THE MAKERS OF AMERICA AND THEIR LAND OF PROMISE.

By Charles W. Littlefield, '98. Exposition Press. 1952- 187 pp. $3

Pleasure in poetry is derived from the mere sound, from rhythm, from rhyme, and from the melodious use of words. This pleasure has something in common with that which we derive from music.

Mr. Littlefield is not writing great poetry in the above sense. Nor does his poetry have a universal appeal.

What it does have is a simple sincerity, and a patriotic and religious stimulus. The author reveals himself as a man of good will, and one who believes in what Whitman called the American dream.

His first epic poem, which covers roughly about 68 pages, deals with the history of America from the Pilgrims to our own times. Mr. Littlefield has a tendency to simplify history a little too much, and take as facts, episodes which are still controversial, such as the sinking of the Battleship Maine.

The second part of the book consists of 101 sonnets, beginning with "The Federal Constitution," running through the Presidents, and includes Henry Ford, Carnegie, Whitman, Whittier, Helen Keller and other great Americans.

Many of these are pleasant reading, but are not characterized by any particular depth of thought. There is a sonnet to the late William Jewett Tucker which will please most Dartmouth men:

"He still lives on in Dartmouth men today, An inspiration to life's better way."