Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Ballad of the Iron Cross
Strictly speaking, the title may be somewhat of a mis nomer. The ballad, as an art form of poetry, should strictly confine itself to a simple narration of incidents. Readers will note, however, that, while the narrative is continued through the various cantos, there are quietly introduced suggestions, re?ections, social, philosophic, psychic, and theological problems. These, I think, natur ally arise out of the story. To have suppressed them would have destroyed, to a large extent, the true function of poetry - which should not only seek to interest the reader, but to kindle his imagination, arouse his emotions, quicken his idealism, and provoke thought that will ultimately lead to action. Wordsworth did not hesitate to introduce re?ections in his Peter Bell, Coleridge in his Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, and Oscar Wilde acted similarly in his Ballad of Reading Jail. Other examples could easily be quoted.
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