Archbishop Hughes Memorial High School - Spires Yearbook (New York, NY)

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Among those of British descent who have chosen America as a scope for their literature, Gilbert K. Chesterton ranks first in importance. He is a novelist and poet of distinction, and a journalist by profession, yet he is most widely known as an essayist. Although a fiery democrat and a despiser of aristocracy, he is far from being a socialist. In his writing, he revels in antitheses, indentities and absurdities. This genius substantiates his contentions with facts, in an unornamented and logical manner, albeit hidden under an exterior veil of subtle humor. One of Chesterton's widelyfread books is characteristically entitled The Defendant. True to its title, the collection of essays endeavors to point out the beneficial qualities of dime novels, immense public statues, unnecessary information in newspapers, heraldry and a score of other nonsensical trivialities. Cheap fiction, he argues, is written to amuse or to thrill, and since amusement and romance are legitimate desires in man, why compare Hamlet with such novels? Chesterton also denounces those who invariably call good things bad, and cites his belief that the only definite evil existing in the world tofday is the ability of a few rich men to collect God's acres into their vast estates and thus deprive the majority of prof perty. But this book does not outrank The Victorian Age in Literature, published in 1913, in which he reviewed conspicuous writers like Carlyle, Arnold, Cobbett and Mill and made distinctions which will be of permanent strength in English criticism. In the Held of Irish literature, we find a distinguished poet-Padraic Colum, a protege of George William Russell, whose verse ranks high by reason of its sterling honesty and purity of observation. He has gathered the greater part of his material from experience and from his lengthy residence in Ireland. His pictures are principally of peasants at work, of aged women by firesides and of jeunes filles spinning. All are remarkable for the truth which predominates them. Padraic Colum is a realist and his plays deal with the conflicts which rage within the very beings of typical Irish peasants. Always natural, never stilted, his characters appeal to all. His best play, Thomas Muskerry, written in 1910, relates the sacrihces which Muskerry willingly made for his family and though he dreams of happy independence when he shall retire from his position as master of a workhouse, these dreams never come true for his greedy relatives hedge him in till he dies of utter neglect. The pathetic portrayal draws aside the curtain of ignorance and reveals in all its immensity the problem of family life in Ireland. In 1922, Padraic Colum received an honorable mention in Poetry for his Swift's Pastoral. . Among our great American poets, Edwin Arlington Robinson stands fore' most. Since the Nineties he has struggled against dire poverty in New York. It was from' Thomas Hardy and George Cramme that he copied his strong adherence to common life but soon after he went on to develop his own individual style. In all One Hundred Thirty three

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MoDERN LITERATI In recent years, a certain faction of pessimists has arisen, asserting that the standard of literature maintained throughout the world is being gradually, but perf ceptibly lowered. They have attempted to prove this allegation by pointing, among other things, to the wide use of free verse in poetry and to the growth of belief in imagery, that is, the conviction that poetry should primarily present an image or picture. However, many of our presentfday writers, poets and dramatists have refuted such a sweeping statement by their ingenious productions. In English literature, Alice Meynell and Francis Thompson are prominent figures. Above all, they were Roman Catholic poets, and, though of different temperament and expression, in inf tensity of religious experience, their compositions might be considered of parallel value. Alice Meynell had a peaceful career, devoid of many hindrances which confronted other struggling poets. This tranquillity is reflected strikingly in her poetry. In one of her best works, The Shepherdessf' the delicacy of her art is easily discerned: She walks-the lady of my delight- A shepherdess of sheep Her flocks are thoughts. She keeps them white, She guards them from the steepg She feeds them on the fragrant height, And folds them in for sleep. Francis Thompson, a contemporary and lifelong friend of Alice Meynell, was at first inclined toward great complexity in his poetical strivings. Later, he composed songs concerning love and nature but his prominent manuscripts were elaborate or highly embellished odes. The most sublime and hauntingly beautiful of these is the wellfknown Hound of Heaven in which he relates his mystical experience with the Divine Being, whom he pictures as pursuing him until he yielded and became one with Him. Of all the lines in English poetry, these are perhaps the most forceful and awefinspiring: Up vistaed hopes I sped, And shot, precipitated, Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears, From those strong Feet that followed, followed after. But with unhurrying chase, And unperturbed pace, Deliberate speed, majestic instancy, They beat-and a Voice beat More instant than the Feet- 'All things betray thee, who betrayest Me. ' One Hundred Thirty-two

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his writings, he seeks to convey the vanity and futility of human life and pictures baffled humanity stumbling, wending its vain way to destruction. In a humorous mood he tells how Miniver Cheevy yearned for the romantic past: Miniver cursed the commonplace And eyed a khaki suit with loathing, He missed the medieval grace Of iron clothing. Robinsons poems are often difficult to comprehend, yet they are replete with beauty beyond the attainment of almost any living poet. The number of characters he has created essentially sets him apart from his rivals, but his chief characteristic rests in his combination of profundity and preciseness. Among his best works are The Master, Ridhard Cory and Ben Jonson Entertains a Man from Stratfordf' In 1921, he received the Pulitzer Prize of one thousand dollars for his Collected Poems which was regarded as the book of the most enduring value to American literature published during that year, and with this award, he gained recognition as a great American poet. Francis Carlin, termed The New Floor-Walker Poet Genius is so called because he lives two distinct lives-one as a poet, the other as a floor superintendent in R. H. Macy's store. Though born in America, he has a deep affection for Ireland and a passion for beauty which, when they blend, produce most harmonious music. The Provinces is an excellent illustration: O God, that I May arise with the Gael To the song in the sky Over Inisfail! Ulster, your dark Mold for meg Munster, a lark Hold for me! Connaght, a caoine, Croon for meg Leinster, a mean Stone for me! O God, that I May arise with the Gael To the song in the sky Over Inisfail! Another exemplar of the worth of modern literature is Carl Sandburg. It was among the factories and railroads of the Middle West that this son of a Swedish immigrant found themes for his poetry, thus proving himself a poet of the new order of life in the United States. As such he is the voice of the tumultuous elements in One Hundred Thinyffour