Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-04-24
<<~ GOD friend, for Jesus sake forbeare
To digg the dust enclosed heare;
~ Bleste be the man that spares thes

[EN UOO IrlenQ, TOT Jesus sake IOTp6dT0
To digg the dust enclosed heare;.
~ Bleste be the man that spares thes
stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.
The above lines are inscribed on the tomb OF
man who was noble in reason, infinite in
| faculty, and in apprehension like a god,' who
died on his birthday; the anniversary of
which occurrence falls upon tomorrow.
William Shakespeare was the supreme mas
ter mind, whether roaming in the realm of
tragedy or the lighter field of comedy No
one has ever lived who knew human nature
so completely. He was the confdant of ma
ture, mingling laughter and tears. The
brilliant Bob Ingerson expressed my senti-
ments exactly; II love >Shakespeare's sudden
of grief became the dimpIes OF delight"
The World Pays Tribute
Shapespeare is the master poet and dram
atist of all the ages of which time has rec
ord. Once again I quote the eloquent Inger-
soil regarding the wonderful genius who COM
mands the admiration of the whole civilized
world: His mind was an intellectual ocean,
whose waves touched all the shores of
thought-an ocean toward which all the riv-
ers ram and from which the isles and con-
tinents of thought now receive their dews
and rains"
Laurel wreaths will flow in to Stratford-
on-Ayon tomorrow in homage of the great
master, the grand interpreter of humanity,
tor. I do not know how it will be this year,
but it is interesting to note that throughout
centuries, prior to the\ recent European con-
fagration, no country has paid more genuine
and glowing tribute to England's greatest
poet than kultured Germany. Referring to
the German praise of Shakespeare, the Lon
don Times said not so long ago: "The pro-
fessors of kultur have almost persuaded them
selves that Shakespeare must have been one
of their own race, and that his English-birth
was an unhappy accident which will some day
satisfactorily be explained away"
An Unsolved Literary Problem
One Of the most difficult of unsolved lit
erary problems is the Identity of the person
or persons, male or female, to whom Shake
speare's mellifuous and honeyed "Sonnets'
were written. The subject of infinite discus
sion is, are the greater portion of the Sonne-s
addressed to one male friend, or do they aD-
ply to several friends of the masculine per-
suason? Critics hold that the latter portion
of the Sonnets are unquestionably addressed
to female. Chalmers is of the opinion that
it was Queen Elizabeth whom Shakespeare
exhorted in the first seventeen Sonnets, al
though the poet addressed her by the mascu-
line pronoun. Learned authorities declare
that the Sonnets "far surpass all other poems
of their kind in our own language, or perhaps
in Others"
Shakespeare's celebrated venus and Adon-
is ran through twelve editions in the first
few years of it's existence. The wonderful
popularity with which the poem was, greeted
at its birth has continued with the PUBIC unto
the present time. Hardly less popular has
been his "Lucrece." Eight editions were not
very long in appearing.
Woman's Greatest Compliment
I presume the reader remembers Shake
speare's exquisite song which commences as
follows:
"Take, oh, take those lips away,
That so sweetly were forswOrn,
And those eyes, the break of day,
Lights that do mislead the morn"
It was the opinion of Ingersoll that the
greatest compliment ever paid, woman was
Shakespeare's line-"Eyes that do mislead