venture into the realm of nocturnal unreality. The free play of active
imagination, the distorted and transitory conceptions and apparitions,
and the strangely elusive analogies, all lend charm and color to this
happy portrayal of the vague boundaries of Somnus' domain. Mrs.
Renshaw's rank as a poet is of very high tone, most of her productions
involving a spiritual insight and metaphysical comprehension vastly
beyond that of the common mind. But this very nobility of imagination,
and superiority to the popular appeal, are only too likely to render her
best work continually underestimated and unappreciated by the majority.
She is not a "poet of the masses", and her graver efforts must needs
reach audiences more notable for cultured than numerical magnitude. Of
Mrs. Renshaw's liberal metrical theories, enough is said elsewhere. This
Department can neither endorse principles so radical, nor refrain from
remarking that want of proper rhyme and metre has relegated to obscurity
many a rich and inspired poem.
"Departed", by Maude Kingsbury Barton, is a sentimental poem of
undoubted grace and sweetness, happily cast in unbroken metre.
* * * * *
=The Coyote= for January is adorned by no less than three of Mrs.
Winifred V. Jordan's exquisite short poems. "The Night-Wind" is a
delicately beautiful fragment of dreamy metaphor. There is probably a
slight misprint in the last line, since the construction there becomes
somewhat obscure. "My Love's Eyes" has merit, but lacks polish. The word
"azure" in the first stanza, need not be in the possessive case; whilst
the use of a singular verb with a plural noun in the second stanza
(smiles-beguiles) is a little less than grammatical. "Longing" exhibits
the author at her best, the images and phraseology alike showing the
touch of genius.
Other poetry in this issue is by Adam Dickson, a bard of pleasing manner
but doubtful correctness. "Smile" needs rigorous metrical and rhetorical
revision to escape puerility. "Silver Bells of Memory" is better, though
marred by the ungrammatical passage "thoughts doth linger". In this
passage, either the noun must be made singular, or the verb form plural.
"Prohibition in Kansas" is a well written prose article by Editor
William T. Harrington, wherein he exhibits a commendably favourable
attitude toward the eradication of the menace of strong drink. Mr.
Harrington is an able and active amateur, and takes an intelligent
interest in many public questions. His style and taste are steadily
improving, so that =The Coyote= has already become a paper of importance
among us.
* * * * *
=The Dixie Booster= for January is Mr. Raymond E. Nixon's =Capital City
News=, transferred to the amateur world, and continued under the new
name. With this number the editor's brother, Mr. Roy W. Nixon, assumes
the position of Associate Editor. This neat little magazine is
home-printed throughout, and may well remind the old-time amateurs of
those boyish "palmy days" whose passing they lament so frequently. By
means of a cut on the third page, we are properly introduced to Editor
Nixon, who at present boasts but thirteen years of existence. The gifted
and versatile associate editor, Mr. Roy W. Nixon, shows marked talent in
three distinct departments of literature; essay-writing, fiction, and
verse. "Writing as a Means of Self-Improvement" is a pure, dignified and
graceful bit of prose whose thought is as commendable as its structure.
"A Bottle of Carbolic Acid" is a gruesome but clever short story of the
Poe type, exhibiting considerable comprehension of abnormal psychology
as treated in literature. "My Valentine" is a poem of tuneful metre and
well expressed sentiment, though not completely polished throughout. The
third stanza, especially, might be made less like prose in its images.
* * * * *
=Dowdell's Bearcat= for December is quaint and attractive in appearance.
The youthful editor has provided himself with a series of cuts of the
metaphorical "Bruin" in various attitudes and various employments, these
clever little pictures lending a pleasing novelty to the cover and the
margins. Judiciously distributed red ink, also, aids in producing a
Christmas number of truly festive quality. Mr. Dowdell's "Growls from
the Pit" is a series of editorials both timely and interesting, while
his "Did You Hear That" is a lively page of fresh news. This issue is
notable for Mrs. Winifred V. Jordan's poetical contributions, of which
there are three. "Life's Sunshine and Shadows" is a tuneful moral poem
whose rhythm and imagery are equally excellent. "Contentment" is brief
but delightful. "When the Woods Call" is a virile, graphic piece;
vibrant with the thrill of the chase, and crisp with the frosty air of
the Northern Woods.
