The Washington herald., 1916-03-08
Poetry.

again. As far as the reading OF It is concerned
that may be true, but as regards the writing of
it, we have little enough to show that will justify
the enthusiasm OF those who proclaim rejuvc-
ncscencc of the poetic art England, it is true, has
two poets of distinction, Noyes and Mascheld.
But what great American poet is there? Thel
most lenient judgment must hold that there is
none We have poets of a kind, hundreds of
them, many interesting some capable OF inspired
moments, all in deadly earnest But their output,
when all is said and done, is trihing, not only in
bulk, but in effect. 1t is magazine poetry dc luxe.
The reason is not far to seek but it may be
expressed in so many different ways that analy
isis is only too likely to become involved and
Incbulous. Ono might attribute it for example
Ito the prevailing absence of a classical education
i'm the United States. The keynote of classic
ism is beauty in the abstract and for its own
sake. One may adorn the tale with beauty, but
lit is hard to point the moral without being tedi-
Gus. One hears the phrase used at times OF some
Iwould-bc' poet that he has mo message to de-
liver" That is, Of course, the last thing a poet
Ought to have. Such message" is nothing but
1.-THE observation that certain causes produce cor
responding effects. To devote rhyme or rhythm
Ito a discussion OF these logical processes does
mot alter the fact that is moralizing The
trouble with our American poets is that they are
an as full OF messages as an egg is full OF
meat. THO result OF getting tho message" habit
lis, OF course, that very soon becomes closely
ono regards the minutiac. Then
tho result is trihing The great messages" OF the
world almost be counted the fingers and
they are well known that no one would dream
of uttering them except with the most ntri-
cate and Liszt-Tkc variations. Yet they arc the
foundation upon which nine out OF ten OF all the
worlds poems have been written. But their value
lies not in the fact that they are capable OF
infinite analysis, but in the fact that they lend
themselves effectively to the construction OF
beautiful and interesting pictures.
But our poets do not give their attention
Ito portraying pictures conjured from the brain.
They consider themselves in reaction to a certain
phenomenon and explain at length just how they
ifccl about ii. There is a smallncss to it all.
Imagine Tcnnysons Mort d'Arthur" ii Arthur
had sat on a rock and described merely his private
sensations at passing into another world! On
the other hand take Miss Amy Lowells Bonn
bardment" and think how wonderfully effective it
could have been had it been written in a spirit OF
detachment.
close analysis of the allure OF poetry is
not possible Its appeal is partly to the eye.
partly to the car and partly to the reason. But
tabovc all its appeal is to the imagination in that
lit shows them things as they not, at least
las they arc not ordinarily to be This
docs not apply merely to what used to be re-
ifcrred to in the antcbcllum antholOgics as
poems Of the Imagination" 1t applies to prac
ideally every poctical phrase that is coined. In
decd, poet is lucky ii nc hits the mark once
lin a hundred lines. The poems that have Il sus-
tanned imaginative fcrvor throughout their length
can be counted on the ten fingers. "Kuba Khan"
i"Thc Torsakcn Norman" Shccy's Cloud" the
Ichorus from "Atalanta in CaIydon" the "Odc to
"a Grccian Urn and half dozen others, perhaps,
arc all that the dead poets have left US. Tcnny
son never got away for any great length OF time
from the atmosphere OF afternoon tea at the
fvicaragc Swnburne is obtrusivcly hectic, Will
lam Morris too tapcstrihcd. Keats too much
Iworshipcr Of the form rather than OF the spirit
Iof classic beauty
But all of these poets were able time and again
Ito inform a phrase passage with that arrest
ing quality that is something quite beyond the
meaning OF concatenated words 1t is largely
question of money. And incidcnty it may be
said that the Imagstcs, they call themselves
in striving to catch beauty in image or phrase,
are trying to do the wrong thing in the right way
They drop the bone for the shadow. They try to
draw finished picture in few lines, but it is
actual picture and not mind picture that they
seek But the true value Of words is purely mcnI-
monte. Every mind has locked up in its chambers
many beautiful pictures, ethcralizcd reproductions
OF things seen. And whereas ono phrase will
recall only the thing seen, another will conjure
forth the dream picture of which the thing seen
is the origin. An Image" will recall the thing
seen, whereas a phrase with particular sense
value will set the magic lantern of the magma
ton to working. The vision coujured up-and
it will differ in every mind-by for example
the opening lines of "Kuba Khan" is not in any
sense of the word described and is in fact scarcely