The verses composing this volume have been selected by the author almost
entirely from the five-volume edition of his poems published by the
Bobbs-Merrill Company in 1907. A number have been included from the three
or four volumes which have been published since the appearance of the
Collected Poems; namely, three poems from the volume entitled "Nature
Notes and Impressions," E. P. Button & Co., New York; one poem from "The
Giant and the Star," Small, Maynard & Co., Boston; Section VII and part of
Section VIII of "An Ode" written in commemoration of the founding of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony, and published by John P. Morton & Co.,
Louisville, Ky.; some five or six poems from "New Poems," published in
London by Mr. Grant Richards in 1909; and three or four selections from
the volume of selections entitled "Kentucky Poems," compiled by Mr. Edmund
Gosse and published in London by Mr. Grant Richards in 19O2.
Acknowledgment and thanks for permission to reprint the various poems
included in this volume are herewith made to the different publishers.
The two poems, "in Arcady" and "The Black Knight" are new and are
published here for the first time.
In making the selections for the present book Mr. Cawein has endeavored to
cover the entire field of his poetical labors, which extends over a
quarter of a century. With the exception of his dramatic work, as
witnessed by one volume only, "The Shadow Garden," a book of plays four in
number, published in 1910, the selection herewith presented by us is, in
our opinion, representative of the author's poetical work.