CLUB LUNCHEON TALK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18396, 11 May 1923, Page 12

CLUB LUNCHEON TALK.

The monthly luncheon talk of the Auckland Women's Club took place yesterday at the club when Mr. J. W. Shaw gave an interesting address on Modern Poets.There was a good attendance and the president, Mrs. W. H. Parkes, in introducing the speaker remarked that the subject of the. address would no doubt appeal strongly to those present. To most women poetry in its sense of beauty brought to everyday practical life a. charm-pecu-liarly its own and even in the study ol the lives of those who made, verse there was to be gained a very satisfying pleasure In opening his addres.c Mr. Shaw sax? that. the era of modern poetry dated Horn about 30 years ago. It was then that verso makers struck a new note in their lines, verging from former .standards in which it was conspicuously evident that the subjects for verse-making were things quite apart from everyday life, things to bo idealised, ethereal and of the world of romance. The later school of poets brought; about a revolution in their creed that it was not necessary to go to the realms of fancv for their inspiration. Poetry could be found in common-place objects and surroundings and the beauty lay in the thoughts around them. -the Victorian era had handed down a wonderful heritage in the world of literature. In fact, the Victorian era was a great flowering period of brilliant minds, and ■though it now was realised that there was an extraordinary devotion to convention it was a period of great achievements. What we possess to-dav in the world of poetry we 'owe to the Victorian era, for bv the Victorian poets the: height of Parnassus- has been i occupied. Yet it was recognised that other methods of making verse on perhaps more original lines could hold out inducements for great achievement and a new school of poets had sprung' up, among whom we may.'mention '■Masefield. W. H. Davys, E. V. Lucas, Walt Whitman and Rupert Brooke a* some of the finest of our modern poets. There'runs through their verse a steady stream of ideas wherein, commcn-place things are idealised. "'They endeavour to find inspiration in life as it is. , To them the hulk from Newcastle with a cargo : of coal is equally as poetical as the Spanish galleon bearing rich treasures and precious eems. ' As a school they are still ■struggling upwards and the future holds still greater development, where one. looks for productions that will reach a very high pinnacle of fame. " .•' : j