_The Lyric._ By JOHN DRINKWATER. (Martin Secker.)
None of the “sound and fury” of modern literary theories (signifying
nothing?), and little that is arresting is to be found in this essay on
the lyric; its argument has a stately conservatism with enough that is
fresh and new to make the whole of interest.
Drinkwater pins much faith on Coleridge’s definition of poetry:
“poetry--the best words in the best order”. After declaring this to
be the one and only true definition, later in the text he admits that
there can be no proper definition of poetry, since so much depends
on the individuality of the poet. So perhaps we can forgive him the
contradiction on the score that he relieves us of the necessity of
having our ideals of poetry destroyed forever.
The author advances an interesting theory of poetic “energies”, the
forces that cause the creation of verse. He classifies these into
several types that cast a new light on the whys and wherefores of
poetry. The lyric itself is well defined. Perhaps the most interesting
passage is his clever answer to the accusations against form made by
the sponsors of free-verse. Their own lack of form, however, he treats
not with diatribe, but interested tolerance.