{"id":1644,"date":"2011-02-22T17:15:45","date_gmt":"2011-02-22T21:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/?p=1644"},"modified":"2013-06-14T13:01:57","modified_gmt":"2013-06-14T17:01:57","slug":"poet-frank-l-stanton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/?p=1644","title":{"rendered":"Poet, Frank L. Stanton"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have commented several times here on the value of poetry. One poet I particularly appreciate is Frank L. Stanton<\/a> (1857-1927), who was the first poet laureate of Georgia.\u00a0 His poems are primarily a celebration of the simple pleasures of life rooted in the rural South.\u00a0 I recently acquired a book of his poems which contains a foreword by Joel Chandler Harris<\/a> (of Uncle Remus<\/em> fame).<\/p>\n

This foreword contains an engaging critique of culture which still speaks today.\u00a0 Here are some excerpts from the foreword.<\/p>\n

“We know a great deal more than our fathers knew.\u00a0 Profound sophistication is the order of the day. . . . Sham culture, brought to book (to speak literally), confesses that the beastliness of the primal ape remains pretty near the surface of things.\u00a0 The poets flutter somewhat higher.\u00a0 That which is insipid vulgarity in prose blossoms into pessimism in verse.\u00a0 In the magazines and in the newspapers it is the same.\u00a0 Knowing too much, we know nothing!\u00a0 There is no future anymore.\u00a0 Everything is hopeless gloom…”<\/p>\n

“It is in the midst of these conditions that the voice of a singer away down South, in the provincial regions, makes itself heard.\u00a0 It is a bold voice, too, for it persists in singing night and day, neither seeking nor avoiding an audience.\u00a0 If the world listens, well and good: if not, pleasant dreams to all for the sake of old times! ”<\/p>\n

“It will be interesting to note what the critics – the apostles of culture – will say of Mr. Stanton’s verses.\u00a0 We shall hear, no doubt, that they lack finish, that too little attention has been paid to the demands of literary art.\u00a0 It is so easy to talk about literary art, and so hard to know what it is!”<\/p>\n

“In a period that fairly reeks with the results of a sham culture that is profoundly ignorant of the verities of life, and a sham philosophy that worships mere theories, it surely is something to find a singer breathing unceremoniously into Pan’s pipes and waking again the woodland echoes with snatches of song that ring true to the ear, because they come straight from the heart.\u00a0 We were told a while ago by one of the sophisticated brethren that the poet of the future would come to us singing of science.\u00a0 The dreaded possibility still lies before us.\u00a0 Meanwhile, here is one with the dew of morning in his hair, who looks on life and the promise thereof and finds the prospect joyous.\u00a0 Whereupon, he lifts up his voice and speaks to the heart: and lo! here is Love, with nimble feet and sparkling eyes; and here is Hope, fresh risen from his sleep; and here is Life made beautiful again.”\u009d<\/p>\n

[Joel Chandler Harris’ preface to Frank L. Stanton, Songs of the Soil<\/em> (New York: Appleton, 1928)]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I commend Frank L. Stanton to you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have commented several times here on the value of poetry. One poet I particularly appreciate is Frank L. Stanton (1857-1927), who was the first poet laureate of Georgia.\u00a0 His poems are primarily a celebration of the simple pleasures of life rooted in the rural South.\u00a0 I recently acquired a book of his poems which …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Poet, Frank L. Stanton’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[16],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1644"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1644"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2703,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1644\/revisions\/2703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}