19 SEPTEMBER 1925, Page 18

RHETORIC AND POETRY

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

.Sut,—Your interesting remarks on rhetoric in poetry remind me .of an opinion expressed by Goldwin Smith when we met at the 150th anniversary of Princeton University in 1896. He said : " With, the exception of Edgar Allan Poe the Americans have no poets. Their poetry . is nothing but rhetoric in rhyme." Rhetoric is here doubtless used in a sense different from yours, but I think you will agree that it is of interest to recall the words of such a master of English as Goldwin Smith.—I am, Sir, &c.,