,,the ,,little ,,review ,literature ,drama ,music ,art ,,margaret ,c4 ,,anderson ,,editor ,,march1 #aiae ,two ,poems ,fritz ,schnack ,for the ,new ,animal in ,america ,will ,levington ,comfort ,maurice ,browne and ,the ,little ,theatre ,john ,cowper ,powys ,winter's ,pride ,george ,soule ,two ,points of ,view3 ,mrs4 ,ellis's ,gift to ,chicago ,mary ,adams ,stearns ,mrs4 ,ellis's ,failure ,margaret ,c4 ,anderson ,the ,acrobat ,eloise ,briton ,a ,young ,american ,poet ,richard ,aldington ,editorials and ,announcements ,ten ,grotesques ,arthur ,davison ,ficke ,a ,new ,standard of ,art ,criticism ,huntley ,carter ,my ,friend1 the ,incurable ,alexander ,s4 ,kaun ,new ,york ,letter ,george ,soule 8,alice in ,wonderland0 ,samaroff and ,claussen ,herman ,schuchert ,book ,discussion ,the ,reader ,critic ,published ,monthly #ae cents a copy ,,margaret ,c4 ,,anderson1 ,publisher ,fine ,arts ,building ,,chicago #a4ej a year ,entered as second-class matter at ,postoffice1 ,chicago ,,the ,,little ,,review ,vol4 ,,ii ,,march1 #aiae ,no4 #a ,copyright1 #aiae1 by ,margaret ,c4 ,anderson ,two ,poems ,,fritz ,,schnack 7,translated from the ,german by ,william ,saphier7 ,,blooming ,,sunlight ,sharp rips the plow ,and roots the day into the opened field1 ,and kneads the light and splendor of the world ,into the conquered darkness4 ,in summer1 between close rows ,of waving blades1 grow flowers ,blooming buried sunlight4 ,,evening ,,gift ,spread like the palm of a hand ,lies at bottom the evening1 gold and red4 ,every man may take as much as he likes ,of its beauty1 up to the farthest hilltops1 ,as if it were wine and bread ,handed out to feed hungry souls ,and to fill with light the thirsty4 ,i stroll alone on gentle roads into the splendor ,bathing my face in a thousand rosy waves2 ,far away like smoke from a black stack lies my pain4 ,i know it1 yet ,i wander4 ,we may1 like expectant children1 be blessed4 ,for the ,new ,animal in ,america ,,will ,,levington ,,comfort ,my enemy has written a book4#a ,this is not man-to-man enmity1 but there need be no quibble about it4 ,for seventeen years ,i have studied ,t4 ,r4 as representative of that ,america which has consistently betrayed the finer aspirations of our people1 shamed the real workman1 bewildered the young in millions with noise and show and shine1 and unerringly dimmed for the many the approaches to the ,real4 ,he stands today for armament1 against all that the ,new ,spirit has shown us out of the bleeding heart of the world1 against the plain fact of the war as the quickener of spiritual life1 and against every dream that was ever born in the human breast out of the loss of the love of self4 ,you will say1 8,but why this study of ,t4 ,r4 now8 ,surely he has received his ,thumbs-down even from the crowd1 and with a unanimity seldom accorded a public man still in the flesh40 444 ,i am not so sure4 ,i wish ,i could be sure that his latest message would be shut from the receptivity of this land1 as a door upon an evil draught4 ,we have managed to clump along with bunglers through the recent dropsical years of peace1 but there was never such a need as now for a man of vision and power at the forefront of our affairs4 ,these ,states since ,august have committed atrocities of short-sightedness and triumphs of selfishness--enough to complicate us for future years4 ,the partisan and the militarist have already made our neutrality unclean4 ,i would like to be sure that their strongest influence has already been encountered4 ,on our southern borders is war1 and our northern border is black with distrust and the ,british point of view4 ,from ,vancouver to ,halifax1 the voice of this hour is1 8,if ,roosevelt were only in the chair at ,washington----0 ,the ensuing part of the 8if0 covers the present issues from ,mexico to ,belgium1 and the trouble is that ,canada knows from ,england what she is wishing us2 at least1 in part1 the venom and abomination of the saying4 ,to judge from the ,press of the ,states there are still many who would incite afresh the animal efficiency of our country1 and who range themselves in the background with this master of the low vibration1 calling upon us to answer ,europe with a similar desolation4 444 ,how many times have you heard it said1 8,this ,t4 ,r4 is in the comprehension of the crowd40 ,this is true4 ,the saddest conviction ever forced into the mind of genius of any age is the opaqueness of the surface which the crowd presents to light or loveliness of any kind4 ,and ,t4 ,r4 is in the comprehension of the bleakest generation which this country has ever known2 nor will there ever be another like it1 for we are at the end of the night4 ,that which is about to break is either dawn or doom4 ,t4 ,r4 is still searching for the crowd through the endless folds of its obliquity4 ,who shall say that these folds are not endless2 that he may not turn over still another fateful1 if momentary allegiance1 from the bowels of our materialism8 ,enough that he is the voice to-day of the ,prussian factor in ,america1 a voice from the throat of the militarists--that curious solution of beef1 iron and wine1 from which--as ,thou seest the ,oise and the ,aisne and the ,vistula flow red--oh1 ,lord1 deliver us6 ,i hold the conviction that if the militarists ever get in full cry after this country1 we shall lose our ,peace and our personality4 ,this is an hour to stand by1 and it is only in such an hour that ,i would venture to study a party through the character of its loudest voice4 ,for seventeen years ,i have watched ,t4 ,r4 stand for the physical and the obvious4 ,there has been more noise about his name in ,america than about any other1 and yet he has never risen to a single great moment4 ,and steadily he has mounted higher in the consciousness of ,t4 ,r4 ,many of us thought that the crisis was reached1 when for a day 7a little before the last presidential nominations7 the ego broke within him1 and those close at hand saw a deranged creature4444 ,a troop of us camped beside him in ,tampa1 and followed the ,rough ,riders afield above ,santiago4 ,perhaps he has a certain animal courage--the cheapest utility of the nations--but there is no moral quality to the courage of a man who would permit himself to be cast into popular approval on a fake4444 ,there was a reunion two years afterward of those same ,rough ,riders in ,oklahoma4 ,t4 ,r4 was there1 campaigning on the shoulders of ,mc,kinley1 much as ,dr4 ,cook did4 ,on the way down through ,kansas for two days1 we heard him on the back platform of the private coach1 at every station where two or three would gather together--pouring the most terrific physical energy into political bickerings and half-truths1 the same at each station--until we drew the press table as far as possible forward1 and bore the oppressive heat with shut windows rather than that repeated clamor of words4 ,he would come in conqueringly1 the black coat damp with sweat4444 ,i remember the ruffian exhibition with the cattle--steer-torturing1 the brand1 the snap of bone1 the tightened noose1 thud of poor beasts to the ground--all in a frame for him--the hat with the pinned-back brim1 waving over all4444 ,no other man has been so mighty to keep the pestiferousness of ,america alive in the minds of medieval ,europe4 ,as our representative citizen1 he has romped our yankeeisms and cutenesses from ,queenstown to ,port ,said and around4 ,and so it has been for seventeen years since that ,tampan camp1 from party to group1 from fame to notoriety1 from brute-shooting and affidavits1 to cocktails and new ,african rivers furnished with sworn statements1 from woman's suffrage back to bayonetism1--always in the sweat and heft of flesh1 unvaryingly the animal man4 ,they say that if a child is bred and born right1 his earlier years passed in hands that start him straight--such a child will return to the beauty of his inception1 if time and the world are permitted to work sufficient misery upon him2 misery being the great corrective4 ,these ,states of ,america were bred of a fair dream and born of a singular beauty4 ,the hope of the world today is that as a nation1 we restore the old dream1 the old inspiration2 not a turning back1 for that is against the law1 but turning to a finer dimension of that old passion which made us a refuge and a brotherhood4 ,there has been fine living virtue in two recent actions of this government--two bits of high behavior4 ,through one of these1 it seemed that a shaft of light poured down from the fatherland of the future--if day is ahead and not doom4 ,i refer to the return of the ,boxer indemnity to ,china4444 ,it was like a fine moment in a busy life1 and there was poetry in the answer from old ,mother ,china4444 ,there are men who love these ,states well enough to hate her many moments of unworthiness4 ,the other figment of true national character is the determination of the part of ,washington to keep her promise to ,colombia4444 ,i perceived that ,t4 ,r4 has risen against that1 even since his book setting forth the needs of a new predatory impetus for our national life4444 ,to anyone who asks a law to go by1 for the good of the country and the rectitude of self1 ,i would say1 8,take the side that this man does not1 and it will be impossible for you to lose40 #a ,america and the ,world-,war1 by ,theodore ,roosevelt4 ,charles ,scribner's ,sons1 ,new ,york4 ,maurice ,browne and ,the ,little ,theatre ,,john ,,cowper ,,powys ,sick of war and discussion of war2 sick of 8first and last things0 and discussion of them2 deafened by the raucous howling of the preachers1 and dumb before the fathomless stupidity of the mob1 one may totter into the cool quietness of ,the ,little ,theatre just as ,heine1 scarcely a century ago1 escaped from the madness of the crowd1 and in that gallery on the ,seine fell at the feet of the armless ,goddess6 ,and she smiles at us too--poor unknown strangers--just as she smiled at that famous ,wanderer2 and though 8she has no arms to help10 it is enough if for a little while one can rest at her feet and forget 8the voices of hate40 ,it was by the incantation she has never been known to resist that she was drawn here2 to rest1 after her long pilgrimage3 for here she has found the altar they had lost the secret of building1 and the incense they had forgotten how to burn6 ,o the heavenly quietness of this place1 and the absence1 even round about the purlieus of it1 of the voices that grate and jar and harrow and murder6 ,favete ,linguis6 ,keep the holy silence1 good stranger2 till thou knowest completely on what ground thou standest4 8,numen inest60 ,there is ,deity in this sanctuary4 ,do the children of ,gath howl with laughter1 and the daughters of ,askalon shake with spleen1 that one should speak of ,deity in the ,fine ,arts ,building1 and of ,altars on ,michigan ,avenue8 ,let them put out their tongues--let them spit forth their venom--the stone which they have rejected has already become the head-stone of the temple of the ,future6 ,visit other so-called 8,little ,theatres10 my friends1 and you will understand why the ,uranian had to make so long a journey4 ,for there is none like this4 ,they are either--those others--too gaudy and 8artistic02 or they are too shoddy1 ramshackle1 littered1 patchy and 8bohemian40 ,this is the place2 the place where one can draw large even breaths2 the place where one can cool one's fever2 the place where one can drink1 as ,shelley says1 8of deep and liquid rest1 forgetful of all ill40 ,and it matters not what they are 8playing10 this gracious company of ,our ,lady's ,servants1 or whose liturgical 8,use0 they honor with their acceptance4 ,many are such 8hours10 such 8offices40 ,it makes no difference4 ,one ,gregorian ,harmony brings them into the circle of ,one ,rhythm4 ,many and diverse are the offerings they offer up to that great ,goddess4 ,some are wanton and capricious1 some grave and solemn1 some foreign and exotic1 some native-born and natural1 some from the market-places of this very city1 some from the far-off land of the ,goddess's own engendering2 some light as gossamer-seed1 from no land at all1 but from the kingdom of airy nothings1 sans habitation1 sans name1 sans purpose6 ,yes1 whatever the words of the 8local breviary0 we persuade them to adopt to their music1 the effect of it upon the listeners is the same4 8,razed out0 at last are those 8written troubles02 8cleansed0 at last1 of 8that perilous stuff10 is the poor 8stuff'd bosom06 ,chicago's ,little ,theatre is the real 8,alsatia0--the authentic 8,arcanum0--the true 8,hesperidean ,grove06 ,and do you ask how it rose1 8like an eschalation10 into being--what hands built it--what genius1 what magic1 still sustains it8 ,what1 do you suppose1 questioner at the gate1 worked this miracle8 ,what1 do you surmise1 wrought this spell8 ,have you really no inkling1 in this sphere of the raising of ,altars1 how such things are done8 ,only in one way6 ,there is only one kind of occult adventure--,goethe tells us that--by means of which these ,euphorions of ,beauty grow into life6 ,there must be the creative spirit of ,man1 giving the thing 8,form02 and the creative spirit of ,woman1 giving the thing 8,color40 ,thus we understand4 ,thus we unravel the mystery4 ,thus we learn how the impossible happens6 ,look1 inquisitive ,stranger1 at the ,inscription over the entrance to this enchanted retreat4 ,read the names written upon the door4 ,do you catch the trick of it now--do you glimpse the clue8 ,two names are there--our ,faust's and our ,helen's--and behind those two names lurk the creative genius that wills1 and the creative genius that gives color to what is willed4 ,thus the miracle is accomplished4 ,and behold--,euphorion6 ,for ,english 8,maurice0 and ,american 8,nelly0 have that inestimable bond1 between the links of which alone can the true ,parnassian ,hyacinths put forth their 8hushed1 cool-rooted flowers0 for the delight of gods and men2--,i mean agreement of 8opinion10 with diversity of 8temperament40 ,the supremely happy 8chance0 of the coming together of these two--why not believe the legend that gives to the very ,land of the ,muses the spell that achieved it8--resulted in nothing less than that indescribable synthesis of ,man's ,intellect and ,woman's ,instinct which is the desire of the ages6 ,so ought human beings to be united4 ,so ought their poor mortal 8love10 radiating from ,zenith to ,nadir1 to provoke the return of ,saturn1 the unbinding of ,prometheus1 the ,vita ,nuova for which we all pine6 ,it is in fact the presence of our 8,new ,helen0 as the guiding1 balancing1 mellowing1 sweetening influence1 in this enterprise1 which has enabled the austere 8,formula0 of the ,founder to take to itself flesh and blood4 ,for the director of the ,little ,theatre of ,chicago is no ,dilettante--no ,petit-,matre of a pompous coterie--no bric--brac ,virtuoso4 ,stern and high and cold is his ,ideal2 clear and clean-cut the lines that limit it6 ,to reproduce in the heart of the great mad ,city--the ,city of the 8,middle-,west0--the ,city of ,america--that ,rhythm and ,harmony which ,plato felt as the secret of the ultimate spheres1 is not such a thing worthy of the gift of a man's life8 ,and it is nothing less than a man's life1 and a woman's too1 which is being given for this4 ,for such temples are not built without the shedding of blood4 ,those who have ears to hear let them hear6 ,as the wise ,lady says1 who comes from the ,isle of the ,saints1 8,the ,bridge to the ,world's ,future hides within its arches the bodies of the ,world's ,first-,born60 ,it is not for any 8strayed reveller10 however sensitive to what he has seen1 to give the word of ,initiation to these devoted ones' long-labored ,mystery4 ,maurice ,browne's methods may be seen1 and the passionate irritability of his over-tasked nerves may be teased and rung upon2 but the high invisible walls of the ,citadel he is raising--the 8topless towers0 of his ,ilium--are not for the searching of the profane4 ,and yet a modest guess may be hazarded as to where1 in our horizon1 those towers will grow4 ,they will grow1 as all true classical ramparts have grown1 protecting us from the hordes of vulgarity1 out of the ground and soil of inveterate tradition4 ,they will not grow to the tune of the idealization that spurns 8reality10 they will grow to the tune of the idealization that sifts1 selects1 winnows1 purifies1 and heightens 8reality40 ,they will not be built1 they are not being built1 according to the fierce fanaticism of any particular ,school or ,cult or ,pass-word4 ,the sub-soil of their tradition has been watered by no tears but those of ,humanity1 and will be sown with no harvest but the harvest of ,humanity4 ,if they are more ,greek1 or more ,hebraic1 than anything else1 that is only because to the ,greeks and the ,jews rather than to the rest it has been allowed to sweep the unessential absolutely aside and return with clear-eyed innocence to the main facts4 ,maurice ,browne is not the slave of ,euripides--though1 by ,god6 some might think so--nor is he the slave of the ,bible4 ,it is only that he knows too well--too well for his peace and the peace of his friends6--that only from the depths of that one tragic fountain--the naked human heart1 my friends--spring the little opal-tinted bubbles that reflect the ,world6 ,what has been revealed to our modern ,faust in those queer 8absences from the ,body10--what has been revealed to him in those hours1 when his nerves find us so hard to bear--what 8the ,mothers0 have really whispered to him--who were bold enough even to guess8 ,but this much a poor ,satyr of the ,outer ,court may without impertinence divine4 ,for ,maurice ,browne the whole world resolves itself into an act of worship4 ,the thing worshiped we know nothing of1 save in the eternal rhythm of life2 and the 8other worshippers0 we know nothing of1 save in the music which responds to that rhythm2 but the whole drama--down the long desperate centuries--resolves itself into nothing less than an attempt to attune to reciprocity those two cadences--the voice of the ,unknown ,world-,priest1 intoning through the ages1 and the voice of the innumerable generations answering6 ,have ,i been able in the remotest degree to indicate why to the good sneering philistines who mock at all this and ask 8what is a ,little ,theatre but--a ,little ,theatre08 there may come some day a somewhat ghastly awakening1 a somewhat damning remorse8 ,in that hour--in that 8,judgment0--happy will those citizens of ,chicago be who have prepared the way1 and not laid themselves down in the way1 of the builders of the ,abbey of ,thelema6 ,what ,the ,little ,theatre is doing is nothing less than a restoration to the worship of the ,eternal ,gods of an ,institution which has been bastardized1 perverted and profaned6 ,think what the ,drama in our days has become6 ,think what 8buyers and sellers0 have set up their 8tables0 in the ,lord's ,house6 ,the ,theatre1 in our generation1 is no more that sacred stage where ,life is purged and winnowed and heightened2 and where1 out of the ,tragedy and ,comedy of it1 clear triumphant music is made audible4 ,poetic ,drama is extinct4 ,and yet can ,life be said to be even approximately mimicked by anything less than poetry8 ,emotions we have enough of and to spare--emotions and sensations6 ,but these are not poetry4 ,these are but the heavy1 raw1 crude1 chemical protoplasm of poetry4 ,thus the only plays of our time which are beautiful and successful and true to the life-instinct are ,farces4 ,farces need not be poetical4 ,they represent the kicking up of satyr-heels round the outer circle of the ,dionysian grove4 ,they represent the insurgent rebellion of the humorous mob against all law or rule4 ,and as such they are admirable4 ,as such they have their place4 ,indeed they are all that is left of admirable in our modern ,theatre4 ,they are our only contribution to this world-old act of worship--the