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

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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

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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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American existence. Remarkable, indeed, is his boldness and challenging attitude toward adults contrasted with his tenderness towards children. In Winter Milk he shows this sympathy toward the young when he says of his own daughter: There are dreams in your eyes, Helga, Tall reaches of wind sweep the clear blue. The winter is young yet, so young. Only a little cupful of winter has touched your lips. Though an advocate of free verse, he employs all the beauty of words, of which he is master. Describing Chicago, he says of her: Hog Butcher for the world, Tool makers, Stackers of Wheat, Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler, Stormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders. An excellent example of his power to summon beautiful words to express his emotions is given in such lines as these: In the loam we sleep, In the cool, moist loam, To the lull of years that pass, And the break of stars. From the loam, then, The soft warm loam We riseg To shape of rose leaf, Of face and shoulder, We stand, then. To a whiff of life Lifted to the silver of the sun Over and out of the loam A day. One of Sandburg's chief traits is his ability to combine the native and local in him which evolves poems like Chicago with the universal, which helps him to respond to poetical inspirations. It was in 1920 that his Smoke and Steel was awarded the Poetry Society Prize. Since we can now boast of so profuse and varied a selection of literati, with their beauty of thought, force of expression, sterling honesty of verse and realism, it would seem that the standard of literature has been raised and its banner un' furled to float above a world which seeks true poetry, mighty drama and choice prose. MARY OlDONNELL. One Hundred Thirty fin