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Excerpt from The Candle and the Flame: Poems
The modern Muse finds herself in the same position as woman: she must divorce herself from sentimentalism without graduating into a spectacled and hyper-cerebral old maid. She must reaffirm herself intellectually, without sacrificing her sensuous appeal. Phryne is preferable to a New England spinster, but Aspasia is more desirable than Phryne. The brain thirsts for ideas, the ear thirsts for music. Both must be satisfied. Unfortunately the seductions of sound in poetry often distract attention from the intellectual content. We are compelled to emphasize the ideational values in our work if the world shall not relegate lyric verse to the nursery, a plaything for children and idiots. The salvation of poetry depends on the recognition of its philosophical message, just as the triumph of woman suffrage will not be ultimately assured until the world realizes that behind the ivory of Aphrodite's forehead there may be hidden a brain that could challenge Darwin and Bismarck. We must rehabilitate poetry as Shaw has rehabilitated the drama. We must apply Shavian methods to lyric and ballad. I have found myself as a poet. To help others to find me, I have added a commentary.
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