College News, 1934-03-14, Vol. 20, No. 17

              T^
The College News
/
VOL. XX, No. 17
BRYN MAWR AND WAYNE, PA., WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 1934
Copyright  BRYN  MAWR
COL.L.KGE   NEWS,   1934
PRICE 10 CENTS
Chinese Stage Art Is
Akin to Elizabethan
Clayton Hamilton Says Yellow
Jacket Gives Escapes from
Ultra-Realism
IMAGINATION REQUIRED
"It is a stimulating adventure to
see familiar things from a non-fami-
liar point of view," commented Clay-
ton Hamilton in the Common Room
Thursday, March 8, when he talked
'� on The Yellow Jacket and compared
its staging to the technique of the
Elizabethans. Any new focus of at-
' tention in a dramatic production
makes that production memorable be-
cause of the imaginative work the au-
dience must put into it. Such a play
is The Yellow Jacket, produced in the
conventions of the Chinese Theatre.
In all essentials the Chinese theatre
resembles the Elizabethan theatre.
The modern Chinese submit their
characterization to the acting tech-
nique of professional actors, playing
before a paying audience, and that is
their only link with our realistic,
highly-mechanized modern tlieatre.
Both Elizabethan and modern Chinese
conventions call for a bare platform
and no scenery in the modern realistic
sense. The place and the time ele-
ment must be accepted by the audi-
ence at the playwright's word. There
are no trees of papier-mache, no
bushes painted on canvas, no backdrop
of scenery: as in the days when
Shakespeare created the Forest of Ar-
den, the audience must live in a real
forest by the aid of its imagination.
Neither the Chinese nor the Shakes-
pearean theatre uses any artificial
lighting. It must have been about
three o'clock in the afternoon when in
the 1602 production of Hamlet, Rich-
ard Burbage stepped down to say,
" 'Tis now the very witching time of
night," and in Macbeth, the electrician
juggled no electric switches when Bur-
bage indicated the approach of dawn
with the words, "Light thickens and
the crow takes wing to the rooky
(Continued on Page Three)
'
French Club Will Present
Annual Play on Saturday
The French Club will present on
Saturday, March 17, "Le.Barbier de
Seville," by Beaumarchais. The Club
has chosen its plays from the eight-
eenth century only very rarely in the
past, so "Le Barbier de Seville" is par-
ticularly interesting for its relation to
its period.
Beaumarchais' clever satire on the
social customs of the day immediately
stamped it as a vehicle of the advanced
thinking with the result that it was
banned from the French stage for
some time. Figaro, as the instigator
of most of the action, sounded a new
note in his disregard for tradition and
aristocratic prestige. He shows up the
type of society which led up to the
French Revolution.
The present production is being di-
rected by Mademoiselle Rey, who so
ably and successfully in the past has
handled Hernani, Knock and Le Bour-
geois Gentilhomme. Janet Barber is
in charge of the scenery and cos-
tumes.
The lighting will be very much in
the modern manner. The first act is
to be played in the half-light of dawn
and the second will also be in half
light with one bar of sunshine. The
last act will depend upon the effect of
candles carried dn and off the stage as
the players move about.
The cast includes many names which
are familiar in French Club produc-
tions.   It is as follows:
Le Comte Vemaviva. Anita Fouilhoux
Bartholo.........Elizabeth  Pillsbury
Rosine...............Emily  Perkins
Figaro................Janet  Barber
Don Bazille..........Alicia Stewart
La Jeunesse..........Jean  Andregg
L'Eveille................Mary Boyd
Un  Notaire.......Margaret  Haskell
Un  Alcade.........Mary  Hutchings
Vocational Tea            >
Miss Wilma L. Shannon, the
Director of Training at R. H,
Macy and Company, will speak
on Department Stores in the
Common Room in Goodhart Hall
on Tuesday, March 20, at quar-
ter of five. Everyone who is
interested is urged to come. Tea
will be served at half-past four.
Student Poets Read
Examples from Work
�
Talent Indicated by Quality of
Verse and Standards in
Self-Criticism
SONNET  FORM  POPULAR
The modestly entitled Afternoon of
Poetry, held at the Deanery on Tues-
day, March 13, was in our opinion
from start to finish an unqualified suc-
cess. Many of the audience, who at
the time felt scarcely bold enough to
call continually for encores, said after-
wards that as often as the spirit mov-
ed our poets, there should be a repe-
tition of this afternoon's performance.
