THE NEW POETRY AND THE CONSERVATIVE

AMERICAN MAGAZINE

BY CLARA M. PARKER

One of the clearest manifestations of the revival of interest in poetry during the past five or six years is the large amount of space which has been given by the magazines of the country to the controversy among poets and critics as to the nature of poetic art in general and the new poetry in particular. Incidentally in the course of these discussions, numerous references have been made, especially by those who advocate the newer tendencies, to the deplorable mediocrity and over-conventionality of present-day magazine verse. A typical instance is the characterization of a group of poems culled from magazines as "too evidently the futile flutterings which editors use to fill in the chinks." In a review of Braithwaite's Anthology of Magazine Verse, 1916, Conrad Aiken1 declares:

"It is comparatively seldom that any of our magazines print poetry. Of verse, to be sure,-free or formal,-they print any amount: they are stifled with it. In some measure they have tried to respond to the wave of enthusiasm for poetry which has arisen in the last three years, but they have proved pathetically inadequate. What, after all, could they do? Magazines can thrive only by reaching the greatest possible number. And the one essential rule for reaching the greatest possible number is to hold fast to tradition, whether ethical or literary, to avoid anything in the nature of subversion. . . . Then, too, there are editors. Editors are perennially, historically, middle-aged. . . . Their ideas were formed twenty years ago, and it is not strange that they should rebel violently at all changes, bad and good."

A similar point of view in regard to the attitude of the conservative magazines is held and very pointedly expressed by 1Dial, March 8, 1917.

the editors of Poetry, a Magazine of Verse, a publication which is regarded as the organ of the more extreme tendencies in the poetry of the present.

But this wholesale condemnation of present-day magazine verse, though common, is not universal. Mr. Braithwaite, whose anthologies have been appearing annually since 1913, finds no real distinction between the poems appearing in magazines and those appearing in book form, with respect either to quality or to the tendencies which they reflect. That he is not alone in the generosity of his views is shown by the following extract from an article entitled "Poetry for the Unpoetical" by H. S. Canby:

"Sneers at magazine poetry are unjust because they are unintelligent. It is quite true that most of it consists of the highly individualistic lyric of which I have spoken above. The verse,

even though narrow in its appeal, and sometimes slight, is at least excellent in art, admirable in execution, and vigorous and unsentimental in tone."

In view of these contradictory opinions as to the nature of modern magazine verse, it is a matter of no little interest to look into the magazines themselves, and, with as open a mind as possible, to try to determine whether they are confining their selection to stereotyped. imitative verses, "mere phonographic records of dead and gone English poets," chiefly concerned with the perfection of deft metrical forms, and contented with "languishing prettiness," or whether they are to any appreciable degree exponents of the new spirit which demands ideas as well as forms and insists upon creation rather than imitation. It is the purpose of this paper to give the results of such a study,—a study based upon an examination of all the poems published from January, 1910, through November, 1919, by three of the leading conservative magazines, namely, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, and Scribner's.

"Harper's, January, 1916.

I

The greatest difficulty in such a task lies, of course, in the establishment of a standard by which the poems are to be measured. If "modernity" is to be the standard, it is necessary to have a definite conception of what modern requirements are, a difficult thing to determine, for the reason that such a variety of aspects of the problem present themselves, and there is no one clear line of demarcation between the new and the old. However, it stands out very clearly that the essence of the new spirit in poetry is a conscious revolt against the so-called Victorian tradition, which is charged by its critics with having brought about the following undesirable restrictions: (1) too much emphasis upon tunes, rhythms, and metrical schemes; (2) an over-elaboration of style and a stereotyped "poetic" diction; (3) the restriction of subject matter to the polite, pleasant, purely ethical, and romantic, together with a recession from actual life; (4) a predilection for blurred, indistinct imagery rather than clear and definite detail; (5) a preponderance of the subjective and the "cosmic;" (6) an excess of melancholy and sentimentality; (7) lack of humor; (8) a tendency to moralize. The reaction takes the general direction of freedom from the restraint due to the domination of the poetic ideals of the immediate past.

