Throughout the years, St. Tammany Parish has been home to many poets. The local newspapers have printed many poems by local residents as well as poems from poets across the nation. There was a fascination about the art of poetry.
Many women's clubs had a member designated as the club poet.
One of the best known poets of the 1930's was the "Poet of the Pines," Mary Barrow Collins of Pearl River.
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Excerpts from the above 1935 article
"INSTRUCT MY HEART" an Appreciation of the Lyrics Composed- by Mary Barrow Collins, St. Tammany 's "Poet of the Pines." (By Mrs. Fletcher Crawford of Audubon Settlement)
It is my purpose to give briefly a few of the excerpts from the many flattering criticisms accorded "Instruct My Heart," and we of St. Tammany should be proud that the author, Mary Barrow Collins, has been given such literary recognition as is hers.
I quote first from the editors of the Slidell News because they have not been surpassed in their sincere and deep understanding of what Mrs.Collins visualized in her poems and recorded in word pictures:
"We say that she is highly gifted with the beauty of utterance, a picturesqueness unusual, and her work carries her readers through the full gamut of emotions. 'In Transitu' reveals profundity of thought whose beauty can not be comprehended by all. "This poem, with 'The Dream of Sen-I-Yan,' should make immortal he name of this Louisiana poet."
Times-Picayune: "Mrs. Mary Barrow Collins exhibits a lightness of touch which is basically poetical. Her rhythm form is at all times dignified and musical." And especially praises above all else "her fine feeling for words."
The Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph: "The titling poem, dedicated to Colorado, puts into rhyme the reverence and awe that inspire those that stand on mountain heights and view the majesty of nature. Her publishers are in the very heart of the artists' colony of Greenwich Village, New York." (The better part of the society page is given over to quoting parts of her poems.) "New York critics have pronounced unanimously, almost, that her satires are some of the best ever written.
"Red Death," "Backbiter," and "Enmeshed" are fine examples of her satires. Then goes on to give this bit of biography: "Mrs. Collins, who came to Colorado in 1913, was a charter member of the Woman's National Suffrage party organized at the Antler's Hotel here in 1915, with Mrs. 0. H. P. Belmont and Alice Paul. Her fortune lost in 1920, she returned to her native state of Louisiana."
From the gifted pen of Vera Morel, journalist (Item-Tribune): "A blending of sentiment and satire is presented by Mary Barrow Collins in her book of poems, 'Instruct My Heart.' Mrs. Collins, who now lives on a farm near Pearl River, prefers to be known as a 'sweet singer and not a wasp,' but it is by such poems as her satires, 'Red Death' and 'Backbiter' that will furnish keenest enjoyment to her readers. 'n Transitu' portrays the poet's philosophy born of sorrow and its brave surmounting by courage and fortitude. The collection ... sparkles with the flicker of wit and originality."
From Cora Ten Eyck, author of "Their Lives Translated" and other works: "In the 'Sower,'" "Stepmother,"Moods,"Answers," she approaches greatness. Especially fine is the latter, a picture in startling detail pointing an accusing finger at a blind world. I find a thread of blinding sorrow, lashing tragedy running through the entire book. Even when she strives to be a little gay."
From the St. Francisville Democrat: "A book of poems has come to hand in which the author, Mary Barrow Collins, writes on a variety of subjects. Hardly a poem but reveals some poignant moment which most of us is likely to meet as the years pass by. 'Love Me' is very well said and is the kind of perceptiveness one values in intimacy. 'Red Death' and 'Backbiter' are especially fine."
From the pen of Alberta Benson, internationally celebrated teacher of the monologue, the most difficult form of reading, comes this: "I am I enthused by the beauty and unusualness of your poems. As I read I am simply thirsty for more.••
It was Mrs. Benson that portrayed the poem, "Dream of Sen-I-Yan," in costume, with a background of Chinese music by Bantock and accompanied by a Chinese fan dance at the million-dollar ballroom of the Broad-moor Hotel. This poem by Mrs, Collins is among those in "Instruct My Heart."
Comes this from another critic whom I shall name Mrs. E. As it is a personal letter to Mrs. Collins, she feels a delicacy in releasing it: "I am so impressed that you feel deeply every word that you write. Your humor is so rare and unanticipated that I am constantly taken by surprise. Who in this world would expect 'Rastus on Evolution' from the pen that wrote 'Instruct My Heart'? And her soldier poem, 'Those, Feet,' to the World War heroes is finer than those so oft quoted." Dearer to the heart of Mary Barrow Collins is such a sincere personal contact than the writers of the press.
In closing, I will quote a tender poem that appeals to the writer, and which was also quoted by Miss Morel as an example of pure sentiment:
"If you bring lilies, place them in in my hand—
They may remind you of (God speaks). Alas, He would not understand.
If you bring roses pluck the thorns away.
How few the roses were, wouldst care to say?
If you bring tears—ah, me—the pain, For I shall know just what it is to die again."
End of Article - St. Tammany Farmer March 1,1935
Sometimes the newspaper editors put news about poetry in their editorials.
Visiting poets were given a special welcome.
Other renowned poets included Lucile Rutland and Father Adrien Rouquette.
For more information, follow the links below:
Adrian Schwartz, Historian
Lucile Rutland, Nationally-known Writer and Poet
The Legendary Jim Metcalf
The Life and Death of Father Rouquette
On the Banks of Bogue Falaya by Charles J. Colton
James Rees Wrote About St. Tammany in 1832
Lucile Rutland, Nationally-known Writer and Poet
The Legendary Jim Metcalf
The Life and Death of Father Rouquette
On the Banks of Bogue Falaya by Charles J. Colton
James Rees Wrote About St. Tammany in 1832