The reading proved conclusively that
creative effort is not dead or dying
on the campus, but that on the con-
trary fine, finished verse is.being pro-
duced by our own fellow-classmates
under our very noses.
The six undergraduates who read
their verses are well-known to us in
other spheres of college activity in the
Lantern, on Dramatics, on the News.
Three of them come from the Junior
class, two from the Sophomore, and
one from the Senior.
Miss Donnelly introduced the poets
by recalling the wish of Miss Thomas
that there might always be a school
of poets on the Bryn Mawr campus.
Never has that wish come more near
fulfillment than at the present time.
The conviction of us who are naturally
partial to our poets is borne out by
the comment of James Stephens, who,
when he was here to lecture, read
poems produced by students and gave
them high praise, both here and in
other places. The proportion of
poetry to prose in the Lantern has
always been remarkably high; the
popularity of the Poetry Club and the
prospect of a larger Poetry-Speaking
Society in the near future promise
well for the development on the cam-
pus of an increasing interest in poetry
and the modern poets.
The most striking thing about the
undergraduate verse as a whole was
its restraint, the conscious discipline
of form to which it was submitted.
Verily free verse has had its day and
is no more. The present generation
seems particularly devoted to the son-
net-form, with the precise checks and
balances which it requires. Stanzas
of short rhyming lines appeared also
popular, to judge by the reading.
Elizabeth Wyckoff, '36, opened the
reading with a sonnet, Jeanne d'Arc,
smooth in form and with striking pic-
torial effects. Even better than the
first were the two sonnets which fol-
lowed, in which the young modern
lover was warned from the high,
stormy passion of the great loves of
old days. The thought in these was
well-sustained and the feeling kept in
check. The originality of phrasing
and the control of form were excel-
lent.
Following Miss Wyckoff, Evelyn
Thompson, '35, read three poems, My
Prince, Wish, and The Orb. The deli-
cacy of feeling and the sway of the
rhythm in these was very good. Ger-
aldine Rhoads, '35, read one piece,
Jacob's Ladder, which in idea and ex-
pression was more strongly rendered
than the poems which came before.
The form, though not restrained, was
well managed up to the clever closing
line.                                              J     *"
Clara Frances Grant, '34, read her
verses, Idol and Nocturne. The mood
of these was complex and somewhat
difficult. The imagery in the first was
particularly fine. Gerta Franchot, '35,
showed more versatility of tone in the
poems she read than any of the other
undergraduate poets. Her protest
against being reproached with flip-
< Continued   on   Page   Five)
New Society Planned
for Poetry-Speaking
Group  Meeting  at   Miss   Ely's
Ponders Verse Recitals on
English Model
MRS. VAN DUSEN  READS
The inauguration of a poetry-speak-
ing society at Bryn Mawr, to be built
up along the lines of similar societies
in England and Scotland, formed the
subject of discussion at a tea in Miss
Ely's house on the afternoon of Sun-
day, March 11, where Mrs. Van
Dusen, of London, was the speaker.
Verse-speaking societies have sprung
up in Great Britain in the last two
decades, under the leadership of poets,
notably John Masefield, who feel that
the rendering of poetry by word of
mouth is one of the greatest pleasures
it is in its nature to afford, and
who shudder to see this rendering left
solely in the hands of elocution-teach-
ers and strained children on school-
platforms.
Poetry-speaking societies soon be-
came popular in Britain. They were
organized locally in all sorts of places,
one of the most successful being that
in Falkirk, a Scottish mining village.
Large towns were used for centres, at
which yearly Festivals were held,
when local groups met other local
groups in open competition. At these
festivals, set poems were given out in
each class for all the candidates to
learn, and these poems were then re-
cited before public gatherings with
poets for judges. The festivals proved
as popular with those listening as with
those reciting. Sound constructive
criticism was given each competitor
after his performance. The most fam-
ous festival was held at Oxford, at
which the Masefields until a few
years ago were always present.
