New-York tribune., 1919-11-08
BY Rebecca Drucker

The acoustics Of the ivory tower Of
criticism have always been notoriously
bad. To apprehend tho undertones aud
overtones Of modern poetry. li,era.
critics have had to move down n few
stories. Louis Untermeyer. who has
caught the cadences Of modern verse
more clearly than any one else. has
been spared that trouble, however He
IS not In good standing as member Of
the ivory tower fraternity; he has al
ways stood outside It and joyously
hurled bricks at It.
One of the inhibitions he ha. broken
through with his brilliant book, "Thc
New Era in American Poetry" is the
fiction that the work of the critic Is
impartial Judgment. Impartial judg-
ment IN art, as in human relationships.
IS hypocritical assumption. BY what
Is involuntary and therefore most
valuable In him the critic ranges him
self on one side or another. His re-
sources Of art may be great enough
70 mask his prejudices. but, Inter
meyer atfirms. the test of his greatness
Is the power with which he urges his
belief. What IS most illuminating in
his own book comes out OF his passion
ate partisanship with the free verse
movement.
Into the critclsIn Of free verse, as
into free verse itself. have been thrown
all the rich. racy elements OF common
life. the judgments and perceptions
salvaged out OF the swift rush Of daily
living. The modern unacademic criti-
clsm subjects poetry 70 the acid test
Of reality. 4 basic requirement, says
Cntermeyer, is that poetry should be
q .>Gs INT. l.. IA 4
and that il should say thing g degree
better For the rest modern criticism
holds the balance between expression
and life, with as keen and sheptical
eye on one rs on the other
tntermeyer has an Irresistible IN
clnatlon 70 parody. Perhaps nowhere
Is the critical gift more shrewdly dis
played than IN parody Al irrever-
ence OF approach and sensitiveness 20
ltles o. parody Il 8 Of serious criticism.
he nas recently completed q series OF
paroGles on the "lnteger Nita' ode
or Horace-!n the manner Of Edea,
Lee Masters, Carl Sandhurg, ANY
Lowell Robert Frost and Irving Ber-
In. Tie Hnds It hard, too, to let the
classics rest In the petritied attitudes
INTO which they have fallen. Better
take Liberties with them than take
!atlons Of helne and Horace are high
ly reviyifying affairs After all. The
anclents did not know they were an
clent Every high school boy studios
horace. said lntermeyer and what
docs he know OF ode % except tha. ii
$ an example o. the dative case used
as the ablaiive Ode 2S mig gnt STAY .
.i't.e longer with him ii he knew that
III II Horace was making love 20 e
married woman who would have none
o. MN Horace WASH, thinker and
lie wasn't an Olgmpiau He was an
extreme IS accomp' p'lshed poet and *
man wise in the ways Of The world"
In ms own person CntermeNer Is
eNtraordinari ly expressive OF that reel-
lsM which tree verse tries 20 capture
lie IS delighted 20 aye the moon
9-IucA fashion q poetic personality
He Is clear-eut and euergetic--a dark
eager inqu'sitive young man who
watches the social phenomena Quizzi-
ally through his pinc-nez. And he IS a
iirerary man only IN tho intervals OF e
srry regular and mundane iewel ry
business. Ne spends MS days directing z
t1en III (. -actory AND lie II little dis
ncsoG - boast aoW WeM ne has dome
,s| |-h tnc Job When MS unfortunate st.
tacnmene or poetry vas d scovered D.
the senior members Of his trm eight
Tears $50 they met I'D panlc and DIS
gas 90 dropping nim They reg -rdeti
him with cold suspicion uatil his saley
records ttaweG them oDt Later thev
turned t1se factory over 10 him and
-aeir mlsri,lngs returned When they
saw The pan bv which he proposed 70
manage ~
These incongruities. tAts como'ra-
-ion of tne visionary and lie practical
this eternal relation Of the hard out
ward fact with The inward adventure
is extraordinarily and oddly typica Of
America, and i, is shaping itself into
our verse. In all his criticism the