OUR POETS OF TODAY
CHAPTER I
Amy Lowell
Many attempts have been made to define poetry for the layman. Some have sought to set it down as figures of speech or metric measures; others, a vague groping among soft sounding words for spiritual expressions reserved for a selected few.
In a contest of the Poetry Society (New York) a prize was awarded for the best definition of poetry to Annie L. Laney, who describes it:
The magic light that springs
From the deep soul of things
When, called by their true names,
Their essence is set free;
The word, illuminate,
Showing the soul's estate,
Baring the hearts of men;
Poetry!
Henry T. Schnittkind says:
"Our human minds are like so many imperfect and distorted mirrors in which the one is reflected in a million apparently irreconcilable variations. Now and
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