The present reviewer's lines "To Samuel Loveman" contain five misprints,
as follows:
Line 3 for =are= read =art=
" 5 " =Appollo= " =Apollo=
" 6 " =versus= " =verses=
" 15 " =eternal= " =ethereal=
" 18 " =the= " =thee=
"Beads from my Rosary", by Mary M. Sisson, is a collection of well
written and sensible paragraphs on amateur journalism, which ought to
assist in arousing enthusiasm amongst many members hitherto dormant.
Editor Dowdell's pithy little epigrams at the foot of each page form an
entertaining feature, many of them being of considerable cleverness.
=Dowdell's Bearcat= will soon revert to its original newspaper form,
since Mr. Dowdell intends to make newspaper work his life Profession.
* * * * *
=The Inspiration= for November is a decidedly informal though
exceedingly clever personal paper issued by Miss Edna von der Heide as a
reminiscence of the Rocky Mount convention. Prose and verse of
whimsically humorous levity are employed with success in recording the
social side of the amateur gathering.
* * * * *
=The Looking Glass= for January is composed wholly of biographical
matter, introducing to the association the multitude of accomplished
recruits obtained through Mrs. Renshaw and others. In these forty life
stories, most of them autobiographical, the student of human nature may
find material for profound reflection on the variety of mankind. The
more recent members of the United, as here introduced, are in the
aggregate a maturer, more serious, and more scholarly element than that
which once dominated the amateur world; and if they can be properly
welcomed and acclimated to the realm of amateur letters, they will be of
great value indeed in building up the ideals and character of the
association. For this influx of sedate, cultivated members, the United
has Mrs. Renshaw to thank, since the present policy of recruiting was
originated and is conducted largely by the Second Vice-President.
* * * * *
=Ole Miss'= for December is the most important of all recent additions
to amateur letters, and it is with regret that we learn of the
magazine's prospective discontinuance. The issue under consideration is
largely local, most of the contributions being by Mississippi talent,
and it must be said that the contributors all reflect credit upon their
native or adopted State.
Mr. J. W. Renshaw's page of editorials is distinguished equally by good
sense and good English. His attitude of disapproval toward petty
political activities and fruitless feuds in the United is one which
every loyal member will endorse, for nearly all of the past disasters in
amateur history have been caused not by serious literary differences,
but by conflicting ambitions among those seeking no more than cheap
notoriety.
Mrs. Renshaw is well represented both by prose and by verse, the most
interesting of her pieces being possibly the essay entitled "Poetic
Spontaneity", wherein more arguments are advanced in her effort to prove
the inferior importance of form and metre in poesy. According to Mrs.
Renshaw, the essence of all genuine poetry is a certain spontaneous and
involuntary spiritual or psychological perception and expression;
incapable of rendition in any prescribed structure, and utterly
destroyed by subsequent correction or alteration of any kind. That is,
the bard must respond unconsciously to the noble impulse furnished by a
fluttering bird, a dew-crowned flower, or a sun-blest forest glade;
recording his thoughts exactly as evolved, and never revising the
result, even though it be detestably cacophonous, or absolutely
unintelligible to his less inspired circle of readers. To such a theory
as this we must needs reply, that while compositions of the sort
indicated may indeed represent poesy, they certainly represent art in
its proper sense no more than do "futuristic" pictures and other modern
monstrosities of a like nature. The only exact means whereby a poet may
transmit his ideas to others is language, a thing both definite and
intellectual. Granting that vague, chaotic, dissonant lines are the best
form in which the tender suitor of the Muses may record his spiritual
impressions for his own benefit and comprehension, it by no means
follows that such lines are at all fitted to convey those impressions to
minds other than his own. When language is used without appropriateness,
harmony, or precision, it can mean but little save to the person who
writes it. The soul of a poem lies not in words but in meaning; and if
the author have any skill at all in recording thought through language,
he will be able to refine the uncouth mass of spontaneous verbiage
which first comes to him as representing his idea, but which in its
original amorphous state may fail entirely to suggest the same idea to
another brain. He will be able to preserve and perpetuate his idea in a
style of language which the world may understand, and in a rhythm which
may not offend the reader's sense of propriety with conspicuous
harshness, breaks, or sudden transitions.
"Flames of the Shadow", Mrs. Renshaw's longest poetical contribution to
this issue, is a powerful piece which, despite the author's theory,
seems in no way injured by its commendably regular structure.
