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BY LLOYD

HE capacity for sharing vividly in poetic experience is a part of the unconscious wisdom of childhood. Most of us perhaps would like to believe hat we have preserved it unblemished gainst the challenge of the recurring years. Few would be willing to confess a spiritual sterility so devastatingly complete as to leprive them of the ability to recapture that magical insight which is an effect of beauty and which lies at the heart of poetic experience. But to many that experience lacks, with the passing years, something of the exquisite glamour with which it first revealed itself, and they are prone to attribute to a fancied impermanence of beauty that which is rather the result of a neglect to cultivate those attitudes which make for insight.

If our approach to poetry is colored by a not unnatural discouragement, we may none the less take heart. At some moment of the past a brilliant interpreter or inspired teacher unlocked the magic casement and made us free of the larger world of beauty. If the power of his insight alone so greatly stimulated our receptivity to beauty, it is probable that some knowledge of his methods will go far toward enabling us to recapture those moods of the spirit in which the world of the imagination first exercised its dominion over us. What is the discipline which fosters such insights? The question is answered by one who is himself both poet and interpreter of poetry.

In a charming essay on "The Teaching. of Poetry" in his recent volume, Professor Erskine remarks that it is the function of the teacher-and he might well have added, of the critic also-" to afford a mediation between great poets and their audience," ... to supply the information, the background, whatever is lacking to make the reader at home with the book." In order to supply this background the teacher or the critic must draw upon both history and philosophy, must include in his definition of literature the literature of reason as well as the literature of emotion. In

other words, if we are to recover poetic experience, we must have some control over the facts and over the ideas which have contributed to the inspiration of poetry. As Professor Erskine points out, this control is an instrument which we rarely "We talk," he says, "of enough possess. the ideas of evolution in 'In Memoriam,' but we ignore those predecessors of Darwin whom Tennyson studied, and Darwin himself, of course, we do not read. If it be urged that he did not write with felicity, and therefore deserves to be counted out of literature, what shall be said of Hobbes and Locke, of Berkeley and Hume, or how shall we dispose of such an historian as Gibbon ?" The romantic definition which excludes from literature those books which do not essentially possess an emotional content is peculiar to English criticism, in

The Kinds of Poetry and Other Essays. By John Erskine, Professor of English, Columbia University. Duffield & Co., New York.

A Study of Poetry. By Bliss Perry, Professor of English Literature in Harvard University. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston.

R. MORRIS

the wide sense, and more particularly to the criticism of the romantic revival, which cultivated feeling rather than thought, and

refused to admit that reason itself was capable of arousing the emotions. To the classical scholar, who admits Aristotle or Herodotus to the canon of literature as freely as he does Homer or Euripides, and to the French scholar, who reads as literature Descartes or Voltaire or Rousseau, the antithetical opposition of reason and

emotion in our common definition of literature might well seem strange.

Even if we agree that we may draw upon both history and philosophy for our greater understanding of poetry, we may well in-. quire into the character of their special

(C) Underwood & Underwood

JOHN ERSKINE

contributions. History, Professor Erskine tells us, will make us contemporary with a poem, but, once contemporary, the problems of appreciation and interpretation remain ; a mere knowledge of facts, however comprehensive, will not solve them. How shall we proceed? "To criticise a poem written yesterday or this morning one needs not a record but a theory of life. We pass judgment immediately on our neighbor's actions, on his thoughts or emotions, without Poetry, a going into his biography. reflection of action or thought or feeling, is judged in no other way. The equipment of the best teachers of literature is principally this, that by experience or study they have arrived at a coherent philosophy of life, and have therefore an instrument with which to take hold of new emotions and new thoughts. It makes little difference what our philosophy is, so long as it is sincere and thorough; of course the more it explains of life and letters, the better it is, but the desirable thing is to have some philosophy."

