ADVOCATE PLAYS APE REVIEWER BELIEVES

The following review of the Freshman number of the Advocate was written for the CRIMSON by Mr. H. W. Taeusch '20, tutor in the Department of English and former instructor in English A.

If Emerson could say of Thoreau that his thyme and marjoram were not yet honey, it will be forgiven a critic of The Harvard Advocate, I hope, to remark that the Freshman number just out is more than usually undigested. It is pleasant of course to observe reflections of standard authors in the work of students, and doubly so to have a dash of Latin and Greek quotations. But the results are more satisfactory if the tyro adapts his production rather than copies the originals closely. There are interesting speciments of various stages of playing the sedulous ape in the current number.

Has High Praise for La Farge's Poem

The outstanding feature, I agree with the editors, is the Class Poem, 1924, by Oliver La Farge. I wonder whether the author has been reading Edwin Arlington Robinson's poems; certainly he has caught something of that master's pattern and manner, his directness, his vigor, his telling expressiveness. Naturally enough Mr. La Farge has been unable to maintain the exquisite balance of form and substance that makes Robinson's best poems so exactly right, so stark and simple and inevitable; yet when Mr. La Farge falters into prose, his idea gives sufficient impetus to rush the reader along. Without lapsing into "balderdash" on the one hand or the "sour beer" attitude on the other, to quote his terms, he has been penetrating enough to embody the spirit of a senior in a fashion adapted with fine appropriateness to the occasion of commencement, and to give a truthful picture of the mental antithesis peculiar to a man leaving his alma mater. It is one of the few student poems that will linger in my memory.

Edmonds Strains for Hardy Effect

In "The Coming of Jan" Walter D. Edmonds Jr. seems to be straining, whether consciously or not, for Hardy effects. Without the slightest trace of plagiarism his story echoes "The Three Strangers" and the fireside scene of "Tess", but the atmosphere is unmistakably theatrical. One must practice for years undoubtedly to acquire ease of manner, if it comes at all; yet there is a fundamental difference between such imitation as Mr. La Farge's where there seems to be a desire to express sincere experience, and that of this story, where the manner is made predominant by overdecoration with factitious similes and by stage tricks of red lights and booming guns in the distance.

Attention to mannerisms goes to extremes in "The Hobgoblins Defeated" by John Finley Jr. There is a savor of Max Beerbohm in the persiflage, but parts of the story, especially at the beginning, are so involved in construction as to be clumsy, and at the close I felt imposed upon, as if I had been listening too long to a young man enjoying his own cleverness in soliloquy at my fireside.

Editorials Win Reviewer's Praise

This tone of sophistication now apparently so much the mode is better carried out in the editorials, especially the first, which explains the designation of the Freshman number as primarily mercenary: In "Kismet and Advice" too there is something genial in the bantering tone, something genuine, however unsound, in the philosophy. After all it is the function of the Advocate to express undergraduate ideas rather than to rival professional magazines. That is excuse enough for the very patronizing book review. It doesn't excuse, however, such unintelligible verse as the Sonnet. One always hesitates to confess missing the point of a poem obviously subtle for fear that like the folk in the fable one isn't worthy of his office if he fails to see the magic garment of the king; as for this sonnet I for one can make neither head nor tail of it. The other verse is adequate, nothing more.

As always, the general appearnce of the Advocate is dignified and distinguished. And if the soul of an English A instructor is wounded by the too numberous mechanical errors, he may do well to remember that undergraduates who are meticulous about boat trimmings and golf clubs, even literary undergraduates, have little respect for craftsmanship in the mechanics of writing. Perhaps the Advocate editors consider cavalier treatment of spelling and punctuation as an indication of their freedom from pettiness. At any rate there are errors enough to shame a capable proofreader.

Where is Harvard's Literary Gold?

At a time when students are notoriously interested in inferior activities, it seems too bad to deal severely with so commendable an institution as the Advocate. But the best way to gain respect for such a magazine is for the editors to command it. Closer rapport between its editors and the instructors of composition courses, even English A, might help in acquiring the best material in college; often young authors are too modest or diffident to submit their work voluntarily. Surely there is more literary gold in Harvard than is being mined