"Immortality of Love" is likewise rather regular, though the plan of
rhyming breaks down in the last stanza. "For You" and "Sacrament of
Spirit" are short pieces, the former containing an "allowable" rhyming
of "tongue" and "long", which would not meet with the approval of the
Kleiner type of critic, but upon which this department forbears to
frown.
James T. Pyke's two poems, "To a Butterfly" and "Life and Time" are gems
of incomparable beauty. "Ole Gardens", by Winifred V. Jordan, is a
haunting bit of semi-irregular verse which deserves warm applause for
the cleverness of its imagery and the aptness of its phraseology. "The
Reward of it All", by Emilie C. Holladay, is a potent but pathetic poem
of sentiment, whose development is highly commendable, but whose
metrical construction might be improved by judicious care. "A
Mississippi Autumn" was written as prose by Mrs. Renshaw, and set in
heroic verse without change of ideas by the present critic. The metaphor
is uniformly lofty and delicate, whilst the development of the sentiment
is facile and pleasing. It is to be hoped that the original thoughts of
the author are not impaired or obscured by the technical turns of the
less inspired versifier. "My Dear, Sweet, Southern Blossom", dedicated
to Mr. and Mrs. Renshaw with Compliments of the Author, James Laurence
Crowley, is a saccharine and sentimental piece of verse reminiscent of
the popular ballads which flourished ten or more years ago. Triteness is
the cardinal defect, for each genuine image is what our discerning
private critic Mr. Moe would call a "rubber-stamp" phrase. Mr. Crowley
requires a rigorous course of reading among the classic poets of our
language, and a careful study of their art as a guide to the development
of his taste. At present his work has about it a softness bordering on
effeminacy, which leads us to believe that his conception of the poet's
art is rather imperfect. It is only in caricature that we discover the
poet as a sighing, long-haired scribbler of gushing flights of infantile
awe or immature adoration. Earnestness, dignity, and at times, sonorous
stateliness, become a good poet; and such thoughts as are generally
suggested by the confirmed use of "Oh", "Ah", "dear", "little",
"pretty", "darling", "sweetest flow'ret of all", "where the
morning-glory twineth", and so on, belong less to literary poetry than
to the Irving Berlin song-writing industry of "Tin Pan Alley" in the
Yiddish wilds of New York City. Mr. Crowley has energy of no mean sort,
and if he will apply himself assiduously to the cultivation of masculine
taste and technic, he can achieve a place of prominence among United
bards.
W. S. Harrison deserves a word of praise for his poem of Nature,
entitled "Our Milder Clime", wherein he celebrates the charms of
Mississippi, his native state. The lines contain an old-fashioned grace
too often wanting in contemporary verse. Other contributions to =Ole
Miss'= are Mrs. Maude K. Barton's "Something of Natchez", a very
interesting descriptive sketch in prose, and Dr. Rolfe Hunt's two negro
dialect pieces, both of which are of inimitable wit and cleverness.
* * * * *
=The Pippin= for February is the first number of this important
high-school journal to be issued without the supervision of Mr. Moe, and
its excellence well attests the substantial independent merit of the
Appleton Club. The city of Appleton forms the dominant theme in this
number, and with the assistance of seven attractive half-tone
illustrations, the publication well displays the beauty and advantages
of the pleasant Wisconsin town. Miss Eleanor Halls cleverly weaves into
conversational form much information concerning the remote history of
Appleton, emphasizing the superior character resulting from the select
quality of the settlers, and the early introduction of learning. Mr.
Alfred Galpin surprises many readers when he reveals the fact that
Appleton possessed the first of all telephone systems, a surprise
quickly followed by Mr. Joseph Harriman's illustrated paragraph telling
of the first street-car, also an Appleton innovation. Among other
articles, that by Miss Torrey on Lawrence College is of unusual
interest. "The Immortalization of the Princess", by Miss Fern Sherman,
is an excellent Indian tale, whose structure and atmosphere well suggest
not only the characteristic tribal legends of the red folk, but other
and more classical myths as well. Though Miss Sherman is not yet a
member of the United, one of such gifts would be heartily welcomed in
the ranks.
