Two Belgian Poets Today, when little Belgium has almost ceased to exist, it is extraordinary that two such poets should still be speaking for her, to remind us that a nation is measured, not by geography, or even by military supremacy, but by the genius and heroic spirit of her greatest men. A. F. OUR CONTEMPORARIES A NEW SCHOOL OF POETRY Replacing the outworn conventions of the I-am-bic school, we have now the I-am-it school of poetry. (NOTE: Les I-am-its are not to be confused with Les I'm-a-gists, who are already out-classed and démodé.) The following synopsis, telescoped from the new Others anthology, gives the salient features of the school: I am Aladdin. I Wanting a thing, I have but to snap my fingers. There are three of us (I's); the little girl (I) used to be; the girl (I-I) I am; the girl (I-I-I) I am going to be IV Mary Cora Davies THE CRITIC'S SENSE OF HUMOR In a recent interview in the New York Times, Mr. Robert Underwood Johnson, erstwhile editor of The Century, sums up his objections to what he calls the formlessness of modern poetry by an objection not based upon form, but spirit. This is what he says: Now if anything is characteristic of the "prose librist" it is his lack of a sense of humor. A sense of humor is the finest critic the artist can have. Poetry, having the "high seriousness" that Arnold considers necessary to it, has not needed the guidance of the sense of humor, as for example, Wordsworth's great ode. But in the main a sense of humor is what keeps the poets as well as other people from making fools of themselves. It is hardly true that a sense of humor will keep the poet from making a fool of himself; it will, however, permit the poet to see that he is making a fool of himself-from which he may derive a double satisfaction. If great poetry may be achieved without the guidance of a sense of humor, poetry is none the less great because of its presence; and if I had to choose between them as companions in the desert, I think I should take Chaucer and Shakespeare rather than Wordsworth and Milton. But if "a sense of humor is the finest critic an artist can have," let's hope that the "prose librist,"-as Mr. Johnson calls Edgar Lee Masters, and also, by inference, Walt Whitman-let's hope that Mr. Masters tempers all the criticism he receives with at least as much humorous appreciation as that bestowed by this critic upon Mr. Masters' work. Or is it possible that the "high seriousness" of criticism does not need the guidance of a sense of humor? Notes NOTES The editors regret that they must postpone until the June number the decision in regard to the one-hundred dollar prize offered for a one-act play in verse. The contest closed March first, but the reading of many plays requires time and careful consideration. Mr. Allen Upward, of London, is the author of Scented Leaves from a Chinese Jar, which aroused intense interest when first published in POETRY for September, 1913; also of that revolutionary philosophical work, The New Word, and many romances. Mr. Max Michelson, and Mr. Maxwell Bodenheim, both of Chicago, have also appeared before in our pages. The latter's first book of verse will soon be published by John Marshall, New York. Mary Aldis (Mrs. Arthur T.), also of Chicago and a former contributor, has just published, through Duffield & Co., Plays for a Small Stage, and will soon follow it with Flash-lights, a volume of dramatic monologues in free verse. The latest book of Miss Amy Lowell, of Boston, is Six French Poets, published by the Macmillan Co., who will bring out a new book of her verse in the autumn. Antoinette de Coursey Patterson (Mrs. T. de H.), of Philadelphia, will soon publish her first book of verse. Of the poets new to our readers: Mr. Richard Hunt, of Boston, was for a while one of the editors of The Poetry Journal. Rev. Charles L. O'Donnell, of the faculty of the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, will soon publish, through Laurence J. Gomme, New York, his first book of verse. Daphne Kieffer Thompson (Mrs. H. D.), now of Muskegon, Mich., and Miss Suzette Herter, of New York, have published little as yet. BOOKS RECEIVED ORIGINAL VERSE: The Shadow Eater, by Benjamin De Casseres. Alb. & Chas. Boni, Songs and Satires, by Edgar Lee Masters. Macmillan Co. |