Wakefield High School - Oracle Yearbook (Wakefield, MA)

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THE SEA IN POETRY Down llu-oiigli llio iigx ' s the sea has figiu ' Lvl Iinniiineatly in poetry. It liiis always held a certain fascination for niankiiul. Even those men who do not live at the seashore and there- fore know of the sea only by hearsay, are not free from its spell. Tlie very charaetjr of the ocean: the mysterious depths, the un- ' .lian{;iiig tides, the Iteaiity at one time, and at another the horror, the innoceiitlooking waves and again the towering majesty of tlie sea in storm have all aroused lofty feelings ' Ji the poets of the world. in ancient times the Gicek Odyssey and the Latin Aeueid were written by men who knew the sea and wrote with a deep respect for its niiglit. The. Odyssey deals with a ' .varrior returning from victory over Troy. This mortal has in some manner incurred the vrath of the gods and tiiey set out to punish him. 8 ' orm winds are aroused and drive the iiifortuiiate mortal far from liis liomeward course. lu tlie course of the story nearly every aspect of the sea is described. At one lime the liero is tlireatened l)y a whirlpool which is in action twice each day. At another the sea is calm, tiie sun shines and the hero ' s ship dances over the waves to within s ' ht of home; then by an unfortunate occurrence, the storms s))ring up again and tiie adverse winds drive the sliips off for anotlier long period. The Latin Aeneid does not have so many ocean scenes as the Odyssey but the few that are described are more stirring. Tlie reader is made to feel in sympathy witli the storm-tossed hero and re.ioice W ' h him upon reaching a safe harbor. In this poem tlie sea rises to great heights and overwhelms lofty ships. Then the stoiiii subsides and the hero, guided by a favoraI)le deity, encounters fair winds and all is well again. Jjjiter in history the sea again became the subject of poetry, this time yi the tales of tlio Norsemen. The Norsemen loved the sea, and the Norse diaracter partook of the wild nature of the sea. Their ballads dwelt at length on battles with raging seas. When high seas broke over the carved prows and I ' mions storm-winds howled overhead and churned tlie sea below, when the ship pitched and twisted, dijiped and reared, then wore the hardv Norsemen most happy. As the oarsmen toiled along the bulwarks and the leader stood unshaken at the very prow, braving the seas which broke across his chest, then the Norsemen broke forth in song. Over and over again they chanted anoien.t bal- Ia.ds, tales of just such glorious combat with the ocean. Tiie Norsemen, those hardy adventurers, ])assed ; and next came the Anglo-Saxons witli an epic Beowulf which is the story of man ' s s ' rugglc with the North Sea. Then there fol- lowed a long period in which the sea was not prominent in English poetry. Even Shake- si)eare with all his versatility did not employ tlie sea as a topic for his poems. However, Shakespeare ' s play The Tempest has, as the name implies, a groat atorm at sea and a ship- wreck. In the Eighteenth Century Coleridge wrote the immortal ballad The Rime of the Ancient Mariner . Every phase of the sea is dealt w ' .th during the course of the poem. Tiu J[ariuer starts off well and his good ship dances over the waves. But storms overtake him and then follows a series of adventures so bi .arre that only a Coleridge could tell them. Tlie sea not only has all its own char- acteristics but also many others, arising only in Coleridge ' s imagination. Later Tennyson, who lived on tlie Isle of W ' ght, and who loved the sea, wrote poems expressing a deep appreciation of the sea ' s moods. The Revenge is a poem of a naval engagement at the time of the Armada. The sea in this particular poem enters only as -i necessary part of a naval battl e. But in one of Tennyson ' s later poems, Crossing the Bar , there is the greatest understanding of the inystorious ocean. In this poem our path in life is likened to a voyage over the sea and safe arrival into port after many vicissitudes. In our time the poets have again found the sea attractive for their poems. One element of the sea has l)een very much written of, and that is the element of mystery. Shijis have left port and have never been heard from, and many inexplicable events have occurred at sea. The fact of the utter removal from tlie face of the globe of ships makes this a favorite subject for poets. Another kind of sea mystery is the famous Flying Dutchman , a full-rigged ship which was fretpiently seeu by mari iers and yet known to be only an ap paiition. This subject of unearthly sights at sea has recommended itself to the more radi- cal among our poets. Many of pur modern poets, in their search for new and be.-iutiful ideas about the com- monplace and everyday, have seized upon thii sea. They find it to offer inexhaustible sources of the unusual, full of beauty and awe- inspiring. The sea, as old as the world itself, maiik ' ,nd ' s attempts to navigate its waters,

