1-”.
mottbomostasmnishlnsthinp
about the world war is that it
inspired so me. pasta—none at
indeedifbypoetryonemeoasloft!
unpussios‘ied utterance" stirrinis the
” ofmenendringincdownthonxos.
Atotbomororemorloobkbscsusetbe'ro
summnmmumu
“one may believe the reviews and the
' advertisements. espodflly of
bone. would be fired by martial oeéoi‘ and
is, the ideals at liberty ‘9' onion use we:
I'rllilfought. "
iOi'such poetryaswaswrittenEnslsnd
Must be credited ”with tho lion’s—@075 -
'mxnerican lyrics were either 111M317
[suntg’or tinkled uncortatnly and tacitly. ,
Only one American produced anything
truly touched with the divine salutes-”quid
ho was a resident of Paris. Alan Seeger’s
two glowing poems stand alniost alone as
‘Iinerica's poetic contribution to the world
" léonflict. Their nearest competitor is
iGeorge Edward Woodberry's “Sonnets
iWfltten in the Fall of 1914."
i oaths English side the record is for
:‘better. though” one may doubt whether
anything outside of the sonnet sequence
written by Rupert Brooke was really a work
of genius. There were. however. a. number
,of admirable poems—Masefield's "AuQuat.
1914." Grenfell's."1nto Battle. Metro‘s:
"In Flanders Fields " “'inil'red Lens;
“The Spires of Oxford " a few verses by
Ledwidge and Sassoon—and almost all of
ngland's poets did the best. that was in
" ”m; but even here the record is surprisA '
inng poor. As ”one looks through the
)n‘any collections of verse motivated by the
Ivar the principal impression is of drab
medically. If any poems stand outit is
rather because of the Sahara surrounding
”them than because of any striking emi-
hence of their own.
Slowever, the concern here is not with
”English but with American verse. and “the
~Inore on?) réflocts upon it the more One is
amazed at its paucity. W'hy was it that
m band of bards” who were supposed to be
carrying on a poetic renaissance in our
fiildst. and whose genius had been so often
mutuallyiacclaimed, wrote either nothing
It all or the thinnest stuff of their careers?
Why was it that not one of them could
dip into his heart and bring forth a sin-
bere and stirring song to fire the hearts
bf his countrymen? Above all, why was it
”that. in” spite of’schools of poetry and
Innumemble lectures upon poetry and
endless talk about poetry and blatant
' sting about our new interest in and
nderstanding of poetry. and even perhaps
considerable private reading of poetry-
.why was it that not one of the four million
)nen in the ranks of the American army
produced a poem?
. Heaven knows it was not because they
”didn't try! “'eek after week the Stars
inia Stripes. the official newspaper of the
A. E F. .. published a column or twp of
verso centributed by the men in France.
I‘hore were something like two millions
of these men, and one would suppose that
there must certainly have been two or
three poets among them; but out of the
finndreds of published contributions and
the thousands of unpublished ones just one
poem. Joyce Kilmcr‘s "Rouge Bouquet."
would ever be reprinted on its merits. The
Stars and Stripes was a. very good news.
paper, but its poetry column was lament-
able.
Somebody has said that the Union army
Won the civil war by its marching songs-—
D'John Brown's Body," "Trump. Tramp.
Tramp,” “The Battle Cry of Freedom.” and
so on—doggerel for the most part, com-
posed or at least rearranged by the menin
the ranks as they slogged along, but won-
derfully inspiring to drooping spirits and
weary feet. The only song which the world
war inspired was Mr. Cohan's tawdry
jm‘gie "Over There," and the present writer
does not remember ever having heard it
sung spontaneously by American soldiers.
Occasionally a few were induced to sing it
by some misguided Y. M. C. A. worker.
and the military bands played it ”some.
times-on one unforgettable occasion when
the'compositc regiment from the Army 01
Occupation marched like one man past tho
reviewing stand at the dedication of the
Pershing Stadium—but "Over There" was
designed for the music hall, not for the
march-4m- the pony ballet, not for the
doughboy.
-Ours was not indeed a singing army—.
perhaps because it had no good songs. or
perhaps because modern warfare does not.
encourage singing. By comparison tho
civil war. with its blvouacs and raids . “g
campfires and foraging parties. ”was I. sort
of picnic. That. of course. may be a W
explanation of our poets’ insufficiency-
there is very little ”in modern vim
for the poet to ”get hold of: it has 5‘
the personality. the pictureoqoonomol than.
old days. There are no more
ever been, for it is more granola.”
