Carolyn Wells

“ Mr. Longfellow fairly let himself go:
The picture's done! And the staircase
Falls like the crash of night.
And the Nude is wafted downward
Like a catapult in flight.
There's a feeling of strange emotion
That is not akin to art;
And resembles a picture only
As a Tartar resembles a tart.
Such art has power to rouse
Our laughter at any time,
And comes like electrocution
That follows after crime.
And Mr. Bunner's poetic gem has a charm all its own:
It was an old, old, old, old lady,
On a staircase at half-past three ”

“ Or critics who view the débris,
52Can ever dissever the Nude from the Stairs,
For both are so hobble-de-gee,
So hobble-de-wobble-de-gee!
Mr. A. Tennyson is quite frank in his opinions, and it would seem that he does not altogether admire the lady:
Lady Clara Stair de Stair,
Of me you shall not win renown.
You thought to charm the country's heart
As you the staircase tumbled down.
At me you splashed; but unabashed,
I saw you in your paint attired;
You daughter of a hundred cubes,
You are not one to be desired! ”

“ Hear her gaysome, gleesome giggle as she rides around in style!
How the merry laughter trips
From her red and rosy lips,
As she smiles, smiles, smiles, smiles, smiles, smiles, smiles,
While she rides along the dusty, desert miles.
See the tiger with a smile,
Happy smile!
If such a smile means happiness, he's happy quite a pile;
How contentedly he chuckles as he trots along the miles.
Oh, he doesn't growl or groan
As he ambles on alone,
But he smiles, smiles, smiles, smiles, smiles, smiles, smiles,
As he homeward goes along the desert miles. ”

“ I'd rather see than be one.
MR. R.L. STEVENSON:
In winter I get up at night
And hunt that cow by lantern light;
In summer quite the other way,
I seek a Purple Cow by day.
And does it not seem strange to you,
I can't find cows of purple hue?
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I'm glad I'm not a Purple Cow.
9
MR. R. KIPLING:
In the old ten-acre pasture,
Lookin' eastward toward a tree,
There's a Purple Cow a-settin'
And I know she thinks of me.
For the wind is in the gum-tree,
And the hay is in the mow,
And the cow-bells are a-calling
"Come and see a Purple Cow!" ”

“ One must admit Peter's great strength of character, his power of quick decision, and immediate achievement. Some held that his inability to retain the lady's affection in the first place argued a defect in his nature; but remembering the lady's youth and beauty (implied by the spirit of the whole poem) , they could only reiterate their appreciation of the way he conquered circumstances, and proved himself master of his fate, and captain of his soul! Truly, the Pumpkin-Eaters must have been a forceful race, able to defend their rights and rule their people. ”

“ Freedom to be real bad!
Robert Browning gave the subject much thought and responded at length:
Who will may hear the poet's story told.
His story? Who believes me shall behold
The Little Girl, tricked out with ringolet,
Or fringe, or pompadour, or what you will,
Switch, bang, rat, puff—odzooks, man! I know not
What women call the hanks o' hair they wear! ”

“ But Post Impressions will soon pass by.
There Little Nude, don't cry, don't cry!
Sir A. Tennyson caught the Cubical spirit neatly thus:
As the staircase is, the Nude is; thou art painted by a freak. ”

“ On the occasion of the meeting of which the following gems of poesy are the result, the several members of the club engaged to write up the well-known tradition of the Purple Cow in more elaborate form than the quatrain made famous by Mr. Gelett Burgess:
"I never saw a Purple Cow,
I never hope to see one;
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I'd rather see than be one."
The first attempt here cited is the production of Mr. John Milton:
2Hence, vain, deluding cows.
The herd of folly, without color bright,
How little you delight,
Or fill the Poet's mind, or songs arouse! ”

“ Dolefully, drearily doomed
to despair as warily,
wearily watching I wait;
Thoughts thickly thronging are thrilling
and throbbing; to see is a
glorious gain—but to be one!
That were a darker and
direfuller destiny, that
were a fearfuller,
frightfuller fate.
12
At the second meeting of the Re-Echo Club, some of whose proceedings have already been chronicled in these pages, the question arose whether the poet was at his best who gave to the world the classic poem about The Little Girl:
"There was a little girl
And she had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead. ”

“ You see, you just symbolize the liquefaction of the essence of an idea into its emotional constituents, and there you are!"
"Dead easy!" declared Lally Tennyson, who went out poeting by the day, and knew how to do any kind. "What's the subject?"
"That's just the point," said the President; "preeminently and exclusively it's subjective, and you must keep it so. On no account allow an object of any kind to creep in. Now, here's one of the Cubist42 pictures. They call it 'A Nude Descending the Staircase.' They pick names at random out of a hat, I believe. ”

“ This Cow that darkles the red and the blue!
MR. J. KEATS:
A cow of purple is a joy forever.
Its loveliness increases. I have never
Seen this phenomenon. Yet ever keep
A brave lookout; lest I should be asleep
When she comes by. For, though I would not be one,
I've oft imagined 'twould be joy to see one.
5
MR. D.G. ROSSETTI:
The Purple Cow strayed in the glade ”

“ Then the Poets opened the aspiration valves, ignited the divine spark plugs, and whiz! went their motor-meters in a whirring, buzzing melody.
Soon their Cubist emotions were splashed upon paper, and the Poets read with justifiable pride these symbolic results.
Ally Swinburne tossed off this poetic gem without a bit of trouble.
Square eyelids that hide like a jewel ”

“ Robert Browning was sure that Peter's love for his wife, though perhaps that of a primitive man, was of the true Portuguese stamp, and with this view composed the following pleasing Sonnet:
How do I keep thee? Let me count the ways.
30I bar up every breadth and depth and height
My hands can reach, while feeling out of sight
For bolts that stick and hasps that will not raise. ”

“ Is worth a hundred Staircase Nudes.
Howe'er it be, it seems to me
It isn't noble to be fools;
Fine arts are more than Futurists,
And simple lines than Cubist Schools.
53
At one meeting of The Re-Echo Club, it chanced that there was no one present but Omar Khayyam. He had mistaken the date, and came to the clubroom, only to find it empty. ”

“ But at Christmas time one has to buy—
There, little girl, don't cry, don't cry!
41
The Re-Echo Club met in their pleasant rooms at No. 4, Poetic Mews. Spring had passed, so their fancy was lightly turning to other matters than Love, and it chanced to turn lightly to the Cubist Movement in Art.
"Of course," mused the President, rolling his eyes in an especially fine frenzy, "this movement will strike the poets next."
"Ha," said Dan Rossetti, refraining for a moment from the refrain he was building, "we must be ready for it." ”

“ Some members held that poets had at times risen to sublimer poetic flights than this, while others contended that the clear-cut decision of thought it expressed placed the poem above more elaborate works.
When those who criticised it were invited themselves to treat the same theme in more worthy fashion, they willingly enough agreed, and the results here subjoined were spread upon the minutes of the club.
With a lady-like air of reserve tempered by self-respect, Mrs. ”

“ At Christmas the members of the Re-Echo Club voiced these pleasant sentiments:
BY MR. TENNYSON:
Give me no more! Though worsted slippers be
The proper gift from woman unto man,
Component of the universal plan ”