The Washington times., 1920-09-05

eyes are adapted to pleasant, entranc-
ing scenes such as the poet beheld in
the boudoir of his beloved, but there Is
no place behind those heavy eyelids for
the strident, angular spectacles of war.
1T is true that there is something
Satanic in the little beard which adorns
the weak chin of the poet, but in place
of horned tufts of hair on the brow one
q sees only the placidity of badness. The
ears have been open to the muunur Of
brooks and women's voices. to the signing
Of winds and notes of bel canto, but they
seem to betray no capacity for the harsher
music Of shell and machine-gun. Such
might as was meted out to his hands was
meant for the pen rather than the sword,
for piano rather than the aviator's auto
matte. But in spite of the restrictions
which nature and his own life had placed
upon him, d'Annunzio as poet has become
the most potent personality in the world
to-day.
when the psychologically minded con-
slider the recent deeds Of the decadent
poet they are forced to the conclusion that
, no substantial change has come about in
the heart Of the man who had used his
Italy as place Of poetry, as bank where
he ran up the great debt which expatriated
him. From fights of fancy in verse he
took to tai-spins and nose-dives in the
thin air. In place Of the laurel leaf he
donned his gas-mask. Closing his ear to
feminine applause. he opened it again to
the claque of artillery.
Unbalanced in his erotic emotions, he
found his poise at Alpine heights in the
air. The rhymes and plots which his tai
ents could control in the Word gave place
to the larger story Of Italian destiny. In
all this, however, there has been the ex-
pansion Of aesthetic personality rather
than the redemption of the heart, and he
who was decadent in the days Of Duse
is still the decadent when the love OF
Italy is to be won. The deeds which he
performs are not those of soldier or states
man; they are the spectacular acts Of a
man who plays his interesting game upon
a larger field Of action. The extrava-
gances Of poetry were but Introductory
to this recent extravaganza OF patriotism.
In the future, perhaps, the excessive phase
OF patriotism may be called, not Chauvin.
istic, but d'Annunciotic.
"The most obvious factor in the life Of
this amiable monster is what Is known as
decadence In art, q type Of composition
for which our own Edgar Allan Poe was
largely responsible, although there is
quite a difference from Poe in the Bronx
to d'Annunzio In Fiume. D'Annunzio has
been a double decadent; that is, he has
combined the artistic decadence OF Baude-
laire and his morbidness with the anti
social decadence of Maurice Barres. Here
he has retreated to the tangled depths OF
bis perverted nature; there he has set
himself In opposition to society with It's
laws. D'Annunzio's aesthetic delight in
the sorrows of the beautiful Eleonora,
whose most private confessions gave him
fine stun for a book, was but an example
OF the decadent motto, BE beautiful, but
be sad
Perhaps II was the woman-sadness OF
his Italy which aroused his love for the
land. To his Satanic sweetness toward
woman d'Annunzio added the whim Of
abandoning poetry for the sake of manu-
featuring some synthetic perfume OF ex
otic fragrance, for 1t is a singular fact
among decadents that the sense OF smell
plays an extraordinary part In the mental
ity and sensuality OF the poet. To these
light plays with souls and perfumes dan.
nunzio added what was probably a sincere
desire for annihilation, a homesickness
for the mighty Nothingness.' His end was
to come, so he thought, when, blown to
ten thousand pieces, he was to launch him
self into the Infinite, a method OF annihila-
tc) 1920. International Feature scrvie. Inc