The emphasis of the poetry-speak-
ing societies has always rested on in-
terpreting a poem from the inside, and
not through stylized intonation and
gesturing, as taught by the old elocu-
tion-schools. Each person who recites
a poem tries first to capture thor-
oughly the meaning and the spirit of
the poem and then to reproduce that
meaning and that spirit in the lines
as he recites them.' It is amazing how
an audience will understand and ap-
preciate a really difficult poem, when
it is sympathetically rendered by the
speaking voice. Oral recitation was,
of course, in old days the only way
of making poetry known; the verse-
speaking societies feel that it is still
a more effective, more essential way
than that of the printed page.
A poetry-speaking society at Bryn
Mawr is being enthusiastically con-
templated, as a result of Mrs. Van
Dusen's talk. If such is formed, the
first meeting will take place informal-
ly in the next two weeks, on a date to
be announced. Prospective members
will undertake to learn a favorite
poem, which they will recite at the
meeting, for which Mrs. Van Dusen
has very kindly consented to be in
the critic's chair. If the society takes
�hape as it is hoped, a public recita-
tion may be held in April, for which
an attempt will be made to induce Mr.
Laurence Binyon, noted English poet
and member of the movement, at pres-
ent in this country, to come down and
act as critic. He, in such a case, will
set the poem or poems to be recited.
At the close of the tea, Mrs. Van
Dusen herself read some poems aloud,
remarking as she did that we must not
be weak enough to allow ourselves to
sit and read from a book when we
recite. As Miss Coxe remarked, full
lung-power is not attainable by a per-
son in a sitting position. Seated and
with the book before her, Mrs. Van
Dusen nevertheless spoke beautifully
and completely held her audience,
while she passed from songs of Blake
to Milton and from Milton to the mod-
erns,�Belloc's "Do you remember an
inn, Miranda?" and Gerard Manley
Hopkins' Wildernesses and Gordon
Bottomley's End of the World.
CALENDAR
Thurs., March 15. Graduate
chapel. Announcement of Grad-
uate European Fellowship.
Goodhart at 8:40 A. M.
Thurs., March 15. Mr. Charles
Hopkinson will speak on Pic-
tures From the Painter's Point
of View. Common Room at 5:00
P. M.
Fri., March 16. Varsity swim-
ming meet at Swarthmore Col-
lege. Bus leaves Bryn Mawr at
3:30 P. M. AU those wishing to
go must sign on the bulletin
board in Taylor.
Sat., March 17. Varsity bas-
ketball vs. Swarthmore. .First
and second teams. Gym at 10:00
A. M.
Sat, March 17. The French
Club presents Le Barbier de
Seville. Goodhart at 8:20 P.M.
Tickets are on sale at the Publi-
cations Office.                    �
Sun., March 18. Violin re-
cital by Abe Berg, through the
courtesy of Mrs. Reginald Rob-
ert Jacobs. Deanery at 5:00
P.M.
Tues., March 20. Miss Wilma
L. Shannon will speak on De-
partment Stores in the Common
Room at 5:00 P. M. Tea will be
served at 4:30 P. M.
Tues., March 20. The movies
of the Odyssey Cruise will be
shown. Common Room at 8:00
P. M.
Dr. Mukerji Speaks    -
On Need to Meditate
Depression    Has    Saved    India
By Reteaching Wisdom
.   of Contemplation
AMERICA NEEDS SILENCE
Varsity Swimmers Set
for Swarthmore  Meet
(Expcchilly    Contributed    by    Snsav
Daniels, '3i, President of the
Athletic Association)
Friday, the sixteenth of March, is a
gala day for the Varsity swimming
team and for the college. It's the first
time there has been a swimming meet
off campus. We are going to Swarth-
more, where they have an excellent
pool and a grand diving board. As
some of you know, we have brand new
yellow suits with which to celebrate.
All seventeen of us are going in our
new suits�which make us a good deal
more presentable than our grey bags,
and fill us with unbounded confidence.
We have one of the best teams we
have ever had. Its strength has hard-
ly been tried, and it should pile up
bigger and better records against
Swarthmore.
