Modernist Magazines and Digital Humanities

         Much of the world was in financial distress after World War I, a time during which the editor of Poetry, Hariet Monroe, was vacationing in the United States southwest. Naturally, many of the modernist magazines during this era touched directly on the financial after affects of World War I in articles and advertisements, Poetry instead chronicles is a collection of Cowboy Songs, New Mexico Folk Songs, and Western Poems. This is in direct response, to the editors fishing trip to New Mexico as illustrated by her essay "In Texas and New Mexico: "While campaign oratory is loud in the land, and the nation is weighing it's two or three candidates in the balance and wishing it had more, what can most of us do but go fishing?"(September 1920 Vol.16 No.6 p.324). A bit of a trail-blazer, Monroe continually writes on a newer model typewriter than her contemporaries; she is forever bucking current social mores in her own manner.

         As a  woman of literary stature during the suffrage movement, she speaks nothing of the efforts of her fellow females until 1920, and when she does it is practially in opposition. In an article titled "Women or Men?" Monroe confirms what statistics of her era show: that men are superior to women in the field of poetry: 

                                             The controversy is amusing, but perhaps also enlightening.
                                             The editor had suspected masculine preponderance in
                                             the magazine, but by no means to such a degree as the figures
                                             prove. They confirm her impression that more men
                                             than women find in this art—for better or worse, for joy
                                             or sorrow—their friend and confidant.(June 1920 Vol.16 No.3 p.147).

As illustrated in the essay, "The Conflicted Role of Women During World War I," Hariet Monroe was an unconventional feminist: "In her editorial policy, Hariet Monroe exemplified the goals of the feminist movement by acting in a position of power, but she did it without affiliating her magazine with the movement" (June 2009). Instead, she focused primarily on the culture of poetry in America, which was at the time as unappreciated as the role of women in the workforce. It was her role as a woman in the magazine which caused her to play a role in the feminist movement. Likewise, the role of Poetry in initiating culture helped to bolster American nationalism after World War I. The subject of the southwest is present in her Editorial because it represents to her the roots of American poetry. It is for this reason that she quotes The Nation in her essay "Frugality and Depreciation" which argues to fund poetic endeavors (namely her magazine) in spite of financially trying times: "The pitiful amount of public or private assistance given to American artists, men of letters, scientists, is one of the scandals of our civilization."(October 1920 Vol.17 No.1 p.31). Hariet Monroe supports women insofar as she is a successful woman, similarly, she supports her country insofar as it funds her art-of-choice and her magazine.

A modern woman of the post-war world:

           Established by Hariet Monroe in 1912, Poetry:A Magazine of Verse heralded the emergence of American poetry. Although the art was thriving in England and France, the United States was still young and unsure of itself. In the stead of the American poet, Walt Whitman, Americans were faced the question of just what American modern poetry was like. Poetry subsequently became Chicago's version of The English Review; publishing both established and emerging poets, Monroe intially held what she called an "open door policy" when it came to submissions. She expresses this the second issue of Poetry, "The Open Door will be the policy of this magazine--may the great poet we are looking for never find it shut, of half-shut, against his ample genius"(November 1912 Vol.1 No.2 64). While the magazine indeed continued to publish new poets, the door through which they passed gained definition as the magazine matured along with the culture of American poetry. The commenary from Poetry's editors between 1912 and 1914, provides vivid examples of the dialoge among critics as to the nature of modern poetry, particularly modern poetry in the "New World."

