WORKERS’ EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21531, 31 December 1931, Page 13

WORKERS’ EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION

SUMMER SCHOOL

On Monday evening Mr L. F. de Berry, headmaster of West Christchurch District High School, addressed the students of the W.E.A. Summer School at Waitaki, his subject being “ Some Modern English Poets.”

In opening his address Mr de Berry quoted Shelley as having said “ The poet is the unacknowledged legislator.” Macaulay had said that as science advanced so would poetry decline. He did not hold this view, however, and in support of this he read fj’om Gordon Bottomley and Dorothy Stewart, who undoubtedly had received inspiration from the rhythm of the machine. Poetry, Mr de Berry went on to state, was one of the oldest forms of literary expression, and he stated that the oldest civilisations were at their height during the time of their greatest poets, instancing Athens, China, and India. AVordsworth in the past had done most to interpret Nature into poetry. There was an undoubted tendency amongst modern poets to draw their inspiration from Nature, and scarcely any of them had escaped the magnetism of the trees. The old poets had handed down a set method of writing poetry to pattern, but a breakaway was made by AValt Whitman, ■who considered that thought came before pattern. There was now a more natural and easy style, and Belloc, Cripps, Drinkwater, Moore, and Masefield were amongst those vyho wrote beautiful short poems. The child and the school also were now given a different interpretation from that which they had been given before AVordsworth. The child was to be seen and not heard in the old days. There also was a distinct tendency in English poetry to bring in the fairy element owing to a desire to break away from industrial life and ugliness. In concluding a most interesting lecture, Mr de Berry read at length from Dr Bridges’s “ Testament of Beauty,” which, he said, had received much consideration and was referred to by the Consultative Committee of the British. Board of Education upon tiic primary school.

On Tuesday morning Mr de Berry gave another address, speaking on this occasion on “International Relations and the Individual ” The first question the speaker asked, was “Have we learned anything from the war?” _He then referred to the wonderful childish faith the individual had in institutions such as Parliament, League of Nations, etc. It was the individual, he maintained, that required a new outlook and until our individual ideals formed the basis of our actions we could not expect a great deal from institutions. Society was made up of individuals, and it was this fact that the economist ignored, and since it had been by hard steps that we had travelled from the animal stage, what could we expect when the ideal of each individual was kept in check by some form of organisation, system or machine? Mr de Berry stated that there was too much talk and too little action. On every hand we heard of the necessity for confidence. People sneered at Mussolini. Nevertheless he was inspiring Italy with an ideal, and when he had gone he would not leave Italy as it was before. Hard though it may be to get the truth about Russia, there was no denying the fact that the small band qf men who had travelled other countries had gone back to the great mass of illiteracy with ideals ahead. President Wilson had ideals but the Peace Conference ignored them. Clemenceau made reference to Wilson as talking like Jesus Christ. It was expected that the Disarmament Conference would take action because there was no room for optimism with the growth of the American Navy Party and increased armaments all round. Mr de Berry asked ■what contribution we in' New Zealand were making. Was there a man in this country with a plan? Was there a parliamentary candidate? If so, he was not heard. In conclusion, he thought it was necessary for international action to be taken with a view to remodelling the history books of the child. They should be taught the stories of the great men of art, literature, and those pioneers all over the world of reforms.

Mr W. J. Scott, of Titnani Boys' High School, gave a very interesting lecture on “ Tlie Post-war Decadents in Drama on Tuesdays Mr Scott read from two plays. Coward’s “ Post-mortem ” and Huxley’s “ The World of Light,’’ recent plays which tendeil to portray modern youth. Modern youth as shown by these plays was very disillusioned and pessimistic in outlook. The lecturer began by comparing the so-called decadent movement of the ’nineties with the one of to-day, stating that the modern one was far more widespread. In elaborating the question of the attitude of youth towards life, Mr Scott stated that it was a post-war outlook of a certain section. This decadence seemed to appear after any great calamity such as the war. There was, however, side by side with this a great construction work going on with drama, and it was true that at the present time many brilliant young dramatists were showing good results. For the purpose of comparison the plays of to-day should be read alongside Shakespearian and Greek plays which showed a tendency then in youth to light rather than take a cynical view. It was said that the old men of to-day, like Shaw and Havelock Ellis, were young men, and the young like Huxley and Coward are disillusioned and old before their time. Altogether the students received plenty of food for thought from Mr Scott's lecture.