fragrant whimsicality, a child-like freshness vivifies poems like The Whole Duty of Berkshire Brooks," "Dilemma" and "Frost on a Window," which reminds one of the manner of her amazing daughter, Hilda, (see page 394). THE WHOLE DUTY OF BERKSHIRE BROOKS To comb the hillside's thick green hair; FROST ON A WINDOW This forest looks the way Tall larches lilt and sway The chuckle of the nightingale Even as his gleaming trills assail The spirit's solitude, These leaves of light, these branches frail Are music's very mood. The song of these fantastic trees, And has an ear for melodies Amelia Josephine Burr Amelia Josephine Burr was born in New York City in 1878. She was educated at Hunter College and has made her home in Englewood, New Jersey. A great range of interests has been the outstanding feature of her work. Too often she yields to her own facility, but there is decided vigor in many pages of The Roadside Fire (1912), In Deep Places (1914) and Life and Living (1916). BATTLE-SONG OF FAILURE We strain toward Heaven and lay hold on Hell; And to the moments when we see life well But what of that? Into the sullen flesh Our souls drive home the spur with splendid sting. Bleeding and soiled, we gird ourselves afresh. Forth, and make firm a highway for the King. The loveless greed the centuries have stored Nor is the victor's laurel everything. To fight until we fall is to prevail. Forth, and make firm a highway for the King. Yea, cast our lives into the ancient slough, Joyous along the road we paved with pain. Donald Robert Perry Marquis was born at Walnut, Bureau County, Illinois, July 29, 1878. Since his boyhood he has been actively connected with various newspapers, his chief metropolitan success being due to his pungent column, The Sun Dial" in the New York Evening Sun. Many of Marquis's most penetrating and satiric skits have been collected in his prose volumes, Hermione (1916) and Prefaces (1919). Besides his burlesque verse, Marquis has written a quantity of serious poetry, the best of which he published in Dreams and Dust (1915). UNREST A fierce unrest seethes at the core It was the eager wish to soar That gave the gods their wings. From what flat wastes of cosmic slime, There throbs through all the worlds that are And shaken systems, star by star, But for the urge of this unrest But for the rebel in his breast When baffled lips demanded speech, When man's dim eyes demanded light, From deed to dream, from dream to deed, I sing no governed firmament, I sing the stinging discontent John Erskine John Erskine was born in New York City, October 5, 1879. He graduated from Columbia University, receiving his A.M. in 1901 and Ph.D. in 1903. He has taught English since 1903, first at Amherst College, and (beginning in 1909) at Columbia. Although most of Erskine's works have been performed in the capacity of editor and essayist, he has written two volumes of excellent verse. Acteon and Other Poems (1906) is little more than an introduction to The Shadowed Hour (1917), which contains such keen verses as Satan" and "Ash-Wednesday" in which philosophy and poetry are interknit. |