Ks combats in the on- ond undoz- must.-
its far flung battles lnvoivint M61.
men. its conflict of nation against no“.
Perhaps, some day. instead of s. «in
shall have an epic! ‘ .
flunwhile. one mane: fail to to ill:-
preosed by in: growing mama. to
yon-lotto stimulus or at lent: by. tho. for
My to give if. M poetic m
line. It was not was. Soapstone
hoot stirring poems inAmomon literature.
a: twu ct waist- M an-
hobs. were not only M m by
war but were uniquely m Under the
{out time burst into tumor-Islands song or
me craftsman of verse. usuallynothing
monthsnasosdfimeymwoultonce
mmmmmnpoet.
Embodthwstbostuynfthe un-
“stimulated young Bonk-ore lawn:- who
“mmflemnizht in nu.
at Our
mmuwmblMMMM-'
.
BY: ZURICH- E. STEVENSON. . ,
mm of 1121: Home Book oi: Verse
1””:Bobu‘t'1‘l‘oat1’aine Whow use:
Burton E.
on a'little cartel boat, the Minden, in the
midst of the British fleet which was bom-
barding Fort Monetary, with the result a.
poem culled “The Defence of Fort M'Henm"
printed as a. broadside, was in the hands
of the people of Baltimore the next eve~
ping and was soon rechristened "The Star
Spangled Banner." It is pompous and hob
nailed but it is also sincerg'and authentic
and no American. reading it with a. knoon
edge of the circumstances which produced-
it. can fail to feel a stirring of the heart.
In spite of the stupid old airto which it is
harnessed it has easily held its own. in the
face of a century of competition. as the
great American anthem.
And every one knows the story of the
middle aged Bostonienne who, fifty years
later, caught in the flurry of aserio comic _
Confederate raid near Washington. heard
the Union troops singing "John Brown's
Body." went to bed with that all running
through her head and arose in the gray
dawn of the following morning to write
six new stanzas to it. hastily scrawled upon
the first sheet of paper that came to hand
—stanzas which James '1‘. Fieldsfthe‘editor
of the Atlantic Monthly. christened "Battle
Hymn of the Republic" and printed on the
that page of the issue of Februhry. 188:.
That is be printed five of the statutes.
Mrs. flows in her reminiscences does not”
state who decided that the final stanza
should be dropped, butane suspects that
\ir. Fields when he read the poem. per-
ceived that the inspiration ended with the
non one. Here is the sixth: '
He is coming like the glory of the morn-.
ing on the wave: , «
He is wisdom to the mighty, ho is sue.-
cor to the brave;
So the world shall be his footstool and
the soul of Time his slave.-
Our God is marching oui'
. -.
”Years afterward, when the poem halting:
come famous (it was scarceiy nofleed at
first) a facsimile. ot the manuscript: was
issued, giving all six stances, and got to=
England. In the ipring and summer of
1917, when the Entiioh were testifying
with amusing fervor to their appreHfitlon
at American assistance the "Battle Ryan"
was frequently sung at church services
sad patriotic rallies. and any Americans
who happened to be in the audience were;
by the inclusion of a stanza
Mil-fins had never heard more and
MM my of them doubted.
go; I.“ ”filmmften objected that
33m star-Spangled Banner" nor
mg. moxnxhoii of the Rename" is
«I'll: hotter-oi: »
Meals-Ming the defense of Balti-
mm m the sacred character of
Mmmshvory. but ,none of the
Wendell Holmes tried his hand at it, with.
flit-"Ink
When our land is illumined with -
' to”: smile. Lib"
If a foe 302:: within
Witt? a...
with the trait 2 ” .
to defile or w”
; mnumherstars a page” Q
her story! F an the 7“”
By the millions unchainod
Who their birthright ha '
We will keep her bright blazes; ‘
unstained; -
strike a blow at .
And the Star‘smnsled boluses- am ”””
shall wave
While the land of!
of the brave.' .-
Stevenson. 2
That war shall not end till the war-lust
is ended. ”
Then the bloodthirsty sword
Shall no longer‘he lord
Of the nations oppressed by the con-
queror’s horde.
But the banners of freedom shall poser” ‘
fully wave
o‘er the world of the free and the lands
of the brave.
