The wonder
is that the instinct for poetry did not perish in their hearts for
lack of sustenance.
There are at the present time clear signs of a revival of popular poetry
and popular drama. The verse tales of Masefield and Gibson, the lyrics of
Patrick MacGill, the peasant or artisan plays which have been produced at
the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, and the Gaiety Theatre, Manchester, may well be
the beginning of a great democratic literary movement. Democracy, in its
striving after a richer and fuller life for the people of England, is at
last turning its attention to literature and art. It is slowly realising
two great truths. The first is that literature may be used as a mighty
weapon in the furtherance of political justice and social reform, and that
the pied pipers of folk-song have the power to rouse the nation and charm
the ears of even the Mother of Parliaments. The second is that the
working man needs something more to sustain him than bread and the
franchise and a fair day's wage for a fair day's work. Democracy, having
obtained for the working man a place in the government of the nation, is
now asserting his claim to a place in the temples of poetry.
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