His fault is a defect in sympathy,
a lack of spiritual appreciation, if I may use and leave undefined
so old-fashioned a term. His virtue lies in the rich garment of
experience which careful observation and skilful writing enable
him to wrap about his imaginative conceptions. It is this which
makes his novels so readable for the discriminating at present,
and will make them useful historical records in the future. One
aspect of a troublesome period when the middle generation achieved
the irresponsibility without the earnestness of youth he has
caught in "Cytherea." It is unfortunate that it is a partial
portrait of important motives in people who themselves are of
little importance; and it is doubly unfortunate that he has been
too much a part of his muddy world to be as good an interpreter as
he is a witness of its life.
January 21, 1922.
V
PHILISTINES AND DILETTANTE
POETRY FOR THE UNPOETICAL
I have looked through more essays upon poetry than I care to
remember without finding anywhere a discussion of poetry for the
unpoetical. A recent writer, it is true, has done much to show
that the general reader daily indulges in poetry of a kind without
knowing it.
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