The sun., 1919-01-19
Hush, Blush and Plush
in New Books of Poems
By CONSTANCE MURRAY GREENE

By CONSTANCE MURRAY GREENE
|IilNESE poetry is interesting and
" often beautiful, but the most thrill
ing thing about it TO those familiar with
some of the raucous egOists Of our mod
ern literary group is the modesty of the
Chinese poets withdrawal. Not one of
them would dare think his own verse
worth printing, and as for beating down
the walls of public temples 10 get listeners!
There is much 10 he said in defence of
both methods. In China the poetry Of
to-day is almost identical with that to
which the ancients listened centuries be-
own advancement an indisputable thing
our free versers confound us daily by
deluging US with bits IN the exact manner
Of the Ming Hoang era. Centuries ago
the rarest of the rare women poets of
China had 50 mastered her art that the
abandon Of her finished technique seemed
almost insOlent.
Judith Gautier's Chinese Lyrics from,
The Book Of Jade have been translated
from the French by James Whitall and
most exeruciatingiy painful Of purple
bindings With MOVIES ard Mr.. Huebssh's
bindings what IS TO become Of our eyes2
The poems are delicate and artful,
Thoughtful as well as picturesque, where
SO many Of the more familiar examples
are mere sketches or silhouettes. Judith
Gautier's essay which prPeedes them is
delightfully."- easy and instructive. The Sc
lection which follows, To Forget Ones
thoughts, is credited 10 Ouan-Oui, one
of the most notable Of the school:
let rs rejoice together,
and ill our porcelain goblels again
with cool VINE:
though the Joyous spring is waning Low.
it will return.
Let Us drink while We are thirsty.
and perhaps We shall forget
We are at the winter Of our lives
and the flowers are fading
Comparisons are inevitable. especially
N the case of husband and wife; so we
cannot refrain from comparing Jean
Starr Untormeyer's GrOUiHg Pans with
the better known work Of Louis Inter
meyer As might be expected, the woman's
Is more daring.
81 think I should 90 naked into the
streets,
And wander unclothpd into peoples
parl6rs.
The incredLlous eyes of the bewildcred
world
Might give me back my time image .
Maybe in the glanees of others
] would lid out what | really am"
she writes. Surely the glances of others
in such a case would be worth watching
and We hope that a poem concerning the
experiment will not be denied US.
For certain sort of restraint Mrs.
Unterneyer might profit by a study of
those parts Of Shakespeare which careful
parents have wished expurgated. He at
least does not make himself the protag-
onist of the images in Venus and Adonis,
for instance, which are elemental IN their
naked simplicity, but not so essentially
shocking as this poets revelations. Before
you are well into these pages you feel
sure that the author will throw search
light on her own ACCOMPLISHMENT. Instead
she turns it upon her sister, which seems
eowardly.
There is sincerity and power in her
work which is often lacking in the more
deliberate effort of Louis Untermeyer,
though we find strong family likeness
In their defects. Unfortunately neither
can direct or restrain the other. They
dwell in a palace of art where things are
strangely awry. Occasionally we come
upon a queer bit OF carved jade or lapis
lazuli, but never a Grecian urn. A little
,1.,or, ubiob Mrc JTuteJmeypr has called