Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-12-29
Editors Table
Gould's Book

An autograph copy of the book of 4
lone time friend zones to hand, ana we
are confronted by the task Of review
ing" il. 1t is the Jump to fame OF
Wallace Gould Of Lewiston. Maine. IN
one wav. it is the most difficult task
that has ever come to US in the line of
review, and in another, it is absolutely
the easiest. To express the truth, as
Il comes to us about the work or a
friend. and still retain his friendship is
sometimes exceedingly difficult; put,
en- the other hand, to as rankly aohitt
to your friend publicly that you are
wholly incompetent to reach the
heights to which he has flown, and thai
you realize the fault is all yours anu
not his, because you cannot appreciate
his endeavors. should disarm the re-
sentiment of the most eXactln2 lrlehd.
And hat is Just where we are VITA
relation to Children Of the SUM- 1t IS
called "raphsodies and poems,' but TO
our matter-of-fact and unpoetlcal
mind, it is a collection of the craziest.
most meaningless, absolutely useless
conceptions tina we have ever seen
punched together. And that IS not all
the craZiest raphsody of them all is the
review Of the book by w. S. Bralth-
waite Of the Boston Transcript, an ac-
cepted critic Of ability in cultured Bos-
ton. Mr.. Braithwaite says in part:
Not since the spoon River Anthology"
has there ONE to my attention a DOCK
with the power and Individuality of Wal
lace GOuld's the "Childreu of the sun.
Mr.. Masters was bold, daring. and went
at life with a gusto which left his rad
ers breathless. Mr.. Gould is bold amt
daring, too. but he embraces lifa with
such passionate eagerness that the reader
is th%rilled.~-I have praised poets here on
the score of their talents. there has been
during the past few years much TO praise
but there have been very few names
with which the term genius has been as
sociated. Mr., Gould is a man Of genius,
and venture to assert this on the
strength of this first volume. He is ON
the threshold of q career which has ~ !
behind it n long, patient. self-sacritic.fs
determination and experiment; and which
looks ahead to the promise Of a NOS,
startling fame. For is years this man has
lived intensely and expressed himself; has
written ever dissatisfyingly. Indifferent to
progress in the usual sense OF presenting
his work to the world; striving ~arduouslv
to fulfil in form and substance the lI,;l
Of that creative impulse which burned
within him. And now at "a he publishes
for the first time: he has destroyed
enough work to make ut least a dozen
volumes like the present: what he has
said here is instinct with maturity, with
mastery of style and absolute command
of that provocative experience called life.
In Mr.. Gould we meet with a poet who
conceives poetry as a madness. In him
beats the old poetic pulse. the conviction
that poetry is primarily an element in IL
self; and whatever this element touches
it must burn. The frenzy of the spirit
must be in operation before the soul can
absorb and know the objective world
through personal faculties; both mystery
and fact repel the cold ayr. of the
merely acquisitive and curious spirit,
they surrender all their secrets to the
spirit in aptur and abandon. lured by
the glow Of an intense and spontaneous
mood.
After a column and a half more of
this. e~mbodying certain conceptions
from Mr.. Gould, the Transcript critic
closes:
That touch tells us something Of the
setting in which this remarkable Akook
was written. The authors home" in
Lewiston, Me, and he is the second first
rate poet that State has given us in this
generation. But where Edwin Arlington
Robinson is from Maine, Mr.. Gould. is Of
Maine-he is the poet of the State. But Of
the purest New England stock. in his lit
erarX- conscience he is Slavic-in broodinG
imagination. in sweeping simplicity and
intensity Of style. in his profound passion
for life. and the Unsuitable appetite of his
love for humanity.
Our readers will understand that Mr.
Braithwaite is on accepted critic of
large cafibre. while we are not, so they
must not be surprised that we differ.
We hope our homes aversion 10 such
useless folderol will prove as useful to
cur friend Gould as a r~aphsodical ex-
plosion in praise Sf it. We advise rxad-
crs of this column to purchase Il Sopy
Of "Children of the Sun out of curios-
ity. If they do they will not be dis&p-
pointed, and we believe the great ma
iority will agree with us, while others
will Understand"