CROWNED BARD

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 71, 21 September 1933, Page 20

CROWNED BARD

POETS AND THE PEOPLE

SACRIFICE TO ART

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, August 10.

At the National Eisteddfod, at Wrcxham, this week, the Bardic Blue Kiband was awarded to a young poet for his verse called "Bound the Horn." Mr. John .Masefield (Poet, Laureate) congratulated the crowned bard on his success, and remarked: "I suppose that he and,l are unique among the poets of this country in that we have both been round the Horn. It used to be said that the sea was1 the only school in which one could learn manners, and I am inclined to think' that it is one of the few schools in f which you can learn to tell the story of What you are enduring while you are there." Addressing the 12,000 people assembled, Mr. Masefield, lamenting the fat© of modern-day poets, proceeded:—

"In the days of long ago, there was one culture for everybody. The King who employed a bard shared his poetry with his subjects. Now, however, there has been a separation of the culture of the court and the culture of the people, and a great separation of the bard from the heart,of the world.

"So many poets today never see their audiences. They write in the solitude of rooms, and their writings when perfected are printed in a book. Not many people have the faculty of finding poetry in a book or of reading it when found. As a consequence the poet is led to believe that his generation does not need him.

"All the poets of that tradition to which I belong and which started, I suppose, with Gray, who wrote that matchless poem, 'The Bard,' have been taught that they were not wanted, and so have plunged into dissipation or died in despair. CRAVING FOR EXCITEMENT. "They thought their names were writ in water. They have died in exile like Byron and Shelley, they have died in despair like Keats, and they have died in seclusion like Gray, who wrote shortly before his death, 'Brandy will soon finish off what port wine has begun.' And all the time their generation was crying out for their poetry. The people, not being ablo to find the poet or his poetry, have devised all manner of substitutes, such as going fast and then faster and faster still in the longing for the excitement which poetry alone can give.

"You here have met together i« one of these mighty festivals of Wales in 1 which the people from the whole country can take part, and I suppose all here have made some sacrifice for one or other of the great arts which you so truly serve. We all recognise,'l think, that these great arts at their best bring to life a radiant energy which is indestructible, and that men at the peak of their own energy come into contact with that undying fire that surrounds us and bring some flaming brands of it back into the world from the glory of their contemplation and the height of their inspiration. And these fragments exist eternally for our guidance and delight. They outlast the follies of statesmen, the madness of generations, and even the hopes of creeds.''

In the British Government offices in Whitehall electric light bulbs vary according to the status of the worker. They range from thirty candle-power lamps for junior clerks to 200 candle-power for the highest ranks.