Evening star., 1924-12-24
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

Readers of this column will re-
call that during the past few weeks
the writer has put some stress on the
idea that children are nearer to cer-
tain truths than their elders.
This was not done with any con-
scious forethought, but arose merely
from the progress OF ideas in the COM
position of the individual articles.
That tremendous ode, "Intimations
OF Immortality from Rocoilections Of
Early Childhood" by william Words
worth. undoubtedly played . part in
shaping these ideas, however.
II is q certainty that no one can
read those lines at any time In his
life without having the main idea
OF that great tour de force stick In
mis- mind forever. Something Of the
thousht and its musical expression
fingers even when tho cumbersome
name Of the poem Is forgotten,
This one poem constitutes the hast
answer 1 know to those prophets OF
tho new poetry" who insist on pre-.
dieting the extinction Of rhyme. In
certain literary reviews this icono-
elastic work has been going on for
years.
Only recently a prominent review
carried articles by two most success
ful adherents OF the theory that
q
pat, ft only to entertain children
in their Mother Goose.
The sugar Of end-rhymss was
held up to very neat scorn. properly
labeled and deftly applied. One was
forced to agree to many Of the things
these men said. Yet at the end con-
viction was lacking.
Wordsworth's ode on imm ortality
brings home clearly Just why thou
~
believing that there Is anything
sickly or sugary in the composition
or poetry in which rhyme and arti.
ncial form have large place.
This poem shows even the most
obdurate that the old poetic forms,
In the hands OF q master. are capa-
Bile OF expressing great thoughts in
a grand manner. After all, is not
that the aim Of the better thinlsing
the better writing?
IT makes no difference what the
form Is, or what II is not, so long as
tho thought is expressed in a way.
which. when apprehended. leaves ono
with the feeling that here, indeed,
something has been said in an unfor-
gettable way.
u II x
Every one who at any time ex-
presses the idea that children see
things that their elders dc not see
owes . debt to wordsw orth, slthou eh
he may not recognise IL.
The poet, whose hulking figure was
at variance with his precise poetical
form. gathered up the best thought
OF the world on this matter, added
some good thinking Of his own, and
welded the whole together into q
song
To thousands of readers still there
Is such q thing as music in printed
words. Let the new poets laugh II
they win. Idea is not all. Form IL
not all. 1mpressions are not all.
Music il something. whether It
comes forth as rhythm, melody and
harmony. or whether It docs Its best
to sing 70 US from the somewhat dif-
ficult medium OF cold print on q
white, nat page.
II composition succeeds under such
circumstances in giving US a iegiti-
mate feeling akin to music, I say II
has succeeded in doing something.
There are certain poems that come
down to us through the ages. poems
that succeed in doing this very thing,
and for them we have only love, not
scorn because they DO not happen to
ft In with the critical theory OF GER
tain modern authors who have more
or less failed in attempting to dupli-
cate them.
y II +
There was q time when meadow. grove and
stream,