In verse this epigram is as follows:
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he holy night and thou,O Lamp,We took as witness of our vows;And before thee we swore,He that would love me alwaysAnd I that I would never leave him.We swore,And thou wert witness of our double promise.But now he says that our vows were written on the running waters.And thou, O Lamp,Thou seest him in the arms of another. It will be observed that iambic feet prevail in this translation. Theymerely become noticeable and imperative when arranged in verses. Butso it is, even in the briefest and starkest rendering of theseepigrams from the Greek the humanism and dignity of the originaltransfer themselves, making something, if less than verse, yet morethan prose; as Byron said of Sheridan's speeches, neither poetry nororatory, but better than either. It was no difficult matter to passfrom Chase Henry: "In life I was the town drunkard.When I died the priest denied me burialIn holy ground, etc." to the use of standard measures, or rhythmical arrangements of iambicsor what not, and so to make a book, which for the first third requireda practiced voice or eye to yield the semblance of verse; and for thelast two-thirds, or nearly so, accommodated itself to the lesssensitive conception of the average reader. The prosody was allowedto take care of itself under the emotional requirements andinspiration of the moment. But there is nothing new in Englishliterature for some hundreds of years in combinations of dactyls,anapests or trochees, and without rhyme. Nor did I discover to theworld that an iambic pentameter can be lopped to a tetrameter withoutthe verse ceasing to be an iambic; though it be no longer the blankverse which has so ennobled English poetry. A great deal of unrhymedpoetry is yet to be written in the various standard rhythms and incarefully fashioned metres. But obviously a formal resuscitation of the Greek epigrams, ironicaland tender, satirical and sympathetic, as casual experiments inunrelated themes would scarcely make the same appeal that an epicrendition of modern life would do, and as it turned out actuallyachieved. The response of the American press to Spoon River Anthology during thesummer of 1914 while it was appearing in the _Mirror_ is mywarrant for saying this. It was quoted and parodied during that timein the country and in the metropolitan newspapers. _CurrentOpinion_ in its issue of September, 1914, reproduced from the_Mirror_ some of the poems. Though at this time the schematiceffect of the Anthology could not be measured, Edward J. Wheeler, thatdevoted patron of the art and discriminating critic of itsmanifestations, was attracted, I venture to say, by the substance of"Griffy, The Cooper," for that is one of the poems from the Anthologywhich he set forth in his column "The Voice of Living Poets" in theissue referred to. _Poetry, A Magazine of Verse_, followed inits issue of October, 1914, with a reprinting from the _Mirror_.In a word, the Anthology went the rounds over the country before itwas issued in book form. And a reception was thus prepared for thecomplete work not often falling to the lot of a literary production.I must not omit an expression of my gratitude for the very high praisewhich John Cowper Powys bestowed on the Anthology just before itappeared in book form and the publicity which was given his lecture bythe _New York Times_. Nathan Haskell Dole printed an article inthe Boston _Transcript_ of June 30, 1915, in which he contrastedthe work with the Greek Anthology, pointing in particular to certainepitaphs by Carphylides, Kallaischros and Pollianos. The criticaltestimony of Miss Harriet Monroe in her editorial comments and in herpreface to "The New Poetry" has greatly strengthened the judgment ofto-day against a reversal at the hands of a later criticism. This response to the Anthology while it was appearing in the_Mirror_ and afterwards when put in the book was to nothing somuch as to the substance. It was accepted as a picture of our life inAmerica. It was interpreted as a transcript of the state of mind ofmen and women here and elsewhere. You called it a Comedy Humaine inyour announcement of my identity as the author in the _Mirror_ ofNovember 20, 1914. If the epitaphic form gave added novelty I mustconfess that the idea was suggested to me by the Greek Anthology. Butit was rather because of the Greek Anthology than from it that Ievolved the less harmonious epitaphs with which Spoon River Anthologywas commenced. As to metrical epitaphs it is needless to say that Idrew upon the legitimate materials of authentic English versification.Up to the Spring of 1914, I had never allowed a Spring to pass withoutreading Homer; and I feel that this familiarity had its influence bothas to form and spirit; but I shall not take the space now to pursuethis line of confessional. What is the substance of which I have spoken if it be not the lifearound us as we view it through eyes whose vision lies in heredity,mode of life, understanding of ourselves and of our place and time?You have lived much. As a critic and a student of the country no oneunderstands America better than you do. As a denizen of the west, butas a surveyor of the east and west you have brought to the country'sinterpretation a knowledge of its political and literary life as wellas a proficiency in the history of other lands and other times. Youhave seen and watched the unfolding of forces that sprang up after theCivil War. Those forces mounted in the eighties and exploded in freesilver in 1896. They began to hit through the directed marksmanship ofTheodore Roosevelt during his second term. You knew at first hand allthat went with these forces of human hope, futile or valiant endeavor,articulate or inarticulate expression of the new birth. You saw andlived, but in greater degree, what I have seen and lived. And withthis back-ground you inspired and instructed me in my analysis.Standing by you confirmed or corrected my sculpturing of the claytaken out of the soil from which we both came. You did this with aneye familiar with the secrets of the last twenty years, familiar alsowith the relation of those years to the time which preceded and borethem. So it is, that not only because I could not dedicate Spoon River toyou, but for the larger reasons indicated, am I impelled to do youwhatever honor there may be in taking your name for this book. By thisoutline confession, sometime perhaps to be filled in, do I make knownwhat your relation is to these interpretations of mine resulting froma spirit, life, thought, environment which have similarly come to usand have similarly affected us. I call this book "Toward the Gulf," a title importing a continuationof the attempts of Spoon River and The Great Valley to mirror the ageand the country in which we live. It does not matter which one ofthese books carries your name and makes these acknowledgments; so far,anyway, as the opportunity is concerned for expressing my appreciationof your friendship and the great esteem and affectionate interest inwhich I hold you.
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