isa-normaladvance-1913-00206

Description:	206THE NORMAL ADVANCEa $oet anb Jgot gtefmmebNELSON VAN CLEAVECOME writer has said that he cared not^ who wrote the laws of a nation if hemight write its poetry. There seems to be acertain genius for poetry in all mankind, butwith many people it never finds expression. Itis as natural for some people to write poetryas it is for the boy to whistle or the bird tosing. The man who made this statement Avassurely in this class. Every human being has,by virtue of his nature and appreciation ofmusic, rythm, motion, and lofty sentiment, to agreater or less degree. It is the natural tendency of the mind to seek the good, the true,and the ideal. These tendencies of the mindcan best be cultivated by poetry.Poetry seems to fluctuate as the market quotations on the board of trade. It is not somuch affected by supply and demand as by thespring time and the sunshine.The winter season finds poetry and poets farbelow par. The poets are inactive and poetryis not mentioned, but one of the first indications of spring is the awakening of the springpoet. His activities are as marked and as interesting as the activities of the baseball fanand the man with the fishing-pole. The appearance of the spring poet is a certain evidence of spring, and spring could not introduceherself properly without the aid of the poet.There is something touching and patheticabout the spring poet. He is generally pictured as having long hair, blue eyes, and adreamy expression. But this is not essential.He can not always be told by his appearance.It is the .inner clothing rather than the outerwhich distinguishes him. He has, in his ownestimation, all the requisites for writing poetry something to say and a way to say it.The something to say may not appeal toany one but himself. His thought may beshallow, rambling, and of little worth, but illuminated with the sunshine, and temperedwith the gentle breezes, the music of ripplingstreams, and the odor of blossoms, it is poetry.The manner of expression may not please. Itmay be crude, awkward and ungainly, therhyme harsh and grating, the meter irregular,and the title inappropriate, but in the estimation of the poet it is poetry. The self-appreciation of the poet permits him to soar in imagination far above the commonplace and thesordid. He tries to express his ideal ratherthan reality.The audacity of the spring poet is remarkable. He wishes the whole world to knowthat he is a poet. He is not ashamed of hisdesire to write, his sentiment, his thought, norhis manner of expression. He is proud of hisability. He will gladly suffer scorn, rebuke,ridicule, or even persecution and insist to thebitter end that he is a poet. He is not easilydiscouraged. (He will not be.) In his ownesteem he has a duty to perform and he insistsupon performing that duty.Editors may consign his verses to the wastebasket, his friends may laugh at him, his practical father may disturb his composure ofmind, but he remains a poet still.His subjects are many and varied. The subject after all is an unimportant thing to thespring poet. Its the poetry that counts. Somesubjects that have been used are, Spring,Her Eyes, The Rippling Brook, HerHair, The Robin, The Oak, and Freedom. But poets are always free to select theirown subjects. Their genius is shown in thisway. The subject is not mentioned except inthe title any way.The world has a different attitude towardthe spring poet from the one he has towardhimself. The world endures his work, but doesnot appreciate it. It gives him censure ratherthan a smile, contempt rather than esteem. Itmakes no feasts in his honor, neither does it
Source:	http://indstate.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/isuarchive/id/34651
Collection:	Indiana State University Archives

Further information on this record can be found at its source.