contribution of beautifully kicking up our heels6 ,putting aside ,wagner and ,strauss and half-a-dozen ,latin ,opera-,makers1 what has our stage got which really answers to the religious exigency of which ,i am speaking8 ,nothing but ,farce1 nothing but ,satyr-heels6 ,devoted revivals of ,gilbert and ,sullivan restore to us our youth once in a long season and ,fanny's ,first ,play and ,pygmalion hit our tired heathen fancy4 ,but for the rest--6 ,hyperborean morbidities technically adjusted to bourgeois drawing-rooms with snow-avalanches muttering at the window1 are indeed enough to make unlaid troublesome ghosts of the great psychological names of ,ibsen and ,strindberg4 ,but psychology1 whether it dissect the old ,bourgeois ,family or the ,new ,feminist ,lure1 is1 after all1 only a transitory analysis of ephemeral situations4 ,it does not spring from what1 in the relations between ,man and ,woman1 is eternal and unchangeable4 ,it does not turn into dramatic poetry the long cry of our common fate4 ,the pathological 8macabrism0 of ,ibsen and ,strindberg dissolves like mephitic scum when the eternal constellations1 under which ,job and ,david and ,sophocles wrote1 mount up through the deep hushed air4 ,mr4 ,browne has an artist's and an ,irishman's passion for ,synge--but he knows better than we could tell him that gaelic ,mythology is not classical ,mythology and gaelic poetry is not ,universal poetry4 ,and so we return to the one old ,path--the one undying ,tradition4 ,we literally return to it4 ,for1 after all their lovely and alluring experiments in a hundred directions1 the great work of ,the ,little ,theatre--until ,mr4 ,browne writes his own epoch-making ,poetic ,play--is1 as we all confess1 the revival of ,euripides4 ,it is here and only here that ,the ,little ,theatre of ,chicago rouses itself1 through every nerve and vein of its corporate body1 to grand and undistracted reciprocity4 ,and here we are in the presence of a true ,renaissance3 a ,renaissance as authentic and deep as that which the fifteenth century stumbled upon4 ,the truth of what ,i am saying will be sealed1 for the few who understand this 8open secret10 by the fact of the instinctive preference displayed1 not only by the director but by the whole company1 for ,the ,trojan ,women1 over the less universal1 the less classical1 the more modern ,medea4 ,no one who has a real insight into what ,poetic ,drama means--,poetic ,drama the highest of all human ,arts--can hesitate for a moment as to where ,the ,little ,theatre rises to a permanent and tradition-making height4 ,it rises to such a height in its performance of ,the ,trojan ,women4 ,and it does so because here and here alone1 by reason of the universal nature of the subject--nothing less in fact than the incarnation of ,world's ,sorrow--every member of the company is touched and attuned and compelled and transfigured to the same ultimate ,pity4 ,it is not only of 8,ilion0 we think1 it is not only for 8,ilion0 we weep1 in those world-deep choruses2 we weep for all the sons and daughters of men1 doomed by the same doom1 who 8must endure0--with ,argive ,helen--8their going hence1 even as their coming hither40 ,the magical ,irish 8plummet0 of ,synge does not1 cannot1 sound much depth2--and before the bowed figures of those world-mourners1 carved as if by the chisel of ,pheidias1 our pathological ,hyperborean ,phantoms go squeaking1 bat-like1 to oblivion4 ,when1 in the future1 ,poetic ,drama once more attains the position to which the self-preservative instincts of humanity entitle it1 it will be recognized for what it is--the true religious focussing of man's permanent protest against ,fate--lifted above the dust of all ephemeral questioning4 ,it will then be seen that in ,poetic ,drama1 rather than in the noblest sacraments of ,religion1 the race must find its orchestral unity1 the rhythm of its natural and ,tragic breathing4 ,and when this is seen1 and the history of the thing written1 ,the ,chicago ,little ,theatre1 its directors and its company1 will receive 7too late1 as always1 for personal relief7 their delayed appreciation4 ,it would be unjust1 in any such tentative anticipation of ,time's verdict as these pages suggest1 to praise ,maurice ,browne at the expense of those who so wonderfully work with him4 ,we may have our ,european blood1 our ,european ,formalism2 but1 after all1 our stage is an ,american stage1 our company an ,american company4 ,in estimating the actual contribution of individual members of the company1 to the ,idea behind it1 it were wise to be cautious and discreet4 ,any praise of a particular performer must needs fall a little discordantly when a certain impersonal rhythmic orchestration is the note of the whole matter4 ,no such faux-pas is risked in the mention of three names4 ,this 8,chicago ,renaissance0 in which ,maurice ,browne plays the part of the golden-mouthed ,mirandola hath also its young ,angelo1 8seeking the soul0 of light and form and color4 ,the work that has been done is so much1 after all1 a matter of technical inspiration1 that to omit the name of ,raymond ,johnson from its annals were to write the history of ,florence without alluding to ,michele4 ,chicago may indeed regard itself1 for all its chaotic tumult1 as the ,tuscan ,city of ,america2 for nowhere else is so pure a flame1 of single-hearted devotion to ,beauty1 burning on this side of the ,atlantic6 ,and with the name of ,raymond ,johnson1 the artist of the company1 it is necessary to link that of ,edward ,moseman1 its greater actor4 ,it is strange that it should have been left to a wandering ,european--and yet perhaps not strange6--to make audible the prediction1 which all discerning dramatic critics must inevitably be making in their hearts1 that in not so very many years ,mr4 ,moseman will be recognized1 from shore to shore1 as the most interesting and most personally-arresting player that this country has produced since ,booth4 ,that a genius of his peculiarly idiosyncratic type should have been magnetized--against his will--into the 8formalism0 of the ,one ,tradition1 is about as good an evidence as could be found of the power and conviction of ,maurice ,browne's impersonal ,ideal6 ,the third name ,i may be allowed to mention1 without impertinent intrusion into orchestral harmonies1 is the name of ,miss ,vera ,white4 ,i am not now referring to ,miss ,white's untiring constructive labor upon what one might call 8the architectural scaffolding0 of ,the ,little ,theatre's productions4 ,i am referring to her personal genius as an actress4 ,nothing more natural1 nothing more inevitable1 nothing more winning and seductive1 than this gentle actress's rendering of the wronged mother in ,mrs4 ,ellis's ,cornish ,play could be possibly imagined4 ,and the same enchanting qualities of direct self-effacing emotion will no doubt be even more irresistible when1 in a classic role1 she comes to play the ,nurse in ,medea4 ,of ,ellen ,van ,volkenburg's own acting in this classic ,renaissance which she is helping her husband to summon from 8the vasty deep10 ,i cannot speak2 for ,i have only seen her in those charming 8genre0 plays where she loves1 mischievously enough1 to transform herself1 like a witch-fairy1 into every mortal kind of dream-person6 ,but ,i know enough of her to know at least one aspect of her ,october-shadowy moods1 which will make us tremble before her ,medea6 ,well6 ,the ,euphorion--the child of this encounter of ,past and ,present has yet to grow his full wings4 ,he is still a 8,ge-,uranic10 a ,child-,angel4 ,but those who have had the fortune of being present at the scene of his high engendering will never forget their privilege4 8,it is a long way0 to the shores of ,troas from the shores of our ,chicago ,lake2 but for one wanderer at least the great goddess of the ,gallery of the ,louvre has not worked her spells in vain4 ,still1 with the ,elizabethan1 we can cry aloud to her through the mists of many journeyings3 8,her lips suck forth my soul4 ,see where it flies40 ,winter's ,pride ,,george ,,soule ,intolerant wind1 cold1 swift over the sand1 ,an icy-silver sun upon the sea1 ,back-spraying plumes of molten white ,wind-lifted from the curling breakers' tips ,that proudly charge the shore with steady roll ,and crisping plunge1 ,the soft advance of foam-- ,its million breaking bubbles1 ,its elfin rush and tingle2 ,a thousand gulls awing1 ,startled to dipping flight and curving glide1 ,their flashing arabesques against the sun ,twisting a thousand beauties never still ,until they rest1 fearless1 lifted and falling ,upon the surging surf2 ,and you and ,i ,striding the flat1 resilient sand1 ,seeking the distance tirelessly1 ,our faces burning1 ,our speech of silence made1 ,in equal freedom joined perfectly1 ,and our uplifted spirits ,plumed like the waves1 exulting with the gulls2 ,these things are potent ,to cleanse us through the years ,and to redeem ,all dull and sluggard hours2 ,these things are proof ,of all bright beauty1 all swift ecstacy4 ,two ,points of ,view ,mrs4 ,ellis's ,gift to ,chicago ,,mary ,,adams ,,stearns ,love1 eugenics1 marriage1 are not three questions1 but merely different aspects of the one great sex problem1 which1 according to ,mrs4 ,havelock ,ellis1 must be solved within the hearts and souls of men and women and not by the acts of any legislative body4 ,those who braved the wind and the rain to hear this well known writer and thinker talk about 8,sex and ,eugenics0 were filled with sharp expectancy as she stepped forward to speak--a short woman about fifty years old1 with iron gray hair cut close to her head1 piercing blue eyes1 eloquent hands and a low voice1 wonderfully modulated and seemingly as tireless as her poised1 vigorous body2 yet expectation seldom fulfills the bright dreams it dangles before our eyes4 ,we let ourselves be carried away with enthusiasm1 and then are hurt because our visions lack fulfillment4 ,some expected too much4 ,chicago has welcomed ,mrs4 ,ellis warmly1 yet within this cordiality there have been hidden germs of fear1 unreasonable hopes1 slavish admiration1 mental indifference and misunderstanding--it is always so4 ,she is without question in the foremost ranks of women thinkers1 and behind her1 trying more or less sincerely to gain an understanding of the great truths that she teaches and upholds1 are hordes of women--curious1 broad-minded1 bigoted1 desperate1 frightened1 sane thinkers1 and sentimentalists2 women who are economic slaves and others who are financially independent4 ,what does ,mrs4 ,ellis mean to each one of them8 ,what message1 if any1 has she brought8 ,has she added anything vital and new to our store of sex and eugenic knowledge which is already burdened with much mediocre and even valueless information8 ,nothing but death could have kept me away from her lecture in ,orchestra ,hall ,february #dth--to which after considerable unnecessary hesitation men were admitted4 ,although ,i knew that ,i was approaching a burning bush ,i felt it was doomed to be hidden in a cloud of misapprehension1 disappointment1 and disapproval1 and ,i walked gingerly with my mind open and unprejudiced and alert4 ,i was fully as eager to catch the atmosphere of the audience1 to fathom the thoughts of the thousand odd brains that listened1 as ,i was to see and hear ,mrs4 ,ellis herself4 ,the lecture was an event4 ,the dignity1 the lack of sensationalism1 the quiet earnestness of what was said revealed a force at work in the world as steady and inevitable as the glacier's erosion of the ,swiss hills4 ,yet this quality of ,mrs4 ,ellis's mind is shown in all she writes and is shared by all who read her pages4 ,her great gift to ,chicago was her personality4 ,it gleamed through every word she spoke and blazed into a pure white flame1 that seemed by its very intensity to create a new heaven and a new earth where love shall rise ,phoenix-like from the ashes of souls and bodies consumed by a misunderstood and misused passion4 ,there were well-known and influential women who stayed away from the lecture because they were afraid--afraid of the truth4 ,because in their blindness they could not see behind the cheap sensationalism of certain newspapers and understand the spiritual purity for which ,mrs4 ,ellis has always stood4 ,yet their absence showed them not so much cowards as women incapable of reaching the great white lights of life4 ,then there were women who came to the lecture expecting to be shocked2 and they went away disappointed4 ,there were women who came laughing and gossiping2 and they went away still laughing and wondering what all the fuss was about anyway4 ,they could not see anything extraordinary2 it was all rather commonplace and not altogether new4 ,and a few came quietly1 knowing that they were to contact a great earnest and wonderful personality2 who above all her broad wisdom stands for the highest ideals that humanity knows--a little woman with a big mind4 ,these went away thoughtfully1 and were satisfied1 for they understood4 ,they felt as well as did ,mrs4 ,ellis herself what could and what could not be said on a public platform to a gathering of more than a thousand prejudiced and in some cases antagonistic listeners4 ,they had in their minds1 as of course she had also1 knowledge of the many scientific volumes that her husband has written4 ,those familiar with ,havelock ,ellis were better prepared to listen than the others4 ,they were grounded in the facts and science of sex which has never been disclosed as he has done it1 and those who have read his pages know that in them he is the complete scientist1 weighing1 comparing1 crediting1 and discrediting the facts that have come to him4 ,in no way are his sex studies propagandic--they are a tremendous reservoir of static power4 ,it has been for his wife and co-worker1 she of independent mind and high purpose1 to take all this vast collection of scientific information in her small hands1 crush out the sordidness1 the misery1 the heart-sickening perversions and distortions of human lives and holding up the bright ideals1 fling them out to her listeners in phrases burning with hope for both men and women and faith that true love will make everything whole4 ,she did not pose as a righter of personal grievances or a solver of private woes4 ,the individual was lost in the group2 details were submerged in generalities2 isolated examples made way for guiding principles4 ,when ,mrs4 ,ellis said 8,we must improve our knowledge if we would improve our morals0 and that there can be no guide to right living except that which comes from within1 she gave us the key to happiness4 ,if one might guess1 she is a little impatient with laws and quite out of sympathy with those who1 knowing but little themselves1 try to bind others by rules and regulations which often defeat the very ends for which they were made4 8,what we want is more eugenics by education1 and less eugenics by legislation0 she cried2 and what she implied many times was that when we come to regard sex love as one of the greatest manifestations of the soul--not one of the offensive expressions of the body--then and then only shall we have eugenic babies and happy men and women4 ,mrs4 ,ellis referred to the sex function as a 8great spiritual enterprise0 and said that only through the conflict of ideals can progress be made4 ,with 8courage1 sanity1 and cleanliness0 in our hearts we must 8cease to regard sex as mere animalism10 and must 8forge passion into power40 8,the sex function is divine fire10 it is 8as much an affair of the soul as of the body0 and 8it is no more disgraceful to function on the sex plane than on the hunger plane or on the thirst plane40 ,she sees that only in the economic independence of women can sex relations be righted--love and money must be completely divorced4 ,any form of barter1 whether lawfully within marriage or unlawfully outside of marriage1 is fatal to the free giving of love4 ,sex love must exist only where there is affinity--never where there is question of possession4 ,only by being economically free can a woman raise herself above the rank of a prostitute4 ,mrs4 ,ellis spoke of our changing ideals2 that what is normal for the ape is gross for the average man and woman1 and that what has been accepted as inevitable by ordinary men and women will be utterly intolerable to the super men and women of the near future4 8,the woman of the future will be the high priestess of sense1 not the victim of sensuality as she now is40 8,she will learn to love beautifully and live joyfully40 ,she referred to the way our bodies have sunk into disrepute ever since ,greek times until to the ,puritans everything was impure and emphasized the fact that 8our bodies and our souls are not enemies1 but mates40 ,mrs4 ,ellis could not in a lecture of this sort have touched upon special sexual situations4 ,she was raising the standards of purity1 right living1 and sanity2 she was creating ideals1 she was destroying sordidness1 she was upholding the sanctity of knowledge and holiness of a love that is free to give or withhold4 ,she was showing women their weakness and pointing out where men have been tyrannical2 she was creating a divine dissatisfaction in every soul that heard her4 ,she was the angel fearing to tread where legislative and police fools rush in and slash about with the sword of reform4 8,create in us clean hearts and our bodies will take care of themselves10 seemed to be her prayer4 ,she showed the goals of happiness and right living2 revealed that her own life had proved these things and found them good4 ,those who went away disappointed were those who expected her to lay down rules and say 8,this shall you do and that1 but not the other thing40 ,but that is not ,mrs4 ,ellis's way4 ,she shows us what it is possible to do1 but she distinctly leaves it to every individual to find his or her own way1 unhampered by law1 and free to make mistakes if unavoidable4 ,she points out that some of the world's greatest geniuses have been neurotics1 as ,oscar ,wilde1 ,michael ,angelo1 ,chopin1 ,rosa ,bonheur1 ,nietszche4 ,we must make our own paths by looking within1 not trusting to man-made laws and customs4 ,those who found the lecture vague and unsatisfactory must increase their knowledge1 not expect a woman to tell in thirty-five minutes all she has learned in thirty-five years4 ,was it not enough for her to confess that we must engage in the sex relation with a 8fine passionateness and spiritual deviltry08 ,was it not enough for her to set up the ideal that the sex function is the 8great spiritual enterprise08 ,was it not enough for her to set before men and women the highest ideals that the human mind had yet conceived8 ,and was it not enough to look at and to listen to a woman who knows whereof she speaks and who has lived all that she teaches8 ,she has found her way through the same clouds of prejudice and prudery that surround us1 and to us of ,chicago she has given the great privilege of sharing with her what she called the proudest moment of her life and of listening to what1 for the first time in her life1 she could freely say4 ,those looking for cheap sensations will not find them in ,mrs4 ,ellis4 ,those trying to limit human action by passing laws will receive no help from her words4 ,those hampered by conventions and shackled by fear of the truth must be born again into the beauty and holiness of every side of human life before they can even see the heights whereon ,mrs4 ,ellis stands4 ,let those who would find happiness for themselves and a happy issue out of the sufferings of the men and women and children and unborn babes1 look into their own hearts and bravely face what is there4 ,women have always run away from anything sexual as unwomanly4 ,she must face her own nature2 she must learn that to most women 8the sex impulse is the hunger of her soul02 she must study men and find a way to raise them from the errors into which they have