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_The Poetry of War_
We have had much talk to-night about the probable effect of the war
upon art and literature in different countries, and gradually the
discussion shifted from prophecy to history and from the abstract to
the concrete, and narrowed down to the question as to the best poem
the war has already produced. In France enough verse has been inspired
by the war to fill a "five-foot shelf" of India-paper editions, but we
all had finally to admit that none of us was in a position to choose
the winner in such a vast arena. Among the short poems in English, some
voted for Rupert Brooke's sonnet which begins:--
"If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is forever England."
But nothing that any of us has seen is more inspired than the verses
which poured from the heart and mind of a young American in the
Foreign Legion here in France. His name is Alan Seeger, and the poem
was written in, and named from, the region in which his regiment was
stationed. It is called "Champagne, 1914-15," and was printed in the
_North American Review_ for October, 1915.