It is hardly necessary to introduce to the lovers of lyric and dramatic
verse Mr. William Butler Yeats, who honors the Christmas number of
_Poetry_ by his presence. A score or more of years have passed since his
voice, perfect in quality, began to speak and sing in high loyalty to
the beauty of poetic art, especially the ancient poetic art of his own
Irish people. His influence, reinforced by the prompt allegiance of Lady
Gregory, Mr. Douglass Hyde, the late J. M. Synge, and many other Irish
men and women of letters, has sufficed to lift the beautiful old Gaelic
literature out of the obscurity of merely local recognition into a
position of international importance. This fact alone is a sufficient
acknowledgment of Mr. Yeats' genius, and of the enthusiasm which his
leadership has inspired among the thinkers and singers of his race.
Mr. George Sterling, of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, is well known to
American readers of poetry through his two books of verse, _Wine of
Wizardry_ and _The House of Orchids_.
Mr. Clark Ashton Smith, also of California, is a youth whose talent has
been acclaimed quite recently by a few newspapers of his own state, and
recognized by one or two eastern publications.
Mr. John Reed, of New York, and Alice Corbin, the wife of William P.
Henderson, the Chicago painter, are Americans. The latter has
contributed verse and prose to various magazines. The former is a young
journalist, born in 1887, who has published little verse as yet.
Rabindranath Tagore, the poet of Bengal, is sufficiently introduced by
Mr. Pound's article.