True poetry
Sir: Muriel Spark may be a fine novelist but she is not a poet. It is sad to see the Spectator (31 March) giving nearly a page to what is described on the cover as a 'new poem', but which is not poetry at all. It is merely prose, and the lines could have been cut up into any number of different lengths. There is no rhythm, metre, rhyme, nor reason in this so-called 'poem'.
For some 3,000 years poetry has been understood to be the rhythmical creation of beauty. Sir William Watson, a fine but neglected poet, wrote Forget not, brother singer, that though prose Can never be too truthful nor too wise, Song is not truth nor wisdom, but the rose Upon truth's lips, the light in wisdom's eyes.
In true poetry there is a connection between the difficulties imposed by the laws of metre and rhyme and the beauty of the poem. On the other hand a picture that is all out of drawing, and a poem which does not scan, require no elaborate apprenticeship. The current vogue of 'free verse' is a prostitution of true poetry, deceives the public into thinking it is poetry, and indicates that the writers have discarded recognised poetic standards which have been regarded as poetic laws from Milton to Masefield.
That publishers and editors should encourage this lawlessness is to render a great disservice to literature, and foists on a long-suffering public fraudulent 'poetry' which is in fact prose. From the time of Milton all the most original and important work has been done in recognised verse forms with their infinite variety of line length and stanzaic structure. None of the greatest poets in our literature have ever found it irksome to work within these limitations. 'Free verse', so called, is incapable of the peculiar delight given by regular One of the great charitable foundations of the Order of St. John, of which Her Majesty The Queen is Sovereign Head, is the St. John Ambulance which celebrated,' in 1977, its first glorious hundred years of service to mankind.
St. John Ambulance volunteers, both adults and cadets, now numbering almost 250,000 world-wide, give millions of hours to first-aid and to helping their fellow men whenever disaster strikes. They care for the sick and lonely, they look after the elderly and they help in hospitals. Their black and white uniform is a familiar sight at most sporting events, great public occasions and places of entertainment — in fact wherever crowds gather and accidents can happen. They operate coastal and river rescue teams, they give help in mountain rescue and many people owe their lives to the dedicated pilots and air attendants of the Aeromedical Services which have recently added a new dimension to St. John Ambulance.
It cannot be too often stressed that the organisation is not part of the National Health Service as many people believe. It relies solely on generous donations and verse forms which have been develo-ped through centuries of experience.
Ernest W. Bacon Editor, Symphony Poetry Magazine, 2 The Homes, Langford, Bristol
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