VERSES

Evening Star, Issue 21240, 22 October 1932, Page 19

VERSES

READER'S QUERY Is there a quid- way of becoming a modern poet ? If there is, 1 should very much like to know it. Are there, for instance, any “ Poetry Schools ” Where they tcacli one the rules And at the same time give one a chance of “ learning While earning,” Such as those correspondence colleges which guarantee To make a man a journalist at a nominal fee? Or is it absolutely necessary to study A poet like Masefield (and use words like “bloody"), Or D. H. Lawrence (Whom I view with utter abhorrence), Or am I bound To wade through the works of T. E. Eliot or Ezra Pound? Of course, I am quite prepared to read these people—but What I really want is a short cut Which will enable me to turn out stuff That is good enough, Stuff, I mean, that will pass As poetry, even if it is not high class. And, as the idea of going through a long course of drudgery is hateful, If anyone can give me a few useful tips I shall be eternally grateful. In short, I want to be able to write such a poem that no editor will

dare to return it With the usual hypocritical regrets to — —W. Hodgson Burnet, in the ‘ Spectator.’