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University Daily Kansan
Friday, March 29, 1963
Meixner Says Poet Idolized Nature
Wordsworth's whole aesthetic being was wrapped up in expressing the beauty of nature, John Meixner, assistant professor of English, said yesterday.
Discussing the works of William Wordsworth at the Poetry Hour, Prof. Meixner said the English poet was a worshipper of nature and was "wildly passionate" over its beauties.
HE SAID the underlying theme in most of Wordsworth's poems is the "fading away of childhood." Because of the directness, freshness, and openness of the child, Wordsworth considered the child a truer philosopher than the adult, Prof. Meixner said.
In "Ode on Intimations of Immorality," Wordsworth expressed a Platonic and philosophic belief in the "light of eternity." Prof. Meixner said.
"Through this poem, Wordsworth expressed the belief that before we are born our souls live in a realm of light-eternity," he said.
"WHEN WE ARE young we still have remembrances of that light but as we grow into the chains of adulthood the light grows fainter," he explained.
Prof. Meixner said that Wordsworth believed that the light does not go completely out for some adults, such as the artist.
He said Wordsworth not only expresses nostalgic lament for lost childhood but also praises the qualities of maturity that bring about a maturing philosophy.
THE POEM'S opening line — "A child is father of the man" — expressed Wordsworth's belief that the child is the "true creative pre-
server of man," Meixner said, and that man should not stray away from this creativeness.
The speaker described Wordsworth as a deep and feeling poet who liked to be idle. "He wouldn't have gotten much out of Cambridge," he said.
Prof. Meixner began by reading shorter poems such as "Expostulation and Reply." "Tables Turned," "In the Early Spring," and a few of the Lucy poems — "Strange Fits of Passion Have I Known," "She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways," and "A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal."
HE SAID the Lucy poems deal with death in a philosophical and literal sense.
Prof. Meixner read the 160-line "Tintern Abbey." In this poem, he said, Wordsworth expressed his "pantheistic religious faith as revealed in the beauties of nature."
Wordsworth did not restrict adoration of beauty to outdoor growing things such as flowers and trees but included human beings too, Meixner said.
READING THE SONNET "West-minister Bridge," Prof. Meixner noted that Wordsworth did not like the city but on this occasion he found it beautiful. In the sonnet Wordsworth described the silent beauty of the city in the early morning.
Other sonnets read were "It Is a Beauteous Evening Calm and Free." "London 1802," and "The World is Too Much With Us."
Meixner also read Wordsworth's lyrical poems "Solitary Reaper" and "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud."
Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe has defended the "open door" policy of admissions and expressed confidence that Kansas colleges can meet enrollment increases.
Wescoe Defends Mass Admissions
Wescoe's comments were printed in an article in "School and Society" this week. The magazine is a biweekly publication of the Society for the Advancement of Education.
CHANCELLOR WESCOE attacked assumptions that "difficulty in getting into college automatically insures quality education and that ease in admissions leads automatically to the opposite." He also attacked the idea that there are efficient methods of selecting college students.
His article said each institution and its faculty determine the quality and standards of its programs rather than the admissions office.
He wrote that "the overriding fact about selective admissions is that the institutions that practice it do so because they have no choice."
This means that private institutions which are unable or unwilling to expand, or ublic institutions in areas where the spirit of free education is weak use selective admissions.
COLLEGE ENROLLMENT in Kansas rose from less than 29,000 in 1952 to more than 60,000 in 1962.
On the doubled college enrollments. Wescoe wrote:
"Today the University of Kansas is getting better students and doing a better job of educating them than it did 10 years ago."
KU is not deluged by students who have little chance of earning a degree, he said.
"More than 82 per cent of our freshmen . . . ranked in the top half of their classes; over 50 per cent in the top fifth; and over 30 per cent in the top tenth," Wescoe reported.
Laborite to Promise Harmony
LONDON — (UPI) — Laborite leader Harold Wilson headed for Washington today to try to convince President Kennedy that Britain will remain a staunch ally if his socialists come to power.
Wilson's mission could have far-reaching effects on the Western alliance in future years. It comes at a time of rising popular support for Labor's boast that it will topple Prime Minister Harold MacMillan's ruling Conservatives in the next
election.
Tito Welcomes Mexican President
BELGRAGE, Yugoslavia — (UPI)
—Adolpho Lopez Matees arrived here today to an enthusiastic welcome for the first official visit a President of Mexico has ever paid to this nation.
On hand to greet Lopez Mateos, his wife, daughter and the rest of the official party was Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito, his wife, and other members of the government, plus the diplomatic corps headed by Mexican Ambassador Delfin Sanches Juarez.
A special plea to greet "our Mexican friends" had been issued by the government so the 11 mile drive back to Belgrade was lined with more than 200,000 well-wishers.
The 47-year-old, pipe-smoking opposition leader will hold a series of talks with Kennedy and other U.S. leaders on foreign, defense and economic affairs.
High on the agenda is Kennedy's plan for a multi-nation Western nuclear force, the Common Market, European unity, and U.S.-British trade.
If Labor should unseat the Conservatives and Wilson becomes the next prime minister, he plans to ask for renegotiation of the Nassau agreement reached by Kennedy and MacMillan. The pact calls for Britain to use U.S.-supplied Polaris missiles for its nuclear deterrent.
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Official Seeks Growth Of KU Exchange Plan
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In the future, Kansas University students who now plan to study in Costa Rica may be able to study in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, or El Salvador.
The other four Central American states would like to take part in the KU-Costa Rica exchange program, a Central American educator said yesterday.
Carlson Tunnerman, secretary general for the Superior Council of Central American Universities was at KU to speak with Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe about expanding the program.
IN AN INTERVIEW, Tunnerman said that he felt an exchange program that included all five Central American Universities would benefit Central America as well as KU.
"If the students now going to Costa Rica were given the chance to visit all of our countries, they would get a much better idea of the Central American situation," Tunnerman said.
He said that it would also give their universities the opportunity to take advantage of the variety of strong programs available through KU to improve their universities.
A CONFERENCE has been set for October, when three representatives from each of the five Central American universities will come to KU to discuss the program.
In discussing Central American Universities, Tunnerman said two trends are noticeable. The universities are working toward consolidation of fields among all five schools, and a course of general education is beginning to be stressed.
"We are small countries without much money," Tunnerman said. "If we can consolidate one or two fields in each university, we will have more to spend on each field."
HE SAID that until now, students graduated from high school and went straight into professional training at one of the universities.
His council is now working on establishing a two year program of general studies, before professional training is started, similar to the program of KU.
Man Fails to Meet Wedding 'Expenses'
TENTERDEN, England — (UPI)— Annette Cladd, 18, was scheduled to get married Saturday but backed out at the last minute when she found her fiance, Jonathan Knobb, had not been saving his pennies for the wedding.
"Jonathan promised me he had been saving since last July, when I found out it was not true I told him that the wedding was off," she said.
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