But what, after all, is poetry? We have two definitions offered. "The field of poetry," says Professor Perry in his stim-" ulating study, "is that portion of human feeling which expresses itself through rhythmical and preferably metrical lan

guage." What distinguishes the poet from his fellow-men, he proceeds, is not the peculiar nature of the images which inspire the poem, but the increasingly verbal form of these images as they are reshaped by the poet's imagination, and in the rhythmical or metrical character of their final expression. Poetry, Professor Erskine tells us in the exquisite and penetrating essay which gives its title to his book, is an invariable function of life. "Ordinarily," he says, "the emotions aroused by experience are used up in the further process of living. The poet differs from his fellows only in the greater power of his emotions, in the greater imperativeness of his intuitions, whereby it is easier for him to express them in words than to consume them in life. The stimulus that enters the poet's nature and comes out as epical or dramatic or lyrical expression, enters equally the nature of ordinary man and is consumed in lyrical or epic or dramatic living. A poet's temperament prescribes into which of the three genres his work shall fall; and similarly the temperament of average men prescribes whether they shall live in the present, or in the past, or in the future." The qualities of poetry which we term lyrical, dramatic, or epic, he continues, are as fundamental as the three apprehensions of life which they imply

as simply a present moment, or as a present moment in which the past is reaped, or as a present moment in which the future is promised."

The two theories of poetry thus briefly indicated serve in a measure to differentiate the attitudes toward poetry of the two critics. Professor Perry is an advocate of what he has termed the genetic method in criticism; Professor Erskine, if we do not misread him, conceives poetry as a domain of human experience, a "function of life," and he would interpret it in terms of itself rather than in terms of its language, but in the light of whatever wisdom intelligence has formulated out of its contact with experience. And the difference in attitude, in what may be termed the philosophy of these two critics, determines very largely the character of the contribution to our recovery of poetic experience made by their books. Professor Perry, as we may imagine, is interested chiefly in analyzing the "strange potencies of verse," in its capacity to produce certain effects upon the mind of the reader, and, more particularly, in the method by which these effects are produced. Professor Erskine, himself a poet, is vitally interested in the same questions as is Profesor Perry, but he is likewise concerned with poetry as a means of apprehending, or, if you will, of interpreting, life.

In one thing, though perhaps they might vigorously disagree with this statement, the two critics are in decided agreement. And the element common to their critical equipment is that of method. Professor Erskine suggests his method of cultivating insight in his essay on "The Teaching of Poetry," and gives us an example of its application in another on "The New Poetry." Professor Perry applies the method in his closely packed "Study of Poetry," interpreting the aesthetic as well. as the experiential background of poetry in the light of his wide reading of litera

ture, of science, and of philosophy. He gives an unusually clear analysis, supported by rich and apt quotation, of the effects of poetry upon the reader, and in the second part of his book he discusses with equal felicity a special type of poemthe lyric. The value of his essay lies in its vivid ability to provide us witli those moments of lucid understanding in which poetic experience is restored to us. And it is to our additional advantage that Professor. Perry has the true critic's facility in making apparent to us not only what it is in poetry which moves us profoundly, but why we are profoundly moved.

Here, then, are two books in which the. lover of poetry will rejoice, for they hold the key to those magic casements of which Keats wrote and which open upon that world of beauty that is poetry. In the last analysis we shall find in poetry only what we bring to it; the ripeness of our wisdom, the depth of our spiritual capacity, and the power of our reading of human experience are only so many instruments with which. we may take hold of those experiences and ideas which have been its inspiration. And those books which provide the fortunate moments of spiritual apprehension which send us back to poetic experience with a more profound capacity are surely to be commended.

THE NEW BOOKS

FICTION

Cape Currey. By Rene Juta. Henry Holt & Co., New York.

Stories of secret gardens are always fascinating. This is also a story of Cape Colony more than a hundred years ago, of the British rule there, of a certain odd and whimsical doctor, and, as a matter of course, of love and adventure.

Come Seven. By Octavus Roy Cohen. Dodd, Mead & Co., New York.

No one, at least for a long time, has written such rollicking and orginal stories of Negro life as these by Mr. Cohen. They approach the burlesque in their fun, but they never fail to amuse. The titles of the separate stories are ingeniously phrased. To our liking, "The Quicker the Dead" is

the best.

Flemish Legends. By Charles de Coster. Illustrated. Translated from the French by Harold Taylor. The Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York.

