_"Hee doth not onely shew the way, as will entice anie man to
enter into it: nay he doth as if your journey should lye through a
faire vineyard, at the verie first, give you a cluster of grapes,
that full of that taste, you may long to passe further."_
LONDON: ERSKINE MACDONALD
1914
_The contents of this volume are copyright and may not be reproduced
without the permission of the respective authors and publishers._
_PREFACE_
_If the existence and contents of this book require any explanation,
the compiler may adopt the words of a famous defender of poetry:_
_"Hee doth not onely shew the way but giveth so sweet a prospect
into the way as will entice anie man into it._
_"Nay, hee doth as if your journey should lye through a faire
Vineyard, at the verie first give you a cluster of Grapes that
full of that taste you may long to passe further. He beginneth
not with obscure definitions, which must blurre the margent with
interpretations and loade the memorie with doubtfulnesse, but hee
cometh to you with words set in delightful proportion, either
accompanied with or prepared for the well-enchanting skill of
musicke, and with a tale forsoothe he cometh unto you, with a
tale which holdeth children from play and olde men from the
chimney-corner, and pretending no more, doth intend the winning
of the minde from wickedness to vertue."_
_These excellent words of Sir Philip Sidney give the reason and scope of
this collection of examples of the poetry of the present century. No
attempt at arbitrary classification or labelling has been made; it is
not intended to show that any poet, deliberately or otherwise, is a
Neo-Symbolist or Paroxyst or is afflicted with any other 'ist or 'ism;
it is not compiled to assert that any one group of poets is superior to
any other group of poets or to poets who had the misfortune to have
their corporeal existence cut short before the dawn of the twentieth
century; it is not even intended to prove that good poetry is written in
our time. All such purposes and particularly the latter are superfluous
and may be left to dogmatic disputants who have little care for the
grace and harmony of poetry._
_The scheme of the Anthology is simple and without guile. It does not
presuppose an abrupt period, but for the sake of convenience and in
justification of its existence includes only the work of living writers
produced during the present century and therefore most likely to be
representative of the poetry of to-day. No editorial credit can be
claimed for the selections; they are not the reflex of one individual's
taste and preferences, but have been made by the writers themselves, to
whom--and their respective publishers--for their cordial co-operation
the collator of this distinctive volume is exceedingly grateful, not on
his own account only but also on behalf of those readers to whom this
volume will open out so fair a prospect that they will long to pass
further, this "cluster of grapes" being one of the "lures immortal" for
the rapidly increasing number of discriminating lovers of the high
poetry that is the touchstone of beauty. The finest lyric work of our
day needs no further introduction; the poet is his own best interpreter;
but it may be added, in anticipation of adventitious criticism of the
limitations of these examples, that the capacity of the present volume
and the absence abroad of some potential contributors account for the
non-inclusion of certain writers who otherwise would have been
represented here._
_GALLOWAY KYLE._
_May_, 1914.