THE CULT OF THE CRITIC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13146, 7 April 1906, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE CULT OF THE CRITIC.

THIS is the Cult of the Critic! (0! hear ye and heed!) , " The great little latter-day Critic, : His cheap little creed; " A '■ fig for,: your finest '. creation,: < We're jaded—for gratification t The, ft Hip of novel sensation ■, u ' , Is all that we need." ._ .. '" : " ■■' I. " '" " ■ We believe in i the Works ■. that allure; In the gospel l of Out-of-the-Way; In the school of the darkly Obscure, Where the pith lies in what they don't say; In the Art of Ambiguous Phrase; : In the Motif which no one can find; In the Plot which begins in a maze , And ends in a Mystery blind. For the things understanued of Few Are the wisest and subtlest and best, With a deep inner inwardness too, By the vulgar ungrasped and unguessed. (We grasp them no more than the rest— ; 'But affect that we do.) ' 11. We believe in the Thing that Exists; In the llealist's order of Art; In the Author whose mission consists In minute vivisection of heart; In the Truth which is startling and crude, Where the true Pose is never to Pose, Where the Passions appear in the nude, And a spade is a spade to the close. .>, For the Actual's the object in view And Truth is the acme of; art; , •Some will weary of: garbage—tho' true, O shame! unrcgenerate heart! (We weary no less for our partBut affect that we do.) -■■'"■■ ',■■' I'll. ■' / We believe in the Mystical • Muse, Prophetic, blindfold, and intense,// Whose sayings are dark; we enthuse O'er the sound if we don't grasp the sense; We believe in the whimsical, weird, . ' In all that's fantastic and quaint, In suggestion but thinly:veneered; In air of Affected Restraint. The aesthetic," erotic is quaint. And the shibboleth breathed at its shrine; Some are bored is their bitter complaint: Oh. pearls to be trampled by swine! (We are bored, tho' we know it's divine, lint affect that we ain't) ..." ' ~. ' lv - ■:, We believe in the Art of Retort; ' In the Epigrammatic and Smart. Where the heroine holding her court Lacks nothing in charm—save a heart; We believe in the world-weary Pose. / In the Man with the Cynical smile. Who has tried all the ropes, fill he knows That nothing is really worth while. ; Who cares for the absence of. Plot ■/■ When flic dialogue sparkles so free? Some Philistines say it is " rot,"' . " That they sicken of light repartee. (For ourselves we're:inclined to agree, But affect that we're not.) . ',';■ /■■■ ,■■;,•'/'"-'■..;■. '"''". , V.'.': /-.,.-. /,."•"' ■■'■'; : But Style is the Fetish we own; •/'.: We worship the Classic and Cold; At a context unpolished we groan, / And we shudder at heresies bold." We consider it wrong to grow warm, That the Simple-Severe is. sublime, - The Colloquial * shocking bad form, ■"■'■.'' And. to split the Infinitive crime. For: irregular form is a blot - And: the , Passions run wild ; are so coarse/ ■■ Some sneer there's no soul and no plot, No sentiment, colour, or force," (A conviction we really endorse, But affect we do not.) ■;//./ -.:/ VI. /:'.'■■, ;.■'.'.■;■'; The Prophet of Obvious Things '■■; We condemn with his Works and his Ways; Young-Cupid,just trying his wings • Loves ■ raptures and pangs and amaze; '"■■•■ Heroics and Virtues and Vice, The Villain who's foiled in his plot; The Hero who's "noble" and " nice" And modestly says that he's not. This commonplace purpose and plot • Has not a relation to Art. , Some say that it " goes to the spot ■.;.-.,.- So truly it. touches the heart." (And our hearts swefl too and tears /' ■ start, ~■■■ But a-f-fect they-do n-not.) Bcmuera. ' Maud Peacocke. A remarkable double wedding was celebrated! in a Viennese church. 'A- manufacturer named Muller married a widow, while at -.the.;■ same/time his;/soil.married the widow's daughter., Thus r the .father; becomes 'father-in-law of his own son. and the I mother also mother-in-law of . her daughter.