THE BOOKFELLOW. Written for The Post by A. G. Stephens.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 57, 4 September 1909, Page 9

THE BOOKFELLOW. Written for The Post by A. G. Stephens.

(Copyright.— -All rights reserved). A BUSH POET. TASMANIA. Born in the wilderness he loved his home And its great circle of the "forest hills, With passioning, nor ever sought to roam From its lone meadows and their wandering rills. His library was full of ancient books Bound in old calf or sheepskin, yellowed, dim, And in the evening-pause of vine-clad nooks, He read the sun beneath earth's misty rim. "Veined blackwood panelling made rich his room, - Figured and veined and deep with golden bands As of famed violin, find mellow bloom Of aged Iluon pine from river lands. His cabinets of honeysuckle, musk, And myrtle bosses, were with Time's long calm Stored : manna, resin, amber, white and dusk, Gum sandarach, and dragon's blood and balm. The weary wayfarer found rest and food, And warm and cosy shelter for the night, And smokod his ,- pipe pronouncing all things good, And told the lad of gold and chrysolite. Blue crane, and eagle-hawk, and owlet jar, Night-heron, welcome swallow, were his mates, Fr ee-martin, shining cuckoo, and tho far Shy diamond bird doomed by the woodland fates. And ho, tho lad, loved when the bush was sweet With wattlo perfume, or with honeyed Dowers Oftowaring gums, to turn his willing feet With bees and birds to share those murmuring bowers. He brought home lines about tho wind and rain, And sunshine in the forest, scent and dew, And bushland shadows — ever suns in • vain !—! — Clear grey and violet and azure blue. His soul was like the dew trembling and pure, b Now srolden with the morn, now dark . with gloom, Though hope was constant that it might endure, And that sweet rest remained beyond Me tomb. James Hebb'lethwaite. RHYTHM AND METRE. Th ftf tx i° Papers upon this subject read by Air. J. C. Andersen before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury are the fruit of praiseworthy study. It is unfortunate, therefore, that ,Mr. Andersen's interesting theories of the origin' of rhythm and metre must remain speculative, and are really untouched by the circumstantial evidence he has brought forward in their support. Attention was here drawn some time ago to a tendency of some rhetorical -English prose to follow the iambic rhythm of the heart— lup-dub. Mr Andersen's independent investigation has led him to believe that the iambic is the radical rhythm of English verse. lie contends " that the normal measure, the iambic, has sprung from the heartbeat, as being the rhytlunic source nearest to man, and most constant in its action upon him." His second contention is that the length of the line of two primary English metres, ballad and blank verse, has been fixed by the breath—the average line representing the average use of the average lungs. Ihe true theory, of course, is that the origin of poetry is to be. sought in oratory The first poets recited their lines in the manner of an orator; and if we wish to know the source of rhythm and metre we must study the natural methods of natural orators. Mr. Andersen s reference of rhythm to the hearth beat plainly lays too great a burden upon that much-enduring organ. To our aboriginal ancestors, among whom poetry arose, the heart was not the subject of attentive preoccupation that it is m our sentimental age. We may surmise that it was recognised as a vital spot in the enemy, who rarely recovered when anything pointed and barbed was stuck well into his heart; and as a tit-bit for the subsequent banquet it was also prized highly. Otherwise, it is likely that the healthy savage's heart never troubled' him; and certainly his rhythm ol life was not dependent upon it. It is much more probable that, if the subject were seriously considered, the primal human rhythm would be found related to the length of the human legs; and possibly all the varieties of short and long metre have sprung from the effort of a short-legged wife to keep pace with a long-legged husband. It is open to Mr. Andersen to contend that the last orator, who undoubtedly fathered the first poet, was an unhealthy savage, as may not unreasonably be inferred. Heart disease certainly might attract attention to the beating of the" organ. But this contention on examination proves worthless, since it is only a sound, heart that could utter ifie regular iambic rhythm which Mr. Andersen postulates as the basis of the British ballad. If there had been anything seriously wrong with the ancient Briton's semi-lunar valve, his balladrhythm would have been all over the forest. As to the metrical breath theory, the obvious objection is that the aboriginal world probably took its breath anywhere in the oratorical passage, ,and only when it was compelled. This phenomenon can be observed in some aboriginal vocalists of the present day, who simply hold on to words and music as long as they can, and let go wherever they happen to be when they can't. Moreover, the aboriginal world chanted its sweet old cadences while taking in breath as well as while emitting it — just as a boy whistles. There was no breath-pause such as Mr. Andersen requires at his line-ends. This is easily proved by watching the method of those adorably primitive people, our children. Let Mr. Andersen listen to a lively band singing :—: — " Here we go round the mulberry bush ! The mulberry bush ! tho mulberry bush ! Here we go round the mulberry bush On a cold and frosty morning." He will find that the children sing it in all stages of breathing. Usually the childish lungs are empty at the first bush. But there is no pause to draw breath. The breath is taken on the second line— and the song goes on at the same time. By the time the child reaches the third bush the lungs are full again, although the second line has been uttered. And so on. Some members of Parliament use their breath in the same fashion : they talk on the expiration and they talk on the inspiration _: hence the common phrases "an inspiring speech," "inspiring oratory." Mr. Andersen's deductive method has betrayed him, after all the years since Bacon. Had he reflected that oratory is the foundation of poetry — the spoken verse of the written — he might have applied the inductive method ; and then the Maori fact is ready at his hand. A verse, of course, is one line : it implies the place, where the poem turns (Latin vertere) into the next line. Take Dr. Hocken's edition of Maning's "Old New Zealand," and at page okJ read tb^is description of Maori oratory. "The chief jumps ashore. He begins his oration, or rather, to 'blow up,' all and sundry,- the tribe in general, and poor 'Melons' in particular. He is

