NEW ZEALAND VERSE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22260, 12 May 1934, Page 4

NEW ZEALAND VERSE

The New Zealand Mercury. April, 1934. Vol. I, No. 11. Wellington ! 35 Nairn street, (la not.) With the present number, April, the New Zealand Mercury enters upon its second year of service to the cause of letters in New Zealand. The leading poem, by Douglas A. Stewart, a finelywrought piece with Greek affinities, is just a little puzzling; one wonders whether the protagonist is a woman or a West Coast sound; or, again, the nymph or goddess of that sound in human form; but the writer’s mastery of phrase and rhythm is beyond question. C. K. Allen contributes a sonnet, " Wordsworth.” Arnold Cork is hardly at his best in “ Rhythm,”’ though the measure he hag chosen tramples steadily throughout. The charm of “ Watercolour,” by Jean Hamilton Lennox, holds the reader, and is unspoiled even by the “ moral ”’ with which the singer has seen fit to close her song. A piece without a title opens delightfully, but “P. G.” fails to keep throughout the, simplicity and grace of the first few lines. In the prose section there is an interesting letter by " Henry Martyn ” apparently a pseudonym—which claims that ■" there is a native English poetry of a surprising quality and variety lying neglected at our very doors.” The writer seems to point to the folk songs and melodies of bygone times, his matter being based on the work of Cecil Sharp. In our opinion revivals of past glories, however temporarily satisfying, cannot meet the . needs of a steadily-developing humanity; we feel it wiser,, to look not back, but forward to the coming of poet, novelist, or dramatist able to take the life about him as his theme, and show it to us in all its beauty, strength, and greatness; for life is always beautiful, and strong, and great for such as have eyes to see—it is the unseeing who revel in antiques or lose themselves in weird forecastings of a fantastic future. We should ourselves make use of the above quoted words with this in mind, and bid the aspiring writers of the Dominion let past and future alike be, fix their attention on the present, and strive to feel and reproduce its wonder. The section of “ Comment and Appreciation ” has possibilities which, when realised, may make it of real value both / to contributors and readers. X.