The Washington herald., 1919-02-08


New York. Feb. when the vers
libre craze hit New York it looked
like almost anyone could become a
poet All that was necessary when
one had anything to say and not
| time enough to say 1t in the metered
verse which Is the medium of the
classicists, was to fall back upon the
form adopted by the vers librists.
1t was not necessary to worry over
rhyme or struggle over syllables. The
poet could begin his lines with
noun, verb, adjective, proposition or
tnterjectlon and when the poems got
too long they could be chopped OF
suddenly and the thought carried
along into the next, even IL it was
only one word.
As a result newspaper paragraph
ers all over the country began to
write free verse. One man coined
the idea into a fortune by selling
services to a large New York pub
Usher and writing a column called
'Ye Towne Gossip" 1t is always
possible in free verse to touch the
depths of trtviality and get away
with it.
But now the vers librists have
kicked over the traces. They were
the individuals who clamored so loud
ly for release from literary fetters
and now they are building fences
around their dinky little school Of
prosody. They have rushed into
high-brow magazines with statements
that a lot of counterfeit free verse
is being palmed or on the public.
They are calling the attention of
-
Lowelrs assertion that the strophe
is q perfect circle. and that every
time he sees a bunch of uneven lines
/ in a paper or magazine ho owes il
TO Art to give its time-intervals and
syncopations \ thorough examination.
1t is the old story. Those who
fight hardest for liberty are always
the first to limit it when they get 1t.
Some minds cannot stand prosperity.
It almost.
Makes me feel.
Like quitting.
This free verse stuff.
1t IS that provoking.
II is strange but true that the best
books sometimes make the poorest
plays. Booth Tarkington's Seven
teen" in dramatic form was not
bowling success. l never read a more
delightful book. Harry Leon Wilson's
"RuCgles OF Red Cap and Bunker
Bean" fizzled compared to the popu-
larity of the books The truth is that
I-lT fzo
Perhaps the plays would be more en-
joyahle II the books were not read.
Just recently "Cappy Ricks." based on
some stories ~ Peter r. Kyne in the
Saturday Evening Post, was drama
tized and appeared on Broadway. 1t
may close before this reaches print so
thin is the plot and it has been a law
since the days of Aristotle that a dra-
matte theme must possess a certain
degree of magnitude. There was lit
tie excuse for dramatizing the stories.
Speaking for myself never even liked
tn" stories but the majority did and
the majority rules. The struggling.
I unsuccessful playwrights should see
"Cappy Kicks" They will 90 home to
their desks with strength renewed like
the eagles.
The passing of Horace Fletcher. the
famous inventor of FIetcherfzinE. re-
vcalcd som" strange facts about eat
4 ing. \ famous head waiter. after
thirty years of observation. noted that
his healthiest patrons were those who
ate rather hurriedly. Those who
Chew"d their food so painstakinGIy." ="
h" said. seemed to have nothing on
their mind but the fear of indigestion
and not only did they not enjoy their
food hut they soon disappeared as pa
irons" Many of his advocates. how
ever. stated that they owed their life
to his theory.