Evening star., 1936-06-20
By Marv.Carter Roberts.

volume Of his verse will add little
to Mr.. Masefleld's S plentiful honors.
n It is level work, seldom more than
acceptable in quality, and more than
once amazingly Indifferent in crafts
manship, Had any poet less proved
than John Masefield written it, 1t
might be made the subject Of sharp
criticism. One realizes, however, that
Masefleld does not sin from innocence.
He knows. One can tell oneself there
fore that this book is Just one of his
days on. Still-it will be disappoint-
ment.
The subjects in the volume range
from ancient Rome to modern Eng
land, from Government of1ceS to ships
Of the Spanish Main. Their chief sin
is bored writing. MaSefleld is unin-
spired. Sometimes he gallops along
hastily, forcing arbitrary rhymes as
in the following quatrain:
1.-TWO miles beyond Shifnal, the
road gangs were tarring,
The width Of the roadway was
wet with hot tar,
a uIlNc1 opcu NY 10 a3lQ StI4t ~ 81
starring
In black dicks and splaShes all
over the car
Sometimes he writes so sketchily
that one feels that one is reading mere
notes, And sometimes he falls into
lamentable tritenesses, as in these lines
from Australia;
always above these memories is
the sense
OF charming people. ever kind and
thoughtful;
Most generous in thought, in word,
in deed,
And faithful in their kindness to
the end"
The poems that are free Of these
seeming irritations are free also of
memorable passages. They are only
good verse The title poem should be
listed among them as should The
Flowing OF Sangarios, The Towerer," ="
February Morning" Autumn Plough
ing" The Mayblossom," The Boy
From Pauntley." These have q GER
tain grave beauty.
Departing from gravity, Mr.. Mase-
field makes two ventures into satire
in the course Of the volume. One is
in the long poem Nets" wherein he
pokeS fun at red tape government.
The other is THE Wild Geese" in
which he observes:
They have no masses, no classes.
No wars no poison-gasSes,
They are geese, they are asses.
o, it must be absurd
To be goose of Q bird
And salute no general spurred."
v
''If we could put goose-brain
In airplane or aeroplane,
We could drop bombs like rain.
Make such holes in the mud,
Fill them full with such blood,
Give God thanks for Security,
Practice Racial Purity,
And be (if God should please).
Almost as wise as geese"
For the most part, however, the
volume is level and, for John Mase-
field, uninSpired.
THE DISCUSSION OF HUMAN AT
FAIRS. By Charles A. Beard.
New York: The Macmillan Co.
IN THIS highly amusing volume
DR.. Beard undertakes to utter a
commentary about the universal
human practice of discussion. 1t is
particularly pat, just at this time,
when las he obServeS) discussion is
so popular, when writers, orators,
scientists, economists, historians, out
of-job idealiStS, New Dealers and
paperhangers are freely tainting the
winds and mixing the presses with
their concepts of discussion. What
does 1t all amount 70? asks DR.. Beard
And answers, practically nothing.
He gives a lucid analysis Of the
factors involved in discussion as he
sees them. Is detached, impartial
discussion possible, he asks, dealing
with the proud assumption Of GER
, tain thinkers that 1t is. Are there
even such things as particular facts?
he further inquiries, when he comes
to the case of the students of affairs,
who assert that facts, and facts alone,
satisfy them. And he answers both
questions negatively. You cannot
begin to discuss from a vacuum, he
states gravely, and when you start
choosing your facts you cannot sepa-
rate them from theif huge context"
Is there then merely a state of
chaos with which to deal? He de-
nieS this, too. He will allow the
discusSers no fixed premises. Chaos
Is qualthed-even chaos. It Is full
Of areas Of uniformity" and exists
together with order everywhere
throughout human affairs. Every
thing, says DR.. Beard, traces back
to its source, and its source is mex
tricably mingled with innuuarsble
other sourceS-and for all this in
termlngling he gives the name his
tory. But history, too. he concludes,
Is inscrutable.
So how are we to discuss intel
hgently? Or, SIS DR.. Beard puts 1t,
docs no transcendent truth emerge
from this survey of human lirnita-
tons? The answer is: One truth
rising above the conflicts and dis
temperS Of time Goes emerge, and it
is a truth important for practice.
This truth may bs formulated as
follows: 1t is possible for all who
discuss human affairs to distinguish
somewhat effectively between fact
and opinion and to have extensive
knowledge of the various positions
or points of view (tacit or adnitted)
from which any expression Ut opinion
proceeds or takes direction.
AS knowledge Of these positions, or
points of view, is widened by per-
SiStent inquiry, their overlapping or
interpenetrating nature enters into
human consciousness, with the result
that sharpness Of division Is softened
and the way prepared for resolving
conflicts by the magic of thought
projected into the forum If practice.
For whatever it is worth, this is the
supreme contribution of contempo-