An Indignation Meeting, to protest against the outrageous attacks levelled
against Georgian writers and critics by Professor NOYES in his recent
lecture at the Royal Institution and by Mr. A.D. GODLEY in an article in
the current _Nineteenth Century_, was held last Saturday evening at the
Klaxon Hall. The chair was taken by Mr. EDWARD MARSH, C.M.G., who was
supported on the platform by a compact bevy of Georgian bards; but at an
early stage of the meeting it became apparent that a majority of those
present in the body of the hall were extremists of violent type, and
eventually, as will be seen, the proceedings ended in something
approximating to a free fight.
Mr. MARSH began by a frank confession. He had taken a First Class in the
Cambridge Classical Tripos. But the days in which he had been steeped to
the lips in Latin and Greek were long past, never to return. For many years
he had not composed hexameters, elegiacs or iambics. He had thrown in his
lot with insurgent youth, not as a competitor or rival, but as an advocate,
an admirer and an adviser. Indeed, if he might venture to say so, he
sometimes acted as a brake on the wheels of the triumphal Chariot of Free
Verse. He was not an adherent of the fantastic movement known as "Dada." He
had no desire to abolish the family, morality, logic, memory, archæology,
the law and the prophets. A little madness was a splendid thing, but it
must be methodic. Still, for the rest he was a Georgian, heart and soul,
and it pained him when men who ought to know better raised the standard of
reaction and sought to discredit the achievements of his _protégés_. These
attacks could not be passed over in silence, and the meeting had been
convened to consider how they should be met, whether by a reasoned protest
or by retaliation.
Miss Messalina Stoot, who punctuated her remarks with the clashing of a
pair of cymbals, observed that as a thorough-going Dadaist she had no
sympathy with the half-hearted attitude of the Chairman. It was a battle
between Dada and Gaga, and emphatically Dada must win.
Mr. Mimram Stoot, who accompanied himself on the sarrusophone, endorsed the
iconoclastic views of his sister. The only poetry that counted was that
which caused spinal chills and issued from husky haughty lips. The moanings
of mediæval molluscs were of no avail, though they might excite the
crustacean fossils of Oxford, the home of lost causes.
Mr. Seumas O'Gambhaoil wished to protest against Mr. NOYES' statement that
there were ten thousand Bolshevist poets in our midst. This was a shameless
underestimate of the total, which was at least twice that figure. Mr.
GODLEY'S offence, however, was much worse, as he was an Irishman, though of
the self-expatriated type to which GOLDSMITH and MOORE belonged. The rest
of Mr. O'Gambhaoil's speech was delivered in Irish, but he was understood
to advocate a repatriation of all Irish renegades to be tried and dealt
with by the Sinn Fein Republic.
Mr. Caradoc Cramp applauded the sentiments of the last speaker, but
considered that he avoided the real issue. The Chairman had declared
himself a Georgian, but that was not enough. The worst enemies of Free
Verse were to be found in that camp. In technique and even in thought there
was little to choose between many so-called Georgians and the most effete
and reactionary Victorians. He alluded to the War poets, or rather the
"Duration" poets, most of whom were already back-numbers. Between these and
the Post-war poets, the true super-Georgians or paulo-post-Georgians, it
was necessary to make a clean cut. To protest against Messrs. GODLEY and
NOYES was a mere waste of time and energy. They might just as well protest
against the existence of an extinct volcano or the skeleton of the
brontosaurus. The real danger to be faced was the intrinsic subjectivity of
the early and mid-Georgian poets, of whom the Chairman had been so powerful
and consistent a supporter. He accordingly called for volunteers to storm
the platform, and, a large number having responded to his appeal, Mr. MARSH
was dislodged from the Chair after a gallant fight. A resolution of
adherence to the principles of "Dada" having been passed by a large
majority, the meeting broke up to the strains of the famous song--
a e ou o youyouyou i e ou o
youyouyou
drrrrdrrrrdrrrrgrrrrgrrrrrgrrrrrrrr
beng bong beng bang
boumboum boumboum boumboum.
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"Gentleman, Interested in Tattooing and largely covered, would like to
hear from other enthusiasts to compare notes."--_Times._
We trust the "bare-back" mode is not going to spread to the more modest
sex.
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