The broad ax. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1895-19??, 1920-12-25

. 1.-THE most eminent authority i
mcrica on NeG.o Publications. am
whose absolute fairness Of visio
4 unsclf-h sympathy for justie" az
knowlcdgri everywhere. ''-Edftor.
10y. in the popular mind. is lou
fringe of a peoples solid achieve
.rat-mcrcry decorative 10 railroad
nd factories. the products of mines an,
eds. big engineering fca,S AMI i'm
tense populations. Yet Of aneicn
VALUATIONS. not inferior to our own
here remains but poetry, or art il
some of its forms. all their matcria
wealth having returned to the dus'
whence it came. The fact should in
luce reflection.
"Whcre there is no vision. the Pco
ple perish" Vision means not only
prophecy but all spiritual wealth-rc
.igion. art. poetry. OF all that the He
brew people achieved in their great
age. only this wcalth-not the wealth
of King Solomon's mines, not the
merchandise of silver and gold-rc-
mains. To prophecy with its austcre
ideals, its unconquerable vision, its
stern rebuke of things as they are,
poetry is twin-sister. Prophecy was
the ancient form, poetry is the modern
form, for the expression of all that is
of permanent worth in a peoples life
dreams and ideals.
A peoples poetry is therefore TO be
taken note of and reekoned with, yea,
by statesmen (or politieians), by the
forcmen of industry, by the employers
of labor. Nothing in this life of ours
is more practical than poetry, more
moving, more efficient, to use the word
of the hour. 1t can build up, it can
tear down, it can inspire and further
revolutions. Nothing is more danger
Gus to institutions and customs that
should not be.
The occasion of these reflections is the
rise of a remarkable school of young Ne
gro poets whose pens are ablaze with
racial feeling, and whose productions
evince a high degree of poetic excellence
and distinctive poetic quality. Dunbar
seems to have been the formulating
genius to their muses., that Dunbar
whom the white world wots not of.
For there were two Dunbars: the poet
of the "jingle in a broken tongue"
whom Howells brought to the knowl-
edge of the world; and the poet of the
flaming code to Ethiopia" and the
pathetic lyric, eve Wear the Mask"
"a Dunbar this latter whose signif-
canoe Howells failed to discern. The
first Dunbar was the artistic interpreter
of the old-fashioned, vanishing genera
ton of black folks; the second Dun
bar was the prophet of a new genera
ton of his race, a generation that has
now arrived. There has been a uni
versal renaissance of the Negro soul. of
which Dunbar was the herald. Of this
renaissance, poetry is one of the ex-
pressiOns, most potent and significant
And there are many voices
in the chorus.
The Negro might well be expected to
exhibit a gift for oetry. His gift for
oratory has long been acknowledged. 1t
has been accepted without reflection
upon its significance. The same en-
dowments that have made the Negro
famous for eloquenee are now bringing |
him into distinction for poetry. These
in the Negro are not far
to seek. First of all, there is depth
and fervor of feeling. No race equals
Or approaches his in the capacity of
yielding to the control of rhythmic
emotions. In all of the arts this rhyth-
mic nature is necessary; in poetry it is
lalf the equipment. Not merely a
,art of the Negro yields to his emo
ion, but his whole being. This fervor
# feeling presupposes power of imagi-
ation, and this also the Negro has in =
peculiar and pre-eminent degree.
'hese two endOwments made for the r
ighest spiritual achievements-moral,
eligiOus and artistic. Negro poetry
Oday, by virtue of these gifts, ex- =
ibits the priceless quality of inspira-
ion. ,
1t will also be conceded that the Ne
TO has a gift of peculiarly graphic
lnguage. Whoever has listened to
olored preachers sermon will recall p
erhaps more than one example of
oetic phrasing, more than one word n
ieture that rendered some idea vivid n
eyond vanishing. =
Let the potential black bard be dis g
plined in the forms Of poetry-his n
Ice is not deficient in the sense Of 3
'rm, but special training is required n
he will make a distinct and Ii
contribution to our eounty's
As d foundation for his art
nd as indicating the lines of its de- Y
elopment, there is that unique and
-eeious body of religious plantation r
ing, called the SpiritualJ-one of the
ost notable contributions of any peo-