CHAPTER XIV CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN POETS THE revival of interest in American poetry and the present demand for poetry written in our own day is in no way better attested than in the fact that there are so few books about modern American poetry. It is a sign of real interest and genuine appreciation when people read the books themselves rather than books about the books. Too often it happens that for one person who reads the classics there are ten who prefer to read about the classics. The few books that there are on contemporary American poets are in the nature of running comments on the variety of method and technique of all our modern singers. Miss Lowell's book alone rests on solid scholarship. It is the work of one who has given herself to a study rather than to a mere reading of the poets she discusses. Scepticism; Notes on Contemporary Poetry. Knopf. 1919. (See also p. 190) COOK, HOWARD WILLARD. 1890 Our Poets of Today. 1918. Dodd. LOWELL, AMY. 1874 Tendencies in Modern American Poetry. 1917. Houghton. (See also p. 191) PECKHAM, HARRY HOUSTON. 1885 Present-Day American Poets. Badger. 1917. UNTERMEYER, LOUIS. 1885 American Poetry Since 1900. Holt. 1923. (See also pp. 120, 124, 188) WILKINSON, MARGUERITE. 1883 New Voices. Macmillan. 1919, 1923. Contemporary Poets-Men MARKHAM, EDWIN. 1852 The Man with the Hoe and Other Poems. Doubleday. 1900. Lincoln and Other Poems. Doubleday. 1901. The Shoes of Happiness and Other Poems. Doubleday. 1915. Gates of Paradise and Other Poems. Doubleday. 1920. Markham's fame still rests mainly on a single poem; he has written others far better, but he is not known for his best work. It would be hard to say which is the more famous, Markham's "Man with the Hoe" or Millet's painting which inspired it. John Vance Cheney's rejoinder to "The Man with the Hoe" deserves to be as famous as Markham's and Millet's originals. Markham's song is always the brotherhood of man. His works have become very popular with believers in New Thought. The New Thought anthology, "Poems of the Sun-Lit Heights," published by the Elizabeth Towne Company, contains some of Markham's best verse. VAN DYKE, HENRY. 1852 The Builders and Other Poems. Scribner. 1897. The Toiling of Felix and Other Poems. Scribner. 1900. The White Bees and Other Poems. Scribner. 1909 o. p. Songs Out of Doors. Scribner. 1922. (See also pp. 120, 142, 610) Dr. Van Dyke's verses are strongly didactic. His narrative poems all point a moral, his allegories all have religious signif icance. His recent poem "The Name of France," written while he was at the Hague, is in his best style and is deservedly popular. His ballad, "Home Thoughts from Europe," is reminiscent of Allingham's old Scotch song, "Hame, Hame, Hame." WOODBERRY, GEORGE EDWARD. 1855- The Flight and Other Poems. 1914. Harcourt. Collected Poems. 6 vols. Harcourt. 1920. "George Edward Woodberry-A Study of His Poetry" by Louis V. Ledoux (Dodd, Mead) is a poet's study of a poet. Miss Monroe in Poetry speaks of the "fineness of form and phrase, perfect finish, polish" of Mr. Woodberry's work. CARMAN, BLISS. 1861 Songs from Vagabondia. (With Richard Hovey.) Small. 1894. More Songs from Vagabondia. (With Richard Hovey.) Small. 1896. Last Songs From Vagabondia. (With Richard Hovey.) Small. 1900. Echoes From Vagabondia. Small. 1912. Pipes of Pan. 5 vols. Published separately and in one vol. Page. 1917. Collected Poems. 2 vols. Page. 1905. Later Poems. Small. 1921. The "Later Poems" are from "The Rough Rider," "April Airs," and "Echoes From Vagabondia" together with a number of more recent poems not before gathered into book form. Carman, a Canadian by birth, is the poet of the open road, of the wander-thirst and the gypsy blood. He owes much of his fame to his collaboration with Richard Hovey (1869-1900). The best of the Vagabondia songs all belong to Hovey who was a poet of lyric genius. The hearty goodfellowship and warm companionship of Hovey's songs combine well with Carman's wandering minstrelsy. "What I like about Bliss Carman is not his flowers but his bouquets. . . . He is a poet that does arrange his poems with some view to unity of effect." ("The Poetic Year for 1916," William Stanley Braithwaite.) CAWEIN, MADISON. 1865-1914. Complete Poetical Works. 5 vols. Small. 1908. "The final estimate of the poet cannot yet be written. It is too soon, but even now one may venture certain predictions. Cawein wrote enormously too much, and he wrote all too often with merely literary intent. He was not a lyrist born: he had little ear for music. . . . 'It is as if we had another Keats,' says Howells, and in saying it he touches the fatal weakness of the poet.. ... He tells nothing new, and he adds nothing to the old by his telling. Even Baskerville can say, "There is little or no Southern, not to say Kentucky, atmosphere in Mr. Cawein's poetry.' . . . Nevertheless, it is only in his nature poetry that he is at all convincing." Pattee's "American Literature Since 1870." The Lonely Dancer and Other Poems. 1914. Dodd. The Silk Hat Soldier and Other Poems in War Time. Lane. 1915. o. p. The Junkman and Other Poems. Doubleday. 1920. Richard LeGallienne is American by adoption. Mr. Untermeyer writes of Mr. LeGallienne's "pure voice of the confident poet. His new poems, for instance, reveal some of the most exquisite things written in this rich and sonant age; for sheer beauty of image and delicacy of expression, he has no peer among his contemporaries." (See also p. 117) MASTERS, EDGAR LEE. 1868 Spoon River Anthology. Macmillan. 1916. The Domesday Book. Macmillan. 1920. The Open Sea. Macmillan. 1921. Spoon River Anthology was hailed as the most original conception and the most unique performance in American poetry. The character of the verses-short post-mortem monologues in a cemetery, in epitaph form, was thought at first to be altogether new. Since that time the same idea has been found in many other authors: Hardy in "Friends Beyond," Heine in "Dream Pictures" translated by Untermeyer, Maupassant in "La Reve," and the old Greek anthology. Masters's "Anthology" still remains unusual if not unique. The success of "Spoon River" seemed to be too sensational to repeat. In his next volume Masters's gift appeared to be more for satire than for song. The epitaphs were but sparingly repeated, to readers' disappointment. In his last two books Masters has continued as a chronicler of American life, an interpreter of modernity. In "Tendencies in Modern American Poetry," Amy Lowell has written of Masters as "a Dostoevsky in vers libre." John Cowper Powys calls Masters "the only poet with Americanism in his bones." Masters has aroused more.comment, and has exerted more influence than any other poet in America today. ROBINSON, EDWIN ARLINGTON. 1869— The Children of the Night. Scribner. 1897, 1905. o. p. Captain Craig. 1902. Macmillan. Van Zorn. (Play) Macmillan. 1914. The Porcupine. (Play) Macmillan. 1915. The Man Against the Sky. Macmillan. 1916. Lancelot. Seltzer. 1920. The Three Taverns. Macmillan. 1920. Collected Poems. Macmillan. 1921. Avon's Harvest. Macmillan. 1921. Roman Bartholow. Macmillan. 1923. o. p. The topmost peak of Parnassus is the place which many critics give to Edwin Arlington Robinson in American poetry. Miss Lowell speaks of Robinson's "difficult and beautiful poetry" and |