  WHAT IS POETRY? A group of poetry lovers asked the question, offering a prize of $50.00 for the best answer, and received five thousand responses. The definition was restricted to thirty-five words, and must be in poetry. The judges were Florence Wilkinson, Edith Wynne Matthison, Ridgley Torrence, Robert Frost, Edwin Markham and George E. Woodberry. Definitions of poetry came from every State in the Union, and also from London, Canada, Hawaii and Bermuda. The prize went to Miss Laney, a Pawtucket (R. I.) school girl, who sent the following: 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! Poetry is the setting free of “the deep soul of things” and the calling things by their “true names” so that men may know them. It is the imaginative expression of spiritual truth. It is thought, passion, life expressed in images. With this forecast I subjoin a brief history of the writer of these lines in this little booklet and ask your considerate perusal. Jamie Harris was born September 20, 1893, in Mayfield, Ky. In 1907 she completed the course of study prescribed for the City Public School of that place. After the death of her mother in January, 1908, and subsequently the illness of her father, she was removed to Louisville, Ky., by two older sisters in March, 1908. After reaching Louisville urgent demands made it necessary for her to abandon the idea of going to school and to seek employment, that her younger brother and sister might be kept in school and cared for. She reluctantly gave up day school but a few years later the deep seated thirst for education prompted her to enter night school where she remained until she finished in 1914. From a child of nine years she showed that she was poetically inclined but she did not attempt to cultivate this taste until 1912. Since that time she has written a large number of poems and one play, dramatized from the book of “Ruth” and known as “Ruth the Gleaner,” which was played in sixteen Louisville churches. Her first recital of her poems was in Calvary Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky., October, 1913. Since that time she has occasionally traveled, giving recitals of her own poems and it is to be hoped that in the future a larger number may be given to the public. Rev. C. H. Parrish, D. D., F. R. G. S. POEMS |
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