* * * * *
=The Plainsman= for December is the most substantial number of his
journal which Mr. Ira Cole has yet issued. First in order of importance
among the contents is perhaps the editor's own prose sketch entitled
"Monuments", wherein Mr. Cole reveals to particular advantage his
exceptional skill in depicting and philosophizing upon the various
aspects and phenomena of Nature. Mr. Cole's style is constantly
improving, though not now of perfect polish, it is none the less
remarkable for its grace and fluency. "To Florence Shepphird", also by
Mr. Cole, is a rather long piece of blank verse, containing many
beautiful passages. The author's skill in stately and sonorous poetry is
far above the common level, and his work has about it an atmosphere of
the polished past which that of most amateur bards lacks; yet the
present poem is not without errors. The passage (lines 10-11) reading:
"calm =days= that =knoweth= not dread Boreas' chilling breath" must be
changed so that either the noun shall be singular or the verb plural.
The double negative in line 23 might well be eliminated. Two lines whose
metre could be improved are the 13th and 50th. The final quatrain is
pleasing to the average ear, including that of the present critic;
though the very exact taste of today, as represented by Mr. Kleiner,
frowns upon such deviation from the dominant blank verse arrangement.
"On the Cowboys of the West" is a brief bit of verse by this reviewer,
accompanied by a note from the pen of Mr. Cole. The note is better than
the verse, and exhibits Mr. Cole's vivid and imaginative prose at its
best. "The Sunflower", a versified composition by James Laurence
Crowley, concludes the issue. There is much attractiveness in the lines;
though we may discover particularly in the second stanza, that touch of
excessive softness which occasionally mars Mr. Crowley's work. No one
can fail to discern the weakness of such a line as "You big giant of all
the flowers".
* * * * *
=The Providence Amateur= for February is worthy of particular attention
on account of Mr. Peter J. MacManus' absorbing article on "The Irish and
the Fairies". Mr. MacManus firmly believes not only that fairies exist
in his native Ireland, but that he has actually beheld a troop of them;
facts which impart to this article a psychological as well as a literary
interest. The prose style of Mr. MacManus is very good, being notable
alike for fluency and freedom from slang, whilst his taste is of the
best. His future work will be eagerly awaited by the amateur public.
Edmund L. Shehan contributed both verse and prose to this issue. "Death"
is a stately poem on a grave subject, whose sentiments are all of
suitable humility and dignity. The apparently anomalous pronoun "her",
in the tenth line, is a misprint for "he". The piece ends with a rhyming
couplet, to which Mr. Kleiner, representing correct modern taste, takes
marked exception. The present reviewer, however, finds no reason to
object to any part of Mr. Shehan's poem, and attributes this concluding
couplet to the influence of similar Shakespearian terminations. The
prose piece by Mr. Shehan well describes a visit to a cinematograph
studio, and is entitled "The Making of a Motion Picture". In the verses
entitled "A Post-Christmas Lament", Mr. John T. Dunn combines much
keenness of wit with commendable regularity of metre. Mr. Dunn is among
the cleverest of the United's humorous writers. "To Charlie of the
Comics" is a harmless parody on our Laureate's excellent poem "To Mary
of the Movies", which appeared some time ago in =The Piper=. In "The
Bride of the Sea", Mr. Lewis Theobald, Jr., presents a rather weird
piece of romantic sentimentality of the sort afforded by bards of the
early nineteenth century. The metre is regular, and no flagrant
violations of grammatical or rhetorical precepts are to be discerned,
yet the whole effort lacks clearness, dignity, inspiration, and poetic
spontaneity. The word printed "enhanc'd" in the sixth stanza is properly
"entranc'd".
* * * * *
=Tom Fool, Le Roi= bears no definite date, but is a sort of pensive
autumn reverie following the Rocky Mount convention of last summer. This
grave and dignified journal is credited to the House of Tillery, and if
typographical evidence may be accepted, it belongs most particularly to
that branch now bearing the name of Renshaw and having its domain in
Coffeeville, Mississippi. "Mother Gooseries from the Convention", by
Emilie C. Holladay, is a long stanzaic and Pindaric ode, whose taste and
technic are alike impeccable. The exalted images are sketched with
artistic touch, whilst the deep underlying philosophy, skillfully
clothed in well balanced lines, arouses a sympathetic reaction from
every cultural intellect. "The Carnival", by Mrs. E. L. Whitehead, is an
admirable example of stately descriptive prose mixed with aesthetic
verse. The long and euphonious periodic sentences suggest the style of
Gibbon or of Dr. Johnson, whilst the occasional metrical lines remind
the reviewer of Dr. Young's solemn "Night Thoughts". "Dummheit", by Dora
M. Hepner, is a grave discourse on Original Sin, describing the planning
of =Tom Fool, Le Roi=. Elizabeth M. Ballou's article entitled "Our
Absent Friend" forms a notable contribution to amateur historical
annals, and displays Miss Ballou as the possessor of a keen faculty for
observation, and a phenomenally analytical intellect. "Banqueters from
the Styx", Mrs. Renshaw's masterly description of the convention dinner
and its honoured guests from the regions of Elysium and elsewhere,
reminds the reviewer of the 11th book of the Odyssey and the 6th book of
the Aeneid, wherein the fraternizing of men with the shades of men is
classically delineated.
