Insulters of Death, and Other Poems of the Great Departure

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Excerpt from Insulters of Death, and Other Poems of the Great Departure: With a Prose Preachment Entitled "the Fatal Paradox and Sin of Sorrow for the Death"Whether, or where, my own verses in this little volume in hand would be placed in such a review is not now a question. I may note, however, that the poems form the third volume of verses by a Canadian, and the first by a Nova Scotian, on themes suggested by the great world-war. They are, with four exceptions, a series of col lected fugitive poems, written under all sorts of awkward and uninspiring environ ments by one who is a journalist and a soldier. They were written one by one, under the inspiration of the vision of death, and especially heroic death, as the supreme venture and consummation possible to the soul of man. In so far as they had an express aim other than their attempted poetic treatment of death, they were meant to give the living who had been robbed of their beloved new and reasonable solace for the spirit, by making death beautiful and the resurrection of the dead in thought, affectionate reverie, and tender communion a consoling, sustaining, and even inspir ing, experience. The unexpected receipt of many letters, from poets and critics, appreciative of several of the poems - particularly Insulters of Death Sursum Corda, Renouncement, and more particularly For An Only Son and Timor Mortis - has led me to publish them and their companions in permanent form, not as a contribution to Canadian literature, but in the hope that they will again and better perform their original function of solacing the bereaved and of making death itself, as the late Charles Frohman truly and winningly put it, become in thought what it is in fact, the most beautiful adventure in life.The prose preachment has directly a similar aim. Both the Preachment and the Appended notes to the poems should be read in connection with the verses.In conclusion: I am indebted to Mr. Alvin F. Macdonald, Managing Editor of The Morning Chronicle, Halifax, N. S., for permission to reprint the poems which originally were published in that journal. He is a former schoolmate and college mate and a colleague in journalism. For a decade or more he has sat in the editorial chair of his renowned predecessor, Joseph Howe, and admirably he is maintaining the ideals of Howe, who, as I have said elsewhere, raised journalism in Canada to the dignity of literature. The two other dedicatees, Colonel Thompson and Captain Logan, are also former school and college mates. Colonel Thompson long ago on the athletic field, where he shone as a football star of the first magnitude, disclosed those gifts in forthright practical thinking that meets an exigency, and the fearlessness and indomitableness, which are conspicuous now in his military thinking and conduct. Captain Logan did not shine so brilliantly as an athlete, but he had in him all the sturdy, capable manhood virtues which have since gained recognition on the battle field, somewhere in France, with the fighting 25th of Nova Scotia.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.