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RASTUS — KLEPTOMANIAC Kiistus! Is that you out in Ihuit cliit- ' kcu house ' ? No, Marse Ed, ' taint. Itastus, Kastus homo in bed. ' ou black rascal! Don ' t I ' e to nie! Dro)) that ::ig full of the Ijord knows what, aicL come licre to mo ! ' ' From the dusky recesses of the chicken house, a shambling figure with drooping, dis- consolate head advanced toward tlie erect figure of Young Ed. He was just back from college in the North, the joy of his widower father and the terror of the plumb lazy nig- gers of the plantation. Now look here, Eas tus, we can ' t stand this any longer! When we gave you another chance after you borrowed all the water- melons from the kitchen garden, you prom- ised to keep to the straight and narrow path ; but I guess it ' s no use to try to reform such worthless black trash as you are. Let me tell you this, you young imp of Satan! — you ' d have been sent packing long ago if it hadn ' t been for your mammy, the best foster-mother an orphaned Southern lad, such as 1 was, ever had. It would break Mammy Chloe ' s heart if she knew about your disreputable actions! ' Deed and ' deed, Marse Ed, I didn ' t wanna take that mizahle olc chicken. He raised pleading eyes, with the whites gleaming stavt- lingly in the moon-light, to the unrelenting figure above him in the shadow of the white pillared back verandah of the old ancestral mansion which had been the home of the Dinsmores for generations past. I didn ' t wanna take him, with a contemp- tuous side kick at the shapeless bulk in the linrlap bag he had dropped at his feet, F reckon the debbil done drog me in, Marse Ed. As usual, blaming evei ' ything on livs Sa tanic Majesty. But, say, Ilastus, perhai)S yon are a kleptomaniac! — the thought burstini; out excitedly. I dunno Avhat that kep-klep-er what chu sed — I don ' know what he is but I guess I ' m him all right — hopefullj ' . Well, if that is the case, it isn ' t your fault — soi ' t of an instinct, 1 supiiose ' — thought- fully said Marse Ed. ' , cagc ' ly, that ' s wliat it is .Marse Ed-- •t ' s a, stink — brimstone. I smelt it on de deb liil when he drug mo in de chicken pen! Well, Itastus, said Edwai-d, su|)]iressing a smile, you don ' t understand, that ' s all. I rememhej- hearing a lecture on that very thin.; at college. I shall try out some of my the- ories on you, Rastus. The evening is still young. Come into my study and let me get an insight into the machinations of your mind at such periods. In. the shadow ' y lujok-lined study Marse Ed proceeded to examine his servant who an- swered everything in the affirmative hopin;; to escajjo unscathed by humoring his mas ter ' s whims. Now Eastus, sit here and tell me how you feel when these impulses to--er--take things come upon you, Um, er, it ' s sort of an all-gone feelin;;;, boss. ' All gone ' , hm, perhaps your conscious will-power deserts you. Yessir, debbil drags me ' long by de han ' . ' ' Very interesting, very interesting — thoughtfully stroking his upper lip on which a manly fuzz was just beginning to show. Well, tell me how you felt tonight. ' ' Well, I wuz a getting ready for bed — So early? Yassir. V ' hen all of a suddint the roo ' u got all lighted up like a fiery furnace — and I was in the midst of it — and the windas fell in and the room got full of black smoke an ' en I saw dat red debbil a jumpin ' in thru the hole in the wall! An he grinned at me with his long pointed teeth a shinin ' and he said, ' Come along, Nigger ' ; so I come along, and I was scared white — you bet! An ' he led me to your chicken house — At this moment there was an uproar from the chicken house. Hens cackled, and rooster? screeched and the two i)rize ganilers made more noise than a Ford factory. Them niggers has come to finish up the job r started! exclaimed Rastus to himself. forgetting Young Ed ' s presence. What! It was all planned! You youiiij scoundrel! Come with me. A hasty search revealed two negro lads about Rastus ' age lying concealed with their booty behind the chicken house. Collaring them all. Young Ed removed their prey from the relaxed terrified figvires and marched then, before him into the wood shed. The next thirty minutes was devoted to the using of the worn leather strap hanging ther ' ' for just sucJi occasions; and then three verv sore bl;u ' k boys slunk away to their respective luuni ' s, all firmly resolved to remain far, far away fiom larso Ed Pijismore ' s vicinity in the future. DOROTHY HARRIS, ' 25,

