Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-25
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

Will Santa Claus have left us copy OF
! the COLLECTED Poems Of Robert Frost" ?
We doubt it very much, Tor the DOCK
has Just been put out by Henry Holt
g. Co., and Is not known to the average
purchaser of books.
Besides, people do not buy poetry for
gifts as they once did. Many OF us
who once read poetry daily now hold
it as a thing apart, only occasionally
men and women once bought an occa-
sional COPY of the Atlantic Monthly to
place on their living room tables. In
order to feel themselves literary.
Most of us safely out of the twenties
fail to include poetry in the daily read
ing. Perhaps one of the most curious
mental quirks is that few women read
poems at all. Poetry Is read mostly
by men.
You will not find one woman out OF
10. 900 who has read Walt Whitman's
Leaves of Grass" If any lady says
Walt is not poetry, select something
else, we counter with the assertion that
not one woman in a thousand reads
Emily Dickinson.
Women are realistS, and the minds
of such do not ordinarily appreciate
poetry, which is, in essence, the cropping
after illusion, romance and things-aS-
they-should-be.
It is man, the male, who mostly writes
poetry, and it is man, the male, who
largely reads it. Therefore it Is safe
to make the generalization that this
Christmas, as all past Christmases, such
poetry books as are given will be from
men to men.
The poetry of Robert Frost of New
81. Ixy I'll
not devoid of the feminine love for
beauty, which prevents all great poetry
from being too intensely masculine
The writer here has read very little of
Frost; that is the reason he hopes Santa
Claus loves poetry. But he is a man
who must be read, If one expects to
keep up with modern poetry. There
are only few necessary ones, after all,
in any generation. At the time it is
difficult to be sure who they are. There
can be little doubt about Frost, and
MaSefield, and Dickinson, and Bridges.
We include the latter on account of
his great finale, 1.-The Testament of
Beauty" completed and published short
ly before his death.
To read at least some poetry Is the
mark not only of an educated man, but
of one who is determined not to let his
birthright of education get away from
him. Perhaps few persons, in the hula
baloo of life, realize just what this
birthright amounts to. We are all so
used to universal education, as it is
called, that we fail to realize that thou
sands upon thousands of persons lex
posed to it are not in fact drawn into
its spirit.
Thousands upon thousands of boys
and girls Solemnlv translate their Cae-
sar, but never work up to the slightest
curiosity about Roman life or manners,
never feel any urge to read Gibbons
Decline and Fall never know that
Seneca is the name of a philosopher
and not just the name of q tribe Of
American Indians.
Education is thus seen to be more
than translations, getting" ones les
sons, knowing the names, dates and
so on of persons and events, being able
to tell the names Of the English Kings.
True education is something of which
its possessor may be proud, for it is an
attitude of mind, rather than mental
or physical possession, and often enough
it comes about through no personal
merit but merely because one happened
to be born into a home where others
had that attitude of mind.
X \
In this state of mind poetry plays a
distinguished part. It is the oldest