Middle West is Indifferent to Poetry -Weirick

Daily Illini December 4, 1925

English Professor Says No Other Region Has Produced So Much; Sandburg The Greatest

That no region has produced so much poetry and that none is so indifferent to it as the Middle West, was stated by Prof. Bruce Weirick of the department of English, in his lecture yesterday afternoon on the status of poetry in the Middle West

Vachel Lindsay, Carl Sandburg, and Edgar Lee Masters are the three main poets of the Middle West. Two others are Lew Sarett and William Leonard, he said.

Until 1910 this region was poetically dead, with only a few fireside poets as James Whitcomb Riley. But in that year, the work of William B. Moody, a professor in the University of Chicago, and the author of the "Great Divide," became noticeable.

Influenced by Chicago
Three poets —Lindsay, Masters, and Sandburg— were influenced by Chicago, and, in Prof. Weirick's opinion, the spirit of true poetry hasn't yet come on Chicago.

Vachel Lindsay, whose home is in Springfield, writes optimistically of the life and spirit, the noise and "jazz" of America which he loves.

His best poem, "Congo," is a descriptive picture of the negro race, with its tinseled religion.

Prof. Weirick read "Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight," which is more serious and impressive. It draws a picture of Lincoln, during the World War, walking through the streets, unable to sleep because of the death and suffering, and neglect of remembrance for him. "The Chinese Nightingale" is Lindsay's most beautiful poem, he said.

Edgar Lee Masters
Edgar Lee Masters writes the "Spoon River Anthology" from the viewpoint of a" cynical lawyer. It is a series of epitaphs of people in a small town; the book was very popular when it was first published in 1915, because of its irony and ability to characterize, and for the authors emotional liberation.

In Prof. Weirick's opinion, Carl Sandburg is the first great poet the Middle West ever produced. He wrote in free verse as a Titanic poet, Prof. Weirick explained, and as a lyricist Sandburg believed in revolutions and loved to celebrate tie strong and big. His pictures of life were kind, however, unlike Masters.

But of these poets, concluded Prof. Weirick, bloomed and did all their work in, 10 years. One of them is now writing prose, but only Lew Sarett is still publishing;, poems.