The Little Review, March 1915 (Vol. 2, No. 1)

In Short

This literary journal functions as a vibrant forum for the emerging avant-garde of 1915, assembling poetry, theatrical criticism, political polemics, and literary reviews. Editor Margaret C. Anderson and a cohort of passionate contributors challenge cultural complacency, attacking established political figures like Theodore Roosevelt, debating sexual ethics, evaluating experimental plays, and championing imagist verse. The issue endures because it preserves a raw, unfiltered cross-section of American modernism at its birth, capturing the exact moment when traditional artistic forms fractured to accommodate the urgency, anxiety, and dynamic energy of the new century.

The Story

The issue opens on a reflective, lyrical note with translated German poetry that finds quiet beauty in the rhythm of farm labor and the soft glow of evening. This tranquility instantly shatters as the prose section begins with an uncompromising political attack on Theodore Roosevelt. Will Levington Comfort denounces Roosevelt as the ultimate emblem of American materialism, noise, and militarism, arguing that his calls for rearmament directly oppose the spiritual awakening required of humanity in the wake of the ongoing European war.

From political indictment, the journal shifts its gaze to the transformative power of art. John Cowper Powys offers a reverent defense of Chicago’s Little Theatre, elevating its modest stage to a sacred sanctuary. He singles out its production of Euripides's The Trojan Women as a pinnacle of poetic drama, capable of transcending fleeting worldly conflict to express a universal, timeless human grief.

The discourse grows more intimate and contentious through a pair of opposing essays evaluating a public lecture on sex and eugenics delivered in Chicago by Mrs. Havelock Ellis. Mary Adams Stearns praises the speaker's dignified personality, viewing her quiet earnestness as an essential spark for liberating women from societal repression and fear. Immediately following, publisher Margaret C. Anderson delivers a sharp rebuttal. Anderson deems the lecture a profound failure, arguing that Mrs. Ellis shied away from true, revolutionary candor. To illustrate the catastrophic cost of societal hypocrisy, Anderson highlights the recent execution of an epileptic Chicago youth, Roswell Smith, whom the state hanged rather than studied, demonstrating how legal and social institutions ruthlessly punish human frailty under the guise of justice.

The midsection of the issue shifts to artistic aesthetics and verse. Eloise Briton contributes a poem capturing the physical tension and perilous grace of a trapeze acrobat, while critic Richard Aldington introduces readers to the precise, vivid imagism of the young poet H. D. In the editorial pages, contributors wrestle with the nature of criticism itself, defending the enduring "grand style" against fleeting modern distractions. Arthur Davison Ficke provides a series of poetic grotesques that explore despair, sin, and spiritual rebellion, followed by Huntley Carter's theoretical treatise proposing that true art stems from an unconscious, internal law of nature rather than rigid academic rules.

As the volume reaches its conclusion, Alexander S. Kaun uses satirical dialogue and deep historical reflection to address the horrors of war and the enduring resilience of the Jewish people amidst global violence. Reviews of contemporary theater—including a production of Alice in Wonderland—and critical assessments of new fiction by Gilbert Cannan and Anne Douglas Sedgwick round out the issue, finishing with lively reader correspondence debating the violent energy of "paroxyst" modern poetry.

How It Unfolds

The morning light — The issue begins with William Saphier's translations of Fritz Schnack's poems, contrasting the grounding labor of the plow with a solitary walk through a glowing, peaceful sunset.

A strike at militarism — Will Levington Comfort launches a scathing assault on Theodore Roosevelt, identifying him as a false idol of noise and rearmament who betrays America's spiritual potential.

Sanctuary of the stage — John Cowper Powys celebrates Chicago's Little Theatre as a sacred refuge, praising its performance of The Trojan Women for reaching heights of universal tragic pity.

The debate on truth — Mary Adams Stearns and Margaret C. Anderson clash over Mrs. Ellis’s lecture on sex, debating whether personal charm suffices when radical social illumination is desperately needed.

