Life, 1916-08-03 · page 5 of 38
Life — August 3, 1916 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the Aesthetic Movement of the late 19th century—a cultural trend emphasizing "art for art's sake" and affected refinement over practical values. **The Poem (left):** Describes a speaker lost in aesthetic indulgence in magical gardens, eventually poisoned by a lotus flower—mocking how devotion to beauty can be spiritually or morally destructive. **The Cartoon (center):** Depicts fashionable society figures parading through streets with parasols and affected poses, representing the movement's superficial pretensions. **The Caption/Joke (bottom):** A woman explains an old man's late marriage by saying "he couldn't get anyone younger"—crude satire suggesting aesthetes are vain, aging, and ultimately ridiculous despite their cultivated pretenses. The overall message: The Aesthetic Movement is shallow vanity masquerading as sophistication.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE Aestheticism N magic gardens where white peacocks tread One little space I did forget the moon, Between black cypresses and silver pools, The certain interchange of night and day, Where, on dim terraces, pale princesses, Till, jarringly, there echoed in my Dream-bound to passion, wander to ard fro The too-sweet cadence of the nightingale In jeweled half-lights ernal dawns With recollection of some stronger song And dusks, I lost my way. One little space And noon-day glows that warmed and burned—anid then, I did forget the lavish sun and dwelt Sick to the soul, I felt upon my lips In some far land where subtle melody The tasteless poison of the lotus-flower Made strange slow rhythms to the moods of life — Leolyn Louise Everett. “ HOW DO YOU SUPPOSE OLD PLIMROCK CAME TO MARRY A GIRL ONLY NINETEE. “WELL, KNOWING HIM AS I DO, I SHOULD SAY IT IS BECAUSE HE COULDS comicbooks.com