Evening star., 1926-04-16

Has art anything TO do with mo.
, rsIity?
The Post Once Department. in. Its
supervision of what Is mailable and
| what is not, seems to believe that II
has, in so far as art means writing.
The debarring from the mails re-
Gently of a copy Of q current review
after the entire edition had been sold
out brought to many minds u picture
OF Edgar Allan Poo threshins out the
same question IS years ago.
Poe was one OF the first, II not the
hrst. in literary America TO sta nd up
| q nd declare without equivocation that
poems a poem for all that. no mat
ter whether II inculcates truth or
! not.
Thus he precipitated in our literary
history tie fight between the didactic
| a nd "art for arts sake" which Is still
| raging, az shown by the atoremen-
TONED case of locking the stable after
, the horse IL gone.
1t is true that Poe confined the dis.
cuSSion largely 10 poetry. hut the prin-
ciples he then set forth. embodied in
his lecture, The Poetic Principle" re-
main today the raliyins cry for all
those who believe that writing must
be judged on what 1t Is, not so much
az on what IL attempts Tor does not
attemptb TO do.
In considering those principles brief
~ here today we do not find 1t neces.
sary to state our own beliefs on this
mOoted question. Poe, we feel sure
will prove more interesting.
Written in the last year Of his life.
nd not published until after his death.
THE Poetic Principle delivered in
Richmond before q large audience.
gave the poet opportunity TO set forth
theories which he had held all his ma.
ture life.
These principles, then. may be re
sarded as Poe's last word TO us upon
the subject. II the last years of his
life were simply an attempt, on his
part, to rea son himself into believing
that he was perfectly sane, as the
latest view Of Poe seems to assert
then sll we can say is that he did II
rems rkably good job OF 1t in The
Poetic Principle"
From beginning TO end the lecture
Is well reasoned. logical and keen
attempt on the part OF the writer TO
set forth his innermost views on poetry
what II Is. what IL should contain
what form il should take.
The 1rst part. which we will treat
briefly, deals with the falsity OF the
Idea and worth Of the so.calIed epic
poem. Poe's contention was that a
long poem does not really exist. II
maintain" he said. that the phrase,
a long poem is simply a fiat con.
tradiction in terms
He takes a few hot shots" at Para
disc Lost tfor which we thank himl
and concludes. on this topic:
The day OF these artistic anomal lies
is over. II. at any time. any very
long poem were popular in reality
which doubt--it is at least clear that
no very long poem will ever be popu-
lar again"
Three.Quarters Of century have
borne Poe out In that belief.
To get down, however. to the heresy
Of he dida ctic." as he lied IT,
1t has been assumed. tacitlv and
avOwedly. directly and indirectly. that
the ultimate object OF all Poetry Is
Truth" 1--WE give Poe's capitalist
Every poem, it is said. should in.
cuicate a. moral nd by this moral is
the poeticsl merit OF the work to be
adiudged." Poe goes on. We Amer.
cans especially have patronized this
happy idea. We have taken 1t into
our heads that 10 write a poem simply