{"id":4283,"date":"2021-04-20T14:49:23","date_gmt":"2021-04-20T18:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/archives\/?p=4283"},"modified":"2021-04-20T14:49:23","modified_gmt":"2021-04-20T18:49:23","slug":"preserved-prose-of-setonian-scribes-early-twentieth-century-examples","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/archives\/2021\/04\/preserved-prose-of-setonian-scribes-early-twentieth-century-examples\/","title":{"rendered":"Preserved Prose of Setonian Scribes \u2013 Early Twentieth Century Examples"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Throughout the formative years of Seton Hall, the classroom experience found among the student body who experienced a highly traditional liberal arts curriculum with required classes connected to English Language instruction as an integral part of their curriculum.\u00a0 Individuals were expected to learn from a number of literary classics which helped to provide a solid foundation on proper grammar and traditional writing styles along with sharpening their own writing and rhetorical skills in the process. \u00a0This was especially evident during the turn of the twentieth century.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Early 20th century list of required courses for study of English Language content (c. 1903)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fortunately, examples of self-expression and creativity among many several undergraduate scribes survive within our annals.\u00a0 The 1900-30s was a time when student publications were beginning to emerge, most notably The Setonian<\/em> which served as not only a news outlet for the undergraduate crowd, but also served as the earliest \u201cliterary journal\u201d on campus with dissemination of the first poetic work which was ironically entitled: \u201cThe Beginning of Life\u201d featured in the October 16, 1925 edition of this periodical . . .<\/p>\n

THE BEGINNING OF LIFE<\/p>\n

To-day is my journey ended,<\/p>\n

I have worked out the mandates of<\/p>\n

fate,<\/p>\n

Unarmed unaccompanied, undefended,<\/p>\n

I knock at the Eternal Gate,<\/p>\n

Bereft is life and its longing<\/p>\n

It’s trial, its pain, and its sorrow,<\/p>\n

Beyond is the Infinite Morning<\/p>\n

Of a day without a to-morrow.<\/p>\n

Return to dust and decay,<\/p>\n

Body ! grown weary and old.<\/p>\n

You are no longer my soul can you hold.<\/p>\n

I desert you gladly forever<\/p>\n

For a life that is better than this,<\/p>\n

I go where partings ne’er sever<\/p>\n

You in Olivion’s Abyss.<\/p>\n

Lo\u00a0 !\u00a0 the gate swings wide at my knock-<\/p>\n

ing,<\/p>\n

Across endless reaches I see<\/p>\n

Lost friends, with langhter, come back flock-<\/p>\n

To give a warm welcome to me,<\/p>\n

Farewell the maze has been threaded!<\/p>\n

This is the ending of strife,<\/p>\n

Say not that death should be dreaded,<\/p>\n

‘Tis but the Beginning of Life.<\/p>\n

ARTHUR F. GRIFFITH<\/p>\n

\"\"
The first “Poet’s Corner” column from February 17, 1927 – The Setonian<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was not long before a regular column was included in each monthly edition of The Setonian<\/em> which featured a number of short pieces which ran the gamut in style from lyrical to elegy to light prose to rhyme, and other forms in-between.\u00a0 An example of the latter is evident within the following textual illustration from February of 1927 which touches on the popular subject of remembrance which is often what an author strives for when it comes to their respective audience . . .<\/p>\n

MEMORIES<\/p>\n

Do you ever sit and ponder<\/p>\n

On days that are no more,<\/p>\n

And again in fields o’er yonder,<\/p>\n

You wander as of yore.<\/p>\n

Do you try to catch the glances<\/p>\n

Of friends you’ve lost awhile,<\/p>\n

And with joy that near entrances<\/p>\n

You recognize the smile<\/p>\n

Of one you loved and cherished,<\/p>\n

But who now has gone away,<\/p>\n

Do you try to slowly linger,<\/p>\n

Lest your memory start to stray?<\/p>\n

If you have, you’ve tasted sweetly<\/p>\n

Of the bounteous gift of God,<\/p>\n

Who has left us blessed memories,<\/p>\n

While the weary earth we trod,<\/p>\n

Some glad day beyond life’s misery,<\/p>\n

‘Twill be ours the joy to hold<\/p>\n

The ones we seek in memory,<\/p>\n

And to our hearts enfold<\/p>\n

But now as on life’s pilgrimmage<\/p>\n

We wend our weary way,<\/p>\n

Thank God that those we’ve lost awhile<\/p>\n

In our memories still may stay.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This period in history was also known for an overall artistic renaissance and this was evident with the creative works that were regularly featured not only the earliest campus publications (aside from The Setonian<\/em> alone) included SPIRIT which was a bi-monthly journal of the Catholic Poetry Society of America.\u00a0 This periodical would ultimately had administrative and creative ties to Seton Hall for a number of years and this is recognized as we celebrate the 90th<\/sup> anniversary of the inaugural issue this year.\u00a0 (More about the history of SPIRIT can be found via the following link – http:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/archives\/2016\/01\/the-spirit-an-85-year-celebration-of-catholic-poetry\/<\/a>)<\/p>\n

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Caption for the Poetry Column found in The Setonian during the early 1930s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hundreds of different poems have survived over the years as student produced publication journals were established specifically to feature poetry, short stories, and related art works of various kinds that represent the respective eras in which they were created.\u00a0 This included such examples as Whither <\/em>(1942), Wings <\/em>(Paterson Campus \u2013 1960s), Puddle Wonderful<\/em> (1969), and post-1970 titles such as: Mutterins of the Muse<\/em>, Phoenix, <\/em>and Arcadia<\/em>, among others.\u00a0 Over time the legacy of these examples of diverse verse does survive, and through the reader each line has another chance to resonate and shine.<\/p>\n

For more information on the poetic and literary history of Seton Hall University and any related topics please feel free to contact us by e-mail: Archives@shu.edu<\/a> or by phone at: (973) 275-2378.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Throughout the formative years of Seton Hall, the classroom experience found among the student body who experienced a highly traditional liberal arts curriculum with required classes connected to English Language instruction as an integral part of their curriculum.\u00a0 Individuals were expected to learn from a number of literary classics which helped to provide a solid … Continue reading “Preserved Prose of Setonian Scribes \u2013 Early Twentieth Century Examples”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":4291,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[112],"tags":[399,400,398,127,396,397,401,395],"class_list":["post-4283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seton-hall-history","tag-arthur-f-griffith","tag-catholic-poetry","tag-literary","tag-poetry","tag-prose","tag-spirit","tag-student-poetry","tag-the-setonian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/290"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4283"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4292,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4283\/revisions\/4292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}