SOURCE: "Laureate of the Obvious: Portrait of Edgar A. Guest," in Outlook and Independent, Vol. 155, No. 14, August 6, 1930, pp. 527-9, 556.

In the following excerpt, Bakeless uses humor to criticize Guest's verse and its admirers.

And, Mr. Sneering Critic, you certainly cannot disturb my peace of mind with your gibes and taunts unless you have my co-operation.

—From the prose writings of EDGAR A. GUEST

This article really ought to be entitled Profits from Poems, Reaching Results with Rhymes, Living on Lyrical Literature, or something like that, for Edgar A. Guest, the sweet singer of Detroit, inventor of the mass-production lyric, is the first man in the long and lively history of English literature who has succeeded in Putting Over Poetry in a really big way.

Not for nothing does Mr. Guest live in Detroit. It is even rumored that the Guestian lyrics are built on a moving belt which...