group of Contemporary Poets The Monot
ony of Vers Libre-A Swedish Singer
The Art of Poetic Translation.
RECENT VERSE.

CHICAGO POEMS By Csri Ssndeurf. l2mo. ID
lSS. HenD Io.s Co
ioNpON. ONE NOVEMBER By Helen H,oty
l2mo. - iQ5. Durie.d Go.
RIVERS 10 THE SEA ny sara Tessdhs limo
p9 ifS Tho Macmillan Company
BATTLE AND OTHER POEMS. ~ wrfad VII
~ Gibson. i-mo. - lN. The Macmillan Tom
pany.
POEMS BY GUSTAV PROBING. Translated sy
Chsros whsuco stork i2mo pp le5' Inc
Macmillan Company.
SEA AND Ray. By Charles whartco storN i2mo'
~. isc. TIE John Lane Company
MAgoNNA DIANoIA BY Hugo Won Ho7msnn:- ;5.,,
;hN Translated hy Harriet Betty boAS' 4-ino'
~ a. Bostou Richard Badge.
Writers Of free verse have chosen
their medium for variety of effect ana
have, paradoxically enough, achleVed
only greater monotony. Carl SAND
burg's Chicago Poems" suffer from
their form, or formlessness, as you
will. When these poems appeared $50,
lated in periodicals we were impressed
by their vividness and strength, but
now that they are collected into
volume we find that a dead level oil
strength is almost as unimpressive as
n dead level Of weakness. They may
be "hieh explosives" as Mr.. Masters
calls them in a superlative paragraph
an the cover, but by the time we turn
the twentieth page we are as hardened
10 explosives as a soldier after fotC
night in the trenches. We are more
than ever impressed, after reading
work as good as this. with the essen
tisl relation Of rhythm TO poetry.
Prose units such as these Will stano
alone so long as they are kept alone,
hut a real distinction Of form is needed
20 preserve their individuality. Take
the following example, called Masses A;
Among the mountains | wandered and
saw blue haze and red crag and
was amazed;
On the beach where the long push
under the endless tide man@uVres
stood silent;
Under the stars on the pralrle, watch-
ing the Dipper slant over tne
horizons grass, l was 1uil OF
Grant men paeeants Of war and labor,
soldiers and workers, mothers
lifting their children-these all
| touched and felt the solemn
thrill Of them.
And then one day got true look al
the Poor, millions of the POOR
patient and toiling; more patient
than crags, tides and stars, IN
Vulnerable, patient as the dark
ness Of highland all broken,
humble ruins Of nations.
No one will deny that this has stink
inc elements. the incisive choice Of de-
tail. the suggestiveness born OF DreVIIy
and imagination. Alone, II has dlstihc-
tion and memorable quality
Here is another, "The Shovel Man;
On the street r.t
slung on his shoulder Is handle nan
way across,
Tied in big knot on the scoop u e"'
iron
Are the overalls faded from sun and
rain in the bitches;
Spatter of dry clay sticking yeiiow o"
his left sleeve, ~.
throat;
know him for q shovel man,
A dago working for dollar SIX
bits a day, ~.
Country dreams Of him for one
Of the worlds ready men, with
a pair Of fresh lips and KISS
better than all the wild grapes
that ever grew in Tuscany.
A good picture, stimulating juxta-
nosition of ideas. But, as one after an
before us, the outlines become dulied'
Rhythm. rhyme, all the rational tradi-
other of these etched brevities passes
tions Of formal poetry serve as an
actual physical spur to ambition ana
imagination. Lacking these, or the
stimulus Of sustained prose, we hnd
ourselves responding less and less
keenly TO the work before US.
London, One November" by Helen
Mackay, a group Of poems inspired by
England and France in war time, is
omen 10 the same criticism. The method
here is different. 1t suggests Gertrude
Stein at the period Of Three Lives" IN
its combination Of accurate observation
and vague suggestion. The combination
is far more self-conscious than that
Of "Chicago Poems" You feel Sand
burg trying Tor an impression Helen
Mackay trying for an effect. Sandourg
etches his pictures clearly and force