Neither of which could. by any possi-
bility be called thrilling. Of the proposed
additions to the “Battle Hymn" it will
suffice to quote one, also from the pen of
Dr van Duke and printed in the New
”lot-k Times of March 18. 1918:
We here heard the cry of engine
WW of the nail. ,
And we know ourbountryh W53; the
war-lord: willie done—,4»
We so: tight for world—wide freedom
' fill the victOry is won. ,
For God is marching on.
This is interesting principally because
of the spirited rexnonstrance it evoked
from Mrs. Rowe's daughter, Mrs. Florence
Howe Hall. and whether because of this or
for some other reason, it is not ‘includud-
in Dr; .Van ”Dyke‘s collected poems. Mud-
cruising the claSslt-s has always been par~
ions work!
” from
III. ' ‘
THU?! 18 8. 19878!!! that the tune with
which "The Star Spangled Banner” has
always been associated was hit upon by
an actor named Ferdinand Duran w ho
was serving as a soldier in “Baltimore 23
the time, and who really was. perhaps, tin
fits}: man to sing it in public. But it is
far; more reasonable'to suppose that Key
himself had the air in mind when he wrote
the poem, otherwise he would scarcely
have selected a stanza form so unusual
and involved, or written lines which {it
the old air far more smoothly than those
for which it was composed.
To be sure, the original inanuscrlpt of
Key's poem bears ncltlirr title nor iodi-
cation of the air to which it was to be
sung. but that may have been because
Key supposed the air to be so well known
and the song so self evidently written to _,
fit it that there was no reason to name it:
The handblll w inch appeared on September;
15. the day after the poem was written;
‘borc the title “Defense of Fort llche
and, after a short account of the W
stances of the parent's composition. the: ”
“Tune: Annex-con in Heaven." All a!
was presumably added by Key's rather-
ln- law Judge J. H. Nicholson, to Whom he‘
showed the poem on the morning at Sell:-
(ember 15 and who wasso ham:Ԥtb
at that he immediately sent it to the
print er. ‘ ‘
Both Baltimore newspaper-b.1114: fetus:-
and the American, had been. W
during the siesta. The? W Dial-“3‘ _ ”
. m .
, signers or the Declaration of moose; ”
'_ but at its
in his onniety to avoid being
, . . wt: 38“
nautical: that day. :he motioned the mesa.-
chm Legislature to give him: a Christian.
pains. and thereafter maximums. ofdiis
.., father, Robert Treat Paine. However,“
“Adams and Liberty, the Boston Patriotic
song. written 'jby Theatue Pains. A. M.“ .
Who christened Key’s poem "The Star-
Spangled Banner" nobody knows. but the”
title ms given it within a. month after iii:-
wos written. for it so appears in an. ad;
'_‘ “yerusemeat of the song dated October 19,
1814.
The tune of "John Brown's Body." to
which the “fins; Hymn" was written, is
- based upon an old negro spiritual. brought
north. by a missionary who heard it at a
Southern camp meeting. Various revival
hymns” Were written to it, but Edna, Dean
Proctor was the first to connect it with
John Brown. Here are two stanzas of the
original John Brown song. as she wrote it:
John Brown died on the scaffold for the
slave; ‘
Dark was the hour when we dug his
- hallowed grave;
Now God avenges the life he gladly gave.
' Freedom reigns to-dayt ,
. f ' Glory. glory halleluiahl .
‘ dial-y. glory hailelujohl
diary. gloryhallelujaihi
,‘Iv‘reedom reigns today! ,
John Brown sowed and the” harvesters
, are we:
Honor to him who has made the bonds-
man free: » . a»
Loved everrnore shell our noble ruler be.
Freedom reigns to—day!
But this was altogether too difficult for
tho trainpiag thousands who started for
.Dixie in 1861. and the John Brown march-
ing song. as it finally simmered down, con-
sisted only of four lines. each repeated
three times and, with a refrain. forming
J”. (man: 'i r ‘. £4
aJohn Brown’s body has a-nioulderlng in
the gravel
John Brown’s body lies a-mouidering in:
the grave!‘
John Brown' 3 body its; a-mouldeflng in' .
the grace!
Hts soul is m'archlngmn!
query. slbrfhailelujahl
Glory. glory halielujah!
