Nov 13 21
I have just rec'd a letter from Henry Van Dyke (of all men!) Since he is, of course, a great power in educational affairs, I've thought you might see a way to use him in the matter of getting "Glass" endorsed by the National Council of English Teachers. His letter is as follows:
("I wish to thank the man who sent me The Song of Hugh Glass by John G. Neihardt. This is a fine poem of the Wild West, a vigorous epic of American adventure in the highlands where the Missouri gathers its waters from the great divide. Rightly the poet deemed the white men who explored this wonderland worthy of saga as the rude fearless [Vikings?] of Norway. Rightly he chose his hero; no smooth, faultless one, but truth-loving, loyal, indomitable, richer in passion than in words. Well has he told the tale of Hugh Glass, his deep friendship, his desperate
wounding, his long wandering, his final deliverance from a hatred worse than death."It has the breath of life in it; it moves; it goes to the mark. On every page there are vivid lines of outward or inward vision, (Here he quotes 12 lines by way of illustration).
But it is useless to [pick?] out lines like these to show the quality of the poem; for its great, its extraordinary merit lies in its narrative power — a thing too much neglected by our younger poets, John Masefield has well earned honor by his gift of telling a story in verse. I think John Neihardt's is as good. Nay, I like it better, because it is about a land and people that I know and love") "Henry Van Dyke"
Van Dyke represents Princeton. We already have Moulton for Chicago U. and the Yale Review article. These three, used with other material & infleunce that we have, should have great power. I hurry this to you in order that you may change. Perhaps you will want to write Van Dyke. If so, his address is:
"Avalon",
Princeton, N. J.
You might get him for honorary member.
Jno
