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‘VOL. XLIV—NO. 14

ARDMORE and BRYN MAWR, PA., WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 1961

%) Trustees of Bryn Mawr College, 1961

soe!

PRICE 20 CENTS



Two Colleges Join

In Performance

Featuring Excellent Davison Music

by Kristine Gilmartin

‘Roberts Hall, Haverford was the
scene of the Bryn Mawr-Haverford
College Orchestra’s second concert
this season, under the direction of
William Reese, and assisted this
time iby the; Haverford College
Glee Club, on February 24. The
whole program was good music
well played, but the first perform-
ance of John Davison’s Triptych
made the evening outstanding,

Beethoven’s Overture to “The
Men of Prometheus” made a pow-
erful opening number. The intro-
duction, though played somewhat
slower than usual perhaps, captur-
ed the audience, The main, faster
section, in which staying together
is both necessary and difficult, the
orchestra was very good—an amaz-
ingly fine rendition, in fact.

The Rumanian Folk Dances by
Bartok were terrific. Their strong
rhythms were well brought out
and the solo work by Nina Green-
berg, «clarinet, Barbara Dancis,
violin, and Katherine Hoover, pic-



Speaker Believes
Myth An Attempt
For Cosmic Order

Jonathan Z. Smith, Haverford
College 60, and at present a stu-
dent of philosophy at Yale Divin-
ity School, gave a lecture sponsor-
ed by the Arts Forum, February
24, entitled “The Mystery of the
Birth of Athene” or “The Aesthe-
tik of Myth.”

Beginning with the origin of
the word myth, Mr. Smith traced
the evolution of attitudes associ-
ated ‘with the Greek “mythos.” My-
thos was synonomous | with “logos,”

—whith means “word” in Greek, and

implies truth and rationality. The
tendency was to deny the true con-’
tents of myth and to make the word
the anttonym rather than the syn-
onym of logos. -

Mr, Smith, however, continues
to see truth in the pattern of the
parallel myths of different cul-
tures. He conceives of the myths
as a “serious attempt to give or-

_ der to the cosmos.”

(Myth, he said, deals with the
enmity or indifference between the
realm of the sacred and powerful
and that of the profane, the noth-
ingness of man’s world. Myth
claims that there was once a mer-
ger between these two; the func-
tion of myth is to reunite them.

. “Myth attempts to reintegrate man

and the cosmos.”

Mr. Smith’s lecture dealt pri-
marily twith Hesiod, a Greek poet
of pastoral background, who claim-
ed divine inspiration for his dis-
coveries of the relationships be-
tween the gods (Theogony) gods
and heroes (Catalogue of Women),
and gods and man as well as man
and man (Works and Days).

Not only did Greek myth have
structure, but its’ structure was
similar to the Greek philosophy
contemporaneous with it. He used
both aesthetic principles in the
Theogony, that of Heraclitus and
that of Plato, to explain the gap
between the divine and the human
Heraclitus claimed that it is
nature of things to be in opposi-
tion. Plato claimed in the second

colo, was especially noteworthy.
‘Neatly done throughout, the danc-
es were if anything even better
than in the previous concert, nad
are certainly an outstanding part
of the orchestra’s repertoire.

The fine performance of Bach’s
Suite Number One in C Major, in-
frequently heard, more than ex-
plained its inclusion. The long
characteristic baroque overture
displayed the fine tone of the whole
orchestra, especially the reeds,
though outnumbered by their string
compatriots. Its slow, majestic
passage was very pleasing, Then
came a series of dances, frequent-
ly in pairs, Im the Courante the
harpsichord, played by Professor
Frederic Cunningham, created an
extremely nice effect.

To conclude the suite two Passe-
pieds and then a return to the first
one were well-employed. The sec-
ond Passepied was slower and es-
pecially enjoyable in the viola and
reed passage, and thus the return
to the main theme was a fitting
resolution to.a very fine perform-
ance in which sensibility and good
musicianship were the-keynotes.

Rustic Contrast

A rustic contrast was Holst’s
Brook Green Suite. The Prelude
had a neat pizzacato section which
was very well done, and in gen-
eral, had a nice lilt. The Air was
rich and yet somewhat haunting

effect. A hearty, country Dance
with refreshing, dotted rhythm
rounded out this delightful suite.

