Walton High School - Periwinkle Yearbook (Bronx, NY)

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Poetry, because of the harmony, rhythm, and cadence of its lines, is also an inspiration for music, Even in the medieval days, the bards and minstrels sang their legends, for the accompaniment of the harp or lyre added much beauty and romance to the epic. In recent times, we have the example of Joyce Kilmer, whose well-loved poem Trees has been set to a melody as hauntingly sweet as the words themselves. This is but one instance in which a poet's thoughts have been an inspiration to the musician's pen. lust as poets inspire artists and musicians, they also inspire one another, Great poets always have great masters, Virgil was the star which Tennyson worshipped and followed and the light which led Dante through the realms of darkness to the gates of heaven. Virgil, the master of literature, has for two thousand years been the guide of those whose spirits he has fired with his golden thoughts and phrases. lohn lvlasefield, now the poet laureate of England, was once a poor boy who earned his livelihood as a waiter in a barroom. Yet, when he went to his dingy little room late at night, tired and worn out with fatigue, he took out his treasured volume of Spenserg and in the flickering light of the pale gas he was soon transported to a world of dreams, beauty, and loveliness. Spenser became the master of this young man and taught him to create for others this same world of the imagination. One of the greatest influences of the poet is upon ourselves, for many of the things he has written apply to us just as much as to the hero or heroine. Thus, we find ourselves, like the hero of Virgil's Aeneid, leaving our home in this school, and setting out on a journey in which we will be buffeted about by the fates until we too reach a promised land, We may have to give up many things in our quest, but in the end courage and faith will persevere. Now, as we leave these gates, a new world stretches forth and we see the morning star glowing on the horizon to guide us to future success and happiness. D CERTRUDE ELION C 5 I Q I I 0 S s Q I l Y?

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O 0 I I PSE? K o .1 s 4 254 and dying, wrote of the beauty of living. Keats knew that his end was near, and that the beauty which he worshipped in this world was not to be for long. Yet, in the 'Ode to the Nightingale, he cries out with a sad heart: Thou wast not born for death, Immortal Bird! No hungry generations tread thee down. When we know the story of Keats' suffering life and early death, these lines are filled with a stark realism and deep feeling. These records of high emotion are what reveal to us the true poet, for we are reading not about the poet but we are reading the poet himself, Although heartache and suffering are revealed in poetry, there are many poems of joy, hope, and happiness. Bliss Carman, with his cheerful songs of gypsies, nature, and romance gives this feeling of delight. As we roam with him along mountain glades, under leafy foliage, and among singing forests, our hearts, too, feel the echo of his ecstasy. The nightingale's song is more hauntingly melancholy, the sun shines more brilliantly, the breezes are more tender and fresh, when the poet has opened our senses to them. A world of new wonders unfolds, song and rejoicing fill our hearts, and we, too, know that beauty is truth, truth, beauty. Everyone who reads poetry is influenced in his thoughts and actions by the words of these philosophers. When reading Shelley or Byron, who is not moved by a call of freedom and liberty? Who reads Walt Whitman without grasping the true meaning of democ- racy? Surely, these poets impress the very depths of a person's soul and feelings, Whose mind does not revolt from the horror of war at these powerful words: l saw the debris, and the debris of all the slain soldiers of the war . . . They themselves were fully at rest, they suffered not. The living remained and suffered, the mother suffered And the wife and the child and the musing comrade suffered, And the armies that remained suffered? 4 i Yes, and we, too, suffer when we remember the horror and t-he misery, and we, too, suffer when we remember the horror and the fight for liberty and freedoms But far greater are those who sing of peace, of the cause of humanity and love of their fellow men, for their poetry brings to the world a feeling of brotherhood and companionship which is not confined to one nation or people.

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7329 O 5 4 9 0. - .I 5 w I I BUSINESS AND ART BOARDS OF THE PERIWINKLE LITERARY BOARD OF THE PERIWINKLE