These strange Middle-Age legends were gather by de Coster during the last century from the folklore of Brabant and Flanders. They are Rabelaisian in form but without the coarseness and rollicking humor of the great French satirist. There is much of somber beauty in the stories, but also much of the blood-lust of the period. In the Onyx Lobby. By Carolyn Wells.

The George H. Doran Company, New York. The singular accident by which the detectives and the readers are put on the wrong track almost to the end of the book is cleverly invented. Otherwise we cannot rank the book very highly in the constantly multiplying number of books of this class.

"No Clue!" By James Hay, Jr. Dodd, Mead & Co., New York.

A cleverly constructed detective story, but one with very little genuine human interest. The title is singularly inappropriate, for there are only too many clues, all of which, as is the wont of writers of

night with her mother at an inn in a remote Spanish district. What makes the mystery remarkable is that, not only does the girl disappear, but the room in which she slept, with its furniture, hangings, and the like, disappears also, so that in the morning the mother is neither able to find her daughter nor to find anything like the room in which she left her the night before. In other ways the story is original, but its literary quality is not particularly good. Top o' the Morning. By Seumas MacManus.

The Frederick A. Stokes Company, New
York.

The author has again given us a volume of short stories and character sketches of Irish life and people that abound in raciness, true fancy, and thorough knowledge of Irish character and dialect. One of these stories, we remember with pleasure, days of disturbance and tragedy in Ireland first appeared in The Outlook. In these it is restful to turn to such tales of genuine humor and large-hearted human nature. Valley of Silent Men (The). By James Oliver

Curwood. Illustrated. Cosmopolitan Book
Corporation, New York.

Mr. Curwood's story of the great Canadian north is well written, but is almost too tense, too somber, and sometimes too trying in its horror to be a pleasant book. The opening situation, in which a sergeant

of the Canadian Mounted Police, who be lieves himself at the point of death, confesses to a murder which he never committed in order to save a man whom he supposes to be guilty but who is really innocent, only to find that the doctor has made a mistake, and that the sergeant's greatest danger of death is that of being hanged, is certainly arresting and peculiar. Wilderness Mine (The). By Harold Bindloss.

Th

The Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York. Wherever Mr. Bindloss begins one of his stories, they are pretty sure to move sooner or later to a Canadian lumber camp or mine. In this case one wishes it had b been sooner, for the Canadian part of the book is much the best.

BOOKS FOR YOUNG FOLKS Hidden People (The). By Leo E. Miller. Illustrated. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.

The author is well known as a naturalist and explorer of South American countries. This tale is about two American college boys wrecked on the coast of South America. It is described as a boys' novel, but it is the kind of book that will appeal to all lovers of adventure.

ESSAYS AND CRITICISM Personal Prejudices. By Mrs. R. Clipston Sturgis, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. Decidedly entertaining little chapters, these, that seem like the talk of a clever woman dictaphoned. People who like to listen to such a talker will find this book most enjoyable.

TRAVEL AND DESCRIPTION Westward with the Prince of Wales. By W. Douglas Newton. D. Appleton & Co., New York.

The visit of the Prince to Canada and the United States is brightly and interestingly described. The author's comments on things American are keen, discriminating, and altogether friendly. The impression one gets of the Prince is that he is thor'oughly likable and unspoiled.

WAR BOOKS

Canteening Overseas. By Marian Baldwin. The Macmillan Company, New York.

These letters home from a Y. M. C. A. .worker in France are made vivid by a natural descriptive touch, by an ever-present sense of humor, and by an admirable spirit. They are all the better for having been written informally and without idea of publication. The author had the oppor tunity of seeing the front, and later the occupied German zone at many points. Her impressions of Paris, Aix-les-Bains, Coblenz, and other places are full of human interest; there are very many little pictures of soldier life, incidents thrilling and amusing, bits of character sketching. The reader gets an intimate, near-by view of the American boys in khaki. Letter writing is a gift, and the secret is usually in being simple, direct, and unaffectedthese letters exactly fit that description.

MISCELLANEOUS

Pleasures of Collecting (The). By Gardner Teall. Illustrated. The Century Company, New York.