John Davison’s Triptych using
three canticles from the Book of
Common Prayer was magnificent.
The orchestra and the Haverford
College Glee Club complemented
each other excellently: in doing full

to them and to Mr, Reese. , The
first, “Blessed art Thou, re) alivnd
God of our Fathers,” was rich and
powerful with interesting orches-
tration. The voices were equally
good in the hushed “Blessed” as in
the sweeping sections. The “Amen”
was sharp and strong.

Second Canticle

The second canticle was the fa-
miliar Nunc Dimittis, “Lord now
lettest Thou Thy servant depart
in peace”. The voices echoed each
other in rising strains. The mel-
ody was solemn and beautiful. The
“Amen” this time was softer and
gentler.

“0 tbe joyful im the Lord, all ye
lands” completed the Triptych with
overwhelming intensity in synco-
pated voice work and a vigorous
orchestral accompaniment with
noteworthy work 'by the bass viols.
The “Amen” was pure triumph.

This’ work of Mr. Davison’s is

Continued on Page 4, Col. 5

in quality with a sweetly swinging | '

justice to the fine music dedicated.



Charpier Accents
Epic, Objectivity
Of ‘Hidden’ Poet

In a brief hour Monday night
M. Jacques Charpier, visiting lec-
turer in French for Semester II,
attempted -to explain “St. John
Perse, Le Poéte Caché.”. Born
Alexis ‘Leger on a small island in
the ‘Antilles, the poet entered the
diplomatic service in the French
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Dur-
ing the second World War, he liv-
ed in exile in Washington, D.C.
and worked in the Library of Con-
gress. St. John Perse’s name came
to world wide prominence last year
when he received the Nobel Prize.

Material World

Even the mysterious pseudonym
is an example of the poet’s desire
to hide. In direct contradiction to
the famous Romantique movement
of the early 19th century, St. John
Perse reflects a great solitude and
taciturnity, and never speaks of
himself. He presents the reader
to the material world almost with-
out an intermediary. St. John
Perse is concerned with the entire
objective ‘world, There is little
that is emotional in his poetry but,
on the contrary, it is often full of
enumerations,

Work as an Epic

There are but few examples of
epic im French poetry. Even the
attempts of such great writers as
Ronsard, Voltaire, and Hugo failed.
The entire ‘work of St. John Perse,
on the other hand, is in a sense
(though not the classical one) an
epic.
prove its success.



Literary Prize

The Katherine Fullerton Ge-
rould Memorial Prize for ex-
cellence in writing, a prize open
to all undergraduates, is offered
by the Alumnae Association in
memory of a member of the
English Department, Under-
graduates are urged to submit
entries in any of the following
categories: narrative, informal
essay, verse and drama. A con-
testant may submit more than
one entry. The prize carries a
financial award of $50. Entries
may be left in the Alumnae Office
in the Deanery any time up to
4:30 ipm., April 5. Manuscripts
must be typed on one side of
the paper and must not be sign-
ed. Announcement of the award

will be made at May Day.







His popularity._.seems—to|—

Russell Meiggs

With the two commands: to speak
more than 65 minutes, and not to
talk down ‘to his audience, Russell
Meiggs donned a microphone (“I
feel like a dog with a muzzle”)
and proceeded to tell and show
much about “Roman Ostia.” The
lecture twas given in Goodhart
Thursday evening, February 23.
Rather than give a general talk
about the port city, he explored
the question of whether there was

an Ostia at the time of the’ early
kings of Rome, as well as survey-
ing the Imperial City of the sec-
ond century A.D. He suggested
that ‘this ‘selective’ method was a
euphemism for “strictly incoher-
ent.”

About earliest Ostia, Livy has a
circumstantial account of its found-
ing by Ancus Marcius, the fourth
of the kings, but this tradition is
consigned to the wastebasket by
most historians. The fort found
in the center of the town, dating
from the fourth century, is still
the oldest evidente discovered and
two-thirds of the site has been ex-
cavated. Mr. ‘Meiggs feels the tra-
dition is broadly right, and was
delighted to discover a passage in
Livy talking of men banished to
Ostia in the fifth century B.C,

Properous Port

The city was. fifteen miles from
Rome, and especially after the
building of harbor
became a busy and prosperous port.
However, its exact location in ear-
ier times is confused-by the mean-
dering and changeable course of
the Tiber. In fact, it seems that
the “wretched river ran right
across the road from Rome to
Ostia!”

4h. Tt,
the Imperial

The harbor “works * were envis-
ioned by Caesar, who did not have
time to make the dream reality.
Claudius built them but “like most
public works of his, they didn’t
work out quite right.” Trajan’s
harbor, constructed later, is love-
ly.