“Undo M’scabm.” but the poets of New
inconsidfiahle moonhfihnf
ti magnate:
1- Congress and finally John Bi-own‘s raid.
all helped to maintain public interest at
fever heat. A consular-able anthologycould
be made of poems. about John Brown, but
Ellwood Clarence Stedrnanls is easily the
bestorthem—fiswellasoflteofthebefi
tfit madman eve- wrote. By. this time
”rescuing-n rhymestes were in the ring, f 1
”the old. copies ot-the song the caption is mfg}, by fimmmtion what theY- waged 01' Our long years 1,
lacked in technique and, as
' loomed nearer and nearer, and the storm
finality broke, the flo>d of patriotic verse,
both Northern and Southern; mounted
highér and higher. ”
.. It is astonishing how much of this verse
is of exceptional”. meriE. None or; l‘per-
haps, has quite the same authenflcity {fol
inspiration as the Battle Hymn of the”
Republic." but a surprisingly large propor-
tion possesses; a valid claim to be called
poetry.‘ For one thing, there were almost
as y pbets alive then as there are now,
and”? some reason they were. far more
responsive to patriotic Mains. Perhaps
they were less skeptical, less complex.
There is a certain tang about some of
their po‘etry- which would seem to indicate
that they occasionally read the” Bible—-
and perhaps even believed it! At any
rate their poems show that they were
deeply and genuinely moved. and every
picturesque lngident and szflfiYf“
Stonewall .‘i’ackson. Lee fighting Joe
Hooker. mei. Barbara Friar—hie. 313%?“ .. flowering of the car with Spa
idan‘s ride, Shea-mane march to the see.
Monitor and Merrimac, Lincolns assassina-
tics—had adequate celebration. =Between
the day of Whittier’s impassioned attacks
upon slavery and the day whédlsoiwli rose
at Gtmhridge to read his great “Comment--
” oration Ode." scores of 8
come from American pens. Thomas Bailey
Aldrich, George Henry Baker Henry How-
am Brow‘nell, Bryant. Emerson, Thomas
Dunn English. Edward Everett Hale, ,.
Charles Graham Hamlin. Bret Harte, Paul
Hamilton Kayne. Holmes, Howells Sidney
Lamar, Lucy Lax-corn, Charles Godfrey Le-
land, Herman Melville S. Weir Mitchell
Kate Putnam: Osgood: John Williamson v-Richard‘ Hove-y,
Palmer Margaret Junkln iPréston:
Dean Proctor. Thomas Buchanan”
mward Howiand Sill, Edmund Clarence
Stedman,“Richai-u Henry Stoddard. Ba) ard
Taylor Francis Orray Ticknor. Henry Tim- ;» Thomas Saigon Page.
rod Walt Whitman—it sounds like a roll
call of Axnerlcan lottery—all wrote poem
after poem inspired by the conflict.
In the whole galaxy only one name is
missing—that o? Iongfelluw. He wrote
209m; had‘ into New York harbor, and .
Ednaeq‘homas, “'illiam Henry V”
Read. Burns \Vilson, Robert L’ndtzu
‘ ”Y5 NOVEL
If the Cumberland, and that Was
‘y he had rvp-i A
-but during “he
labored Ca ,1
may at—his “files of a. Waysme 1..
his translation of Dante. “a and
It was not from professional w,..
that poem: came. mums.” In
women. North and South, but es:
the South. fashioned from In. ., ‘
their hoes-t; scraps of gum... . s:
such minor rhymsters as Ct.
Shani!" Ethel Lynn BEQfs \
Thompson, Francis Miles F1: rh ,
wreadd Tom Taylor?) are “mm“
day only because of a single ,,
by the war. ‘
The civil war _was a .._
er- .:
across the. very heart of ..
it wag natural. perhaps,
shofildh'a‘ve been wrung n,
of hope and despair-.31: ;
it did not require far— fl»
flaming ideals to set
rhyming—my little fig 12:
,doubt they were more ~:_ _
"my country, right or “T . . -
case tin-damn :1 in spit ~
into whgh the phrase : ;
the intelligentsia there 3-
fine about. it! Certai“
one is shore and more
whether there can exist
out great $impliclt\.
At any rate I"; C- SiCF-I‘j :~ .7 .,.:.2.
landproduced ‘Tlv: ‘ >~ . ”
and some notable
neau: to .the up}. ..
exactly noble \. :r “1th
O'Hanas “Bivounc of the D
mans “MpniercH” to
Biglow Papers; nihge
(1‘1
53 v u
the 1";
those two great questioning p06
lam \aughrm Moody “On :1 So
in the Philippines" and‘ ‘An Oi .
of Hesitation.” But Guy Vi ctm
had been moved to umaccustrzr . .v
by the sight of the battle fir-g: ,
the Maine had inspired a re ,
cation of the Irish race win-h
be remembered~and which is .3
one thing which will Rear :1.-
name alive.
