Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-01-26
NEW ERA IN POETRY TOLL
OF BY HASKIN
Daily Letter by Frederic j. Haskin

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25.-Amer-
lea is in the midst OF q poetic era.
This may sound paradoXical in view
of the nations intensely Materials
tic concern over shoes and ships and
| dollars, But If the number Of verse
makers mean anything, and ii new
/ and interesting forms of verse mean
anything, then an age OF poetry is
here.
Not only are there a great many
writer's of real poetry, n still more
writers of near poetry, but there
| must be an enormous umb OF
readers who do not turn over the
page hastily when they see a poem
in a magazine. There is no way of
getting a census of these poetry
readers. But every che knows the
axiom of editorial offices: give the
public what it wants. Magazine edi-
itors are printing more poetry and
| better poetry than they did a few
| decades back. Some magazines even
| feature poems instead of sticking
them carelessly in odd corners at the
| end of stories and among the adVer-
| tisenients. Hence the logical de-
| duction that verse is now a live and
popular subject.
With all the sings of interest in
verse there is much misunderstood
ing regarding the modern schools OF
| poetry. The result is that many
| people casually condemn all the
writer's who are struggling to add
something new to the old, well-worn
forms of verse. 1t is a just criticism
that people who would not expect to
understand the reason for every note
| in a concerto will argue over a
poets right to use words in an I'M
usual way-and they denounce with
out inquiring into the poets aims
and intelligence.
This is partly the fault of the
school systems which give us al
most exclusively the standards or ola
| literature. The school boy is taught
that a line of poetry should be SO
Tut together that it can be divided
into accented and u~naccented beats
in rbvthmic time. If a poem falls
short of this standard. the ex-stud"
emit concludes that is bad poetry
unless he takes the trouble to look
I'm the criticisms, collected works,
and life history of the poet. The
latter course most readers viii not
nursue. But it is the only way to
s~couIre a background for modern
noetry as Ions as the schools ignore
The living poets who are talking 10
the people of their day.
Poets and Poetry Both Modern
The important fact about the best
of the modern poets Is that tney
have something to say about mod
ern life and that they are saying
It in an individual way. Eacn rs
interuretifag the spirit OF the times
l-aecording to his own light. When
vol read the better grade or maya
Zine ard newspaper verse nowadays
You notice that odes to Greek goos,
The hackneyed poetic phrases, II
the thees and thous OF tradltlonai
noesy are carefully avoided. M
they are used they are used know
Iingly for some desired effect.
The modern poet writes OF 4ove
land al. h tribe of emotions as poets
lalvays have done and always VIII
do. But these emotions play against
a background of city trattic, machln-
erv and small town civilization. The
|, talk III natural dialect
land the images and metaphors are
In the FORMS, too. there is a de-
ltermined striving after novel pat
terms. Free verse is only n OF
1.-THE modern experiments. but in spite
Of all the discussions and explana'
ltions 1t is probably still the most mis-,
understood. There Is a widespread
idea that all free verse is a hap
lhazalu tumble of scriboled thoughts
The free verse Of the bard who ha'
never mastered rhythms and pat
terms of poetry may be just suct
hash. But it is g mistaken 1dei
to think that a free verse Is neces
sarily easy to write. Cadences
choice Of words, and contrast ant
flow OF the lines are handled will
careful regard for effect by h in
telligent writer's of we're libre.
According to the progressive
among the poets, some ideas LEM
themselves naturally to the cadence
of free verse. The force of tn
thought would be greatly diminished
IL 1t were confined in a carefully ar
ranged rhyming pattern Sandburg
Masters and Amy Lowell hav
proved to many critics that fire.
verse can be poetry.
Imagism Is another attempt at
; theory for modern verse. The schoo
of imagists believes in condensation
OF a thought into a vivid word pic
/, ture. 1t IL the antithesis of the leis
ureIy method of the poet with
ream of paper and a good pen. Vor
Iticism and polyrhythmic prose ar
kths EeaHlt Of osAer attsmQA ta hEaal