Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-20
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the BooklOvsr

| 4Ilc IuhhlIlS u OeIlLlLlOIlS OF poetry
has always tempted critics and poets
themselves to achieve what Is probably
impossible-the description Of the in
tangible. Aristotle defines poetry as
IAN imitation of men acting" and Plato
in his Republic" says that poetry "in1i-
tates men who are engaged in action
and who in the midst of all these CIR
cumstances are conscious either of Joy
or grief" In the critical ages of the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
many definitions of poetry were made
DR.. johnson calls poetry "the art OF
uniting pleasure with truth, by calling
imagination to the aid Of reason. .
Shelley, in his Defense of Poetry" says
Poetry is the record of the best and
happiest moments Of the best and hap
piest minds" Herbert Spencer, who
acknowledged his inability to appreci-
ate poetry, nevertheless defines 1t In
his Essay on Style: Poetry is ideal
lied emotion expressed in the language
of emotion" Matthew Arnold's def1ni-
ton of poetry as "a criticism of life
under the conditions fixed for such q
criticism by the laws of poetic truth
and poetic beauty" is famous. All these
definitions are comprehensive, whether
or not they seem to us adequate.
l
In his new volume Of poems, "Good
Morning, America" Carl Sandburg, IN
| a species Of preface, gives 38 definl-
lions of poetry. They are very modern
At least they stimulate the imagina-
ton, but, like the older definitions, they
tend to convince us that poetry cannot
be defined, even by those who write 1t
best. Here are some of the definitions
of the man who wrote a poetic prose,
Life of Lincoln: Poetry is an art
practised with the terribly plastic mate
the tracing of the trajectories of finite
sound to the infinite points of its
echoes" Poetry is plan for a slit in
the face of bronze fountain goat and
the path of fresh drinking water
| Poetry is the journal of sea animal
living on land, wanting to fly the air. y
Poetry is fossil rock-print of fin and
Poetry is sky dark with wild-duck
migration" Poetry is a search for
syllables to shoot at the barriers Of the
unknown and the unknowable."
Poetry is a type-font design for an
| alphabet OF fun, hate; love, death. "
Poetry is a theorem Of a yellow-silk
handkerchief knotted with riddles,
sealed in balloon tied to the tail Of
a kite flying in white wind against
|
silver Of the moon lost in the belly of
golden frog" Poetry is the opening
and closing of door, leaving those who
look through to guess about what is
seen during a moment" Poetry is a
kinetic arrangement of static sylla-
bles." Poetry is the achievement of
the Synthesis of hyacinths and bis
| cults" Poetry is mystic, senSuouS
mathematics of fire, smoke-stacks, waf-
fes, pansies, people, and purple sun
sets"
The advertising man takes his place
beside the teacher in the ranks Of
those who educate modern society, &C
cording to Earnest Elmo Calkins, the
first individual to receive the Edward
Box medal for distinguished service to
advertising. advertising is one Of the
great educational forces" says Mr..
Calkins in Advertising" booklet re-
Gently published by the American Lii
| brary Association. People have been
| taught to change the habits of life
time. New words have been added to
| their vocabulary. The course Of life
has been profoundly affected. The
| photograph, radio. camera, motor car,
| vacuum cleaner, kitchen cabinet, safety
razor were quickly and easily made
necessities. We changed from hard fat
W
| cream dentifrices, mug to shaving stick,
| leather to rubber heels, oatmeal to 81
varieties of breakfast foods through the
educational influence of daily and
| monthly admonition in our newspapers
| and magazines"
The chief service of advertising, &C
| cording to Mr.. Calkins, has been the
convenience of the consumer It has
led to better stores and better manu-
| facturers and to special services for
those who buy. And it pays for itself.
advertising" which appears as one
| of the Reading With a Purpose Series,
| Is written for the average man or wom-
| an with broad general interests, for the
business man, all Of whose efforts are
profoundly affected by advertising; and
| for the young man or woman VINO is
looking forward to advertising as pos
sible field of work.
| X X X II
| Emile lola, naturalist in fiction, de-
fender of freedom and justice in poll
| tics, Is the subject of a biography,
"Zola and His Time" by Matthew
Josephson. Though lola was born in
| Paris and knew the city so intimately,
| he was almost equally a product OF
Provence. where much of his boyhood
was Cezanne, who was to become noted
| in modern French art. Poverty was
ZolaS closest companion in his first
| period Perhaps because of the toe
| great struggle which it entailed, he
| failed to complete his course satisfac-
torily at the Marseilles Lycee and again
at the Sorbonne in Paris. For a time
! he led a sordid existence about Paris
until he became a clerk with the pub
! fishing firm of Hachette. Thrown into
a literary atmosphere, and with enough
| income to keep him from extreme hard
ship, before he was 80 he was writing
his ACKNOWLEDGEMENT series. He said OF
| himself in connection with this series OF
novels covering French life during the
period of Napoleon III: Il am a posi-
twist, an evolutioniSt, a materialist
! my system is heredity. have found
the instrument of my epoch and there
Is no doubt about the power it gives to
man to feel himself holding it in his
hands and aiding the natural evolution
of things. I wish to be painter OF
| life"
Pictures of foreign life carry more
conviction when drawn by natives OF
the countries than when sketched has
tily by visitors remaining in country
week or ten days, or even less. THE
Shoji, Japanese Interiors and Silhou-
ettes," by Kikou Yamata, is the work
of an author with French father and
| Japanese mother. Miss Yamata' S
home is Toxic and there she knows well
the life Of a Japanese girl behind the
SHOT," or paper partitions of japanese
houses. In Japan, far more than In
most countries, the struggle between the
old and the new in general and the
older and younger generations in par
ticular is fraught with tragedy. Some