New-York tribune., 1918-07-28
AKMS AND THE MAN WHO WRITES

Searchlights" should make one want
to read the rest.
Shadow by shadow, stripped for fight
The lean black cruisers search thu
sea.
Night-long their level shafts of light
Revolve, and find no enemy.
Only they know each leaping wave
May hide the lightning, and theil
grave.
Some Of the most original poems
of the present war have been written
by w. w. Gibson, IN the collection
called Battle" These illustrate the
immense difference between the
poetry produced by this war and that
which rose from nineteenth century
struggles. The very fact that the
modern soldier is not regarded mere
ly as fighting machine, but as a
complex mentality, as shown by the
variety of ministering services per-
formed by the Y. M. C. a. huts-
books, music, motion pictures, liter
ary lectures-is also plainly revealed
IN the tone Of the war poetry of the
day. Instead of being sentimental OF
tromboney, it is analytical and psy-
Geological. Here verse has followed
the lead of the realistic novel. When
| was a small boy I supposed the
ideal war novels had appeared in
Oliver Optics Army and Navy Se-
ries"-don't you remember Tom SOM
ers and Jack Somers? But the true
novels of war had already been writ
ten by Tolstoy and Zola, the former
of whom was followed by Stephen
Crane and the latter by Henri Bar
busse. Personally, however, Bar
busse did not affect me so deeply as a
little poem written by Frenchman
in the trenches, LA Passion de n6tre
frere lie Poilu.' For Barbusse deals
mainly with the body, while LA
Passion" analyses the soul.
England's foremost living poet,
Rudyard Kipling, has thus far not
appeared at his best in any of the
numerous poems he has written
about the war, but. to counterbal-
ance this several young poets, hith-
erto unheard of, have produced
memorable verse. Rupert Brooke's
fame has overfowed the world;
though being dead, he yet speaketh.
His is precious legacy to English
literature.
Francis Ledwidge and Edward
Thomas will not be entirely forgot
ten, and a volume of poems by a
young English soldier, Robert Mich.
OILS, called "Ardours and Endur-
ances," nobly expresses the spirit of
the men in the trenches, combining
in rather remarkable manner
sheer realism with the touch of pure
imagination.
Single poems of great merit may
be found in the various anthologies
that have appeared since the out
break of the war, among which may
be mentioned From the Front"
edited with a valuable introduction
by the American Lieutenant c. E.
Andrews; "a Treasury Of War
Poetry" by G. H. Clarke; "a Book
of Verse Of the Great War;" by w.
R. Wheeler, with an introduction by
Professor c. NJ. Lewis; the volumes
of Georgian poetry that appear
regularly in England, and Mr..
Braithwaite's annual American an
thology of magazine verse. / think,
too, that those who read Mais's book
of criticism, called From Shake
speare to O. Henry" will be sur
prised at the excellence of many Of
the poems written by his young
English pupils.
In looking back over the English
and American poems that have ap-
peared since 1914 one is forced 10
the conclusion that large amount
of true poetry has been produced by
the war. If | had to pick the best
three poems l should choose "Au-
gust, 1914" by John Maseield; Il
Have Rendezvous with Death,' by
Alan Seeger, and 'The Soldier" by
Rupert Brooke.
Humor, which the pessimist Scho-
penhauer insisted had it's legitimate
place in literature and in life, has
expressed itself in the
midst of the world tragedy, both
with pencil and pen. Some of the
songs sung in the trenches, notably
The Bells of He'll" are full of roll
licking mirth. The Germans are ap-
parently unable to understand this.
And if they could not comprehend in
1914 how the English soldiers
should go over the top singing "Tip-
perary," what must have been their
state of mind when they heard them
as they still do, with inn
mense gusto, followed by roars of
!aughter, the German Hymn Of
Hate? The Anglo-Saxon will have
MS jest. The finest burlesque that T
have seen during these four years ia
the little English book, Malice in
Kulturland "