Soul Songs (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Soul Songs In putting forth a fourth book of verse that cannot find a publisher, a reader or a friend, I hardly know what to say. Perhaps the plain blunt truth is best. In the opinion of publishers, the persons to whom I presented copies of the work, and to my narrower circle of acquaintances, my poetry, to put it in the expression of the street, is "not worth a salted damn." I have sometimes agreed in the judgment and wished it were all in oblivion. Again when reading I have felt a quickening of spirit and been restored to faith. Perhaps it is but another of the infinite deceptions that selfishness plays upon the self. It is certainly a hard time for poetry. A communication concerning a book of verse is sometimes not even answered; some publishers will not look at such a manuscript and one declares there is but one chance in a thousand for such a venture. Why is this? Poetry has long been considered the very heart of literature and "the breath and fine spirit of all knowledge." No doubt a complexity of causes causes the present state of public opinion, but cannot one of the chief reasons be found in the poor quality of much of the present day verse. It seems to have everything of poetry but a head and heart. It does not say much and lacks the vitality that is the soul and creates a body of beauty and music. It lacks the great characteristics of life - passion, spontaneity, freshness, penetration and delight. Give us the real genuine lyrical virtue, something that has the man, the lover, the patriot, the child, the philosopher, the sinner and the saint in it - give us the poetry written in the Campus by one of the great actors of life and it will wake up the poet asleep in every man to greet it with ejeculations of pleasure. Whether my own verse has any of this essential quality, I leave to the judgment of the few readers it may chance to find. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.