New-York tribune., 1922-03-12


Thursday evening Of each and
every month, except during the sum
mer, they emerge from their garrets Or
palaces-yes, several come in their own
limousines, others in taxis-and meet
at the National Arts Club to bckcr and
quarrel over the anonymous poems sub
mittcd to committee Of the Poetry
Society
Now he told me the other day. al
am member of this thriving organi-
zation, but seldom attend its hilarious
meetings. Long ago they bored me to
the point of slumbcr Empty discus
sions about the relative merits of
uers hbre and the strict sonnet form
strike me as worse than useless. This
picking the petals Of the rose apart
never appealed to me. As a child
aoomlnatcd botany. and loathed the
teacher who took pride in standing be
fore us, holding up the pistil of some
beautiful flower, explaining the secrets
of its miraculous growth. All | wanted
was the flower itself, and | saw no
reason to look too closely for faults
and failings. | always thought of some
lines which ran:
Take thou the rose with all Its beauty rcd.
Nor strive the secret of its fame to yucsa.
Pluck not one petal, lest the dream be ned
Vanished the lovelincss'
ssHT's true. If you search too close
ly, of course, you viii find blcm
ishes in anything. Don't you recall
Browning's advice?
Where the apple reddcns.
Never pry.
Lost We lose our Edena.
Evo and H.
"A ct month after month the poets
assemble and, like Cooks tourists rush
ing through the Louvre, scream their
petty criticism of this and that pen
picture and sink back in their chairs
as though they had really said some
thing.
AS if it were possible to judge a
poem after one reading, know an
editor who always takes home with him
the poetry offered to the magazine he
Is connected with and, in the serenity
OF his room, tries to form an opinion
OF 1T. 1t IS dangerous to have a manu-
script read aloud to one. II the reador
has charming voice one NAV be de
celved into thinking the lines are more
! hlled with magic than they are. If.
on the contrary, the reader has an un
pleasant voice, the danger is in the
other direction. And as there arc
rhymes OF the eye, as there arc RHYMES
OF the car, it is, | think, essential 10
see poen-just as essential as it is
to hear it.
ssWHAT is gained by these hasty,
cocksure judgments? was an
pailod the other evening to sec men
and women rise boldly and proclaim
the flaws in the third eighth and tenth
llncs of poem which, though bcauti~
fully read, confused nc and caused me
to wonder, until | was toused br
shr'll voice, what it was all about. The
critlcIsms were mcfcifully limited to
two mlnutes--only ono minute was al
lowed # one rose a second time to
speak his mind on the same poem. The
meeting must move rhythmically, YOU
see, II would never do to miss tho beat
and cadence of the hours, and with al
most clocklikc regularity Mrs. Smith
and MI Jones and Miss Robinson took
1t upon themselves to speak cr cathedyn
on the lines uttered.
"a poem, for instance, is read in
which there is picture of ships with
blowing sails moving through quiet
waters The singer ends his noon
with the rather delightful image that
these ships resemble butterflies sim
ping the sweets from the blue flower
OF the sea, and confess that cxpcr-
erced tiny thrill But not so Mr.
Jones! he rose with fire in his eve
and pointed out that butterflies mover
slipped anything al all, and wasn't If
ABSURD to make such a statements con
trary to all the laws Of nature. and
ADNERTTSEME\r