Evening star., 1928-12-10
THIS AND THAT
ny CHARLES r. TRACEE ELL.

but that has nothing to do with the
liking.
Those who remain young in heart
and mind continue to love poetry.
With them II remains the dessert to
the feast Of reading.
Just as they would make a meal con-
sist mainly Of Ice cream, so they do
not demand that poetry be read to the
exclusion OF everything else. Only a
crank would so require.
SubSte ntial. filling prose will fill the
greater part OF the reading bill-of-fare.
Here there Ii something for everybody.
Here Is biography. history, fiction, phi
losophy. Here Is a great novel, here a
work Of biography as interesting as nc
tion--maybe some of 1t Is. who knows?
Reserve place. however. for poetry,
the beloved of the gods, the beloved OF
love, the eternal beloved of the eter-
nally young.
. II you once loved little poetry books,
but now find the taste gone from you,
know that age Is creeping on apace.
IL Is not too late, however. to right
wrong which time has done to you.
Take up a cherished volume of verse
and force yourself to read 1t. Years
may have passed, but if you ever cared
for poetry the taste for it will return
and you will find yourself the happier
tor adding this tidbit to the end of a
perfect mental meal.
\ X 4
Those who do not like poetry. who
even may have prided themselves on
never reading it, will find that an effort
to understand 1t and to appreciate
1t brings rich results.
Eenppiolly does tho rnaHinC nf T1nntrx
add to the appreciation for prose The
connection between these two major
divisions Is so evident that one adds
much to the other. The writer, fol
instance, who is able at will to make
his prose poetical in thought and man.
ner mot form, Is able to write more
interesting and more beautiful things
everything else being equal
SO the reader of prose works, what
ever they may be, adds much to then
from himself, If he have in his heac
store of poetry. II must never bt
felt that reader gives nothing to g
book. There are few works which
ask nothing and give ALL There is 6
mutual understanding between writer
and reader. If much is expected from
one, much may be demanded Of the
other. Those books which merely give
especially in narrative way, usually
last for day. figurat1vely speaking.
AS an extreme example of a booi
which asks much of the reader. take
Rachael Armand Taylor's Leonardo
| the Florentine.' Perhaps there arr
only dozen persons in the Unitet
States who will bring to this volume
the knowledge which the author asks O.
them. This will not prevent others
however, from enjoying it, in proper
ton to their love of the arts, especial
ly painting, music and poetry.
| Poetry Is SO entwined with the hearts
and lives of men that 1t is difficult, i
not impossible, to separate them. eithei
in books or lives. The air of eternit!
which it brings to the one it presumably
may bring to the other.
If eternal youth is dream eterna
gayety of spirit is not. To dip know.
ingly into this spirit of Joy one mus
know poetry. because the true poet re-
mains the high priest of its mysteries
He is the custodian of the innel
secret Of words. those winged, high
! flying mighty-sounding things which
spread truth and light throughout tho
world. To him, If to any one, belongs
the kew.