The Columbia evening Missourian., 1922-11-25
ROBERT FROST
PLEASES MANY
WITH READINGS
Modern Poet Is Introduced as
a Farmer and a Profess
sor, by Dean F. M.
Tisdel.
TALKS ON NEW POETRY
Points Out Two Extremes, One
Near Singing, While the
Other Comes Near
to Talking.

Being a farmer, a college professor
md a poet is a unique achievement.
said DIR. F. VI. Tisdel, dean of the Col
lege Of Arts and Science. in introducing
Z Robert Frost. noted modern poet. who
read ard talked about his poetry to a
good crowd at the University Audi
iorium last night.
Mr.. Frost's first reading was his poem.
'Mending Wall" in blank verse. 1t is
a charming picture Of two New Eng
landers mending a Stone wall, in the
springtime Mr.. Frost explained to his
middleI western audience the low stone
walls, built without mortar of New Eng,
land which must be mended every spring,
after the winters ice has damaged them.
In the two characters of the poem he
had portrayed the nationalist and the
inierna,iOnalisi But Mr.. Frost insists
that il is not the subject matter OF poetry
that interests him most-it is the noise
of speech which appeals TO him.
There are wo extremHfr-ti: :,sehrdshrd
There are two extremes in poetry, said
Mr.. Frost. There is the one which
comes near singing, and the one which
comes near talking, containing dramatic
tone changes. They are like the two
high spots in literature" the imaginative
things that effect 4 visual impression,
and the terribly vivid and penetrating
tone of voice" that effects real feeling.
1t is this tone contrast which hints Of
talking. which the poet described as -hu-
man stuff which is Mr. Frost's ideal
1t is the tradition Of new poetry he
said.
The so-called new poetry is just as old
as any ''old poetry" in the speakers
opinion. 1t is the noise of speech and this
human stuff in Wordsworth and in
Shakespeare which fascinate him. The
human talking tones which embodied the
works of these past poets and which so
characterize MIR. Frost's verses, belong.
he said. to the wider scope of more
realistic poetry"
A fair example was his reading of his
simple. picturesque little lyric, The Pas
ture." Il shan't be gone long-you come
too" ended each snort stanza. Into his
reading the poet put the charm of SIM
plici,y which characterizes the poems
themselves.
Mr.. Frost read his shortest dialogue,
Telephone" which he described with a
smile as my only sentimental poem"
He contrasted it well with his next
reading, a dramatic kind of ''one-act
play he called it. in blank verse, called
Fear"
Again the picturesqueness, the brief
and charming simplicity of his lyrics and
verses fascinated his listeners in his
poem, The Cow in Apple Time" Mr.
Frost, who explained just enough Of each
Of his poems before reading them, an
nOunced with whimsical smile, that
this verse, written in heroic couplets,
about an inspired cow" he had done
most execution with in Texas.
Free verse was the subject of a good
deal of caustic humor on the part Of the
poet. He described it as typically Am
erican. adding that if the Americans who
stayed in England to keep it going"
were TO leave for few minutes that it
would stop there.
1t is the theories of the free verse writ
ers rather than their poetry that annoy
him most he asserted. Free verse writers
are Of two opinions concerning their po-
eiry, he continued. One group believes
that anything that moves, that is, any
thing that is written in prose or verse,
will be rhythmical. And so they amuse
themselves, the speaker stated, by cutting
their lines in unexpected places.
1T seems to excuse itself for being
briefer than prose-" said Mr.. Frost, -and
it is that sort of thing which sets you
crazy" he finished
The other group believes that those
who read it have an understanding of
regular verse. 1t presupposes knowledge
of regular verse they consider, and is so
based upon it. Thus Amy Lowell writes
daciyls, and occasional bits Of iambic. he
said.
One poem which seemed o appeal to
the audience especially was THE Road
Not Taken 1t is pathetic little regret
ending so: Two roads diverged in a
wood, and | took the one less Travelled
by, and that has made all the difference"
Mr.. Frost finished by reading his poem,