CULTURAL PROBLEM
Sir,-I read with pleasure your interesting leader "The International Mood," and the informative and delightful article "They Don’t Do It Our Way," by Dr. Ina Telberg, on which it was based. Then I turned to the index, saw "Verse," and duly perused -that. And the thought struck me that we have not far to go to find in our own country a problem of cross-cultural understanding, To many of us, the word-composi-tion of the type of "The Long Journey" seems sheer prose decked out in verse form. It and its kind undoubtedly have a place in modern writing, but why call it verse or poetry or-er-an ode? It’s all so confusing. Why not coin a new word to signify its classification and thus banish all heart-burnings and irate murmurings on both sides? Now, what about "Prov"? No, that’s three parts prose. and one part verse-a little too drastic perhaps. Well then, how about "Verp"? That swings too much to the other side. Ha, I have it-‘Prover"-no, ‘Verpro" sounds more imposing and settles the proportion nicely. And the Verpro-writers can wallow in their Verpros, and the old-fashioned can cling leech-like to their. verses and poems, and the dove of peace will flutter above
the heads of all.
H.
C.
(Wellington).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19490923.2.12.2
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 535, 23 September 1949, Page 5
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211CULTURAL PROBLEM New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 535, 23 September 1949, Page 5
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