Visions and grotesques — Eloise Briton’s acrobatic poetry and Richard Aldington’s appreciation of H. D.’s imagism give way to Arthur Davison Ficke’s dark verse portraits of tortured, searching souls.

The organic law of art — Huntley Carter outlines a theory of art criticism based on an artist's inner necessity, while Alexander S. Kaun reflects on wartime suffering, Jewish history, and philosophical endurance.

The People

• Margaret C. Anderson — The fierce publisher and editor who demands absolute, uncompromising truth from public thinkers. Disappointed by conventional caution, she advocates for radical honesty and decries institutional cruelty.
• Will Levington Comfort — A passionate essayist who opposes Theodore Roosevelt's militaristic philosophy, championing a spiritual awakening that rejects self-love, industrial noise, and the glorification of war.
• John Cowper Powys — An eloquent critic who views high art as a religious experience, finding in Chicago's small theater movement a noble protest against human fate.
• Mrs. Havelock Ellis — A visiting English lecturer whose presentation on sex and eugenics sparks intense local controversy, admired by some for her quiet dignity and criticized by others for failing to offer a truly releasing message.
• Roswell Smith — An epileptic young man executed by the state in Chicago, cited by Anderson as a tragic victim of a society that chooses retributive violence over scientific understanding and genuine compassion.
• H. D. (Hilda Doolittle) — A young American poet praised by Richard Aldington for her sharp, evocative imagery that captures intense natural beauty and classical mystery.

In Its Own Voice

"He stands today for armament, against all that the New Spirit has shown us out of the bleeding heart of the world..."

Will Levington Comfort sharply defines his opposition to Theodore Roosevelt's political influence in modern America.

"The magical Irish 'plummet' of Synge does not, cannot, sound much depth;—and before the bowed figures of those world-mourners, carved as if by the chisel of Pheidias, our pathological Hyperborean Phantoms go squeaking, bat-like, to oblivion."

John Cowper Powys exalts the tragic weight of Greek drama performed at Chicago's Little Theatre over contemporary theatrical trends.

"Poised like a panther on a bough / He swings and leaps."

Eloise Briton vividly depicts the high-wire tension and muscular control of a circus acrobat in flight.

What It's Really About

At its core, the collection explores the struggle between outdated Victorian hypocrisies and the urgent, messy demands of a new century. The contributors ask how art, literature, and social philosophy must adapt when faced with the twin pressures of world war and rapid industrialization. The text endlessly debates the purpose of expression: should art serve as an ivory-tower sanctuary of "the grand style," a mirror for scientific truth, or a weapon for radical political change? Through discussions of eugenics, free verse, state-sanctioned violence, and theatrical innovation, the issue argues that true progress requires tearing down blind moral conformity to uncover an authentic, organic human experience.

Why Read It Today

This issue offers a captivating front-row seat to the birth of modernism. Reading it feels like walking into an early twentieth-century bohemian salon where the arguments are loud, urgent, and unvarnished. Modern readers will be fascinated by how fresh and recognizable these century-old debates remain—arguments over political chest-thumping, the social responsibility of intellectuals, the ethics of criminal justice, and the definition of art could easily grace a contemporary magazine.

The prose demands an attentive reader. It reflects the Period's dense literary style, replete with untranslated Latin phrases, classical mythological allusions, and high-flown rhetoric. Yet, beneath the formal vocabulary lies an electric, rebellious pulse. The collection does not offer a smooth, uniform narrative; instead, it delivers a rich, textured collage of voices fighting passionately for the soul of modern culture. It leaves behind a lasting impression of an era when literature felt like a matter of immediate, life-and-death importance.

<ElicitationsGroup message="Explore related aspects of early twentieth-century literary magazines:"> <Elicitation label="Analyze Margaret Anderson's influence on modernist literature" query="Analyze Margaret Anderson's role as editor of The Little Review and her influence on modernism."/> <Elicitation label="Examine the debate on early Imagist poetry in 1915" query="Examine how Imagist poetry like H. D.'s was received and debated in American literary journals around 1915."/> </ElicitationsGroup>