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the varied ships that have been launched upon it, the unbelievable depths of the ocean, the interesting life beneath its waters, the natural we. ' ilth, the many moods of the sea,, all these suggest countless subjects for the poet ' s train of thought. One of the best of these modern poels is John Masefield. One of his poems, Sea Fever , tells of the fascination the sea liolds for man. Thus the sea has been well transferred to the i)riiited pn e of poetry. And for this rea- son poetry about the sea recommends itself to every reader. By reading sea poetry the world inland gaiins a better idea of the vast ocean which it never sees, the mariner »and sea-fighter may live over again their life at sea, and every sea lover finds all phases of the sea beautifully and feelingly expressed in sea poetry. JOHN BATCIIELDER POOKE, ' 24. HOW THE DAILY ITEM IS MADE News comes froni the fire station, the police station, the town hall, puljlic halls, churches, undeitakers, hospitals, clubs, doctors, schools, and the Y. M. C. A. The gathering of news is done by reporters, under the supervision of the editor. All news is first placed in the editor ' s basket. He (;dits it or has a reporter rewrite it if poorly written or lacking in detail. He exercises ex- treme care in being exact in detail; he looks for misspelled words; and ho looks for typo- graph ifC-al errors. News should be exact be fore being passed to the compositors. The compositors place all the advertisements and news in their proper places, specified by edi- tor according to news value. The news is then edited by the editors and tlie headlines! are made. Straight copy or regular news is put on liook 1. The headlines are sent to a special headline hook. Non-must articles are placed on a special hook. After being set on a lino- type mac]ii,ne, the first proofs are sent to the proof readers in the office, for corrections. One of the proof readers reads aloud, then they compare notes. The news is then sent back to the machine for corrections; then back to the proof readers for O. KJ Whe ' i marked O. K. the ncAvs is sent to platforms and locked in large page forms w-ith head- lines and advertisements being arranged. The first two or three words of tlie heaiUino arc used as a guide line on news story and marked must , if for that day. When ail ucws and advertisements arc O. K. and locked in forms, they go downstairs, are put in the press and the Item is printed. A huge roll of paper is slid into a cone in (he printing muchiiie, the pai)er unrolls and is di ' awn through the press by different roll- ers; these rollers are called idlers . Tiie type is locked in forms , which rest on beds . The forms ' ' are locked into th,e press ])y means of w oodcn wedges. Two cyl- inders draw the paper over the forms , thus printing the paper. After it leaves the cyl- inders, it is drawn through various rolls. The paper is automatically folded and cut in half. The machine prints four sheets at a time. When a new roll is added to the other one which is in the machine, the process of put- ting it in is called making a splice . Tin machine prints an average of seventy papers a minute, and three thousand a day. In regard to the gathering and laying-out, the marking, and the setting of advertise- ments, a few words may be written. Owners of stores send word that they want to adver- tise their business. Advertisement schedules daily, three times, twice, or once a week. Changes are procured the afternoon before insertion. These go to the advertisement manager who arranges them and marks them for sizes and styles of tj ' pe suitable for ad- vertisement. The copy next goes to the advertisement linotype niachine and is set . It is then read the same as news proofs and goes through the same process as news proofs. A sob-sister is a woman reporter, cm- ployed to i)lay-up unusual or human in- terest stories so that the reader will sh. ' J at least one tear at the end of every line. There arc few lines of business which so ncarlv ' demand infallibility as does the press. I ' liroiH in newspapers may inconvenience liiousands, may harm many, or cause any kind of trouble from loss of public interest and prestige to absolute ruin through libel action. Ellic ' .ency consists not so much in doing many things at once, but in doing well one thing at a, time. BEKTHA GERSINOVITCH, 23. SPRING A murmur among the trees, A bit of buds on brown boughs. The soft, clinging sod turning green, A splash of blue across the sky, Hirds winging, Hirds singing The invocation of the Spring. G. D., ' 24. 10