Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Juliet Sutherland, and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Transcriber's Note:
The source of the Greek quote and its meaning are from the
1914 edition.
THE
GOLDEN TREASURY
SELECTED FROM THE BEST SONGS AND LYRICAL
POEMS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
AND ARRANGED WITH NOTES
BY
FRANCIS T. PALGRAVE
LATE PROFESSOR OF POETRY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
_REVISED AND ENLARGED_
London
MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1902
* * * * *
TO
ALFRED TENNYSON
POET LAUREATE
This book in its progress has recalled often to my memory a man with
whose friendship we were once honoured, to whom no region of English
Literature was unfamiliar, and who, whilst rich in all the noble gifts
of Nature, was most eminently distinguished by the noblest and the
rarest,--just judgment and high-hearted patriotism. It would have been
hence a peculiar pleasure and pride to dedicate what I have
endeavoured to make a true national Anthology of three centuries to
Henry Hallam. But he is beyond the reach of any human tokens of love
and reverence; and I desire therefore to place before it a name united
with his by associations which, while Poetry retains her hold on the
minds of Englishmen, are not likely to be forgotten.
Your encouragement, given while traversing the wild scenery of Treryn
Dinas, led me to begin the work; and it has been completed under your
advice and assistance. For the favour now asked I have thus a second
reason: and to this I may add, the homage which is your right as Poet,
and the gratitude due to a Friend, whose regard I rate at no common
value.
Permit me then to inscribe to yourself a book which, I hope, may be
found by many a lifelong fountain of innocent and exalted pleasure; a
source of animation to friends when they meet; and able to sweeten
solitude itself with best society,--with the companionship of the wise
and the good, with the beauty which the eye cannot see, and the music
only heard in silence. If this Collection proves a store-house of
delight to Labour and to Poverty,--if it teaches those indifferent to
the Poets to love them, and those who love them to love them more, the
aim and the desire entertained in framing it will be fully
accomplished.
F.T.P.
MAY: 1861
* * * * *
PREFACE
This little Collection differs, it is believed, from others in the
attempt made to include in it all the best original Lyrical pieces and
Songs in our language (save a very few regretfully omitted on account
of length), by writers not living,--and none beside the best. Many
familiar verses will hence be met with; many also which should be
familiar:--the Editor will regard as his fittest readers those who
love Poetry so well, that he can offer them nothing not already known
and valued.
The Editor is acquainted with no strict and exhaustive definition of
Lyrical Poetry; but he has found the task of practical decision
increase in clearness and in facility as he advanced with the work,
whilst keeping in view a few simple principles. Lyrical has been here
held essentially to imply that each Poem shall turn on some single
thought, feeling, or situation. In accordance with this, narrative,
descriptive, and didactic poems,--unless accompanied by rapidity of
movement, brevity, and the colouring of human passion,--have been
excluded. Humourous poetry, except in the very unfrequent instances
where a truly poetical tone pervades the whole, with what is strictly
personal, occasional, and religious, has been considered foreign to
the idea of the book. Blank verse and the ten-syllable couplet, with
all pieces markedly dramatic, have been rejected as alien from what is
commonly understood by Song, and rarely conforming to Lyrical
conditions in treatment. But it is not anticipated, nor is it
possible, that all readers shall think the line accurately drawn. Some
poems, as Gray's Elegy, the Allegro and Penseroso, Wordsworth's Ruth
or Campbell's Lord Ullin, might be claimed with perhaps equal justice
for a narrative or descriptive selection: whilst with reference
especially to Ballads and Sonnets, the Editor can only state that he
has taken his utmost pains to decide without caprice or partiality.
This also is all he can plead in regard to a point even more liable to
question;--what degree of merit should give rank among the Best. That
a poem shall be worthy of the writer's genius,--that it shall reach a
perfection commensurate with its aim,--that we should require finish
in proportion to brevity,--that passion, colour, and originality
cannot atone for serious imperfections in clearness, unity or
truth,--that a few good lines do not make a good poem, that popular
estimate is serviceable as a guidepost more than as a compass,--above
all, that excellence should be looked for rather in the whole than in
the parts,--such and other such canons have been always steadily
regarded. He may however add that the pieces chosen, and a far larger
number rejected, have been carefully and repeatedly considered; and
that he has been aided throughout by two friends of independent and
exercised judgment, besides the distinguished person addressed in the
Dedication. It is hoped that by this procedure the volume has been
freed from that one-sidedness which must beset individual
decisions:--but for the final choice the Editor is alone responsible.