fallen4 ,she must cease to be a prude1 and learn to be brave1 patient1 wise2 she must study1 read and think4 ,nothing is unwomanly save dishonesty1 and until women are honest enough and fearless enough to face what is within themselves1 neither ,mrs4 ,ellis nor anyone else can help them4 ,mrs4 ,ellis is a leader1 not a driver1 and because she has found life good she is an inspiration which no woman can afford to disregard4 ,mrs4 ,ellis's ,failure ,,margaret ,c4 ,,anderson ,there was one great fault to be found with ,mrs4 ,ellis's lecture3 it was not illuminating4 ,it might have failed in any number of other ways and still have been a real contribution2 but it should not have dared to fall short in that respect1 because ,mrs4 ,ellis came forward in the role of one who has a message and because she chose a subject upon which one must have a message or not talk at all4 ,what ,mrs4 ,ellis did is the kind of thing against which our generation has its deepest grudge1 and it constitutes a very special case of what we mean when we talk so heatedly about ,truth4 ,we mean nothing startling by that3--simply that quality which some one has had the good sense to call 8releasing40 ,a few days before the lecture ,mrs4 ,ellis said that she might as well call her talk anything except merely 8,sex and ,eugenics10 because she meant to discuss love1 spiritually1 sex abnormalities1 and many other matters4 8,i have read all my husband's manuscripts before they were published and ,i know he has never told anything but the truth about sex10 she said4 8,i have waited some thirty years to talk about these things1 and ,i shall tell the truth as ,i know it1 if ,i am sent to jail or put out of ,chicago for it40 ,on another occasion she said that she meant to talk of those people who1 through perverted or inverted sexual tendencies1 faced the problem of having to turn their abnormality--perhaps their gift of genius1 if we understood these things better--into creative channels4 ,because of all this it was only natural to expect a message from ,mrs4 ,ellis4 ,but what actually happened was this3 ,dr4 ,w4 ,a4 ,evans opened the meeting by reading a short paper on ,havelock ,ellis--a paper full of pompous phrases and of real interest in its utter lack of thought4 ,he gave some biographical data which everyone knew1 told the dates of ,mr4 ,ellis's various publications1 repeated the chapter titles of one of his less important works1 and really said nothing at all4 ,then ,mrs4 ,ellis read a paper which her husband had written especially for the occasion--the most uninteresting thing that wonderful man has ever written1 ,i am sure4 ,it had a lot of abstractions about masculinism and feminism1 and really said nothing at all4 7,i use the word 8nothing0 on a basis of ,ideas47 ,then ,mrs4 ,ellis read her own paper1 which was beautifully written and charmingly delivered1 and which said nothing at all4 ,she said in brief that there should be no war between body and soul1 and that ,oscar ,wilde should have been understood rather than sent to jail4 ,these things are not ideas2 they are common sense4 ,they are all quite simply recognized by thinking people2 and most of ,mrs4 ,ellis's audience was composed of thinking people who wanted her individual philosophy on these matters4 ,they were not asking her for art but for thought--not for expression but for meaning4 ,her failure was of the sort of which prophets are never guilty4 ,of course1 ,mrs4 ,ellis may not wish to be considered a prophet or a philosopher4 ,then there should not have been so much talk of offering a completely new view of sex4 ,she may regard herself as a poet1 an interpreter4 ,very well2 then she should have given a substantial vision of a future state when love in all its aspects is valued and understood4 ,mrs4 ,ellis cannot be blamed for the sensational stories in the paper4 ,her suggestion that men be admitted to the lecture because they need education in this field as much as women need it1 was made simply and without any thought of sensation4 ,everybody knows what the press will make of such material as that4 ,and everybody knows how an organization managed exclusively by women is likely to be twisted into silly1 sentimental1 or malicious issues4 ,but ,mrs4 ,ellis can be blamed for that attitude which promises more than it has to give1 and very seriously blamed for that spirit which hints that there may be cause for shame where there is no cause4 ,there has been something altogether too suggestive of 8,did my lecture shock you80 in ,mrs4 ,ellis's attitude4 ,these things are not shocking2 they are beautiful or terrible1 according as they are understood or misrepresented1 but so long as the truth about them is faced squarely they should carry no hint of shock4 ,the only test of an 8emerged personality0 is its arrival at a point where it is not shocked by anything human beings may do or be4 ,you may be deeply moved or terribly hurt1 but you are not merely offended or embarrassed or startled4 ,all that brings things down to such a little scale4 ,i don't know just why1 but ,mrs4 ,ellis's attitude has reminded me of the man who advised me not to read ,havelock ,ellis's volumes on the psychology of sex1 because after such an experience ,i could never respect human beings again4 ,if he had been ignorant or puritanical his remark wouldn't have mattered2 but he was a rather well-known sexologist and he believed those books to be very valuable6 ,what he meant was that it is 8so disillusioning0 to know the truth4 ,if ,mrs4 ,ellis were that sort of person these things ,i object to wouldn't matter in the least4 ,as it is1 they matter hugely4 ,her failure to assume that knowledge is too important a thing to concern itself with people's pruderies is on a par with the man's failure to recognize that truth is never disastrous4 ,nearly all the people in ,orchestra ,hall that night had read ,ellis and ,carpenter and ,weininger and other scientists1 and they expected to hear how far ,mrs4 ,ellis's personal views coincided or disagreed with these authorities4 ,but she had no intention of such elucidation1 it seems4 ,she didn't say what she thought about free love1 free divorce1 social motherhood1 birth-control1 the sex 8morality0 of the future1 or any of these things4 ,on the other side of the question1 in her reference to intermediate types1 she didn't mention homosexuality2 she had nothing to say about the differences between perversion and inversion1 nor did she even hint at ,carpenter's social efforts in behalf of the homosexualist4 ,what does ,mrs4 ,ellis think about ,weininger's statement that intermediate sexual forms are 8normal1 not pathological phenomena1 in all classes of organisms1 and their appearance is no proof of physical decadence80 ,does she agree with him1 in his reference to the idea that inversion is an acquired character and one that has superseded normal sexual impulses1 when he says1 8,it might equally be sought to prove that the sexual inclination of a normal man for a normal woman was an unnatural1 acquired habit4 ,in the abstract there is no difference between the normal and the inverted type4 ,in my view all organisms have both homosexuality and heterosexuality4444 ,in spite of all present-day clamor about the existence of different rights for different individualities1 there is only one law that governs mankind just as there is only one logic and not several logics4 ,it is in opposition to that law as well as to the theory of punishment according to which the legal offense1 not the moral offense1 is punished1 that we forbid the homosexualist to carry on his practices whilst we allow the heterosexualist full play1 so long as both avoid open scandal4 ,speaking from the standpoint of a purer state of humanity and of a criminal law untainted by the pedagogic idea of punishment as a deterrent1 the only logical and rational method of treatment for sexual inverts would be to allow them to seek and obtain what they require where they can1 that is to say1 among other inverts40 ,it is not enough to repeat that ,shakespeare and ,michael ,angelo and ,alexander ,the ,great and ,rosa ,bonheur and ,sappho were intermediates3 how is this science of the future to meet these issues8 ,they move into the realm of the world's sublime tragedies when one reads the manifesto of a community of such people in ,germany3--8,the rays of sunshine in the night of our existence are so rare that we are responsive and deeply grateful for the least movement1 for every single voice that speaks in our favor in the forum of mankind40 ,mrs4 ,ellis may have thought her audience entirely too unsophisticated1 too untutored in these matters1 to admit of specific treatment4 ,but that is all the greater reason to talk plainly4 ,when you reflect how difficult it is for the mass to become educated about sex it becomes rather appalling4 ,it is worth your life to get ,havelock ,ellis's six volumes from a bookstore or a library4 ,you can only do it with a doctor's certificate or something of that sort4 ,even if you ask for ,weininger you are taken behind locked doors1 forced to swear that you want it out of no 8morbid curiosity10 that you will keep it only a week1 and above all that you won't let anyone else read it4 ,of course1 it is practically impossible to do work of this sort under the auspices of women's medical leagues or similar organizations4 ,but ,mrs4 ,ellis had dared the impossible4 ,i can't help comparing her with another woman whose lecture on such a subject would be big1 brave1 beautiful4444 ,i am criticised for having too much about this other woman in ,,the ,,little ,,review2 so 8not to mention any names10 as the story goes1 ,i will merely say that ,emma ,goldman could never fail in this way4 ,it is not a question of what could or could not be said on a public platform2 it is a question of what should be said4 ,if the findings of science are not to be made accessible1 we must all find ourselves in the position of ,rousseau when he said that the renascence of the arts and sciences had not ennobled morals4 ,isn't that almost as true now as then8 ,a week ago1 as ,i write1 a young man named ,roswell ,smith was hanged in ,chicago for having strangled a four-year-old girl4 ,he had no recollection of the murder1 and his father's testimony brought out the fact that the boy had always been epileptic4 ,since he must die for his 8crime0--oh1 the heart-breaking tragedy of his quiet acceptance of that hellish law6--,smith begged that he be allowed to die under the knife1 so that at least humanity might benefit by an examination of his brain4 ,but1 no--he must be hanged3 ,justice must be done1 the public wrath appeased1 the penalty held up to other criminals1 prevention enforced again by methods which don't prevent6 ,the governor1 unwilling to risk public indignation1 salved his conscience by the testimony of one alienist who pronounced ,smith 8sane40 ,and so the boy paid the penalty1 to the accompaniment of ,psalms and readings from the ,word--the 8,light of the world60 444 ,and sixty people watched the murder and not a voice was raised in protest4 ,think of it6--or rather don't think of it unless you are willing to lose your mind with horror and shame4 ,how far have we advanced when things like this can still happen among us8 ,with us love is just as punishable as murder or robbery4 ,mrs4 ,ellis knows the workings of our courts2 she knows of boys and girls1 men and women1 tortured or crucified every day for their love--because it is not expressed according to conventional morality4 ,all this was part of her responsibility on ,february #dth2 and this is why ,i say she failed4 ,the ,acrobat ,,eloise ,,briton ,poised like a panther on a bough ,he swings and leaps4 ,his taut body flashes clear1 ,and in a long blue arc cuts the hushed air ,tense as a cry4 ,the keen1 sharp wind of ,death ,blows after like his shadow1 and ,i feel ,a strange beast stir in me4 ,i almost wish ,that which ,i cannot think1 ,a scream1 a falling body 444 ,a new thrill6 ,but he shoots onward1 arms outstretched ,to clutch at life as it speeds past4 ,his hands grip vise-like2 ,with a wrench ,that half uproots his fingers1 he has caught1 ,and airily ,he twists about the bar ,and comes to rest4 ,sidewise he sits1 and carelessly ,high up among the winds1 ,his taut body ,grown lax and restful4 ,he smiles-- ,as a vain child1 pleased with himself1 he smiles1 ,while our applause comes up ,like incense4 ,he breathes a moment deeply4 ,then again the supple form grows tense1 ,all wire1 all vibrant1 ,poised for one tingling breath ,before another flight4 ,i watch him ,and a quick desire comes over me ,of those slim hips1 ,those long6 clean6 slender limbs ,that stand for health1 and for the sheer ,keen beauty of the body4 ,i desire him4 ,and ,i desire the spirit of the man1 ,the bodily fearlessness1 ,the reckless courage in a swaddled age4 ,i desire him4 ,how lithe and firm would be the child ,of such a man4444 ,a ,young ,american ,poet ,,richard ,,aldington ,it is the defect of ,english1 and in a lesser degree of ,american1 criticism that such criticisms as are not merely commercial are doctrinaire4 ,the critic1 that is to say1 comes to judge a work of art not with an open mind but with a whole horde of prejudices1 ignorances1 and eruditions which he terms 8critical standards40 8,a work of art10 you can hear him say1 8must be this1 must be that1 must be the other10 when indeed a work of art may well be no such thing4 ,just now the cry is all for 8modernity10 for lyrical outbursts in praise of machinery1 of locomotion1 and of violence4 ,and the 8critics0 obediently fill their minds with these prejudices until at length you discover them solemnly declaring that a work of art has no value except it treat of machinery1 of locomotion or of kindred subjects6 ,i have yet to find the critic who approaches his job in the right spirit2 who asks himself first1 ,what has the artist attempted to do81 and then1 ,has he succeeded8 ,the commercial critic is of course the more reprehensible2 the doctrinaire critic is nevertheless a serious menace to that liberty of the arts of which one cannot be too jealous4 ,in ,england especially the doctrinaire critic reigns4 ,yesterday it was all ,nietzsche2 then ,bergson2 now there is a wild fight between a dozen 8isms10 combats between traditional imbeciles and revolutionary imbeciles4 ,so that one spends half one's time becoming an 8ist0 and the rest of the time in getting rid of the title4 ,the neglect of the poems of the young ,american poet--,h4 ,d4--who is the subject of this article1 is due1 ,i think to the following facts4 ,the author1 who apparently possesses a great degree of self-criticism1 produces a very small bulk of work and most of it is lost in magazines2 such work as attained publicity was judged1 before being read1 from its surroundings2 the work being original1 seemed obscure and wantonly destructive of classic ,english models 7you must remember that there are very1 very few people in ,england who have the faintest idea of what is meant by vers libre72 the use of initials rather frightened people2 and the author had no friends among the professional critics4 ,now ,america has this advantage over most ,european countries that its inhabitants are mostly willing to accept a fresh view of things4 ,the lack of a 8tradition0 has advantages as well as disadvantages4 ,an ,american author1 then1 is less likely to see things in a conventional way1 and is less likely to be deterred from any novel and personal method of expression4 7,for in #aiaa1 when ,h4 ,d4 began to write the poems ,i am considering1 vers libre was practically unheard of outside ,france47 ,if ,i were asked to define the chief quality of ,h4 ,d4's work ,i should say3 8,i can only explain it by a paradox2 it is a kind of accurate mystery40 ,and ,i should go on to quote the ballad of ,sir ,patric ,spens in which from a cloudy1 vague1 obscure atmosphere1 where nothing is precise1 where there is no 8story10 no obvious relation between the ideas1 certain objects stand out very sharply and clearly with a very keen effect1 objects like 8the bluid-red wine10 8the braid letter10 the young moon in the old moon's arms1 and the ladies with 8their fans intil their hands40 ,and then ,i should go on to say that this 8accurate mystery0 came from the author's brooding over--not locomotives and machinery--but little corners of gardens1 a bit of a stream in some ,pennsylvanian meadow1 from memories of afternoons along the ,new ,jersey coast1 or of a bowl of flowers4 ,curious1 mysterious1 rather obscure sort of broodings with startling and very accurate renderings of detail4 ,and then ,i should explain the author's use of ,hellenic terms and of the rough unaccented metres of ,attic choruses and ,melic lyrics--like those fragments of ,alcaeus and ,ibycus and ,erinna--by pointing out that it is in those poems--the choruses in the ,bacchae1 for example--that this particular kind of brooding over nature found its best expression4 ,let me quote a portion of a poem to illustrate these qualities3 the quality which ,i have called 8accurate mystery10 the quality of brooding over nature and the quality of spontaneous kinship with certain aspects of ,hellenic poetry4 ,i take it that1 if one liked to be specifically modern the poem could be called 8,wind on the ,new ,jersey ,coast40 ,but the author's innate sense of mystery1 of aloofness1 just like that of the anonymous author of ,sir ,patric ,spens1 makes her place the action in some vague1 distant place and time4 ,though it be contrary to current opinion ,i hold that the poem gains by this4 ,,hermes ,,of ,,the ,,ways ,the hard sand breaks1 ,and the grains of it are clear as wine4 ,far off over the leagues of it1 ,the wind1 ,playing on the wide shore1 ,piles little ridges1 ,and the great waves break over it4 ,but more than the many-foamed ways ,of the sea1 ,i know him ,of the triple path-ways1 ,hermes1 ,who awaiteth4 ,dubious1 ,facing three ways1 ,welcoming wayfarers1 ,he whom the sea-orchard shelters from the west1 ,from the east ,weathers sea-wind2 ,fronts the great dunes4 ,wind rushes ,over the dunes1 ,and the coarse1 salt-crusted grass ,answers4 ,heu1 ,it whips round my ankles6--etc41 etc4 ,i am not willing to have that poem read quickly and cursorarily1 as one reads a column of newspaper print4 ,it must be read with some of the close1 intense attention with which it was written4 ,each word and phrase were most carefully considered and arranged4 ,the reader must remember that the object of such writing is not to convey information but to create in the reader a mood1 an emotion1 a sense of atmosphere4 ,mr4 ,yeats is right when he complains that newspapers have spoiled our sense of poetry2 we expect poetry to tell us some piece of news1 and indeed poetry has no news to tell anyone4 ,its object is simply to arouse an emotion1 and no emotion is ever aroused in a person who skims through a piece of poetry as he skims through a journal4 ,when ,i read that poem ,i have evoked in me a picture--like a picture of ,courbet or ,boudin--of a white sea roaring on to yellow sands under a bright sky1 with the wind sweeping and whistling in the dunes4 ,and ,i have a feeling that it is a magic sort of picture1 of somewhere a great way off1 where it would not surprise me to find the image of a god at the cross-roads1 with the offerings of simple people about the pedestal4 ,and at the same time ,i always remember bathing from some sand-dunes near ,rye1 in ,sussex1 on a very windy afternoon1 when the sand blinded me and the sharp grass cut my ankles as ,i ran down to the water4 ,i cannot1 of course1 tell what sort of an effect such writing has on other people4 ,it may be that ,i am especially sensitive to it4 ,but let me quote another of the author's poems1 conveying a totally different mood4 ,,sitalkas ,thou art come at length ,more beautiful than any cool god ,in a chamber under ,lycia's far coast1 ,than any high god who touches us not ,here in the seeded grass4 ,aye1 than ,argestes1 ,scattering the broken leaves4 ,if you ask me to say precisely what that 8means0 ,i could only explain it in this way4 ,when ,i read that poem ,i experience the emotions ,i should expect to receive if ,i were lying in a sunny meadow on some hot late ,september afternoon--somewhere far inland1 where there would be a great silence broken very gently by the rustle of the heavy headed grass and by the stir of falling beech leaves--somewhere so far inland1 somewhere so hot1 that it would come as a shock of delighted surprise to think of a 8cool god in a chamber under ,lycia's far coast40 ,it does not annoy me that ,i have never been to ,lycia1 that ,i have no more idea who ,sitalkas and ,argestes were than who ,sir ,patric ,spens was2 it is all one2 ,i get my impression just the same1 which1 ,i take it1 is what the author aimed at4 ,and indeed the odd unknown names give it a very agreeable sense of mystery and of aloofness4 ,such are some of the qualities of the work of the young ,american who hides her identity under the initials ,h4 ,d4 ,i believe her work is quite unknown in ,america1 though1 before the war1 ,i remember seeing some comment on it in a ,french literary paper4 ,it was in another ,french review that a critic complained that this author was not interested in aeroplanes and factory chimneys4 ,somehow ,i feel quite coldly about factory chimneys when ,i read sudden intense outbursts of poetry like those ,i have quoted and like this3 ,the light of her face falls from its flower ,as a hyacinth1 ,hidden in a far valley1 ,perishes upon burnt grass4 ,editorials and ,announcements ,on ,criticism ,there is something particularly delightful to me in reviewing ,john ,cowper ,powys's book1 ,visions and ,revisions1 in ,,the ,,little ,,review4 ,for ,mr4 ,powys1 though quite unconscious of it1 was one of the main inspirations behind the coming-to-be of this magazine4 ,two years ago we heard him lecture on ,pater and ,arnold and came from that rite determined1 if possible1 to reflect something of his attitude1 his critical appreciation1 in a magazine4 ,i remember the thrill of it very vividly3 8,that is criticism60 we said4 ,and so ,i am going to let ,mr4 ,powys speak for us by quoting almost the entire preface from his new volume with its critical essays on ,rabelais1 ,dante1 ,shakespeare1 ,el ,greco1 ,milton1 ,lamb1 ,arnold1 ,shelley1 ,keats1 ,nietzsche1 ,hardy1 ,dostoevsky1 ,poe1 and others4 ,i am sure that1 as ,,the ,,little ,,review',s godfather1 he will not mind being quoted so at length3 8,most books of critical essays take upon themselves with unpardonable effrontery1 to weigh and judge from their own petty suburban pedestal1 the great ,shadows they review4 ,it is an insolence6 ,how should ,professor ,this1 or ,doctor ,that1 whose furthest adventures of #8dangerous living' have been squalid philanderings with their neighbors' wives1 bring an ,ethical ,synthesis to bear that shall put ,shakespeare and ,hardy1 ,milton and ,rabelais1 into appropriate niches8 8,every critic has a right to his own ,aesthetic ,principles1 to his own ,ethical ,convictions2 but when it comes to applying these in tiresome1 pedantic agitation1 to ,edgar ,allan ,poe and ,charles ,lamb1 we must beg leave to cry off6 ,what we want is not the formulating of new ,critical ,standards1 and the dragging in of the great masters before our last miserable ,theory of ,art4 ,what we want is an honest1 downright and quite personal articulation1 as to how these great things in literature really hit us when they find us for the moment natural and off our guard--when they find us as men and women1 and not as ethical gramophones4444 8,there is an absurd notion going about1 among those half-educated people who frequent ,ethical ,platforms1 that ,literary ,criticism must be #8constructive4' ,o that word #8constructive'6 ,how1 in the name of the mystery of genius1 can criticism be anything else than an idolatry1 a worship1 a metamorphosis1 a love affair6 ,the pathetic mistake these people make is to fancy that the great artists only lived and wrote in order to buttress up such poor wretches as they are upon the particular little1 thin1 cardboard platform which is at present their moral security and refuge4 8,no one has a right to be a critic whose mind cannot1 with ,protean receptivity1 take first one form and then another1 as the great ,spells1 one by one1 are thrown and withdrawn4 8,who wants to know what ,professor ,so-and-,so's view of life may be8 ,we want to use ,professor ,so-and-so as a ,mirror1 as a ,medium1 as a ,go-,between1 as a ,sensitive ,plate1 so that we may once more get the thrill of contact with this or that dead ,spirit4 ,he must keep his temperament1 our ,critic2 his peculiar angle of receptivity1 his capacity for personal reaction4 ,but it is the reaction of his own natural nerves that we require1 not the pallid1 second-hand reaction of his tedious1 formulated opinions4 ,why cannot he see that1 as a natural man1 physiologically1 nervously1 temperamentally1 pathologically different from other men1 he is an interesting spectacle1 as he comes under the influence first of one great artist and then another1 while as a silly1 little1 preaching school-master1 he is only a blot upon the world-mirror6444 8,it is because so many of us are so limited in our capacity for #8variable reaction' that there are so few good critics4 ,but we are all1 ,i think1 more multiple-souled than we care to admit4 ,it is our foolish pride of consistency1 our absurd desire to be #8constructive' that makes us so dull4 ,a critic need not necessarily approach the world from the #8pluralistic' angle2 but there must be something of such #8pluralism' in his natural temper1 or the writers he can respond to will be very few6 8,let it be plainly understood4 ,it is impossible to respond to a great genius half way4 ,it must be all or nothing4 ,if you lack the courage1 or the variability1 to go all the way with very different masters1 and to let your constructive consistency take care of itself1 you may become1 perhaps1 an admirable moralist2 you will never be a ,clairvoyant critic4 ,all this having been admitted1 it still remains that one has a right to draw out from the great writers one loves certain universal aesthetic tests1 with which to discriminate between modern productions4 8,but even such tests are personal and relative4 ,they are not to be foisted on one's readers as anything #8ex cathedra'4 ,one such test is the test of what has been called #8the grand style'--that grand style against which1 as ,arnold says1 the peculiar vulgarity of our race beats in vain6 ,i do not suppose ,i shall be accused of perverting my devotion to the #8grand style' into an academic #8narrow way1' through which ,i would force every writer ,i approach4 ,some most winning and irresistible artists never come near it4 8,and yet--what a thing it is6 ,and with what relief do we return to it1 after the #8wallowings' and #8rhapsodies1' the agitations and prostitutions1 of those who have it not4 8,and what are the elements1 the qualities1 that go to make up this #8grand style'8 8,let me first approach the matter negatively4 ,there are certain things that cannot--because of something essentially ephemeral in them--be dealt with in the grand style4 8,such are1 for instance1 our modern controversies about the problem of ,sex4 ,we may be ,feminists or ,anti-,feminists--what you will--and we may be able to throw interesting light on these complicated relations1 but we cannot write of them1 either in prose or poetry1 in the grand style1 because the whole discussion is ephemeral2 because1 with all its gravity1 it is irrelevant to the things that ultimately matter6 8,such1 to take another example1 are our elaborate arguments about the interpretation1 ethical or otherwise1 of ,christian ,doctrine4 ,we can be very entertaining1 very moral1 very eloquent1 very subtle1 in this particular sphere2 but we cannot deal with it in the #8great style1' because the permanent issues that really count lie out of reach of such discussion and remain unaffected by it4 8,let me make myself quite clear4 ,hector and ,andromache can talk to one another of their love1 of their eternal parting1 of their child1 and they can do this in the great style2 but if they fell into dispute over the particular sex conventions that existed in their age1 they might be attractive still1 but they would not be uttering words in the #8great style'4444 8,the test is always that of ,permanence1 and of immemorial human association4 ,it is1 at bottom1 nothing but human association that makes the great style what it is4 ,things that have1 for centuries upon centuries1 been associated with human pleasures1 human sorrows1 and the great recurrent dramatic moments of our lives1 can be expressed in this style2 and only such things4 ,the great style is a sort of organic1 self-evolving work of art1 to which the innumerable units of the great human family have all put their hands4 ,that is why so large a portion of what is written in the great style is anonymous--like ,homer and much of the ,bible and certain old ballads and songs4 ,it is for this reason that ,walter ,pater is right when he says that the important thing in ,religion is the ,ceremony1 the ,litany1 the ,ritual1 the ,liturgical ,chants1 and not the ,creeds or the ,commandments1 or discussion upon ,creed or ,commandment4444 ,why1 of all the religious books in the world1 have #8the ,psalms of ,david1' whether in ,hebrew or ,latin or ,english1 touched men's souls and melted and consoled them8 ,they are not philosophical4 ,they are not logical4 ,they are not argumentative4 ,they are not moral4 ,and yet they break our hearts with their beauty and appeal6 8,it is the same with certain well-known words4 ,is it understood1 for instance1 why the word #8,sword' is always poetical and in #8the grand style1' while the word #8,zeppelin' or #8,submarine' or #8,gatling gun' or #8,howitzer' can only be introduced by ,free ,versifiers1 who let the #8grand style' go to the ,devil8 ,the word #8,sword1' like the word #8,plough1' has gathered about it the human associations of innumerable centuries1 and it is impossible to utter it without feeling something of their pressure and their strain4 ,the very existence of the #8grand style' is a protest against any false views of #8progress' and #8evolution4' ,man may alleviate his lot in a thousand directions2 he may build up one ,utopia after another2 but the grand style will remain2 will remain as the ultimate expression of those aspects of his life that cannot change--while he remains ,man4444 8,there are a certain number of solitary spirits moving among us who have a way of troubling us by their aloofness from our controversies1 our disputes1 our arguments1 our #8great problems4' ,we call them ,epicures1 ,pagans1 ,heathen1 ,egoists1 ,hedonists1 and ,virtuosos4 ,and yet not one of these words exactly fits them4 ,what they are really doing is living in the atmosphere and the temper of #8the grand style'--and that is why they are so irritating and so provocative6 ,to them the most important thing in the world is to realize to the fullest limit of their consciousness what it means to be born a ,man4 ,the actual drama of our mortal existence1 reduced to the simplest terms1 is not enough to occupy their consciousness and their passion4 ,in this sphere--in the sphere of the #8inevitable things' of human life--everything becomes to them a sacrament4 ,not a ,symbol--be it noted--but a ,sacrament6 ,the food they eat2 the wine they drink2 their waking and sleeping2 the hesitancies and reluctancies of their devotions2 the swift anger of their recoils and retreats2 their long loyalties2 their savage reversions2 their sudden #8lashings out'2 their hate and their love and their affection2 the simplicities of these everlasting moods are in all of us--become1 every one of them1 matters of sacramental efficiency4 ,to regard each day1 as it dawns1 as a #8last day1' and to make of its sunrise1 of its noon1 of its sun-setting1 a rhythmic antiphony to the eternal gods--this is to live in the spirit of the #8grand style4' ,it has nothing to do with #8right' or #8wrong4' ,saints may practise it1 and sometimes do4 ,sinners often practise it4 ,the whole thing consists in growing vividly conscious of those moods and events which are permanent and human1 as compared with those other moods and events which are transitory and unimportant4 8,when a man or woman experiences desire1 lust1 hate1 jealousy1 devotion1 admiration1 passion1 they are victims of the eternal forces1 that can speak1 if they will1 in #8the great style4' ,when a man or woman #8argues' or #8explains' or #8moralizes' or #8preaches1' they are the victims of accidental dust-storms1 which rise from futility and return to vanity4 ,that is why ,rhetoric1 as ,rhetoric1 can never be in the great style4 ,that is why certain great revolutionary ,anarchists1 those who have the genius to express in words their heroic defiance of #8the something rotten in ,denmark1' move us more1 and assume a grander outline1 than the equally admirable1 and possibly more practical1 arguments of the ,scientific ,socialists4 ,it is the eternal appeal we want1 to what is basic and primitive and undying in our tempestuous human nature6 8,the grand style announces and commands4 ,it weeps and it pleads4 ,it utters oracles and it wrestles with angels4 ,it never apologizes2 it never rationalizes2 and it never explains4 ,that is why the great ineffable passages in the supreme masters take us by the throat and strike us dumb4 ,deep calls unto ,deep in them1 and our heart listens and is silent4 ,to #8do good scientific thinking' in the cause of humanity has its well-earned reward2 but the gods #8throw incense' on a different temper4 ,the #8fine issues' that reach them1 in their remoteness and disdain1 are the #8fine issues' of an antagonist worthy of their own swift wrath1 their own swift vengeance1 and their own swift love4444 8,beauty6 ,that is what we all1 even the grossest of us1 in our heart of hearts is seeking4 ,lust seeks it2 ,love creates it2 the miracle of ,faith finds it--but nothing less1 neither truth nor wisdom nor morality nor knowledge1 neither progress nor reaction1 can quench the thirst we feel40 ,a ,benefit ,recital ,the sonata recital of ,josephine ,gerwing and ,carol ,robinson on ,march #g is to be a benefit for ,,the ,,little ,,review4 ,our gratitude is so deep that we can't even begin to express it4 ,but you will not be so interested in our gratitude as in our taste3 we know both these musicians and we know that whoever comes to them for music will not go away empty4 ,it will be beautiful4 ,the program is on page #ei4 ,tickets are on sale at #iag ,fine ,arts ,building4 ,more ,nietzsche ,dr4 ,foster's series of ,nietzsche articles will be continued in the next issue4 ,ten ,grotesques ,,arthur ,,davison ,,ficke ,i4 ,,why ,,women ,,hate ,,artists ,thanks1 belovd2 here's your pay4 ,now get you quickly out of the way4 ,for there are many more things to do2 ,and all my pictures can't image you4 ,,ii4 ,,the ,,prudent ,,lover ,i dreamed a song of a wild1 wild love ,and purposed to follow her flying hair1 ,singing my music1 through vale and grove1 ,till dusk met the hills--and ,i clasped her there4 ,but--mumbling ancient ,i have become6-- ,i sang two staves1 and then gave o'er2 ,and carried my song with prudence home2 ,and nailed it as motto above my door4 ,now1 the angels in heaven will crown me with bays2 ,and give me a golden trumpet to blow ,when at last ,i die1 full of virtuous days 444 ,but my wild1 wild love--will she ever know8 ,,iii4 ,a ,,poetry-,,party ,fronting a ,dear ,child and an ,infamy ,you sat2 and watched1 with dusk-on-the-mountain eyes1 ,the marching river of the beer go by1 ,alert in vain for a band-crash of surprise4 ,i also6 ,dawn1 that in respectful way ,entered a-liveried1 could no lightnings rouse ,for which ,i watched2 the calling-card of day ,flushed with no guilt your ,hebridean brows4 ,wherefore the ,infamy and ,i went down ,into a street of windows high and blind4 ,his face1 his tongue1 his words1 his soul1 were brown4 ,but from a window lofty and left behind1 ,like a silver trumpet over the gutter-dirt1 ,you waved6--7,i know not what2 perhaps a shirt47 ,,iv4 ,,portrait ,,of ,a ,,spiritually ,,disturbed ,,gentleman ,o piece of garbage rotting on a rug1-- ,to what a final ending hast thou come6 ,art thou predestined fodder of a bug8 ,shalt thou no more behold thy ,dresden home8 ,when green disintegration works its last ,ruin1 and all thy atoms writhe and start1 ,shall no frilled-paper memories from the past ,drift spectral down the gravy of thy heart8 ,can the cold grease from off the dirty plate ,make thee forget the ice-box of thy prime1 ,and soon1 among the refuse-cans1 thy fate ,blot out the gay fork-music of old time8 ,ah well6 all music has its awkward flats-- ,and after all1 there are the alley-cats6 ,v4 ,,portrait ,,of ,,the ,,incomparable ,,john ,,cowper ,,powys1 ,,esq4 ,when first the rebel hosts were hurled ,from heaven1--and as they downward sped ,flashed by them world on glimmering world ,like mileposts on that road of dread1-- ,one ruined angel by strange chance ,on earth lit stranded with spent wing4 ,there1 when revived1 he took his stance ,in slightly battered triumphing4 ,and still he stands2 though lightning-riven1 ,more riotous than ere he fell1-- ,upon his brow the lights of heaven ,mixed with a foregleam out of hell4 ,,vi4 ,,to ,,an ,,outrageous ,,person ,god forgive you1 ,o my friend6 ,for1 be sure1 men never will4 ,their most righteous wrath shall bend ,toward you all the strokes of ill4 ,you are outcast--,who could bear1 ,laboring dully1 to behold ,that glad carelessness you wear1 ,dancing down the sunlight's gold8 ,who1 a self-discovered slave1 ,as the burdens on him press1 ,could but curse you1 arrant knave1 ,for your crime of happiness8 ,all the dogmas of our life ,are confuted by your fling1-- ,taking dullness not to wife1 ,but with wonder wantoning4 ,all the good and great of earth1 ,prophecying your bad end1 ,sourly watch you dance in mirth ,up the rainbow1 ,o my friend6 ,,vii4 ,,in ,a ,,bar ,,room ,across the polished board1 wet and ashine1 ,appalling incantations late have passed4-- ,for some1 the mercy of dull anodyne2 ,for others1 hope destined an hour to last4 ,here has been sold courage to lift the weak ,that they embrace a great and noble doom4 ,here some have bought a clue they did not seek ,into the wastes of an engulfing gloom4 ,and amorous tears1 and high indignant hate1 ,laughter1 desires1 passions1 and hopes1 and rest1-- ,the drunkard's sleep1 the poet's shout to fate1-- ,all from these bottles filled a human breast6 ,magician of the apron6 ,let us see-- ,what is that draught you are shaking now for me8 ,,viii4 ,,the ,,devil ,,among ,,the ,,tailors ,they groaned--8,his aims are not as ours40 ,he mused--8,what end to mortal powers80 ,they urged--8,your fair ideals have fled40 ,he smiled4--8,the living tramp the dead60 ,they told him--8,you have done a wrong60 ,he asked--8,which is my faulty song80 ,they cried--8,your life lies wrecked and vain60 ,he laughed4--8,that shell8 ,pray1 look again60 ,they shrieked--8,go forth6 ,an outcast be60 ,he answered--8,thanks4 ,you make me free60 ,,ix4 ,,the ,,newest ,,believer ,through his sick brain the shrieking bullet stormed1 ,wrecking the chambers of his spirit's state4 ,the gleam that brightened and the glow that warmed ,those arrassed halls sank quenched and desolate4 ,out of the balefully enfolding mesh1 ,life he would free from dominance of evil2 ,and purpose deeper than the weak-willed flesh ,bade him renounce the world1 the flesh1 the devil4 ,and as ,i looked upon his shattered face ,hideously fronting me in that dark room1 ,i saw the ,prophets of the ,church take place ,beside him1--they