But other poets had been :2‘ 2 Z :- .~~
——Stedma‘n” James Jeffx; '11", “3:3
Carletori, Joaquin Myller . r» 2
Llovd )1
Wallace Rfice Edmund \‘ant'e
Charles G. D. Roberts Ma tn (2."
Robe-z“ 1.:-
Gcorge Eds. ard Woodberrr, ll
ilton Hayne. John Jerome Rot ..- -. .
\X’hile Chadwick, Joe Russell Tag. . _
Glory. glory hailelujah! Not great” song pmllap: Lu: .1: J
Bis soul is marching on! one curiously half-hearted poem on the song! ” ” ”
By W. L. GEORGE readers W73; 30‘ be surprised to bar that is mover in the “r on; Whom one can",
.13le myself a. married man I am
B as often puzzled by the'resolute
bachelordom of my friends as
they are by the marriage of theirs. When-
ever I meet a bachelor of forty I ask
'myseif why he hasfound no woman to
share his life, what accidents of poverty
or. coldness have maintained him in the
single state. Sometimes very carefully.
I firy to lead him toward confession; as
a rule I and in the man a tear that
marriage means lost liberty. or expense,
or impeded career.
,woman is neither more nor less perfect
But ”somctlmcs one,
he has not yet found‘a sir! fit *to‘ be His
mate. .
The young man, in question certainly
wanted too much: fortunately not all
are so exacting; still more fortunately.
we are'most of us given to discovering
all these qualities in the girl we love
just because we love her. But there are
many exceptions. We all know of men
who like women, who seek out their so-
ciety. and yet do not marry: it is not
likely that they make absurd demands
upon woman: no doubt they realize that
than man: still they fail to find a wife,
. m
or more tin-etched with another.
about all one can say: some wires 2:2
better than others, but no one can :3:
the. t Gladys is the ideal mate for r“ t“,-
fui J'amcs. There is no "Mrs R 212:."
there
for ‘how easy it would be to miss .
One woui d miss her if one went to T
hourne instead of Boxhill.
her if one disliked her hrothcr and
not asked to her house.
sets up his ideal of “Hrs. Right“ )2: : L“-
despair make a peel-shift of “Mrs.
, ing but a disease.
grows. hitter, bitterness bein: ~ '
reward ht disappointment. z'r
mind a. ready made Dictzur
wire should :-
, - ”by this critical standard. or...
’ she falls Slim-t.
of what I mean. A certain D -
. M against falling in loxc:
the W as nearly as you may. .‘
o o o
Ema?! that is more or loss \‘i‘ 1
nexc- blame—appeals as a punis?r.--.;:
too severe for the greatest criminr.‘_ it 0
will agree with me, but at this
whether there is not an ideal w
every man.
It is diificult to reply “Yes" or “ '
because we know how men get on '
the women they marry, but not ’
they would get on with those they don’t.
Howci or happy or miserable a. man is
with his wife he might be happier Cr
That .'
were our situa' nation would be =
One “‘0th
Thus, if .‘
Idealism, in regard to max—ring». ’ ..
The ldQlilfF' ‘. ':< :12
be; he cxami:
Let me gite:
in! Wattles gave me an
”113123.931; nose. serum:
displease you. and you will 29
Midi-30$: he cannot take hi: 2‘ I
{Offline-as he finds it. He must on -'
the silver all the plate until he cm
the copper below} Thus he gr
' . only som- bnt suspicious cynical: ix.— .
the mom 0.! his mind as well as 1'
of his: skin. And when at last he luau-a.
; {tinny been late.
”There tabular one my to handle "11*
situation. R, amounts to asking om ' i
whether one is so ideal a man
serve an ideal woman. To that qm‘
a- sensible man can answer only "3'0"”
One is a decent. ordinary man; a decay.
:13 if) (’6'
ordinary woman is 'not only all one can
hope ”for but all one needs to hell1 or‘
for: to happiness. Do not be dcceirtd
‘ by. (be happy old couples who ceicbra'
their golden weddings. They are kappa“
”Itothecausethey are ideal people but be—
cause they have made the best of 03th
utterances-humanity Wemenand womrn
rare” Rouble things. petty, selfish. unreason-
than we ”can give. Let a man study
*ng learn memos. her points Cf
SH;
lo-
the best he can get and leave misly
: e misty region where thty
“J I“
l J
Mission...
Norwalk Chronicler