It would appear, then, that one may put on any sort of poetical garment he chooses provided only he doffs the threadbare Victorian garb. The result is that the new-clad crowd appears in motley. It is impossible to generalize upon the varied forms that the new poetry has assumed further than to indicate a few of the sources of fresh inspiration which have affected it. These within themselves form striking contrasts, for the reason that the search for "something different" has led to the borrowing of ideas and modes from widely divergent times and peoples. A revival of interest in the poetry of the ancient Greeks has given directness, simplicity, and restraint; contact with Japanese and Chinese art has added finesse to

simplicity and restraint. The Hindu has furnished inspiration in his peculiar mysticism as seen in the work of Tagore. A revival of interest in primitive folk-lore and inspiration has come through the study of Celtic literature. Kipling brought back the ballad form, used it for narrative poetry, and set a horde of "minor" poets to using it. Hardy revealed the dramatic effect of irony of situation as seen in real life. Henley had preceded him in discarding ornament from verse. Meredith revealed "modern love" as a rather sordid and muchcomplicated thing, and turned a great searchlight upon character. Yeats preached the doctrine of simplicity of diction, sincerity, and freshness of theme. Edwin Arlington Robinson wrote realistic sketches of New England village types. In 1911, John Masefield published his realistic romances, "The Everlasting Mercy," "Daffodil Fields," "The Widow in Bye Street," and "The Dauber," and started the critics upon a merry war as to the artistic possibilities of realism. A little earlier, the French Symboliste, Imagiste, and Vers Libriste doctrines had infused themselves into English and American poetry, and the resulting productions became the target for the "random shots" in all the newspapers and magazines.

By 1913 these various types of new or new-old poetry had become pronounced enough to afford a contrast with the type of poetry which was being generally accepted by the standard magazines. Largely through the influence of Ezra Pound, sufficient interest was developed in experimentation with the new verse forms and the creation of new types of poetry to lead to the launching of a magazine devoted exclusively to verse, and affording a means of publication to aspiring poets with something new to offer. This magazine, christened Poetry, A Magazine of Verse, and edited by Harriet Monroe, has had a distinct influence, and has been the principal medium of expression for the more radical critics.

By 1915, Edgar Lee Masters with his Spoon River Anthology, and Robert Frost, with his North of Boston, had further revealed the artistic possibilities of realism in village and rural

life. Amy Lowell, poet and critic, had entered upon her mission of teaching the American public to appreciate the muchmaligned and misunderstood imagist poetry, and was pleading for a more liberal attitude towards the newer forms and methods. The new poetry began to be read, discussed and recognized as distinctive. Though its distinctiveness proceeded, not from any one center, but from many, it nevertheless had in it a number of tendencies which stood out in sharp contrast to those already listed as belonging to the Victorian tradition. Miss Lowell has called attention to these various points of contrast in her articles on contemporary verse, and has made summaries from time to time of the most pronounced tendencies. The summary given below is based upon Miss Lowell's discussions, and indicates the most characteristic features of the new poetry:

Form: Freedom to choose whatever verse form is most appropriate, including free verse.

Subject-Matter: Not restricted to the ethical, the conventional, the beautiful, or the romantic; may include the grotesque, the brutal, the lawless, the commonplace, the scientific, the actual.

Feeling: Avoidance of sentimentality and excess of melancholy.

Diction:

Simple. every-day words, not stereotyped or "poetic"; chosen for exactness rather than ornament.

Point of View: Objective and external rather than sub

jective, introspective, or "cosmic."

When we attempt in the light of the foregoing points of departure from older standards to make a classification of the poems in the various magazines chosen for study, we find a difficulty arising from the bewildering array of verse-forms, themes, and points of view. The list of contributors includes well-known poets both of the conservatives and the radicals, though the former are greatly in the majority. We find lyrics of all types, ballads, dramatic monologues, "occasional" pieces, poems of personal tribute, war poems, and didactic, philosoph