who dared the nether gloom ,for worlds of life or silence far away1 ,so hated they the evil of their day4 ,x4 ,,song ,,of ,a ,,very ,,small ,,devil ,he who looks in golden state ,down from ramparts of high heaven1 ,knows he any turn of fate1 ,it must be of evil given-- ,he perhaps shall wander late ,downward through the luminous gate4 ,he who makes himself a gay ,dear familiar of things evil1-- ,in some deepest tarn astray1 ,close-companioned of the ,devil1-- ,he can nowhere turn his way ,save up brighter slopes of day4 ,plight it is1 yet clear to see4 ,hence take solace of your sinning4 ,as ye sink unfathomably1 ,heaven grows ever easier winning4 ,therefore ye who saved would be1 ,come and shake a leg with me6 ,a ,new ,standard of ,art ,criticism and a ,significant ,artist ,,huntley ,,carter ,it has been clear to me for some time that a new standard of art criticism is needed to assist the present-day revaluation of ,art4 ,a constant examination of advanced pictures has shown me that the key to revaluation resides in the ultimate effect attained by the new 8masters40 ,in studying this effect ,i have become aware of certain facts4 7#a7 ,the effect is one of solid motion at a greater intensity than is found in actuality4 ,it is solid motion actually exaggerated4 7,by solid motion1 ,i mean motion expressed by actual forms47 7#b7 ,the greater the intensity the more it tends to obliterate actuality4 7#c7 ,there is a fluid motion behind phenomena4 ,this motion informs phenomena but loses its intensity when it becomes phenomenalized4 ,it changes its character from fluid motion to solid motion1 as though undergoing a process of conversion similar to that by which water is frozen into ice4 7#d7 ,the meaning of the attainment of the said effect would therefore seem to be that solid motion1 as expressed by artists1 is being melted into fluid motion1 as ice is melted into water1 and water is1 in turn1 converted into steam4 ,moreover1 the solid motion is being melted by the higher intensity of the fluid motion4 ,in other words fluid motion is converting solid motion into its own flow1 or that from whence solid motion came4 ,the conclusion is that the quest for intensity is a sign that artists are awakening to a feeling for fluid motion behind solids4 ,perhaps artists are becoming purer mediums4 ,it is conceivable that the revolt against academic formulae and the consequent movement towards neo-primitivism1 have had a refining influence4 ,in ridding artists of certain forms of culture and convention1 they have removed inner obstacles to the intense stream-line flow or fluid motion1 and have made them accessible to the motion itself4 ,hence the present-day pursuit of abstraction in painting and the tendency of representative forms 7i4 e43 solids7 to disappear from the canvas and to be replaced by non-representative forms 7i4 e43 fluids74 ,as an example ,i may point to the shadowy forms pursued by ,kandinsky4 ,it is true that many of ,kandinsky's studies do not contain evidence of fluid motion working freely through the artist and tracing its own designs on his canvas4 ,in his earlier studies he certainly expresses solids4 ,he puts down forms which the conventional memory recognizes as having a relation to the known1 and thereby defeats his own object4 ,but his recent studies exhibit a refining away of solids and a larger feeling for fluidity1 that leads one to believe the artist is striving for a true dream-like state in which the fluid motion is left to express itself at its own degree of intensity4 ,whether he will ever attain this state is uncertain as yet1 especially in view of the intellectual attitude of his writings4 ,in ,spiritual ,harmony1 for instance1 he is seen working out a scheme of color thus showing he hopes to produce an effect upon the spectator by the use of a mathematical formula4 ,he has evidently conceived the theory that certain colors are equivalent to certain emotions and by adding or subtracting color he can add or subtract an emotion to or from the spectator4 ,thus yellow equals joy1 but add red to the yellow and the effect will be joy tinged with passion4 ,in this way the fluid motion actuating ,kandinsky is bound to be subjected to theoretical treatment instead of being left free to do its own work4 ,the emotion of joy in passing through the painter on its way to the spectator will be subjected to mental checks1 with the result that it will be deprived of its greatest value in its original intensity4 ,the study of the aforementioned facts led me in turn to new views on ,art1 7a7 as to the origin and nature of ,art1 7b7 as to the order1 intelligibility1 and coherence that exist in the natural manifestations of ,art1 7c7 as to the law of growth and progression to be applied to art forms1 7d7 as to the illumination of this law by a proper standard of criticism4 ,accordingly ,i came to see that ,art is a potential creative movement in space4 ,it first exists in the fluid motions of the universe and ultimately in a work of art only as the inevitable and efficient expression of itself through a specially adapted medium called the artist4 ,in a metaphysical sense1 ,art may be said to be a spiritual experience capable of assuming visibility4 ,but it becomes visible only by a process of debasement4 ,apparently1 as ,i have said1 the fluid motion in which ,art expresses itself loses its intensity and becomes solid motion in the process of conversion into a work of art1 as applied by all civilized artists 7as far as we know7 up to the present day4 ,in fact1 it is only recent years that have witnessed the discovery by the artist of the fluid motion potential in solid motion4 ,cezanne1 ,gauguin1 and ,van ,gogh were among the first of the moderns to arrive at the point of realizing this potential character4 ,all three were actively engaged in the refining of solids and suggesting their potential ultimate fluidity4 ,what they actually did was this4 ,they demonstrated that ,art is a fluid motion seeking to produce an ultimate creative effect upon the spectator through efficient application1 and that fluid motion can only produce its creative effect as fluid motion4 ,now1 largely owing to blindness or wrong direction1 artists1 with rare exceptions1 have hitherto concerned themselves with converting fluid motion into various forms of solid motion4 ,they have in fact stopped at the expression of representative forms of nature and human life1 apparently unconscious that in doing so they were not completing the expression of the art flow1 but were stopping at a half-way house1 so to speak1 where of course the maximum creative effect could not be produced4 ,before this effect can be produced it is necessary to complete the journey by reconverting the solids into fluid motion4 ,it cannot be said that either ,cezanne1 ,van ,gogh1 or ,gauguin completed the magic journey4 ,but if they did not refine away the solids in their canvases and set them going as fluid motion1 if they put down forms recognizable as houses1 men1 trees1 and so on1 they certainly exhibited such forms undergoing a process of melting4 ,in ,van ,gogh's canvases the forms are simply being melted by the fierce internal intensity to which the artist is subjecting them4 ,van ,gogh1 perhaps more than any of his contemporaries1 shows us known forms in the act of being converted into their original fluid motion4 ,and it is for this reason1 ,i think1 ,van ,gogh's pictures produce a greater creative effect upon the spectator than any merely representative forms of art4 ,we experience in them a rush of liberated energy due to the change from solidity to fluidity4 ,so much for the new conception of the origin and nature of ,art4 ,with regard to the principles by which ,art moves towards its ultimate effect1 ,i believe they are analogous to those by which an unseen agency assumes visibility in natural forms4 ,there is the same order1 intelligibility1 and coherence throughout4 ,corresponding to the invariable order of growth and progression in a plant as represented by the seed 7enclosing the life and unifying principle7 stem1 branches1 leaves and fruit1 is the order of ascent1 or perhaps it should be descent1 by which ,art takes concrete form4 ,first there is the initial flow1 then the root-point answering to the seed or unifying principle1 then follow in turn1 lines1 planes1 and solids4 ,the fruit and the solids appear to be the culmination of the initial flow1 but really they contain a potential power of growth in a realizable fluid motion4 ,this abstract motion has ever since the start been descending and slackening into solid motion1 and its forms have become more and more concrete as they attained actuality4 ,behind these actual forms1 it is clear1 there is the potentiality of further movement and growth which in our limited state of intelligence we conceive of as realisable only on the original lines4 ,if there is an infinite growth and development inherent in actual forms very few persons are aware of it4 ,indeed most persons are aware only of particular growth4 ,to them growth begins with the seed and stops with the fruit or its art expression as fruit1 and the only form of continuation is to be found in repetition4 ,the old process must be repeated from seed to fruit4 ,according to this view the phenomena of growth as expressed by art-forms is manifested in a succession of parallel movements and not in one continuous and ever-expanding movement4 ,generally speaking1 things are transferred to canvas as they appear1 particular solids1 not infinite fluids as they are4 ,if they have a life principle in them it is carefully concealed1 for they suggest no power of infinite growth4 ,it would seem indeed as though art-expression1 during civilized times1 has reached a deadlock4 ,for it is noticeable that throughout all the great periods of art-expression1 artists have expressed the same things4 ,in the canvases of the old masters a flow of solids manifests itself with depressing regularity4 ,time1 one might think1 would have lifted the soul of the artist out of solid space4 ,but1 as we know1 the feverish desire to express a too solid world has not grown less till of recent years4 ,it may be due to this deadlock that art criticism has seldom risen above mediocrity4 ,how indeed could it reach the highest creative achievement of the critical mind if works of art lack the creative principle to be judged8 ,the creative critic cannot possibly build his house of illumination without the essential fundamental materials4 ,and these the artist must provide4 ,he cannot illuminate the non-existent4 ,and if there are no creative elements to work upon criticism is bound to fall and remain far below the creative standard4 ,it will be uncertain and chaotic in its judgments4 ,history says it is so1 and not without proof4 ,it shows us that the art judgment of one age has been sufficient to reverse the art judgment of a previous age4 ,yet ,art itself does not change4 ,if it is badly expressed at any time it is badly expressed for all time4 ,therefore the said fluctuating judgment has but one interpretation4 ,it means that the judgment itself is at fault1 and much of the art criticism to which art critics have given utterance is worthless4 ,the reason is apparent4 ,art criticism is not based upon a fundamental principle4 ,there is no established law of art criticism4 ,of course ,i shall be told there is no such law to establish1 because it does not exist and never will exist4 ,the art critic has been and will continue to be guided by his conscious experience4 ,and as such experience varies from age to age1 so judgment founded upon it varies also4 ,but a statement so independent of common sense is plainly nonsense4 ,the law to which ,i refer is within the critic just as it is within the artist4 ,it does not always operate because it is not allowed to do so4 ,it is hindered by conscious experience4 ,actually the law is the artist1 and if left to itself it would make an efficient application of itself to produce the highest creative effect of which fluid motion is capable4 ,such is the unconscious method of using the law4 ,the artist uses it not because he can or will but because he must4 ,his picture producing is a work that can only be done in one way1 not by thought and reason1 not by compulsions and restraints1 but through the livingness of free energies left free to find their own expressions through their own channels4 ,his starting point1 representing the seed of unity1 is sensibility1 and feeling if left alone will do everything to unite all parts of his vision1 to bind and cement them together4 ,the result would remain as an example of organic growth not limited to solid space but extended to a higher space as far as the emotional impulse in the artist can be expressed by the limited means at his disposal4 ,the question of how far the artist can use solid 7that is1 dead7 materials1 paint brushes1 and canvas1 to reach a transcendental effect 7effect of livingness7 is one that ,i must leave for future consideration4 ,in such a result would be found evidence not only that there is a great principle or law by which art operates and reaches its highest mark humanly possible1 but that it remains constant and true in the sensible artist and can be traced running through all he does4 ,if further evidence of the existence of the law is needed ,i can point to the conscious use of it today by painters who are seeking to give the facts of ordinary experience a non-representative character1 as though belonging to a world of abstraction4 ,we know that ,picasso is busy converting everyday forms of his own contemporary surroundings into rhythmic shape from which all clichs have been carefully eliminated4 ,we know too that other painters following the epoch-making example of ,john ,d4 ,fergusson are boldly rhythmising the people and affairs of everyday life as though convinced that the big unified rhythmic design is symbolic of the intense movement by which ,art moves and expresses itself4 ,we see in their canvases an obvious attempt to give the widest expansion to the fundamental rhythm of each subject treated4 ,at first sight it appears to be a step in the right direction1 one leading away from the fallacy or blindness1 which led the old masters to turn out wonderful patchworks by giving each object in their canvases a structural unity of its own4 ,indeed it looks as though these painters have mastered the secret of binding a composition together by a unified design springing from a central note that expands by spontaneous motion till it not only fills the canvas but passes out of it on a very wide sweep1 and having order1 intelligibility1 and coherence in all its parts4 ,it looks as though they have discovered the great law of creative organic unity of which ,i speak4 ,closer examination of their work1 however1 reveals it is not so4 ,for one thing their pictures are not growths from small beginnings to great ends1 each the successive sweep of one curve expanding in oneness from a root-point4 ,it is true that the starting point in them may be feeling1 as with the work of the unconscious artist4 ,but as soon as feeling has decided the start1 knowledge and reason decide the rest4 ,they decide what shapes and colors are to be selected and carefully related to the central shape and color4 ,if the character of the subject is zigzag then the composition will take a zigzag course4 ,if a sharp curve1 then sharp curves will be gathered from objects surrounding the central one and related to it4 ,in fact the law of association is called in and kept busy throughout4 ,everything in a picture is consciously associated just as a builder associates the materials of a house4 ,intuition is checked by reason4 ,so we find one principle being applied alike by conscious and unconscious methods4 ,with this difference1 that whereas the movement1 growth and unity attained by the unconscious method is organic that reached by the conscious method is mechanical4 ,it is the difference between the natural growth of a plant and the artificial manufacture of one4 ,the first is a process whereby the life flow organizes itself4 ,the second a process of eliminating the life flow4 ,the one is mediumistic and spontaneous1 the other is volitional and mechanical4 ,what1 it may be asked1 is this principle or law8 ,briefly it is the law of spiral growth and progression traceable in all natural phenomena4 ,it is a law which actuates human nature at its best and which shapes all work done in the finer way4 ,if we wish to see how it operates we cannot do better than symbolize it in the form of a motion-curve starting from a point in space and expanding in ever-widening curves4 ,thus3 ,this law may be found completely applied to one picture or it may be traced running through a succession of pictures1 each a part of a creative unity1 the whole manifesting the growth and development curve of the artist4 ,in the first case the picture would have an organic unity of its own4 ,in it the fluid motion would be seen coming to fruition from the initial point of feeling to its fullest statement as vision at the highest pressure of fluid expression4 ,thus3 ,in the second case1 each period of the artist's work represent a section of the development-curve4 ,by placing the sections together it is possible to view his work as a whole and to construct the course of development which he has undergone4 ,and we can tell by the widest sweep of the curve precisely where he stands and how much he has detached himself from the world of solids4 ,thus3 ,needless to say1 this motion-curve may be applied as a standard of art-criticism4 ,indeed it is the business of art critics to experience this curve in themselves and to apply it to all works of art4 ,so far as ,i know it has never been applied4 ,when it is it will transform art criticism4 ,for it will enable the critic to judge whether a work is an inevitable growth of a movement inherent in the artist1--and to value it rightly and fully in its relation to this movement1--or whether it is merely a bit of clever brain juggling4 ,i have not time nor space to illustrate in minute detail the truth and importance of the application of this law to art-forms4 ,but ,i may take one concrete instance of its existence and inevitableness1 and of the growth and progress that result whenever the artist happens to work under its guidance4 ,i have within recent months seen the existence of this law and traced the course of its working in the studies of a new and comparatively unknown comer in the world of painting4 ,here is a painter1 ,clarence ,e4 ,king by name1 who is undoubtedly working out his high destiny in terms of ,art1 at the bidding of a force to whose direction he is willing to surrender himself4 ,and he surrenders himself not because he has no judgment1 no discriminating sense of his own1 but because he believes that the true artist works without volition4 ,i know very little about ,mr4 ,king's first experiences1 but ,i can quite imagine that art-expression came to him as a bewildered dream4 ,perhaps he felt instinctively it was but an imaginary magician's wand and the effect it ever sought to produce was far above the limited measure of the artist's dead materials4 ,it was an effect that could only be attained in one way1 not by stone1 wood1 or canvas1 but by direct surrender to its livingness4 ,i remember once receiving a letter from ,mr4 ,king in which he hinted at some such transcendental vision of ,art and indicated its difficulties--both aesthetic and economic4 ,the latter will be seen to be very real when ,i say that ,mr4 ,king is a poor man1 that he has to engage in a mechanical form of occupation which constantly opposes him with the dread of losing guidance and his real purpose1 and of falling under the subjection of aims and methods entirely opposed to his own4 ,from the letter ,i learned that he began with a longing to attain the