really vexed, and wishes to appear to me more vexed than he really is. He runs, gesticulating and flourishing hia mere, about ten steps in one direction, in the course of which ten steps he delivers a sentence. He then turns and runs back the same distance, giving vent to his wrath in another sentence, and so back and forward, forward and back, till he has exhausted the subject and tired his legs. "The Englishmen were beside me, and gave a running description of what he said. 'Pretty work this,' he began; 'good work, killing my pakeha; look at him!' (Here a flourish in my direction with the mere). 'I won't standthis— not at all ! not at all ! not at all !' (The last sentence took three jumps, a step, and a turn round to keep correct time). 'Who killed the pakeha V It was Melons. You are a nice man, are yon not/ (This with a sneer.) 'Killing my pakeha!' (In a voice like thunder, and rushing savagely, mere in hand, at poor Alelons, but turning exactly at the end of ten steps and coming back again)." Those ten steps show us the "origin of metre, and tho turn shows us the origin of verse. The chief, of course, would not go too far away, lest his audience should not hear him : thus was measured the length of tho .natural line. ' Then he took ten steps back, delivered another line, and our verses taitnfully reproduce his "turn." An older or short-legged chief, of course, might take only eight steps; an excited or long-leggefl hero might take twelve, or even fourteen. Thus primary variations are accounted for; though Mailing's chief accurately represents the heroic form. .As for the original iambic rhythm, that was of course fixed by the savago gait. Owing to the want of correspondence between the right and left sides, every man treads more heavily upon one foot than on the other, thus walking, lambically. It is natural to accentuate the stress to the ear. When the war-rior-poet recited his verses, he emphasised them with a dance, and the women kept the rhythm by beating their ' thighs or by clacking primitive instruments. Now, there may be many stepß m a dance ; but there are only two cardinal movements. 'You can jump up in air (the short beat of the iambus-), and you can come down to earth with a thud (the long beat). Has Mr. Andersen never seen a haka? The most primitive music consists of just two things — silence, and a sound ; silence, and a sound ; and da capo interminably. Here indubitably is the original iambus — or the original trochee ; for the rhythm has the same time-length, and tho name merely indicates the beat yon start from. It is needless to multiply examples :< primary rhythm and metre are accounted for. For the rest, men have sought out many inventions. NOTES. ' "Was there ever a century more feri tile in poets?" asks La Critique (Paris). "Fortunate guests at the banquet of life, they associate themselves in the Society of French Poets, and live on good soup and fine language. If occasionally one 'dies in hospital,' that is merely to perpetuate an old legend, diffii cult to throttle. To-day, by a miracle, to be poet or muse no longer disqualifies anybody. The poet has parted with hia pipe and his. hollow soft hat; the poetess is no grey old maid from the provinces with cats and canaries. To-day armorial bearings are all the go, and the Very Nicest People wander the fields of asphodel lyre in hand. Princesses! Duchesses ! Countesses ! Marchionesses 1" And so on. It is a pleasure €0 know tha£ the sky is bright somewhere. tt When William De Morgan wrote "Joseph Vance" he made a classic piece of English fiction; and one looks forward to his fourth book, "It Never can Happen Again," announced for early publication. Mr. Arthur Diosy, a leading authority on Japanese art, said recently that once, [ in a country walk in Japan, he heard an altercation proceeding between two labourers in a field, who had started a noisy discussion— a surprising fact in that Jand of soft and gentle manners, where the policeman apologises to the pickpocket for arresting him, and the pickpocket apologises to the policeman for giving him the trouble of arresting him. "So he (the speaker) stopped to hear what it might be all about. Whafc did they think it was? These two la-* bounng men, ordinary day-labourers, were quarrelling as to the aspect of « tree that stood by the boundary of th« field, one maintaining that if ths branches of that tree bad a slightly upward tendency instead of spreading outi horizontally from its bole, the aspecfl of the tree would have been much xnora satisfactory to his aesthetic perception. 1 * That story measures the distance between New Zealand and Japan in ona direction. # The Publishers' Circular reports tha £ ss o c °£, ° Hooper- Jackson case in the U.b. Chancery Court. It was Mr. Hooper's idea to "acquire the Times and) amalgamate it with their business." Mr. Jackson declined the speculation as "too hazardouh." It was Mr. Hooper'B idea to- raise a million and a half of dollars to run the new eleventh edition of th© • Encyclopaedia Britannica— Mr. Jacksoa would not consent. Mr. Hooper's next idea was to retire from the business— so he offered Mr. Jackson his interest in ii for two million dollars. Mr. Jackson declined. Then Mr. Hooper began to do business which Mr. Jackson consider-, ed unwarranted. The case has beea tried, and the U.S. Court has upheldMr. Jackson s rights as an equal parfcner, and has approved an injunction against the proceedings which Mr, Jackson complained of. The manager of the publishing house of Cassell and Co. said recently that tha firm accepted two per cent, of the noT* els submitted to them for publication. Nil desperandum !