Contemporary American Literature. John Matthews Manly
is wanted. Here I flatly give myself away as being in reality in quest of a sort of absolute poetry, a poetry in which the intention is not so much to arouse an emotion merely, or to persuade of a reality, as to employ such emotion or sense of reality (tangentially struck) with the same cool detachment with which a composer employs notes or chords. Not content to present emotions or things or sensations for their own sakes—as is the case with most poetry—this method takes only the most delicately evocative aspects of them, makes of them a keyboard, and plays upon them a music of which the chief characteristic is its elusiveness, its fleetingness, and its richness in the shimmering overtones of hint and suggestion. Such a poetry, in other words, will not so much present an idea as use its resonance.
2. An interesting comparison may be made between the work of Mr. Aiken, and that of Mr. T. S. Eliot (q. v.), of whom he is an admirer. See also Sidney Lanier’s latest poems.
3. Another interesting study is the influence of Freud upon the poetry of Mr. Aiken.
Bibliography
Earth Triumphant and Other Tales. 1914.
Turns and Movies. 1916.
The Jig of Forslin. 1916.
Nocturne of Remembered Spring. 1917.
The Charnel Rose; Senlin: a Biography, and other Poems. 1918.
Scepticisms: Notes on Contemporary Poetry. 1919.
The House of Dust. 1920.
Punch, the Immortal Liar. 1921.
Studies and Reviews
Untermeyer.
Ath. 1919, 2: 798, 840; 1920, 1: 10.
Bookm. 47 (’18): 269; 51 (’20): 194.
Chapbook, 1–2, May, 1920: 26.
Dial, 64 (’18): 291 (J. G. Fletcher); 66 (’19): 558 (J. G. Fletcher); 68 (’20): 491; 70 (’21): 343, 700.
Egoist, 5 (’18): 60.
Nation, 111 (’20): 509.
Poetry, 9 (’16): 99; 10 (’17): 162; 13 (’18): 102; 14 (’19): 152; 15 (’20): 283; 17 (’21): 220.
See also Book Review Digest, 1919, 1920.
“Henry G. Aikman” (Harold H. Armstrong)—novelist. Born in 1879. His books dealing with the psychology of the young man have attracted attention.
Bibliography
The Groper. 1919.
Zell. 1921.
For reviews, see Book Review Digest, 1919, 1921.
Zoë Akins (Missouri, 1886)—dramatist.
Attracted attention by her Papa, 1913, produced, 1919. Followed up this success by Déclassée, also produced 1919 (quoted with illustrations in Current Opinion, 68 [’20]: 187); and Daddy’s Gone A-Hunting, produced 1921.
For complete bibliography, see Who’s Who in America.
Mrs. Richard Aldington (Hilda Doolittle, “H. D.”)—poet.
Born at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1886. Studied at Bryn Mawr, 1904–5, but ill health compelled her to give up college work. In 1911, she went abroad and remained there. In 1913, she married Richard Aldington, the English poet (cf. Manly and Rickert, Contemporary British Poetry).
“H. D.’s” work is commonly regarded as the most perfect embodiment of the Imagist theory.
Bibliography
Sea Garden. 1916.
Hymen. 1921.
Also in: Des Imagistes. 1914.
Some Imagist Poets. 1915, 1916.
The Egoist. (Passim.)
Studies and Reviews
Lowell.
Untermeyer.
Bookm. (Lond.) 51 (’17): 132.
Chapbook, 2 (’20): No. 9, p. 22. (Flint.)
Dial, 72 (’22): 203. (May Sinclair.)
Egoist, 2 (’15): 72 (Flint); 88 (May Sinclair).
Little Review, 5 (’18): Dec., p. 14. (Pound.)
Lond. Times, Oct. 5, 1916: 479.
Poetry, 20 (’20): 333.
Poetry Journal, 7 (’17): 171.
James Lane Allen—novelist.
Born near Lexington, Kentucky, 1849, of Scotch-Irish Revolutionary ancestry. A. B., A. M., Transylvania University; and honorary higher degrees. Taught in various schools and colleges. Since 1886 has given his time entirely to writing. Nature lover. Describes the Kentucky life that he knows.
Bibliography
Flute and Violin and Other Kentucky Tales and Romances. 1891.
The Blue Grass Region of Kentucky and Other Kentucky Articles. 1892.
John Gray—a Novel. 1893.
*A Kentucky Cardinal. 1895.
Aftermath. 1896.
A Summer in Arcady. 1896.
The Choir Invisible. 1897. (Novel; play, 1899.)
Two Gentlemen of Kentucky. 1899.
The Reign of Law. A Tale of the Kentucky Hemp Fields. 1900.
*The Mettle of the Pasture. 1903.
The Bride of the Mistletoe. 1909.
The Doctor’s Christmas Eve. 1910.
The Heroine in Bronze, or A Portrait of a Girl. 1912.
The Last Christmas Tree. 1914.
The Sword of Youth. 1915.
A Cathedral Singer. 1916.
The Kentucky Warbler. 1918.
The Emblems of Fidelity. 1919.
Studies and Reviews
Harkins.
Pattee.
Toulmin.
Acad. 59 (’00): 35; 76 (’09): 800; 88 (’15): 234.
Bk. Buyer, 20 (’00): 350, 374.
Bookm. 32 (’10–11): 360, 640.
Cur. Lit. 29 (’00): 147; 35 (’03): 129 (portrait).
Lamp, 27 (’03): 117, 119 (portrait).
Mentor, 6 (’18): 2 (portrait).
Outlook, 96 (’10): 811.
Sherwood Anderson—short-story writer, novelist.
Born at Camden, Ohio, 1876. Of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Father a journeyman harness-maker. Public school education. At the age of sixteen or seventeen came to Chicago and worked four or five years as a laborer. Soldier in the Spanish-American War. Later, in the advertising business.
In 1921, received the prize of $2,000 offered by The Dial to further the work of the American author considered to be most promising.
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