maximum intensity of expression and he has ever since been impelled irresistibly towards this end4 ,but the path was not easy1 for it seems he became aware at an early period of the small measure of expression in the painter's dead materials4 ,he relates how one day he took his colors into the sun so that they should rival its livingness4 ,but when he looked at them 7in the light of the sun7 they were dead4 ,then he bought the most expensive paint1 he kept his palette clean1 he slept in the open1 watched the sunrise1 absorbed its magic1 and prepared himself and his materials in every way1 as he thought1 to express the fluid character of the experience flowing through him4 ,he grappled with powerful feelings and sought to fix them in form4 ,to no purpose4 ,apparently there was a point beyond which paint1 like words1 could not go4 ,the fault1 however1 was not altogether in the materials4 ,the artist too was to blame4 ,he was a boy strenuously striving to transcend representative forms4 ,but in doing so he neglected one thing4 ,he made no attempt to escape from the illusion of volume and solidity contained in solid space4 ,in other words he tried to transcend solids by the process of merely copying solids4 ,he tried to express the eternal livingness of a tree by painting an ephemeral tree4 ,this is the meaning underlying the earliest example of his work4 ,it accounts for the expression of representative forms very slightly raised above actuality4 ,in the second example the next upward sweep of the curve is apparent4 ,the pursuit of the maximum intensity of expression is maintained1 with the result that there is a further escape into fluid motion4 ,and actuality becomes very much exaggerated as by a hand that feels the stimulating impulse which the steadily increasing growth of an unknown power brings with it4 ,perhaps the most noticeable characteristic of the second example is the attainment of a greater freedom of expression4 ,there is in consequence an increase of intensity1 and as intensity is the source of rhythm1--rhythm being but the natural characteristic of what we call intensity--a greater manifestation of rhythm4 ,this rhythmic ascent1 if ,i may call it so1 marking the growth and development of intense expression1 is continued in the third example4 ,the illusion of volume and solidity to be found in the other two examples is still noticeable4 ,but the flow is at a far higher pressure than in actuality1 and if the painter is not yet fully afloat on fluid motion1 he is certainly moving in the desired direction4 ,he is in fact true to his widening curve4 ,it is too early to predict what degree of intensity of effect ,mr4 ,king will ultimately attain4 ,he is still a young man with an enviable future before him4 ,and he approximates more and more towards an unconscious method of expression4 ,he applies the natural law of growth and progression because he must4 ,a time may come when he will take up his pencil and trace a picture as in a trance simply at the bidding of the inner flow called inner necessity4 ,it is certainly hopeful that he has remained up to the present a fairly pure medium1 having escaped the pollution of conventional art education4 ,he turned to painting at the urge of inner necessity and expressed himself in intense form and color because such form and color were in him to express4 ,the technical characteristics of his work are really a part of himself4 ,he expresses everything with simplicity and freedom because they are characteristics of his own nature4 ,it should be said that he does not aim to produce the so-called automatic work of art4 ,there is nothing automatic in a fluid force organizing itself by uniting itself to a medium that is really a part of its own livingness4 ,if the artist's hands are guided by a mysterious agency it is not a mechanical process any more than the guiding of a plant into leaves1 blossom1 and fruit is one4 ,the artist is really guided by that which is a part of his higher self4 ,he surrenders himself to the guidance of a spirit which is his own1 the spirit of ,art4 ,and in doing so he achieves his highest destiny4 ,for in the complete surrender to ,art lies the affirmation of ,art4 ,my ,friend ,the ,incurable ,v4 ,,war ,,hallucinations ,an interview with ,mme4 ,truth ,i found her in an obscure corner of a wein-stube which bore the legend3 ,in vino veritas4 ,she beckoned to me appealingly4 8,mr4 ,incurable1 will you come and sit at my table8 ,they all shun me nowadays2 to associate with me is considered mauvais ton4 ,but you1 ,i am sure1 need not fear for your reputation44440 ,to be sure1 my reputation could not suffer any more1 even if ,i committed patricide2 so ,i went bravely to ,madame's table1 and ordered ,rhine-wine and a neutrality sandwich la ,wilson 7caviar and ,limburger dressed in petals of ,french roses72 to complete the expression of my loyalty to the ,president1 ,i requested the national hymns of all the belligerents1 after which conscience-clearing ordeal ,i turned to my companion4 ,her appearance was shocking2 not even the clumsy robe of ,censor ,o',connor's cut could conceal her bruises and many-colored insignia4 8,madame10 ,i gallantly inquired1 8whence these atrocities80 8,these are love-tokens from the special war correspondents4 ,ah1 dear1 since the death of ,tolstoy ,i have had no true lover4 ,you say1 how about ,shaw8 ,well1 ,george ,bernard has championed me daringly1 ,i admit2 but ,i can never tell whether he is in earnest or whether he makes use of me for his clever jugglery4 ,g4 ,b4 ,s4 has made it his profession to say unpopular things2 how could he have overlooked such a rare stunt as telling the truth in time of war8 ,he is so very skilful in the gentle art of making himself unpleasant to the majority that ,i am inclined to believe he would readily betray me for my rival1 ,mlle4 ,lie1 as soon as she had lost her popularity4 ,as for ,maximilian ,harden1 you see1 ,i am an old flame of his2 he has suffered prison and persecution for my sake1 the dear2 do you remember the ,eilenburg affair1 when ,maxie removed the figments from ,wilhelm's bosom friends1 and demonstrated that the 8crime0 punishable in ,england with two years of ,reading ,gaol was freely practiced by the august princes of ,germany8 ,o1 he is a darling1 ,monsieur2 but1 between us1 he handles me too roughly1 the bulldog4 ,think of ,bismarckian hugs and ,kruppesque caresses6 ,you see how hard it is to please me as a lover3 ,i am such a frail sweetheart40 ,i protested that ,i have never had the ambition of becoming her lover1 consequently ,i was in no need of her warning4 ,mme4 ,truth felt offended4 8,i shall get you yet4 ,wait till you grow older1 when you will declare from the house-tops your devotion for me4 ,you do not think objectively1 ,mr4 ,incurable1 hence your numerous offences against me4 ,with all your endeavor to appear neutral1 your anti-,german feelings are transparent4 ,why don't you give ear to me occasionally8 ,think of a people generally hated and envied1 yet strong1 successful1 defiant4 ,how can you help admiring their wonderful achievements in the present war80 ,i rejoined that ,i could admire war as an art2 that there was art in ,napoleon's warfare1 no matter whether he won or lost1 no matter whether it was ,st4 ,bernard or ,waterloo2 while the ,germans are merely good mathematicians1 clever technicians2 but ,i prefer ,zimbalist's artistic flaws to the perfect technique of ,albert ,spalding1 the craftsman4 8,you are hopelessly incurable1 sir4 ,do you perceive that ,germany has won already8 ,whatever the outcome of the war1 the ,germans are the victors4 ,to be hated by all one must accomplish something meritorious4 ,surely the ,germans will emerge from the struggle forged with self-respect1 self-assurance1 and contempt for the rest of the world4 ,surely they will be spared the demoralizing influence of universal sympathy1 which is so atrociously showered upon poor ,belgium4 ,in their splendid isolation the ,teutons will achieve gigantic things2 they may become a race of supermen44440 ,i hastened to order ,moselwine and sauer-kraut4 ,shmah ,yisroel ,there is an inmate in one of the ,russian insane asylums at present1 a ,jewish soldier who paces up and down his cell1 continually groaning3 8,shmah ,yisroel40 ,his story is simple4 ,one night lying in the trenches on the ,prussian frontier1 he observed an approaching grey figure1 obviously that of a ,german soldier4 ,when the figure came close to the trenches1 the ,jew leaped upon his foe and pierced him with the bayonet4 ,the ,german fell1 moaning in agony3 8,shmah ,yisroel40 ,the two words have been haunting the ,russian since1 until1 they say1 he lost his reason4 ,it is a grave symptom for the ,jews1 when they begin to lose their reason under the stress of tragedy2 their very existence as a people is imperiled1 as soon as they show signs of normality1 and fail to endure grief and suffering4 ,for what has kept the ,eternal ,ahasver so wonderfully alive these two thousand years but his philosophical defiance of seeming reality8 8,shmah ,yisroel10 8,hear1 o ,israel1 the ,eternal is our ,god1 the ,lord is one10 has been the motto of the nation through the long centuries of persecution1 the pillar of fire on its historical ,golgotha2 it has become the symbol of ,judaism1 the coat-of-arms of the 8,chosen ,people0 who were destined to wander among gentiles1 to teach them the living word1 and to be rewarded for the instruction with hatred and contempt4 8,shmah ,yisroel0 were the last defiant words of the ,palestinian martyrs1 when tortured to death by the ,syrian ,hellenizers of the time of ,antiochus ,epiphanes1 who attempted the apparently easy task of annihilating ,judaism by the force of his mighty legions4 8,shmah ,yisroel0 cheerfully cried the ,rabbis enwrapped in the scrolls of the ,law1 set afire by the order of ,emperor ,adrian1 8and their souls returned in purity to their ,creator10 relates the ,agadah4 8,shmah ,yisroel0 was the cry that thundered amidst the blaze of the ,auto-da-,fe set up by the ,spanish ,inquisition ad maiorem ,dei gloriam4 ,throughout the ages1 humiliated and offended1 but inwardly proud1 despising and forgiving those 8who knew not what they were doing10 the ,jew marched his endless road with his ,motto as a talisman1 as an invulnerable shield4 ,recently1 during the first decade of the twentieth century1 the world heard once more the cries of 8,shmah ,yisroel0 piercing the air of ,russia from end to end1 when ,jewish men1 women and children were slaughtered by governmental hooligans in order to quench with the blood of ,israel the ,revolution4 ,neither is the present great trial new for the indestructible people3 many battles have been fought1 with ,jews taking part on both sides4 ,there is a popular print in ,germany1 presenting the ,jews of the ,kronprinz's regiment praying on the day of ,atonement before ,sedan2 a grotesque mass of warriors entreating the ,lord of peace to grant the world eternal peace4 ,what greater incongruity can be imagined than ,jews exterminating one another2 what more terrible absurdity1 than the descendants of the prophets waging war1 the descendants of ,isaiah who was the first to preach to the nations 8to beat their swords into ploughshares06 ,yet the life of ,israel in the last two thousand years has been a continuous incongruity1 an anomaly1 a miracle2 will this nation collapse under the tragicness of the present situation8 ,the ,russian-,jewish soldier who lost his reason1 because he failed to understand the 8,why0 of his having killed his brother1 a ,german-,jewish soldier1 is a grave symptom for the abnormal1 supernormal people4 ,has 8,shmah ,yisroel0 ceased to serve as the all-answering formula1 as the justification of the impossible reality1 as the invincible watch-word1 as the great stimulus to live on1 to march on1 ever forward1 into the unknown future8 ,bestialization ,the other day ,i received a deserved blow4 ,a letter from the war-zone reached me4 ,nothing but the handwriting told me that it was written by an old friend of mine1 a poet of exquisite sonnets--so rude was the style1 so dry and matter-of-fact the tone of my erstwhile elegant correspondent4 ,she cynically derided my glorification of the war as ,europe's healthful purgatory1 and spoke of death and want1 cruel prosaic want4 ,do we ever realize the actual stultifying1 bestializing conditions of the non-combatants under whizzing shells and roving aeroplanes8 ,we1 the calm philosophizers1 the curious spectators and speculators8 ,do we1 neutrals1 envisage ,death and ,murder raging in a bacchanale over the embroiled lands8 ,of all the war poems and sermons it was only ,eunice ,tietjens who perceived the trans-,atlantic horrors in her prophetic ,children of ,war2 the rest are cold1 labored writings4 ,perhaps our ,american diplomats1 who are anything but diplomatic1 will innocently involve this country in the world mess1 and our authors will be given a fair test4 ,,ibn ,,gabinol4 ,new ,york ,letter ,,george ,,soule ,now that the ,new ,york legislature has decided to submit the question of woman suffrage to popular vote1 we are being bored and sometimes horrified by the revelations of a battle which most of us get into the habit of thinking was fought and won long ago4 ,that is the trouble with many radicals4 ,the investigation of new causes comes to mean with them merely a process of personal salvation4 ,a belief attained is taken as a matter of course1 as if there were nothing more to be done about it4 ,even to mention it seems in bad taste--there are so many more important things1 so many more ecstatic attitudes4 ,and then the world rumbles along to it like some prehistoric monster1 and we are caught unaware in the midst of quarreling which seems to us beside the point4 ,have we not discarded fighting machinery8 ,have we not thrown our siege guns on the scrap heap8 ,how rude of the unintelligent to disturb us6 ,we are like the pacificists who thought that war could be abolished by the mere act of willing4 ,we forget that mankind never wills all at once4 ,we forget that it is sometimes necessary to sacrifice our energy in the battle for a distressingly old cause4 ,or else we never see the necessity1 and damn the naive volunteers with a supercilious smile of superior enlightenment while we cuddle ourselves in the cotton wool of private emotions4 ,we offer them a new word as a reagent for all their difficulties4 ,who1 for instance1 could have imagined that ,the ,new ,york ,times1 mental yokel though it is1 could come out with a two-column editorial article against suffrage on the ground that women are not fitted to vote because they do not share men's economic burdens8 ,it must have been six months ago at least that ,the ,times published a census report on its back page showing that #cj4f per cent of all the females in ,new ,york over ten years of age are engaged in gainful occupations4 ,you would think census statistics would be just the thing to attract the eye of that editorial writer4 ,but here the editorial is1 like an unbelievable fossil come to life4 ,if it represented merely a ,tory minority we could afford to laugh and wait for its partisans to die4 ,it represents1 however1 the astute judgment of ,the ,times as to what several hundred thousand people in ,new ,york city really think4 ,the big newspaper cannot afford to try leading public opinion4 ,it must agree with as many people of buying capacity as possible4 ,and here we are again1 face to face with a blind1 stupid majority4 ,one begins to speculate on what possibility there is for a democracy except running about in circles4 ,everything is apparently arranged so that the majority can enforce its immediate will1 and its immediate will is always several generations behind the wisdom of its best citizens4 ,an enthroned tyrant can be dynamited1 but a hydra-headed tyrant in the election booth must be educated4 ,what a wearisome1 unromantic task that is6 ,many a man who would exultingly give his life in the adventure of assassination retires to his study before the labor of training a mob4 ,he has neither the strength of imagination nor the strength of heart necessary to fight his way inch by inch4 ,here is a real sacrifice to be made for the future4 ,here is a chance for modern heroes with stuff in them4 ,here is an opportunity to substitute soul-testing labor for amateur theatricals4 ,to leaven stupidity1 to work with raw and shouting enthusiasts1 to be humble enough to accept each partial victory1 each compromise1 and still to fight for the next one--this is the challenge of faith which proves to us there is still iron in mankind4 ,there is satisfaction in the thought that victories have not become easier4 ,many a ,launcelot would go insane in the trenches4 ,everyone is looking for the supremacy of his own pet reform or reaction as a result of the war1 and it is banal to indulge in prophecies4 ,yet it seems to me there will be a great gain in our understanding if we approach the monster with humility4 ,it has1 to be sure1 shown us the brutality lurking in modern civilization4 ,we can easily use it as a text for denouncing politics1 commercialism1 militarism1 and all the other abstractions which represent to us the sum of present human failings4 ,yet why not go a little farther1 and blame as well an intellectualism which slides about on the surface of things1 a species of reform and enthusiasm which does not bite into the substance of humanity8 ,do not our philosophies now appear as futile as the pedantic dreaming of mediaeval schoolmen and alchemists8 ,does not our separation of the ideal from the material now seem as vicious as ,christian asceticism8 ,what business have we to toy with perfectionist theories when to do so we must ignore what is to-day and what will be to-morrow in the blood and brain of nearly all human beings8 ,we must make human breeding the test of effort4 ,we must admit that the will is powerless without the hands4 ,we must create our social tools to accomplish our social ends4 ,we must forget the false distinctions between emotion and intellect1 and use both for their common purpose4 ,let us not repudiate machinery because it has not yet been consciously directed to an end that is worth gaining4 ,modern civilization has spent its force developing in opposite directions--toward the brute and toward the god--and now we are amazed at the contradiction4 ,our task is to make a synthesis and arrive at man4 ,it will be a task to engage the highest qualities of the poet and the scientist--this job of putting man's will in control of his overgrown body4 ,and it will be more fascinating than any other work man has ever set himself4 ,the ,drama 8,alice in ,wonderland0 7,fine ,arts ,theatre7 ,judging from this initial production of ,alice in ,wonderland the new management of the ,fine ,arts ,theatre is going to justify the name of the theatre and yet compete with the loop theatres in attracting the attention of the general public4 ,the ,players ,producing ,company has been wise in securing the services of an exceptionally good professional company under the direction of ,mr4 ,w4 ,h4 ,gilmore1 and they have made an unusually happy start with ,miss ,gerstenberg's dramatization of ,lewis ,carroll's classic1 supplemented by the scenery of ,mr4 ,wm4 ,p4 ,henderson and the musical setting of ,mr4 ,eric de ,lamarter4 ,at first thought it seems incredible that the subtle comedy of ,alice in ,wonderland could lend itself to the wider stage values2 but the dialogue loses nothing--it gains1 rather1 by the transposition4 ,some doubt has been expressed as to whether ,alice is really a children's classic or an adult classic4 ,on the stage that doubt is resolved--it is both4 ,the children appreciate seeing all the quaint creatures and people that ,alice meets in her adventures1 and the grown-ups enjoy the humor of the dialogue and the extraordinary real unreality of ,carroll's imagination4 ,as a matter of fact the psychology of ,lewis ,carroll is amazing6 ,he lived long before ,mme4 ,montessori2 yet in his own whimsical fashion he has recorded how absurdly unreal and fantastic the unrelated elements of education must seem to the child mind6 ,the grown-up who does not appreciate the humor of ,alice in ,wonderland must be a very dull person4 ,both the fun and the dream quality of the original have been carefully emphasized in the production4 ,mr4 ,henderson's scenery is successful in more senses than one4 ,first of all it is beautiful and entirely in the spirit of the play1 and1 secondly1 it does not sacrifice the actors as so much of the new stage craft has a tendency to do4 ,although extremely rich and varied in color1 the setting waits for the final complement of the actors in costume before the design is complete4 ,as ,mr4 ,henderson is a painter1 rather than a 8man of the theatre0--that vague term invented by ,craig--he knows how to obtain effects on the stage by color1 and does not depend upon the manipulation of direct lighting--often as imitative and theatrical as the old style scenery--to create illusion4 ,he obtains the effect of depth or distance on the stage by the tonal quality of his painted drop1 rather than by an increased cubic depth which is apt to reduce an actor to the thin and non-existent quality of a paper silhouette4 ,it is well to indicate these principles1 for they are all important in connection with drama that depends upon speech1 and in his use of these principles ,mr4 ,henderson is probably the most radical of all the advanced scenic artists4 ,altogether ,chicago has reason to be proud of this production4 ,it reveals the fact that ,chicago is not without independent artistic initiative1 and a full conviction of this fact should lead to interesting developments4 ,unfortunately in this review it is impossible to speak of the acting in detail1 but this is hardly necessary as the critics have given it the stamp of their approval4 ,for the professional finish of the performance credit is due to ,mr4 ,w4 ,h4 ,gilmore4 ,little ,miss ,alice ,tobin made an ideal ,alice4 ,in fact not one part is mis-cast1 and all the actors give the impression that they are having the time of their life--which contributes much to the spirit of the entertainment4 ,mr4 ,de ,lamarter's music has a charming fantastic quality and great delicacy of imagination4 ,and above all the delightful freshness of the play is due to ,miss ,gerstenberg's good faith in sticking to the text of the original and not attempting to pump into it any extraneous matter which might have deteriorated into musical comedy or farce4 ,as it is the play is a fantasy1 and1 when successful1 as in this case1 no form is more capable of giving lasting enjoyment4 ,s4 ,h4 ,r4 ,music ,,samaroff ,,and ,,claussen ,olga ,samaroff is not conspicuous for her bad piano-playing4 ,there are a great many others1 as prominent as ,mme4 ,samaroff1 as popular in their own way1 who make just as much noise when they play--pianists who seem to exert an odd vigilance lest music enter in for a moment4 ,mme4 ,samaroff played ,beethoven's ,e-flat piano concerto with the ,chicago ,symphony4 ,this work is unique in its bombast1 causing one to blush for the composer4 ,the soloist appeared in an ample gown of scorched orange1 with slippers of scarlet1 and gave the work its traditional beating4 ,the eye suffered only less than the ear4 ,but the excellent ,claussen1 taking part in a ,wagner program1 swept away all pettiness4 ,she liberated emotions that ,wagner alone can touch1 when adequately interpreted4 ,here is no prima donna1 but an artist who sings4 ,her voice is a brimming-over of loveliness2 her emotional power becomes inevitable1 for she sings in phrases of beauty--a living beauty that moves to tears4 ,hers is an art that pervades and satisfies 444 something to be treasured4 ,vocalists are generally peacocks--usually moulting4 ,it is a great event to discover a singing artist1 for when the lack is neither a matter of intelligence nor of intensity1 it often happens that the musician uses a voice that could never perjure itself as beautiful4 ,julia ,claussen gives a feeling of utter security4 ,no sensibility is wounded or left asleep4 ,samaroff is not to be blamed1 individually2 although what she represents is not an art1 but a menace1 for it is always applauded1 copied1 and taught to the youth4 ,sonority and power in tone-masses are never obtained by blows upon the piano-keys1 or by waving the arms over the head4 ,the piano is capable of infinite shading and many kinds of tone1 from mighty chords and fierce tumult to delicate tonal weavings and vague states of calm1 from crystalline brilliance to low-sung intimate melodies2 and there are certain artists now living who listen closely1 hear these strange secrets1 and bring them out for other ears4 ,olga ,samaroff1 apparently1 like her ,chicago audience1 is aware chiefly of the difference between loud and soft4 ,,herman ,,schuchert4 ,book ,discussion ,a ,peter ,pan ,lover ,young ,earnest1 by ,gilbert ,cannan4 ,d4 ,appleton and ,company1 ,new ,york ,a man 8who is submissive to his emotions is not in power over himself0--so wrote ,spinoza2 and such a man is ,ren ,fourmy1 the ,peter ,pan lover of ,gilbert ,cannan's latest novel1 who never grew up into the fact that he should not have everything he wanted4 ,after a boyhood and youth of almost unconscious surrender to environment1 he suddenly rebelled against the pretense that surrounded him and gave himself up as completely to his emotions as he had hitherto yielded himself to external circumstances4 ,he had been educated to be a professor and had married an ambitious girl without having awakened to the meaning of life1 love1 or passion4 ,his first great disillusionment came with his honeymoon1 when instead of finding in his bride 8the new wonders and sweet joy0 of fulfilled love1 they together 8attained nothing but heat1 hunger1 and distress40 ,when he could bear this relationship no longer he fled to ,london1 cast in his lot with ,ann1 a girl of the slums1 and became a taxi driver4 ,here he was happy for a time because of his savage hunger for real things1 no matter if they were degrading4 ,the crude1 harsh reality of this life fascinated him until he discovered that ,ann's love was no more the fulfillment of his dreams than his wife's had been2 only its honesty had made it endurable4 ,when he discovers that ,ann is to have a child--an unwanted1 unexpected child that will be like a chain binding their two lives--he is driven to a second rebellion and the ultimate rediscovery of his first sweetheart4 ,ann shows her anger in the vulgar1 uncontrolled outbursts natural to such a woman1 and finally disappears to ,canada1 leaving ,ren free to go to ,cathleen4 ,we are given to understand that at last ,ren has attained to the happiness of his love dream1 but nothing ,mr4 ,cannan has told us warrants the belief that he might not suddenly discover that ,cathleen too falls short of his vision of what real love should be and start out madly once more in pursuit of he knows not what4 ,if he and ,cathleen do finish their lives together it is safe to gamble that it will not be because ,ren has learned to adjust himself to life but because he has met his ,waterloo in ,cathleen1 a clever woman who wanted him and understood how to keep him4 ,ren was a rebel against the conventions which interfered with his happiness1 a dreamer1 and a seeker after the ,holy ,grail of love4 ,his attempts to find happiness were utterly selfish1 yet honest1 so that our quarrel is not with his morals but with his egotism4 ,he never awoke to the responsibilities of life1 never felt remorse for the sufferings that he caused others1 never grew up to the consciousness that life was intended for something higher than the fulfillment of his enthusiastic visions1 but blundered into more or less freedom where another man1 perhaps equally rebellious but more scrupulous1 would quietly maintain his outward equanimity and let conventional spiders weave their webs all about him4 ,quarrels there will be and condemnation arising from ,young ,earnest1 but will they be because readers think ,mr4 ,cannan does not understand whereof he writes or because he is audacious enough to describe a man who would not accept shams8 ,we may not like the subject any better than we would a painting of a maimed or ugly person1 yet that objection does not destroy its art1 and art it has1 in an unusual degree4 ,only a skilled writer could depict a man doing sensual things without being a sensualist1 and ,ren was just the opposite of that4 ,all his sins were of the spirit rather than of the flesh4 ,his ambition in life was to find happiness at any cost4 ,he desired love as many desire money and with as little consideration for others1 and although hopelessly at odds with conventional standards and prudish morals it seems to me that the study of ,young ,earnest's efforts to understand life and his own self is rather a glorious attempt1 and that ,gilbert ,cannan has been decidedly courageous to try to reduce to printed terms the emotions1 aspirations1 cravings1 and blunders of a young man too honest to accept deceits1 yet too cowardly 7or perhaps too brave7 to stand by his blunders4 ,not a pretty story1 of course1 but life is seldom pretty when it is frank1 and his stumbling 8from one love to another0 is not the expression of sensuality but rather a spiritual attempt to live out the best that was in him4 ,the book has many passages of beauty1 many expressions of keen philosophy which seem to indicate that the author's soul belongs to the divine side of life--not to its sordidness4 ,so wonderfully does he reproduce mediocrity1 middle-class respectability1 and the vital if less commendable phases of ,mitcham ,mews that one is led to believe that all of life--from visions to slums--is unfolding to him1 and that no matter what his subject1 his pen will paint a picture that rings true4 ,one could hardly find a more subtle task than has been accomplished in ,young ,earnest--that of painting a man who was not a sensualist doing sensual things4 ,that ,mr4 ,cannan knew precisely what he was doing is revealed in the words that he puts into the mouth of one of his characters who describes ,ren as being a man 8simply inappropriate in a community of creatures who live by cunning40 ,m4 ,a4 ,s4 ,nietzsche in ,fiction ,the ,encounter1 by ,anne ,douglas ,sedgewick4 ,the ,century ,company1 ,new ,york ,nietzsche--jealous1 dyspeptic1 wonderful--lives in these pages so vividly that the illusion of biography is attained4 ,his dreams1 his faults1 his fears stand forth4 ,light is focussed upon the great thinker4 ,ludwig ,wehlitz1 as he is called in the novel1 loves a young and beautiful girl from ,america--,persis ,fenamy4 ,he is rivalled in his love by two other ,germans1 disciples of his1 but very different personally4 ,persis1 who is a combination of loveliness and good sense1 proves to be a difficult1 even impossible1 problem for the three philosophers4 ,their wooing is the basis of the work4 ,such a story achieves originality at one stroke2 and it is fair to say that the author's development of this dangerous theme is fully equal to her daring4 ,she catches the high-lights upon the soul of this curious ,titan2 she constructs the man as he must actually have been1 and places him in circumstances of her own arrangement4 ,his imperative genius and his characteristic childishness work out consistently together4 ,pedants and long-winded scholars1 who know not the poet in their god1 will argue that the real ,nietzsche neither could nor would have waxed passionate over a lovely woman 444 the book is not for them4 ,anne ,douglas ,sedgewick sees deep and imagines clearly1 and her findings are authentic4 ,her lesser people1 notably ,wehlitz's untidy ,italian friend1 ,eleanora1 and the inscrutable ,mrs4 ,fenamy1 are created with the same splendid skill and vision4 ,this writer's realism is not the vaunted 8crude and ruthless0 variety2 for1 although it displays life in a plain and natural manner1 there is in it an intense emotional quality which always evades the camera or the microscope4 ,the ,encounter is altogether worthy4 ,,herman ,,schuchert4 ,joseph ,campbell ,irishry1 by ,joseph ,campbell4 ,maunsel and ,company1 ,london ,joseph ,campbell holds an enviable position among the present-day ,irish bards4 ,his poems are big1 vital themes1 readable by every intelligent person4 ,in his volume of lyrics--for he possesses to a remarkable degree the enchanted tongue--he takes you into every walk of life in ,ireland4 ,and what goes in regard to life and occupations in ,england and ,ireland holds good in this country and elsewhere4 ,he does not shun the pig-killer1 the quarry-man1 the mid-wife1 the unfrocked1 or disgraced priest1 the blind man1 the osier seller1 or even the ragman4 ,the characters are not put before you as repugnance personified2 he makes you sympathize1 admire1 and even love them4 ,you could call it a drama of characters2 each one unfolded being a separate act4 ,how beautiful is ,the ,shepherd4 ,you can see the stars1 and clearly comprehend the beauty of the simile in which he compares the shepherd to the man of ,chaldea4 ,the picture of the pasture of eld looms forth like a marvelous mosaic or mural painting3 ,,the ,,shepherd ,dark against the stars ,he stands3 the cloudy bars ,of nebulae1 the constellations ring ,his forehead like a king4 ,the ewes are in the fold3 ,his consciousness is old ,as his1 who in ,chaldea long ago ,penned his flock1 and brooded so4 ,the ,shepherd can justly be compared to ,sir ,richard ,lovelace's ,to ,lucretia on ,going to ,war4 ,they have in common the same metallic sweetness4 ,a companion piece in both strength of beauty and lyrical qualities is ,the ,mother3 ,the hearthstone broods in shadow1 ,and the dark hills are old1 ,but the child clings to the mother1 ,and the corn springs in the mould4 ,and ,dana moves on ,luachra1 ,and makes the world anew3 ,the cuckoo's cry in the meadow1 ,the moon1 and the earthly dew4 ,in ,the ,blind ,man at the ,fair there is a truly masterly imagining of the blind one's agony4 ,o to be blind6 ,to know the darkness that ,i know4 ,the stir ,i hear is the empty wind1 ,the people idly come and go4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 ,last night the moon of ,lammas shined1 ,rising high and setting low2 ,but light is nothing to the blind-- ,all1 all is darkness where they go4 ,in ,the ,laborer he reminds one of ,whitman in lyrics4 ,here he speaks of the open roads1 the blue hills1 the tranquil skies1 and the serene heavens4 ,a beautiful passage from ,the ,whelk-,gatherer reads3 ,where the dim sea-line ,is a wheel unbroken2 ,where day dawns on water1 ,and night falls on wind1 ,and the fluid elements ,quarrel forever4 ,what satire1 profusely laden with bitter irony is contained in ,the ,orangeman3 ,his faith1 ',sixteen-,ninety2 ,his love1 none2 his hope1 ,that hell may one day ,get the soul of the ,pope4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 ,lives in beauty1 with ,venus ,and ,psyche in white1 ,and the ,trojan ,laocon ,for his spirit's delight4 ,last1 but not least1 is ,the ,old ,woman3 ,as a white candle ,in a holy place1 ,so is the beauty ,of an aged face4 ,as the spent radiance ,of the winter sun1 ,so is the woman ,with her travail done4 ,her brood gone from her1 ,and her thought as still ,as the waters ,under the ruined mill4 ,the ,reader ,critic ,will ,levington ,comfort1 ,kingsville1 ,ontario3 ,i have just had the ,january number4 ,i feel as if ,i had found my companions4 ,you who rejoiced in ,caroline ,branson and ,margaret ,swawite will know what one means by finding his companions4 ,and when ,i came to the line of ,george ,soule's--8,i am the greatest anarchist of you all--0 the fact is ,i had settled for a nap by the fire1 and here ,i am by the machine instead4 ,i am proud of you and glad to be in the world with you all4 ,i am sure you must feel the same about each other--for you must have been very lonely in a world that has lost the art of playing--you who play so well4 ,i have looked long for the new voices2 of late ,i have put every faith in the conviction that they were just behind4 ,you will have everything in ten years4 ,no voice from ,germany1 ,england1 or ,france--all must come from you4 ,the only thing that can possibly hurt you is ,beauduin and his kind4 ,they are poison and vision is not with them4 ,i think you must belong to that generation now of the twenties--that ,i have felt behind me so long and so wonderfully4 ,again and again ,i have written about this new race of ,americans--there is a touch of it in the ,january ,craftsman which ,i wish you would read4 ,you are singing it4 ,you are of it4 ,you ask nothing--you sing1 you play4 ,there are moments in which ,i caught you 7you of the little book7 in that wondrous naivete which is the loss of the love of self--that cosmic simplicity of the workmen of to-morrow4 ,how dreadful is the old-- 8,and then ,o night1 deliberate1 unlovely--0 ,but the new which you voice1 and must always voice-- 8,in the inspired improvisation of love--0 ,i have read your ,january poems to all who come to the study4 ,i have looked with even more delight at old ,walt--who opened the door for 7y7our generation--the dear old pioneer4 ,he helped to make possible1 too1 our acceptance of the ,zarathustra man--the pillar of fire of our transition1 but ,walt is the pillar of cloud by day4 ,i'm sure you'll see my zeal for you4 ,i have plugged through fifteen years in which every ideal of workmanship has sunk visibly in ,america until it can sink no lower4 ,the great crowd is forgetting even how to read4 ,it has lost the cohering line of expression--a series of broken pictures is enough to hold its eye4 ,but the end is reached with the war--and the new generation which will witness the tragedy of greater human waste perhaps than the one before it1 also contains the superb individuals--the few--such individuals as we never dreamed of in our twenties4 ,i want some time to do for you a bit on this generation of mine 7the bleakest in the world74 ,the age of advertising4444 ,imagine a race that can only point to ,herrick and ,london and ,atherton and ,dreiser and ,watts--weakened solutions of ,zola and ,thackeray--except ,london who was great and open-souled--but lost his way4 ,so ,i laugh and think of myself as born out of due time1 and though just past midstream1 ,i want to belong to the twenties again4 ,i believe that you can become the heart of our new age of letters--if you are true2 and ,i know you will not encounter the bleakness and the killing terror that we met1 for the way is preparing momentarily4 ,the glory of it all will come from your being yourselves--as you are so splendidly now4 ,but the prison-house will close on some1 and others will hear the call of the markets and others the decadence of ,europe's withered loins--and that is why ,i venture to ask you to hold fast to the dream--not to listen to anyone--for you have emerged truly4444 ,remember there are no others but you in the world--you alone have touched the new harmony--and it had to come from ,america4 ,the ,new ,republic is not doing it1 nor ,the ,masses1 nor ,the ,unpopular4 ,though they are great--they are of the old4 ,just to be true to your vision is all ,heaven asks1 and believe me one with you4 ,i am just beginning1 too4 ,i want to belong--although ,i have ten years start4 ,great good to you--all4 ,p4 ,s4 ,we have all loved the little milliner's hat1 and some of us have wept over it4 ,,another ,,note ,,on ,,paroxysm ,,in ,,poetry ,rex ,lampman1 ,portland1 ,oregon3 ,quoting ,mr4 ,edward ,j4 ,o',brien's instructive article in ,,the ,,little ,,review for ,january3 8,paroxysm is the poetic expression of that modern spirit which finds its most notable expression in the