Swarthmore has a good all around
team this year. We have a slight edge
on them as far as our times compare,
but they have not had very stiff com-
petition and in the heat of the fray
anything may happen. According to
times, the events which will be the
most closely contested are the 40-yard
crawl, the 80-yard freestyle, and the
40-yard back crawl. Unfortunately
for us Marian Mitchell will be un-
able to swim in the meet since she
received a knee injury playing basket-
ball. Porcher will support her team
as she always does in this event. If
Wylie improves as much as she has
in the last week, she ought to be able
to beat her record of 24.4 which she
made last year; at any rate, the 40-
yard crawl will be exciting.
In the diving, Swarthmore has two
very good people, Michaels and Bur-
ritt. Michaels does' both diving and
the 80-yard crawl. She was the big
threat in the diving in the last two
meets, and has improved. Burritt is
a freshman who gets beautiful height
on all her dives and has good finish.
If our divers can remember to jump
up instead of out, the meet will be
very close. Our difficulty will be con-
trolling our flight in the air, and our
entry, because their board is so
springy; you practically fly up to the
roof without half trying; and flying
is a new experience for us as our
board makes us pound in order to get
any height.
This is the last meet of the year.
It rivals the Yale-Harvard football
games in feeling. Since the Swarth-
more event will be the first off campus
meet in the history of the college, we
should like to be cheered; come all
and see a good meet, whether we win
or lose.                             v
Dr. Dhan Gopal Mukerji, speaking
on The Conflict of the Past and Pres-
ent in the East, in Goodhart Hall on
Monday night, said that the coming
of the depression had saved India, for
it had taught them that the ideal of
Western progress in which millions
had come to believe, was not infallible
and had made them return to the old
education, which had consisted of daily
meditation in order to gain control of
the mind and knowledge of *Hence.
Silence is more than stillness; it is
deeper and thicker than mere absence
of sound: it is something positive
which arises within man and shuts out
everything but the sijences of the
mind. An old Indian adage says that
"silence within man outweighs all
things and measures the universe."
It is this belief in the power of
meditating and of listening to silence
which binds India with the thread of
unity, "a thread of gold binding a
string of pearls," for India is an enor-
mous and varied country. Every hun-
dred miles brings a change in dress,
lansruapre, and cooking, a diversity in
sects and religions, but nevertheless a
profound sense of unity prevails,
which is appraisable not in objective
facts, but in psychic experiences. At
the moment of sundown, the majority
of Indians are silent: they experience
a "literal going into silence." Medi-
tation then runs through all of India
and makes a oneness of living.    ^
Dr. Mukerji was educated into the
priesthood, and was sent to a place of
study in the mountains of North India
which was run by a fantastic holy
man. A holy man is one who has
seen God face to face, not merely one
who has led a righteous life, and in
all of his life Dr. Mukerji has met
but three or four real holy men. As
the years pass, fewer and fewer of
them are in existence, for they are all
being called to a higher incarnation.
In this place of study, the boys led a
normal life, ate two meals a day (four
meals if two teas may be counted as
meals), and studied, but they sat still
for long hours at a time. At first,
Dr. Mukerji's teacher took him for
long walks on the Himalayan preci-
pices (and climbing the Himalayas is
work not for men, but for goats), and
would sit beside him at the top of a
mountain for hours and hours, say-
ing absolutely nothing except "The
lake is white" when they first sat
down. The day Dr. Mukerji said, af-
ter sitting for three hours, "The Lake
is white and the air is good," he was
graduated from this part of his train-
ing, for he had proved that he could
keep his mind on one subject for more
than fifteen minutes at a time.
His parents then considered him
free from the horrors of excitement,
for he was able to think without get-
ting excited. Thinking is not permit-
ted to young people in India until
they can think calmly, for calmness
of thinking gives power to illuminate
dark corners like light, but it does
not give character. Character is the
result of turning the mind to think of
holiness and of letting it become at-
tuned to harmony. Learning to
meditate is the only training given to
young Indians in science, but they are
also taught sacred epics and dramas.
Every day they are sent to the temple
to learn ancient poems from the priest,
and in the evenings they' listen to
(Continued  on  Page   Pour)
Fencing Tournament
The Women's Team Cham-
pionship for the Philadelphia
Division of the A. F. L. A. will
be fenced in the Gymn Thursday,
March 15, at 8 P. M. A team
from the Sword Club, two teams
from Bryn Mawr, and a com-
posite team will compete. Spec-
tators are invited.