=Tom Fool= is a memorable publication, suggesting the old "fraternal"
papers, whose passing so many amateurs regret.
* * * * *
THE UNITED AMATEUR for November contains besides the official matter a
small but select assortment of poems, prominent among which is "The
Meadow Cricket", by Jas. T. Pyke. It is impossible to overestimate the
beauty of thought and expression which Mr. Pyke shows in all his verses,
and the United is fortunate in being able to secure specimens of his
work.
"Remorse", by James Laurence Crowley, is one of the best samples of this
gentleman's poesy which we have yet seen, though Mr. Crowley insists
that one of the punctuation marks has been wrongfully located by the
reviser. Since the present critic prepared the manuscript for
publication, he is willing to assume full culpability for this crime.
There is genuine poetic feeling in this short piece; and it seems an
undoubted fact that Mr. Crowley with a little added restraint and
dignity of expression, is capable of producing excellent work. "List to
the Sea", by Winifred V. Jordan, is a delightfully musical lyric, whose
dancing dactyls and facile triple rhymes captivate alike the fancy and
the ear. "The Wind and the Beggar", by Maude K. Barton, is sombre and
powerful. "Ambition", by William de Ryee, is regular in metre and
commendable in sentiment, yet not exactly novel or striking in
inspiration. "Choose ye", by Ella C. Eckert, is a moral poem of clever
conception and correct construction.
* * * * *
=The United Official Quarterly= for January opens with "A Prayer for the
New Year", by Frederick R. Chenault. Mr. Chenault is a poet of the first
order so far as inspiration is concerned, but his work is frequently
marred by irregularity of metre, and the use of assonance in place of
rhyme. The metre of this poem is correct, but the two attempted rhymes
"deeper-meeker" and "supremely-sincerely" are technically no more than
assonant sounds. Pres. Fritter writes very powerfully on our publishing
situation in this number; and his article should not only be perused
with attention, but heeded with sincerity and industriousness.
"Behind the Canvas Wall", by William J. Dowdell, is one of the cleverest
and most ingenious bits of fiction which the amateur press has contained
for some time. That it is of a nature not exactly novel is but a trivial
objection. The homely, appealing plot, and the simple, sympathetic
treatment, both point to Mr. Dowdell as a possible success in the realm
of short story writing, should he ever care to enter it seriously.
Another excellent tale is "The Good Will of a Dog", by P. J. Campbell.
The plot is of a well defined type which always pleases, whilst the
incidents are graphically delineated. "The Bookstall" is a metrical
monstrosity by the present reviewer. Mr. Maurice W. Moe, the
distinguished Private Critic, lately gave us the following opinion of
our verse. "You are," he writes, "steeped in the poetry of a certain
age; an age, by the way, which cut and fit its thought with greater
attention to one model than any other age before or since; and the
result is that when you turn to verse as a medium of expression, it is
just as if you were pressing a button liberating a perfect flood of
these perfectly good but stereotyped formulae of expression. The result
is very ingenious, but just because it is such a skillful mosaic of
Georgian 'rubber-stamp' phrases, it must ever fall short of true art."
Mr. Moe is correct. We have, in fact, heard this very criticism
reiterated by various authorities ever since those prehistoric days when
we began to lisp in numbers. Yet somehow we perversely continue to
"mosaic" along in the same old way! But then, we have never claimed to
possess "true art"; we are merely a metrical mechanic. "A New Point of
View In Home Economics", a clever article by Miss Eleanor Barnhart,
concludes the =Official Quarterly= proper.