New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-08-15

4 V IA are one OF the earth's for
Inmates to be the recipient
of the delightful Letters to x" which
their writer has made public by the
good graces of the house of E. P. Dut-
ION. Your correspondent II. J. Massing-
ham, is a rare spirit and a master of
prose whose screeds must be the de-
spair and envy of others who write to
you. X, do you sometimes give little
prayers of thanks for the privilege of
receiving this Massingham's cpistles :?
The man is a stylist of the first order.
OF course, x, you may not agree
with his notions of life and letters.
HIS scholarship is without pedantry
and his conversation is without reac-
ton, but feel that he is trhe liberal
Wi'hal IN his aggressive "literary tradi-
ton. He is sufficiently modern to un-
derstand our present day foibles and he
lances them with fine restrained irony
But he declines to admit, save by wav
or gracious concession, that out Of
TINS turmoil of stupidity, prejudice and
shallowness there may arise something
that will carry civilization and 1itera-
eurc beyond the stage reached by his
favorlte Elizabethans. And even as
Grub Street hreling I cannot grant
the validity of his onslaughts against
present-day journalism.s
With Illuminating certainty he re-
names our "futurst" poets present
lsts' (Which is so apt and SO simple
that | wonder why no one has thought
OF 1T before). He is perfectonist and
he cuarrels with D. H. Lawrence (why.
dear X, does he spell it "Laurence"?
for his inability to mold "the quick of
lime into flawless verse And it is
shade unworthy to describe Ezra
Pound as "wretched poetaster," and
to glorify Father John Banister Tabb
at his expense. Why must our radical
poets be impaled for their deviations
from the practices of such later-dav
classicists as Surge Moore, w. H,
Davies and Walter De La Mare? If
Mr.. Massingham offers bays to Ralph
Hodgson for his perfection In his
chosen field, why should he withhold
the laurel from "H. D." for achieving
the same end in field which NAV
seem less productive?
& on
Masslngham for his point of view and
pralsing him at the same time for his
discrimination, his humor and mis- intui
tive feeling for beauty, but that is
matter for the individual reader. shall
not even analyze his snobbish filings
at book reviewers; l think that he re-
CARDS the function of journalism too
narrowly and that he does recornize
that the newspaper critic must write
for an audience that must seem litter
ate to a scholar of Mr.. Massinrham's
attainments. And that to interpret
pres ent-day books to present-day read
ers' demands-but let it pass. After
all, dear X, your correspondents sins
may be shriven for his honesty and for
his extraordinary literary skill. Were
you not aware of the hand of master
In such passages as this?
God is quieter than the inviolable
darkness, than cities of dead men. than
peace and the fallen ashes Of subter-
ranean fires. He is so silent that could
the sound Of his quietness reach me,
should not hear the world if it burst
like a rocket in space. The
Guietness of God came like a crv upon
the earth and the earth was beaten
fiat with it, and out of the dissolution
OF all the agonies and passions and
ideas and raptures since the beginning
Of the world. higher than the highest