            Alice Corbin Henderson, a fellow editor of the magazine, wastes no time inciting the discussion of American poetic identity. In the second issue of Poetry, she addresses the fact that American poets such as Edgar Allen Poe and Walt Whitman were not recognized by American critics until after they were discoverd by European and French critcs. She writes, "Must we always accept American genius in this round-about fashion? Have we not the perspective that we applaud mediocrity at home and look abroad for genius only to find that it is of American origin?"(December 1912 Vol.1 No.3 87). In her statement, Henderson condences the plight of the American poet. Beneath the shadow of Europe's rich history and fervent assertion of independent philosophies, The American poetic ideneity would have to assert itself among the authors present in their own country, to seek out those authors, and most importantly to build a body of critics--a culture of poetry--which could support such authors. Later in the volume, Jesse B. Rittenhouse discusses the emergence of a cotiere with such a purpose in mind. Rittenhouse explains, "The Poetry Society of America, organized in 1910 was a natural response, perhaps at the time unconsious, to the reawakened interest in poetry, now so widely apparant"(Feburary 1913 Vol.1 No.5 166). As the culture of American poetry emerged around societies such as this one and magazines like Monroe's, the need for a philosophy--a working manifesto--of what modern American poetry and the American poet looked and sounded like.

             Swiftly following Henderson's earlier inquiry, Monroe published an editorial comment titled, "The New Beauty." In it, she seems to refute her earlier "open door policy" calling much of the poetic submissions the magazine recieved "pathetically ingenious in their intellectual attitude, [and their writers] as unaware of the twenth century as if they had spend these recent years in an Elizabethan manor house"(April 1913 Vol.2 No.1 22). Redifining her policy, she uses assertive language, not to define what the "new beauty" is but the way by which the poet might aim at acheving it. Monroe writes:

                                               It is not a question of subject, nor yet of form, this
                                               new beauty which must inspire every artist worthy of
                                               the age he lives in. The poet is not a follower, but a
                                               leader; he is a poet not because he can measure words
                                               or express patly current ideas, but because the new
                                               beauty is a vision in his eyes and a passion in his heart,
                                               and because he must strain every sinew of his spirit to
                                               reveal it to the world. (April 1913 Vol.2 No.1 22-25).

             Monroe's editorial comment signals a distinct change not only in the nature of the magazine, but of it's content. By moving beyond her open door policy and instead providing creative directions for poets submitting work, Monroe takes on a mentoring role, much like Ezra Pound's, amid the modernist movement. It would not be far fetched to say suppose that Pound's later editorial presence influenced Monroe's vision of approaching American poetry and "the new beauty." Much in the way the American poetic identity needed a body of individuals to foster it, the body of critics needed a philosophy by which to guide their fellow writers. Each philosophy would be greatly determined by the nature of the culture from which it sprung, the politics of it's people and, in an increasingly globalized world, their country's role in global relations.

            Global events such as World War I would become dominant factors in influencing the philosophy of these new writers. In a December 1914 issue of Poetry, 6 months into World War I, Harriet Monroe gives a unique Christmas address illustrating the undeniable influence of global events onto the magazine. She remarks in her Christmas address "Already we hear a new statement of values - even we who are sea-walled from the tumult... There will be a new statement of values in the arts" (December 1914 Vol.5 No.3 31-32) Clearly the influence of events directly pertaining to the American collective would have an insurmountable effect on the content of the magazine. As a mouth piece of the American poet with a large intelligentsia readership it would be a natural leap for the magazine to be more and more shaped by important social issues of the day.

            Monroe also focuses her attention on issues not directly pertaining to the American collective such as the "Servia Epic." Located in the Balkans the "Servian Epic" contains cycles mainly focusing on war -  most notable of which are pre-Kosovo, during Kosovo and post-Kosovo - all of which deal with issues an ocean away from American shores. Pre-dating World War I, Monroe's coverage of the "Servian Epic" illustrates an enduring interest in war and the poetry it produces. By taking the magazine in a direction always closely monitoring world events such as war, Monroe ensures that it is relevant not only because of the poetry but the content itself. She quotes  Mme. Gruitch, an authority on the Serb issue, as saying "There was one thing which the Turk could not take away from the Serb - the heavenly gift of poetry" (March 1913 Vol. 1 No.6 195-198). And as such we come full circle in why poetry and the content it manifests is so important in shaping our culture - an in return also always in need of  strong mentoring. Its influence on society is profound. 

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