1953–54 Volume 78 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

174 THE SCROLL of Phi Delta Theta for January, 1954
Because Mr. Ferril writes so graphically and with
such deep afEection about the Rocky Mountain country
he knows so well, he might have been Ial:)eled
a regional poet, except that above the regionalism
and the celebration of a particular geographical
locality is that wider quality of universality, "the
long dimension'' of man's spirit.
GERALD D. MCDONALD, Chief, American
History Division, New York Public Library,
in The Library Journal:
He belongs in the company of. Whitman, Sandburg
and Benet, as one who sings of America, its
people and its place-names, but he has his own,
original outlook and manner. Of all the books of
poems of 195a, his has given me the most pleasure.
AUGUST W. DERLETH, Capital Times, Madison,
Wisconsin:
Lovers of poetry who neglect this volume are
unworthy of the name. Ferril is an important American
poet whose stature is destined to grow with
time, even as I have watched it grow in the past
two decades. He is the Denverite of whom Robert
Frost wrote: "Who, measured from sea to crown.
Is one mile five-foot-ten, And he swings a commensurate
pen."
EDA LOU WALTON, New York Herald
Tribune:
The Rocky Mountains are his timepiece and his
lens. . . . Ferril has got outside of time: all past for
him becomes present, and the present is the future
even as Whitman mystically conceives it to be. This
poet knows the timelessness within time of Nature.
Nor does nature dwarf man, since man, in perceiving
change in nature, knows the irrevocable
mystery of change in himself.
Awards won by Brother Ferril include the
Yale Competition for Younger Poets, The
Nation's prize, the Oscar Blumenthal prize
of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, Chicago, a
Doubleday-Doran prize, a Forum award, an
award by The Academy of American Poets,
the Fine Arts Medal of The City Club of
Denver, the Ridgely Torrence prize of The
Poetry Society of America for New and
Selected Poems and two top-hand awards of
The Colorado Authors' League. Honorary
degrees have been conferred on Mr. Ferril
by Colorado College, Colorado University,
and Denver University.
He wrote the poetic texts and suggested
the subject matter for the murals, painted
by Allen True, in the rotunda of the Colorado
State Capitol Building. The central
theme of the murals is the meaning of water
to the West.
In 1952 his poem Words for Time was
given symphonic interpretation by the composer,
Cecil Effinger, of Denver. This "Symphony
for Chorus and Orchestra" was performed
by the Denver Symphony Orchestra
and a chorus of one hundred voices from
Colorado University.
At the invitation of The Library of Congress
he has recorded many of his poems in
Washington and also recorded them for the
Voice of America.
Mr. Ferril has been associated with the
Writers' Conference at Colorado University
since its beginning, has participated in
many other writers' conferences and lectured
at the Aspen, Colorado, Institute.
His poems, in which Western symbols
predominate, range from intimate lyrics to
poems of broad American implication. Fundamental
are his philosophies of time and
the continuity of the human spirit outwearing
the erosions of hardship, folly and betrayal.
To quote The New Mexico Quarterly:
"It is a view that puts the moment into
a pattern of ages."
Phi Delt European Tour Planned for Summer
William M. Beale, Lombard '98, a veteran of 30 years' experience in conducting European
tours, has suggested formation of a group of Phis and their families for the coming Summer.
As a Golden Legion Phi, he writes that he has a genuine desire to join with members of the
Fraternity in an outstanding tour of the Old World-perhaps his last. He adds, "The fact that
I have no office expenses means a rate at least $200 less than what we had to ask in days past."
It is hoped that the March SCROLL may carry further news of the proposed tour, but interested
Phis may contact Brother Beale at the Lansing Hotel, 1036 N. Dearborn, Chicago, Illinois.