sculpture of ,meunier1 the polyphonic music of ,strauss1 the philosophy of ,bergson1 and the ,american skyscraper4444 ,it aims to attain and express1 with the quick1 keen vigor and strength of steel1 the whirling1 audacious1 burning life of our epoch in all the paroxysm of the ,new ,beauty40 ,quoting the dictionary1 a paroxysm is 8any sudden1 violent and uncontrollable action or emotion2 a convulsion or fit40 ,the dictionary definition seems more nearly to apply to inspirational poetic effort1 such as ,poe had in mind when he advanced his theory that a long poem is an artistic impossibility2 such an effort is as necessary to any truly poetic performance4 ,mr4 ,o',brien's definition refers to a particular kind of poetic effort1 which1 to achieve its aims1 also must be inspirational1 and finds its inspiration in 8modern industrial and mechanical effort10 rather than in all creation1 free field for the poet of no prescribed and particular province4 ,i am totally unacquainted with the sculpture of ,meunier1 almost as innocent of knowledge of ,strauss's music1 and of ,bergson ,i know but a little1 but ,i have seen the ,american skyscraper clutching its black steel fingers toward the blue1 amid the rat-tat-tat-tat-tat of the pneumatic riveting hammers4 ,here in ,portland the skyscraper is pre-empting one by one our views of the evergreen hills and the snowy mountains4 ,perhaps the other things ,mr4 ,o',brien enumerates as paroxyst manifestations are shutting off our views of the eternal verities of life and the silent splendors of the soul--or rather1 perhaps they symbolize the materialistic ideals that are walling us away from the things of the spirit4 ,if we accept these paroxyst manifestations as art1 and keep our eyes fixed on them1 surely the infinite horizon1 with its never-conquered boundaries always beckoning out and on1 is lost to us4 ,but do we accept them8 ,beyond the skyscrapers are the quiet hills1 and however we throw ourselves into the vortices of cities1 however often we go down among the red-mouthed1 roaring furnaces1 however we may acquiesce in1 and even exult in and exalt1 the materialistic horrors that multiply around us like monsters in a steamy primal fen1 deep in ourselves we know that all these things are vain and vanishing1 and that the actual and enduring lie outside and beyond1 or within ourselves4 ,the skyscraper is a monument to the ,moloch of ,rent4 ,the furnaces are those of ,baal1 in which we give our souls as well as those of our children for sacrifice4 8,the evolution of poetry is to be as rapid and terrible henceforth as material evolution10 says ,m4 ,nicholas ,beauduin1 as quoted by ,mr4 ,o',brien4 ,no1 the gods will not forbid it1 for it is their way to let things run their courses4 ,doubtless there were singers1 when ,babylon was building1 who insisted that a new poetry was necessary to celebrate the city1 with its walls and towers and the efficient wonder of its sewer system1 if it had one4 ,perhaps these poets1 blinking in the glare of the furnaces and confused by the thunder of the shops whence issued the swords and spears and war-chariots1 said to each other1 8,these are the supremest things1 the worth-while things1 and we must sing of them or be out of date40 ,and a paroxyst school was born4 ,but always the heart of man has yearned toward things other than the works of his hands4 ,when the walls and towers and spears and chariots have returned to the earth from which they were fashioned1 there still endured the love for those other things1 and the joy in their artistic expression4 ,the springtime1 banal as it is as a poetic subject1 will remain forever more pleasing to the singer and his audience than can any paroxysm1 of however 8scientific technique10 proclaiming in 8swift1 hurtling1 dynamic rhythms0 the clamor and clangor of an armor-plate factory or the din and danger of a textile-mill4 ,the earth is our mother1 and hers are our deepest yearnings1 first and last4 8,she waits for each and all40 ,and if the paroxysts seek for power--for power that overcomes and subdues1 that smites suddenly or conquers slowly1 and recreates again the same--let them look aside from their banging machinery1 from all materialistic illusion--from 8the poetry contained in modern cities1 locomotives1 aeroplanes1 dreadnoughts and submarines2 in a stock exchange1 a ,wall street or a wheat pit--and behold the power and the marvel1 beyond all 8scientific marvels10 of ,nature1 singing slow or fast as suits her business1 chanting her inevitable rhythms through the ages1 taking back into her patient bosom all the marring excrescence that man for a little while has reared thereon4 ,what is ,new ,york or ,pittsburg but an itching pimple on the face of the earth8 ,there is much outside incorporate limits1 and beyond the sound of mill-whistles and the scream of trains4 ,the earth is scarce disturbed as yet4 8,my love is like a red1 red rose0--the same song that sang the enraptured ,solomon1 or whoever it was that indited the ,canticle--will1 ,i believe1 outlast any paroxysm which records a 8cinematographic vision of modern life40 ,this is possibly the idea of the paroxysts themselves1 they to sing anew as the occasion demands1 and keep their product1 like that of the movies1 down-to-now4 ,but though the words of the love-song perish1 some man will sing it again1 for joy at sight of his beloved1 when springtime urges on the rose4 ,sappho sang of love1 and men search the sea-floor for her fragments4 ,however1 if the paroxysts wish to see their notions expressed in proper relation to all things else1 let them read ,walt ,whitman1 who had room for everything1 as he lustily proclaimed1 in his sturdy chants4 ,the ,new ,beauty3 is there any such thing8 ,why the adjective8 ,,scribner ,,plays ,robert ,frank ,,by ,,sigurd ,,ibsen ,a drama1 which ,william ,archer1 the distinguished ,english critic1 considers convincing proof that he possesses 8dramatic faculty in abundance40 ,mr4 ,archer defines it as 8a powerful and interesting play which claims attention on its own merits1 eminently a play of to-day1 or1 rather1 perhaps of to-morrow40 ,the truth of this last comment is sufficiently evinced in the fact that its motive is the attempt of a young statesman to end1 once and for all1 the struggle between capital and labor by dramatically heroic measures4 #a4be net2 postage extra ,plays by ,bjrnstjerne ,bjrnson ,translated from the ,norwegian1 with ,introductions1 by ,,edwin ,,bj,,rkman4 ,each with frontispiece ,,second ,,series 8,love and ,geography10 8,beyond ,human ,might10 8,laboremus40 ,,first ,,series 8,the ,new ,system10 8,the ,gauntlet10 8,beyond ,our ,power40 ,each1 #a4ej net2 postage extra ,plays by ,august ,strindberg ,translated from the ,swedish1 with ,introductions1 by ,,edwin ,,bj,,rkman ,,first ,,series 8,the ,dream ,play10 8,the ,link10 8,the ,dance of ,death40 ,,second ,,series 8,creditors10 8,pariah10 8,miss ,julia10 8,the ,stronger10 8,there ,are ,crimes and ,crimes40 ,,third ,,series 8,advent10 8,simoom10 8,swanwhite10 8,debit and ,credit10 8,the ,thunderstorm10 8,after the ,fire40 ,each1 #a4ej net2 postage extra ,,plays ,,by ,,leonid ,,andreyeff ,the ,life of ,man ,the ,sabine ,women ,the ,black ,maskers ,translated from the ,russian1 with an ,introduction1 by ,f4 ,n4 ,,scott and ,c4 ,l4 ,,meader #a4ej net2 postage extra ,half ,hours ,,by ,j4 ,m4 ,,barrie 8,barrie opens the door of fancy1 so seldom set ajar4 ,there lies his peculiar mastery4 ,a tender1 strange1 exquisitely human fancy1 half child1 half spirit1 that lends you its own wings1 and lifts you1 heavy foot or heavy heart1 to rainbow heights4 ,you cannot resist him1 or1 if you do1 there is nothing but pity to give you1 as some one who has never known youth and1 worse1 never will know it4 ,and by this we do not mean youth of time1 but its finer1 rarer reality1 that quality1 indomitable1 bright1 and free1 that lies at the heart of all high emprise and generous daring1 and without which this old world would have dried up and withered away ages since40 --,new ,york ,times4 #a4be net2 postage extra ,plays by ,anton ,tchekoff ,translated from the ,russian1 with an introduction1 by ,,marian ,,fell4 ,frontispiece 8,uncle ,vanya10 8,ivanoff10 8,the ,sea ,gull10 and 8,the ,swan ,song40 #a4ej net ,by ,john ,galsworthy ,,the ,,mob #fj cents net2 postage extra ,a play of great power in its characters and dramatic treatment4 ,absolute faithfulness to ideal is the theme1 unflinching in the face of surging mob hatred4 ,,the ,,fugitive #fj cents net2 postage extra ,a ,drama in ,four ,acts ,,the ,,pigeon #fj cents net ,a ,fantasy in ,three ,acts ,above three plays in one volume form the ,third ,series #a4ce net2 postage extra ,,the ,,eldest ,,son #fj cents net ,a ,domestic ,drama in ,three ,acts ,,justice #fj cents net ,a ,tragedy in ,four ,acts ,,the ,,little ,,dream #ej cents net ,an ,allegory in ,six ,scenes ,above three plays in one volume form the ,second ,series #a4ce net ,,charles ,,scribner',s ,,sons #eig-eii ,,fifth ,,avenue1 ,,new ,,york ,,sonata ,,recital ,josephine ,gerwing ,,violinist ,assisted by ,carol ,robinson ,pianist ,,programme ,suite ,no4 #a1 ,d ,minor 444 ,eduard ,schtt ,allegro risoluto4 ,scherzo-vivace4 ,canzonetta con variazioni4 ,rondo a la russe4 ,sonata1 ,a ,major 444 ,johannes ,brahms ,allegro amabile4 ,andante tranquillo4 ,allegretto grazioso 7quasi ,andante74 ,sonata1 ,e ,flat ,major 444 ,richard ,strauss ,allegro ma non troppo4 ,improvisation4 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life4 ,selected ,works ,by ,voltairine de ,cleyre #a4jj2 postpaid #a4ae ,america's foremost literary rebel and ,anarchist propagandist4 ,poems1 short stories and essays4 ,mother ,earth ,magazine #aj;c a copy ,anarchist ,monthly #a4jj a year ,,for ,,sale ,,by ,mother ,earth ,publishing ,association #bj ,east #abeth ,street1 ,new ,york1 ,new ,york ,dramatic ,poems ,songs and ,sonnets by ,donald ,robertson1 ,actor 8,a book vibrating with feeling and brightened in every page with the glow of true poesy40 --,,edwin ,,markham #hvo with photogravure frontispiece3 #b4jj4 ,,seymour1 ,,daughaday ,,and ,,company 7,,not ,,inc47 ,,fine ,,arts ,,building1 ,,chicago ,,publishers ,radical ,book ,shop #hag ,no4 ,clark ,street 33 ,chicago1 ,illinois ,,special ,,dealers ,,in ,,revolutionary ,,literature ,love's ,coming of ,age ,by ,edward ,carpenter ,cloth1 postpaid1 #a4jj ,god and ,my ,neighbor ,by ,robert ,blatchford ,cloth1 postpaid1 #a4jj ,,send ,,for ,,catalogue ,fortified ,tires ,this is what we mean by ,goodyear ,fortified ,tires4 ,in five ways--each exclusive to ,goodyears--they are fortified against a major trouble4 ,these ,five ,ways #a4 ,our ,no-,rim-,cut feature fortifies against rim-cutting in the best way known4 #b4 ,our 8,on ,air0 cure--used by us alone--ends a major cause of blowouts4 ,it costs us #dej1jjj yearly4 #c4 ,a patent method reduces by #fj per cent the risk of loose treads4 #d4 ,six bands of #abf braided wires in each tire base hold tires firmly to the rims4 #e4 ,our ,all-,weather tread--tough and double thick1 sharp and resistless--offers ideal protection against punctures and skidding4 99 99 99 99 99 ,remember these are all exclusive ,goodyear features4 ,no other tire offers these defenses4 ,and each contributes vastly to the staunchness of a tire4 ,together they have made this the dominant tire of the world4 ,it outsells any other4 ,last year we sold about one tire for every car in use4 ,won't you try the tire which so excels all others1 yet costs no extra price8 ,any dealer will supply you4 ,,the ,,goodyear ,,tire ,,rubber ,,company1 ,akron1 ,ohio ,,goodyear ,,akron1 ,,ohio ,fortified ,tires ,no ,rim-,cut ,tires--8,on-,air0 ,cured--,with ,all-weather ,treads or ,smooth ,,rut-,,dwellers6 ,you know a man who loves the ,narrow ,ways1 ,a million men have trod in ,yesterdays2 ,he walks his way with calm and stately mien1 ,bestowing empty logic all serene1 ,and blocks the path of ,progress with a strut1 ,and flaunts his pride in dwelling in the ,rut6 ,this class of men have never done anything for society4 ,if their sons and their sons' sons follow in the paths their fathers have worn down for them1 the world will never advance from the stage of semi-civilization of today4 ,it is to the ,,rebels that all progress is due4 ,the ,,black ,,sheep1 if you will1 have blazed the ,,new ,,trails and have given us whatever we may possess in literature1 industry or art worthy of the name4 ,the ,international ,socialist ,review is a ,magazine of ,revolt ,now there are two kinds of rebels2 the men who revolt ,,mentally and who ,,theorize1 and those who revolt by action4 ,the ,,review blazes the way in both mental and ,,actual ,,trails1 with the emphasis on rebellious ,,action or human conduct4 ,we have correspondents in ,china1 ,japan1 ,india1 ,germany1 ,france1 ,new ,zealand1 ,africa1 ,australia--from ,alaska to ,south ,america--all revolutionists who send us the latest photographs or drawings and news of victories and defeats in the great world war between the ,,haves and the ,,have-,,nots4 ,if you are only an 8intellectual0 revolutionist1 strongly averse to any sort of human ,,conduct that may overstep the old ,ruts of ,reaction1 you will not like the ,review4 ,if you are the ,adventurer who loves to battle into unknown lands with the ,advance ,guard of ,pioneers--you must not be without it4 #aj;c a copy2 #a4jj a year ,for #a4aj we will mail you a cloth bound copy of ,nietzsche's ,,human1 ,,all ,,too ,,human and the ,,review one year4 ,address3 ,,charles ,h4 ,,kerr ,,company #aah ,,west ,,kinzie ,,street ,,chicago1 ,,illinois 8,i have never been so completely satisfied with any ,piano as with the-- ,mason ,hamlin ,,this ,,is ,,the ,,sincere ,,tribute ,,of ,,that ,,distinguished ,,russian ,,pianist ,ossip ,gabrilowitsch ,,who ,,recently ,,appeared ,,here ,,as ,,soloist ,,with ,,the ,,kneisel ,,quartette ,to the ,question3 ,why is the ,mason ,hamlin more frequently heard in ,public ,recitals of note than all other pianos there is ,but ,one ,answer3 ,,musically it is the most beautiful piano the world has ever known4 ,out of town readers send today for fully illustrated catalog and price list4 ,for sale only at the warerooms of the ,cable ,piano ,company4 ,wabash and ,jackson ,chicago ,poetry ,a ,magazine of ,verse ,,edited ,,by ,,harriet ,,monroe ,,this ,,magazine ,,is ,,publishing ,,the ,,finest ,,work ,,of ,,living ,,american ,,and ,,english ,,poets1 ,,and ,,is ,,forwarding ,,the ,,recognition ,,of ,,those ,,younger poets whose work belongs to this generation1 but whose acceptance might otherwise be retarded by a lack of adventurous appreciation4 ,if you love good poetry1 and wish to encourage its creation and publication in the ,united ,states1 ask your friends to become subscribers to ,,poetry4 ,remind them that this is the most effectual way to show their appreciation of an attempt to make this art of as much national concern as the arts of painting1 sculpture1 music and the drama4 ,,seymour1 ,,daughaday ,,and ,,company ,,fine ,,arts ,,building1 ,,chicago ,,publishers ,send ,,poetry for one year 7#a4ej enclosed7 beginning 4444444444444444444444444444444444444444 44444444444444444444444444 to ,name 4444444444444444444444444444444444444444 444444444444444444444444 ,address 4444444444444444444444444444444444444444 444444444444444444444 ,earth ,triumphant and ,other ,tales ,in ,verse ,,by ,,conrad ,,aiken ,opinions of the ,leading ,reviewers 8,there are many volumes of poetry this season1 ,conrad ,aiken's #8,earth ,triumphant' being given first place not only because of its excellence1 but because it voices the spirit of the new world in sonorous tones40--,los ,angeles ,graphic4 8,the narrative poems in this book in hand are written by one whose thought has sounded further depths than the author of #8,the ,everlasting ,mercy' has yet found4 ,in particular is this true of #8,youth1' the second number in the book1 a poem of greater daring1 strength1 and scope than has come from any singer of recent note40--,new ,york ,world4 8,a new champion has entered the lists1 for it is impossible to read ,mr4 ,conrad ,aiken's volume1 #8,earth ,triumphant1' without realizing that he sounds a note quite different to any that has been heard before4444 ,a remarkable sense of balance and of value is combined with no little beauty of expression and the result cannot fail to be impressive4 ,the philosophy is that of the transcendency of youth1 of the cleansing that is to be found in the forces of nature4 ,to make use of a phrase lately rediscovered by one of our novelists1 ,mr4 ,aiken makes us #8touch earth4'0--,l4 ,b4 ,lippman1 in ,the ,book ,news ,monthly4 8,aiken sings the praises of ,earth and ,youth with genuine sweetness and exuberance 444 rapid moving narratives with many soaring lyrics by the way40--,chicago ,evening ,post4 8,his stories are graphic1 his shorter lyrics steeped in warm earth music4444 ,mr4 ,aiken's book is one of the most pleasing of the year40--,american ,review of ,reviews4 8,the author's manifestly accurate power of observation finds fullest scope in this 7,earth ,triumphant7 the greatest of the poems4444 ,there are descriptions of the effect of nature upon the man noticing its beauties for the first time which remind us of the younger ,wordsworth2 but there is in addition the fuller flood of tide of modern life which is always heard in these poems4 ,the appeal of the earth and her relation to man are spoken of again and again in various poems1 all of which give forth an atmosphere of keen1 vibrant life1 of largeness1 and of the fuller music of reality in life40--,boston ,daily ,advertiser4 8,with genuine beauty they relate tales which reveal the heart of modern life in various phases of youth1 and contain a reading of earth which differs in essentials from that of ,meredith4 ,the volume deserves a wider audience than the usual public which cares for poetry40--,wm4 ,s4 ,braithwaite1 ,anthology of ,magazine ,verse1 #aiad4 ,,cloth1 #abmo41 #a4be ,,net1 ,,postage ,,extra ,published at #fd-ff ,fifth ,ave4 ,new ,york ,on sale wherever books are sold ,the ,macmillan ,company ,transcriber's ,notes ,advertisements were collected at the end of the text4 ,the table of contents on the title page was adjusted in order to reflect correctly the headings in this issue of ,,the ,,little ,,review4 ,the original spelling was mostly preserved4 ,a few obvious typographical errors were silently corrected4 ,all other changes are shown here 7before_/after73 p4 #e3 444 quietness of this place1 and the absence1 even round about the purliens of it1 444 444 quietness of this place1 and the absence1 even round about the purlieus of it1 444 p4 #h3 444 8macrabrism0 of ,ibsen and ,strindberg dissolves like mephitic scum when 444 444 8macabrism0 of ,ibsen and ,strindberg dissolves like mephitic scum when 444 p4 #bg3 444 to be fostered on one's readers as anything #8ex catheda'4 ,one such 444 444 to be foisted on one's readers as anything #8ex cathedra'4 ,one such 444 p4 #dj3 444 example of ,john ,d4 ,fergussion are boldly rhythmising the people and affairs 444 444 example of ,john ,d4 ,fergusson are boldly rhythmising the people and affairs 444 p4 #dg3 444 horrified by the relevations of a battle which most of us get into the habit 444 444 horrified by the revelations of a battle which most of us get into the habit 444 p4 #ea3 444 fierce tumult to delicate tontal weavings and vague states of calm1 from crystalline 444 444 fierce tumult to delicate tonal weavings and vague states of calm1 from crystalline 444 p4 #ed3 444 ,the ,hearthstone broods in shadow1 444 444 ,the hearthstone broods in shadow1 444 p4 #ed3 444 ,and ,dana moves on ,lauchra1 444 444 ,and ,dana moves on ,luachra1 444 p4 #ee3 444 ,and the ,trojan ,lacoon 444 444 ,and the ,trojan ,laocon 444 p4 #ef3 444 ,imagine a race than can only point to ,herrick and ,london and 444 444 ,imagine a race that can only point to ,herrick and ,london and 444