Loyola University Maryland - Evergreen / Green and Gray Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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THE LOYOLA ANNUAL 23 reread his sentences for the mere sake of noticing the ease v 7ith which he writes. His phrases are clear and easy, al- most laconic; there is a pleasing terseness and concreteness in his manner of expression; what strikes us most and causes us often to revert to it, is the fact that matters deep in their significance, or profound in the principles the} would incul- cate, or again flippantly paradoxical in their meaning, can be expressed in such simple words and phrases. The reason people think Chesterton insincere, is from the fact, that he has easily overcome those very difficulties which they themselves find so hard to reconcile with modern modes of thought and expression. In reading “ All Things Considered,” a series of thirty-five short essays on different topics none of which are connected in any way, and some of which individually give one the im- pression of being mere jottings, our interest is held through- out; we read them with a relish and appreciation of the con- summate power of the man, for it seems that he has worked his personality into the lines and we read not mere words, but rather seem to listen to him speaking, in such a pleasing and conversational style are his subjects treated. He has hit upon the very point in literature which makes it palatable, and worthy of consideration, viz., the power to present a sub- ject or idea in a vivid and intellectual manner, which is the keystone of the literary art. His essays are bright, sincere, witty and above all enthusiastic, for this is a marked faculty of the man, that no matter what his subject is, whether it be the eccentric course of a recreant head-piece across a crowded thoroughfare, or a search into the subtleties of the metaphysical world, he is always enrapt with his theme and its paradoxical treatment. Though we think that at present the works of Chesterton are not fully appreciated in their material, philosophical and

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22 THE LOYOEA ANNUAL Chesterton considers that today the thinkers are too scien- tific— there is not enough healthy idealism; they do not pay enough attention to the spiritual in illustrating principles, but would explain all by mental analysis, which as all followers of the truth know is inadequate. Chesterton’s critical study of Dickens is undoubtedly his best piece of critical literature. Chesterton criticises Dick- ens in a manner peculiarly his own, and though we find the ever-present paradox, and epigram — without which we could not have “ Chesterton he has made a sincere effort to por- tray Dickens as he was, not commonplace as some would have him, nor yet divine. In reading this study ' of Dickens we feel with every page we read that the critic is in sym- pathy with the author, and in it we find Chesterton more in the role of an interpreter, explaining things to our satisfac- tion or amusement; rather than as a critic continually dis- agreeing with the writer. The poems of Chesterton are many and varied in their themes, and more remarkable for boldness of expression and strength of diction, than for metrical rhythm. The poem, “A Christmas Carol,” is true in its sweet significance; strange and strong is the following stanza from “ The Ancient of Days:” “ A staring doll’s-house shoves to him Green floors and starry rafter. And many-coloured graven dolls Live for his lonely laughter. The dolls have crowns and aureoles. Helmets and horns and wings. For they are the saints and seraphim. The prophets and the kings.” So much has already been said regarding Chesterton’s pe- culiar use of words, which are mostly monosyllabic, that we

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24 THE LOYOLA ANNUAL religious significance, we feel confident that the influence which he and such honest thinkers as himself should have will be finally felt. For, such men as are now, ever and anon placing before the world new and untenable theories, which if put into practice would bring nothing but dissension, and destruction in their wake, should have so firm and true a man for their opponent as Chesterton. Openness is his distin- guishing quality, and he believes that it is better to hold to an old and well-tried doctrine, rather than to evolve a new theory, such as the Pragmatic, which not only is contrary to the dictates of right reason, but is in itself contradictory. With characteristic stubbornness the philosophers of the day treat dogmatism as a thing of the past, as medieval and too ancient and worthless for the so called height to which mod- ern philosophy has reached ; but in “ Orthodoxy ” we find Chesterton making dogma the bulwark of belief. If the day comes when Chesterton is recognized and valued at his full worth, it will bring a change in the materialistic tendency in the world, for being popular in their expressions such books have none of the dryness of a philosophical treat- ise, and still inculcate sound principles and promote true doc- trine. Men like Shaw, Wells and Lowell, are wrong, but they have written in a popular way, too, and people drink in their theories without reverting to the disastrous results they would have if put into practice. With the reading of Chesterton, we will have immediately, we do not say a bet- ter world, but at least a more thoughtful world, and with proper regard for substantial facts deduced from the applica- tion of tried hypotheses, we shall have eventually a reason- ing world. A world that will know the reason why it acts in one way rather than in another; that considers the con- sequence that is likely to follow from this or that conduct. This is what all honest men who are Christian in the true