Perhaps Richard Watson Gilder had the above poem in mind when he wrote the following quatrain for Lowell's birthday: Navies nor armies can exalt the state, Millions of men, nor coined wealth untold: William Watson has more good epigrams to his credit than any other living poet. His "To Christina Rossetti" is a beautiful tribute to one of the greatest women who have written poetry; for Christina Rossetti was a genuine poet, not a poetaster or a mere "poetess.' The two other women referred to in the poem are probably Sappho and Mrs. Browning. Songstress, in all times ended and begun, Brief poems in free verse are rare, for free verse appears so easy to write that it tempts the poet into diffuseness. Nevertheless there are some short poems in free verse which attain high excellence. Whitman's "To Old Age" is one of the best: I see in you the estuary that enlarges and spreads Ezra Pound's "In a Station of the Metro," or London subway, gives a striking picture: The apparition of these faces in the crowd; A contemporary American poet, Adelaide Crapsey, has written many "cinquains," free verse poems in five lines. These two poems remind one of the short Japanese form called the hokku, a poem of only three lines, in which the poet endeavors to condense his thought into the smallest possible space. The great and growing influence of Asiatic poetry on contemporary verse has tended to bring about greater conciseness and finish. Amy Lowell and Witter Bynner have recently translated a large number of Chinese poems for American readers. In taking leave of light verse, we can do no better than quote Austin Dobson's plea for this rare and difficult type of poetry. Dobson, until his death in 1921, was the greatest living master of vers de société and kindred forms. The following poem is very exceptional in that it employs only feminine rimes. JOCOSA LYRA In our hearts is the Great One of Avon Engraven, And we climb the cold summits once built on By Milton. But at times not the air that is rarest Is fairest, And we long in the valley to follow Apollo. Then we drop from the heights atmospheric To Herrick, Or we pour the Greek honey, grown blander, Of Landor; Or our cosiest nook in the shade is Where Praed is, With Locker. Or we toss the light bells of the mocker Oh, the song where not one of the Graces Tight-laces, Where we woo the sweet Muses not starchly, But archly, Where the verse, like a piper a-Maying, Comes playing, And the rhyme is as gay as a dancer In answer, It will last till men weary of pleasure It will last till men weary of laughter And after! Austin Dobson (1840-1921) CHAPTER X FREE VERSE The conceits of the poets of other lands I'd bring thee not, Walt Whitman: "Thou Mother with thy Equal Brood" RIME, as we have seen, is not essential to poetry; for if it were, we should be forced to the absurd conclusion that Hamlet and Paradise Lost are not poetry. Writers of free verse have forced us to abandon meter, the traditional mark of distinction between poetry and prose. Rhythm, every one admits, is essential; but literary prose has also a rhythm of its own which it is difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish from that of poetry. A brilliant contemporary critic, J. E. Spingarn, actually goes so far as to say, "The fact is that there is no real distinction between prose and verse." Certain older poets and critics long ago conceded the fundamental principle of free verse when they admitted that meter is not an essential of poetry. Aristotle, writing over two thousand years ago, said that poetry is to be distinguished from prose by something other than meter. The history of Herodotus, he said, would remain history if it were written in verse. Sidney, Wordsworth, |