Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-04
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the B0OklOVsF

born in New York City. As boy he
was q chess prodigy and between the
ages of II and rs supported himself
by teaching chess and playing in
matches. But he did not intend even
so intellectual q game as chess to be
his life work, and in 1914 founded
the Glebe, which issued the first
anthology of free verse. Other edi-
torial ventures and other anthologieS
followed and Mr.. Kreymborg found
| time for writing an autobiography,
| "Troubadour, and q volume of poems.
1.-THE Lost Sail: A Cape Cod Diary"
For the past two years he has been
| occupied with the writing Of Our Sing
ing Strength" an outline of American
poetry from the landing of the Pilgrims
in 1920 to the beginning of 1880. The
title of the book is that of one of
Robert Frost's poems, two lines OF
which are:
well, something for Snowstorm to
have shown
The country's singing strength thus
brought together"
= 4
Mr.. Kreymborg's poetic criticism is
not of the old-fashioned type, vet it
recognizes many of the old values. His
choice OF titles for his chapters arouses
immediate interest and curiosity 1.-TWO
Poets in Two Centuries" chiefly con-
Germs Philip Freneau and Timothy
Dwight, poets OF the Revolution, who
lived until after the War of 1912. In
the chapter "Forefather Bryant" we
are told that, although Bryant lived to
be very old, he wrote less poetry than
Keats, who died in his twenty-Sixth
year, or Shelley, who died before he
was 80, because Bryant had so many
other problems as family man, editor
| and public-spirited American. THE
Weary Wayworn Wanderer" tells the
tragic story OF Edgar Allan Poe. THE
Intoxicated Emerson" sounds rather
shocking until we discover that the
adjective applies to the rhapsody of
his poetry; even then We doubt its
appropriateness. "a Rustic Quaker
Goes to War" can, of course, apply
to no other than Whittier. THE Fallen
Prince of Popularity shows the de-
cline OF Longfellow in public esteem
as critical standards have changed.
Lowell is characterized in the chapter
THE Poet Of Too Many 1sms." Some
may again disagree with Mr.. Kreymborg
over the intoxicated quality Of the
poetry of Emily Dickinson, whose chap
ter is entitled THE Tippler Leaning
Against the SUM-" whitman and the
Democratic Cosmos" shows Walt Whit
man as Walt, child Of the mass" THE
Wise Music of Robinson" and The Fire
and Ice of Robert Frost" speak for
themselves. springfield, Spoon River
and the PrairieS" appreciatively inter-
pretS Ezra Pound, Edgar Lee Masters,
Carl Sandburg and Vachel Lindsay. One
of the concluding chapters, Youth
Moves on Toward Maturity" Summa-
rizeS the work of recent MidweStern
poets, with emphasis on the pioneers
at the University of Chicago;
New Englanders, with emphasis on the
Harvard group; the revived
interest in narrative, led by Robinson
Of hard boiled poets, led by joseph Man
cure March"
Emma Willard, Daughter Of Democ-
racy," by Alma Lutz, is contribution
to the history of American education.
Emma Willard was a pioneer in edu-
cation for women, in the first place be-
cause she craved education so much for
herself at a time when 1t was not con-
Sidered very necessary for women. Her
father, q Connecticut farmer, Sympa-
thized with her desire for knowledge,
even though she wanted to study ge-
ometry, which was q most "unwoman-
zenith century, even the district schools
were for boys only. Gradually girls Sc
cured the advantage Of the use of the
schools during the Summer, when the
boys were at work on the farms Board
ing schools were for the wealthy only
and the chief subjects taught in them
were French, music, painting and en-
broidery. These were not enough for
Emma Willard, then Emma Hart, so she
nA to
and various other things. Soon she was
teaching others. Teaching at Middle
bury Female Academy, she became ac-
,, quainted with DR.. Willard, leading
citizen, and married him. He en-
couraged her radical ideas. When she
was "a she founded q school of her own,
the Troy Female Seminary, in which
she established a curriculum containing
all the subjects she had wished to learn
Observation-Disclosures, physiology, geog-
rIaphy, literature and history. She also
had original ideas about methods of
teaching and wrote "A Plan for I'M
proving Female Education" which had
great influence ON all the early COL
leges for women.
y +
A supplement to a standard English
history extending through the nine
teenth century Is This Generation: a
History of Great Britain and Ireland
from 1900 to 1926" by Thomas Cox
Mech. The method of this history is
strictly chronological. Events of all
types are recorded as they happened,
without much attempt at coordination.
Inc various British ministries of course
occupy the center of the book, with
| accounts OF the statesmen and poll
tlcianS who have arisen during the Pc
ROD. Some of the political and social
questions which are discussed are wom-
! an suffrage, housing, liquor licensing,
Tree trade, the dole, the coal strike,
f, pensions, taxation and parliamentary
reform. The death of Edward VII, the
accession of George v, the World War
and the Washington and Locarno Con-
IerenceS since the war are all included.
Napoleon has become a popular sub
lect Tor modern psychological investiga-
! ton. Emil Ludwig analysed him at
every stage In his career and pro-
, nounced him an ego-centric genius, not
a very different dictum from the usual
one OF histories published before the
vogue OF Herr Freud. In Napoleon
Seli-Destroyed."' by Pierce Clark. an
American psychologist of note, Napo-
leon is shown as a great, neurotic ego
tlSt. Even as boy he was offensive i'll
his self-eSteem, and on the death of his
| father he announced, Joseph may be
| the eldest, but henceforth I am to be
considered the head of the family"
His self-confidence and self-worshlp
grew with each stage in his success
until he came to think Of himself as a
god. With Self-esteem grew his arc
gance, OF course, until he was as hated
as he was feared. So long as success
did not fail he was completely blind to
his place in the opinion Of his con-
temporaries and he never had sense
OF humor by which To check himself,
The Russian campaign was the height