Evening star., 1937-07-31
AMERICAN VERSES COMPILED
Anthology Containing 900 Contemporary Poems Written by Men
Is Well Worth g-AutobiograpcalV Volumes Make
Reader Glad That the Atlantic Is Wide
By Mary Carter Roberts.

POETS. Edited by Thomas De
Vecchio. Illustrated by Charle
Cullen. New York: Henry Harri.
son.
Asst year Henry Harrison brought
out an anthology Of contemporary
poetry by American women. Hard or
the heels OF the appearance of this
volume. there arose, so he announced
. demand for like compilation Of the
verses Of living American men. The
present collection is the result of this
demand. It contains some 600 poems
by 459 authors. The feminine an
thology was a somewhat thicker book
Its contributors numbered 1911. Cert
tAinly the Idea of publishing collec-
tions of the work of living poets is
an excellent one and must be COM
mended The division into works by
men and women, however, seems
pointless. One could wish that the
poems had been classified in some
more significant manner. Be that as
1t may, the two volumes do constitute
. first rate survey of contemporary
American poetry and ought to be &C
quired by any one who has an interest
In poetic development in this country.
Six hundred verses and almost as
many verse writer's, of course, make a
batch of material and personalities too
unWieldy to be handled critically in
any but the most general, or the most
extremely specific terms. A reviewer
can take such volume author by
author or verse by verse and do it
Justice, if he has unlimited space at
his disposal, or he can simply indicate
the general level, mention such char
acteristics as seem to him common to
the work as whole and let it go at
that. The latter method on the whole
seems preferable.
For when one undertakes close eX-
animation of verse, one must enter
upon technical considerations which
are outside the interest of the general
reader, and one also runs into the in
escapable fact that, in poetry, every
There are no rules that can be de-
pended upon. The world has taken
Homer to its bosom these many CEN
turies 1t also embraces Eddie Guest
A critic, viewing the phenomenon,
may well feel somewhat puzzled
So it seems likely that those who are
seriously interested in this new an
thology will get it for themselves, and
nothing which reviewer could write
about it would in the least impress
them, unless, of course. it happened
to agree with their own conclusions
For the guidance of those who have
not decided whether or not to buy this
book, however, this reviewer will write
that the volume seems to have a rather
low general level, but also more peaks
than one usually finds in a collection
OF the same scope. In other words II
u very uneven. Unquestionably it
contains some excellent poems; it con-
t2ins enough Of these to make it's pos
session desirable But these fine works
seem to be set down among others of q
peculiarly irritating badness-that is.
works Of precious mediocrity and
vorse-verses in which the pretentiouS
statement of popular idea is OBJ
viously expected to offset careless and
unskilled technique
In general these popular ideas have
to do with the class struggle. They
also get around to the disillusion of
postwar youth, the wickedness of the
NaAs, and the fecund discovery $50
dear to young mem that friendship is
feigning and loving is folly. There
are some good verses on all these
subjects, too. But in general the
glaringly obvious has attracted the
less able.
Among the good works it is inter-
esting to find that the Overwhelming
number follow recognized Tor at least
recognizable) forms. There are some
nne sonnets, grave, dignif1ed and mov-
ing, as a sonnet ought to be- There
are some delicately beautiful lyrics
There are some swinging and spirited
ballads, some accomplished blank verse
and some equally good free In these
works we find the poetic form and the
poetic thought blended with propriety
and that of course, is what makes
poem. The inferiority Of the other
verses seems to lie in the ruthless de-
termination OF some poetaster TO yoke
cheap thinking with cheaper shapeless-
ness and depend on the honored ira
ditions Of the poetic craft to win him
respectful reading. There is a number
OF these suficiently large to be dis
Couraging
The editor in his preface makes the
announcement that the poet of today,
far removed from the romantic Pc
riods OF literature. struggling for eco
nomic and artistic survival, must in
evitably recognize that thorough
understanding of political economy is
An essential requirement of his art. +"
and this, no doubt, explains the large
number OF what may be called 'polit-
ical" poems included In the volume.
The reviewer made no count, but is
under the impression that there are
more poems on the subject OF political
change than on any other one theme.
Without exception. moreover, these
verses are left-Wing In sentiment.
Whether poets who do not share leftist
sympathies simply are not writing on
politics at all. or whether the editor
has deliberately excluded their work
because he disagrees with 1t, one can
not know. Certain it is however, that
he has himself vivid hatred OF the
present system Of our Government.
for he tells us as much
To-day, as in the past" he says, "the
opposition to truthful artistic express
sion is Led by vicious privileged class
which stops at nothing to maintain
Its wobbling supremacy"
The statement obviously is some
what more ardent than accurate.
When he speaks Of the past, he seems
not to remember that it has been the
tyrant through all history who has
sheltered the arts; and when he
applies his indictment to the present.
he overlooks the fact that, though
Communist Russia, Socialist Germany
and Fascist italy are using severe