This book will interest people who aspire to become collectors rather than those who have already become specialists in any one line. It covers a multitude of fascinating hobbies in short chapters freely and attractively illustrated. Any one who harbors even the germ of the collecting habit will find it developing in the glowing atmosphere of the author's enthusiasm.

I

ding, and France

F President Wilson had not raised the question, would you be under the impression that the French Government had sent an official representative to Senator Harding telling him that France was looking to America "to lead the way for a new association of nations"? Or would you have thought that some representative of France, speaking informally for France, suggested to Senator Harding that America should be the leader in such an association?

Some people consider this incident as a trifling affair. Is it?"

1 1

What are the provisions of the Federal law dealing with the question of a private American citizen communicating with any foreign government or its agent? When and why was this law passed? Are its penalties too severe or not severe enough? Has Senator Harding laid himself open to a charge of having violated it?

Do think the less said about this inyou cident the better? What are your reasons?

The Outlook says that President Wilson took an astonishing step in sending his inquiry to Senator Harding. What do you think The Outlook means? Do or do you not with it?

agree

The Outlook also says that "the whole affair is of importance only as an indication of Mr. Wilson's mental processes.' What is your opinion of this criticism?

How serious would it be for a foreign government officially to go over the head of our Chief Executive to appeal to the American people? Has the American Government ever done this toward a foreign government? Has a foreign government done this toward the American Government?

In your opinion, what contribution ought this affair to make to popular education?

English Labor Blocks English
Industry

How essential to Great Britain are her coal mines? Is her industrial supremacy largely due to her coal production?

We are told that Great Britain keeps on hand food enough to last only about a month. In the light of this, what comment can you make upon the significance of the

British coal strike?

How much more strongly is labor organized in Great Britain than in the United States? Is labor organized there mainly on political lines? Is it in the United States? Should it be anywhere?

Is the British coal strike a blow at constitutional government? What are your reasons?

Do you consider that the British miners are thinking soundly, economically? Discuss your answer.

Are they acting in their own best inter

1 These questions and comments are designed not ouly for the use of current events classes and clubs, debating societies, teachers of history and English. and the like, but also for discussion in the home and for suggestion to any reader who desires to study current affairs as well as to read about them. -THE EDITORS.

to whom?

What lessons for Americans do you see in the action of the British coal miners? What is your definition for: Paradox, referendum, nationalization of industries, deputation?

In connection with this topic you will do well, indeed, to read "England After the War," by Frank Dilnot (Doubleday, Page), and "The New Industrial Unrest," by R. S. Baker (Doubleday, Page).

The Haitian Situation

What relationship exists between Haiti and the United States? When and under

what circumstances did this relationship come into existence?

What is the matter in Haiti? What has the American Marine Corps done there? Do you think our forces should be occupy-. ing Haiti?

What is the policy of the Democratic Administration in Haiti? In your opinion, does or does not that policy injure our reputation with the various other American republics?

Why should an American citizen withhold judgment upon the Haitian situation until the findings of the Court of Inquiry are published?

Theodore Roosevelt

What do the two contributions on pages 366 to 371 tell you about Theodore Roosevelt which you did not know before?

Are any of the opinions and beliefs which were held by Mr. Roosevelt in the eighties and expressed in these articles still sound?

Sketch American political history from 1880 to 1884. What was the situation in the Republican party during this time? Who, at this time, were called the "stalwarts," the "half-breeds," and the "mugwumps"? How many comparisons can you make between the Presidential campaign of 1884 and the present one? What was Mr. Roosevelt's attitude toward Blaine as the Presidential candidate of the Republican party?

What did Mr. Roosevelt do for the cause of civil service? How important do you regard his efforts in this cause?

In its editorial entitled. "Theodore Roosevelt" what does The Outlook say the test of personality is? Is there any greater test of personality?

The Outlook tells us in this editorial who the three outstanding personalities in American political history are, but does not tell us who, in its opinion, our three greatest statesmen are. In your opinion, who are they? What are your reasons for selecting the names you do?

Do you believe that the personalities of men and women actually influence the course of history? Would the course of American history and world history have been different had Mr. Roosevelt never been born? Upon what do you base your belief? Is it possible to illustrate your answer?

Define the following terms: Hypercritical, escapades, asceticism, gyrations.

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