Life, 1919-06-12 · page 13 of 46
Life — June 12, 1919 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Illustration: "A Terrible Blunder"** This cartoon critiques poet Amy Lowell's free verse. The text explains that Lowell's published manuscript contained lines about "fish sawing against cold blue gates of the sky"—which she hadn't actually written. The article humorously notes this represents either careless editing or absurdist poetry taken to ridiculous extremes. The accompanying illustration shows a well-dressed woman (Mrs. Speeder) by a roadside, apparently discovering that flowers grow there—a mundane observation presented as a profound poetic discovery, satirizing pretentious modernist verse. **Bottom Cartoon: "Intuition"** This brief gag depicts customers at a bathing suit department. A salesman will soon write a check for $149.50, suggesting he somehow intuits a customer's purchasing intent—or perhaps their financial desperation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
MRS, SPEEDER MAKES THE UNIQUE DISCOVERY THAT FLOWERS GROW ALONG THE KOADSIDE A Temble Blunder EORGE CREEL has gone back to journalism, An- AMY LOWELL, High Priestess of Free Verse, other reason why the press ought to be suppressed. has been deeply troubled in spirit because the Boston Transcript went and made a mess out of one of her free verses, The verses are long—five or six feet long at least; but, according to Miss Lowell, the Transcript botched the hole business by tampering with a heggarly half-inch of them, The thing to which Miss Lowell objects occurs in the lines- “Ts it catgut and horsehair, Or fish sawing against the cold blue gates of the sky?” The average person, unaccustomed to free verse and unaware of its hidden beauties, wouldn't see anything out vf the way in the lines. They wouldn't sound any sillier than most free verses. But Miss Lowell pointed out to the Transeript that it was an obvious and gross absurdity to think of a fish sawing against the cold blue gates of the ky or anything else. She hadn't written “fish” at all She had written “flesh.” She was asking whether flesh was sawing against the cold blue gates. Not whether a fish sawing. She hadn't, as some foolishly imagined, been ing of a saw-fish. Everybody is sure to sympathize ly with Miss Lowell; and it is to be sincerely hoped that in the future the Transcript will stick to prose and let free verse alone. INTUITION SOMETHING TELLS MR, DORKINS THAT HE WILL SOON BE HE maturity of any other man depends upon how old WRITING OUT A CHECK FOR $149.50 you are yourself. comicbooks.com