Mr. Meiggs then considered the
“mystery of the lighthouse.” Using
slides he showed representations
of this impressive three - story
structure on coins and reliefs. Lit-
erary evidence says that it was on
an island and ‘Mr. Meiggs inclines
to this opinion but some scholars
place it at the end of the harbor
mole.

Reliefs depicting harbor scenes
are revealing, Customs officials,
rowing {boats used as the modern
tug to guide larger ships in the
harbor, and kinds of cargo carried
can be seen.

Ostia, because of its busy har-
bor, became a populous, prosper-



Continued on Page 4, Col. 2





Self-Government Slate
Faith Halfter ’62

Sue Johnson ’62
Ruta Krastins ’62
Abby Wootton ’62

Undergrad Slate
Ellen Corcoran ’62
, Barbara Paul ’62



the conflicts would synthesize to
yield a third—the resolution of

ae velson
Virginia Sitz ’62



tension.



Slates for Campus Oraanization Blections

. Interfaith Slate
Starkante Condon ’62
Nancy Culley ’63
Marjorie Hibbard ’63
Carolyn Smith ’62

League Slate
Bonnie Brice ’64
Julie Heilman ’63

__Anne Rassiga_’62

Alliance for Political
Affairs Slate
Marion Coen ’62
Linda Davis ’62_ .
Mary Beth Schaub ’63

Athletic Association Slate
Liz Reed ’62

British Scholars Present
Lectures In 1902 Series

J. B. Trapp

The position of poet laureate
has had its historical ups and
downs as Mr. J. B. Trapp’s lecture
in the Common Room, February 28
engagingly and vividly showed. In
the past English holders of the
office ranked only just above the
court rat-killer.

Petrarch’s laureation revived the
ancient custom in 1341, and the
speech he made from the Capitol
on that occasion ‘was an act of
faith in the poet’s calling and has
been called “the first manifesto of
the rebirth of learning.” The cer-
emony gave him the right to teach .
and guaranteed approval of all his
works, past, present and future.

The Holy Roman Emperors es-
pecially exercised their rights of
honoring poets, for the age rever-
enced the ancient customs. “The
‘Caesars and the poets are working
toward the same goal and need
each other’s help,” the poets
stressed, ;

‘Mr. Trapp gave some pertinent
sidelights on greenery used to
wreath the: poets. Petrarch de-
manded bay because of its sacred
and incorruptibe nature. However,
Pope considered the wreath of vine,
cabbage and ivy most suitable:
the first because vine was part of

4 the English poet laureate’s pay,

cabbage to help him sober up, and
ivy especially because, like poets,
it is “creeping, dirty, and dang-
ling.”

Maximilian and other German
Emperors found in laureation a
way to enlist the support of hum-
anism for the imperial ‘side, In
fact there was ‘a time when “there
were aS many crowned poets in
Germany as real poets in the rest
it the world.”

new status and an insignia which
has survived. All poets seek im-
mortality, but it is.a sad fact that
the crowh of laurel has never made
a bad poet or a good one. Ideally
“true, ‘brave, and solemn” songs
are called for from the laureate
to triumph over time, oe

Dean’s Office Notice

(February 28, 1961

Temporary Safety Regulations

and Provisions

Carol Goldmark as President of
the Self-Government Association
announced today that because of
recent campus disturbances no stu-
dent should walk alone on campus
after wark, She must at all times
be accompanied by another indi-
vidual.

Acting Dean Lang announced
that extra watchmen have been |
provided for the benefit of stud-
ents who are unaccompanied: one
watchman will be at Rock Arch to
conduct students, who have been
escorted to that point from the
station, across campus to their
halls; he will make such trips at
7:30, 8:30, 9:30, 10:30, 11:30, 12:30
and 1:30; any other students who
need escort, such as residents of
Batten House or the Graduate
Center who have evening classes
in the gymnasium, should go with
‘Rockefeller students to the Arch

in order_to join one of the watch-
man’s trjps. Another watchman
will be at the Library at 10 p.m.

to escort students who are unac-
companied to their halls.







Cornelia Spring ’63
Louise Weingarten ’62

~ Amy Chapin ’63 °°

Barbara Shoemaker ’62





Both the Self-Government Asso-
ciation and the admiistration hope,
and expect, that the students will
cooperate for their own safety.



a

+——Petrarch’s lauréation gave poetry —