--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Whitney, Orson F. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 29 number: 8 published: 1926-06 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Whitney, Orson F., “Oratory, Poesy and Prophecy,” *Improvement Era* 29, no. 8 (June 1926): 714–716." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2908unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2908unse start_page: 714 end_page: 716 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1926-06) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2908unse publication_year: 1926 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1926, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Oratory, Poesy and Prophecy ORATORY, POESY AND PROPHECY By Orson F. Whitney IV Oratory typifies Time. Poesy symbolizes Eternity. Tim^ passes. Eternity endures. The triumphs of oratory are the triumphs of Time, the victories of the present, the advantages of the passing moment. The orator charms with his presence, his voice, his manner, his magnetism, quite as much as with) his ideas, and even more. He hypnotizes or (to coin a word) Svengalizes his hearers, many of whom are in the position of poor Trilby, whose points of excellence were not in her head, but in her feet — where also lies the chief ex- cellence of some poems. Poetry that stands only upon its "feet" is weak poetry. An ancient Greek orator prepared an oration to be delivered in court in behalf of a client whose cause needed much bolstering. "What think you of it?" he asked, his client having read the written speech. The latter replied: "When first I read it I thought it perfect; I did not see how it could be improved, nor how the judges could with- stand it. But I read it again and noted two or three weak points, which before had escaped my notice. I gave it a third reading, and then found it full of faults, and I now have very little hope of win- ning the case." "My friend," quoth the orator, "the judges will not read the speech; they will only hear it, and they will only hear it once." The poet, absent from, cannot impress his* audience by personal qualities, by physical means. He conquers, if at all, by sheer force of intellectual and spiritual might. But his victories, if harder to win, are all the more glorious and enduring. "Of all writers, says Wash- ington Irving, "he has the best chance for immortality. Others may write from the head, but he writes from the heart, and the heart will always understand him." It was a wise man who said: "Let me write the ballads of a people, and I care not who makes their laws." Luther's enemies charged that his hymns did more to convert the country to his doctrines than his preaching. Apropos of this mention, and giving the subject a local setting, what know we of the oratory of such men as Parley P. Pratt and William W. Phelps? — the former the greatest "Mormon" preacher of his time, the latter also an able expounder of the gospel. Some of their sermons and prose writings remain, but they are seldom if ever referred to now. Only the generation that heard those men, and which has almost passed away, can tell us aught of their abilities as orators. It is in their poetry that they live — in the songs composed ORATORY. POESY AND PROPHECY 715 by them and sung by the Saints at the evening fireside or in general assemblies where they meet to worship God. William Clayton and Charles W. Penrose are also notable ex- amples in this connection. Both were excellent speakers and writers, especially the latter — the readiest tongue and pen in the Church — and both were prominent in the public affairs of the community. They will be long remembered, of course, for their prominence and their usefulness. History has recorded their names and incidents con- nected therewith; and their sermons and writings are preserved in the archives of the Church. But there will come a time and a generation that may have no occasion to consult those archives, and that will not be under the spell of those speakers. The future will know them best by the hymns that they wrote, those sacred songs that neverj grow old. are never out of date, and are not consigned to musty archives; songs that are sung Sabbath after Sabbath, thrilling and comforting the hearts of thousands, and destined to go on thrilling and comforting thousands upon thou- sands, perhaps millions, down to the End of Time. Such songs as "The Morning Breaks," "An Angel from on High," "The Spirit of God Like a Fire is Burning," "O Say What is Truth," "Come, Come ye Saints," "O My Father," "Praise to the Man," "O Ye Mountains High," and many others equally worthy — what can compare with them in power and influence for good? Nothing short of divine revelation, or some striking utterance from the lips of High Authority. No other prose production can hope to outlive them, or even equal them in longevity. The great orations of antiquity are valuable, in that they pre- serve to us the form of those masterpieces, andj in part the historical happenings that called them forth. But great poems, wherever and whenever produced, speak to the heart and influence the conduct of mankind. Their authors are indeed "the dead but sceptered sovereigns who yet rule our spirits from their urns." I repeat: The triumphs of oratory are the triumphs of Time, the victories of the present, the advantages of the passing moment. The poet cannot expect such speedy results — unless he be a commercial "poet," advertising a new brand of pickles; or a political "poet," dashing off doggerel for the next campaign. Some "poets" get "a heap- o'-livin' " out of "poetry;" others get almost none. Byron awoke one morning to find himself famous; but that is not a frequent happening with poets. Wordsworth awoke many a morning to find himself still unknown and unappreciated. He waited a long while for the world's tardy recognition of his sublime poetic gift. The manuscript of Milton's immortal masterpiece sold for a song, and the mighty epic was thought little of during its author's lifetime. Shakespeare's genius was not fully recognized until twc 716 IMPROVEMENT ERA centuries after his death; and even then it was a foreign nation — Germany — that discovered him. "Seven cities claimed the birth of Homer dead. Through which the living Homer begged for bread." And yet, are not these the men who really live, and cause others to live who, but for them, would be forgotten, buried in oblivion? When poets were the only historians, where there was no poet, men's names perished from the earth. "Vain was the chief's, the sage's pride! They had no poet, and they died. In vain they schemed, in vain they bled! They had no poet and are dead." Paraphasing Pope's line, might we not say of some verse makers, They were not poets, and are dead? If poets die — if their names and poems perish, it is because they were not poetic enough to live. If they survive, it is because of the poetry in which their memories are imperishably embalmed. See to it, my orator, that what you utter is poetry. See that you think musically and speak harmoniously; that what you think and say is in tune with the divine melody of truth and love, ever pleading with the great heart of humanity, prompting and drawing it unto higher and holier ends. Utter things worthy to be remembered long after the shouts of the shallow multitudes that flattered you with their empty plaudits, are lost in oblivion. Be a poet as well as an orator. It is your surest passport to perpetual fame. Our Martyrs Every town and city has them, Many families, too, I find — Men and women, worn and broken Both in body and in mind. Carrying other people's burdens, Worrying over other's woes. Hurt by unjust criticism; What they suffer no one knows. Oh, that all would do their duty, And that each would bear his share; None would then be overloaded, None be burdened down with care. But be patient, O ye weary, Struggle on, nor cease to pray. If you carry other's burdens, You will surely draw the pay. Shelley, Idaho. JOSEPH H. DEAN.