Chalmers' vast collection, with the whole works of all accessible
poets not contained in it, and the best Anthologies of different
periods, have been twice systematically read through: and it is hence
improbable that any omissions which may be regretted are due to
oversight. The poems are printed entire, except in a very few
instances where a stanza or passage has been omitted. These omissions
have been risked only when the piece could be thus brought to a closer
lyrical unity: and, as essentially opposed to this unity, extracts,
obviously such, are excluded. In regard to the text, the purpose of
the book has appeared to justify the choice of the most poetical
version, wherever more than one exists; and much labour has been given
to present each poem, in disposition, spelling, and punctuation, to
the greatest advantage.
In the arrangement, the most poetically-effective order has been
attempted. The English mind has passed through phases of thought and
cultivation so various and so opposed during these three centuries of
Poetry, that a rapid passage between old and new, like rapid
alteration of the eye's focus in looking at the landscape, will always
be wearisome and hurtful to the sense of Beauty. The poems have been
therefore distributed into Books corresponding, I to the ninety years
closing about 1616, II thence to 1700, III to 1800, IV to the half
century just ended. Or, looking at the Poets who more or less give
each portion its distinctive character, they might be called the Books
of Shakespeare, Milton, Gray, and Wordsworth. The volume, in this
respect, so far as the limitations of its range allow, accurately
reflects the natural growth and evolution of our Poetry. A rigidly
chronological sequence, however, rather fits a collection aiming at
instruction than at pleasure, and the wisdom which comes through
pleasure:--within each book the pieces have therefore been arranged in
gradations of feeling or subject. And it is hoped that the contents of
this Anthology will thus be found to present a certain unity, 'as
episodes,' in the noble language of Shelley, 'to that great Poem which
all poets, like the co-operating thoughts of one great mind, have
built up since the beginning of the world.'
As he closes his long survey, the Editor trusts he may add without
egotism, that he has found the vague general verdict of popular Fame
more just than those have thought, who, with too severe a criticism,
would confine judgments on Poetry to 'the selected few of many
generations.' Not many appear to have gained reputation without some
gift or performance that, in due degree, deserved it: and if no verses
by certain writers who show less strength than sweetness, or more
thought than mastery of expression, are printed in this volume, it
should not be imagined that they have been excluded without much
hesitation and regret,--far less that they have been slighted.
Throughout this vast and pathetic array of Singers now silent, few
have been honoured with the name Poet, and have not possessed a skill
in words, a sympathy with beauty, a tenderness of feeling, or
seriousness in reflection, which render their works, although never
perhaps attaining that loftier and finer excellence here
required,--better worth reading than much of what fills the scanty
hours that most men spare for self-improvement, or for pleasure in any
of its more elevated and permanent forms.--And if this be true of even
mediocre poetry, for how much more are we indebted to the best! Like
the fabled fountain of the Azores, but with a more various power, the
magic of this Art can confer on each period of life its appropriate
blessing: on early years Experience, on maturity Calm, on age,
Youthfulness. Poetry gives treasures 'more golden than gold,' leading
us in higher and healthier ways than those of the world, and
interpreting to us the lessons of Nature. But she speaks best for
herself. Her true accents, if the plan has been executed with success,
may be heard throughout the following pages:--wherever the Poets of
England are honoured, wherever the dominant language of the world is
spoken, it is hoped that they will find fit audience.
1861
Some poems, especially in Book I, have been added:--either on better
acquaintance;--in deference to critical suggestions;--or unknown to
the Editor when first gathering his harvest. For aid in these
after-gleanings he is specially indebted to the excellent reprints of
rare early verse given us by Dr. Hannah, Dr. Grosart, Mr. Arber, Mr.
Bullen, and others,--and (in regard to the additions of 1883) to the
advice of that distinguished Friend, by whom the final choice has been
so largely guided. The text has also been carefully revised from
authoritative sources. It has still seemed best, for many reasons, to
retain the original limit by which the selection was confined to those
then no longer living. But the editor hopes that, so far as in him
lies, a complete and definitive collection of our best Lyrics, to the
central year of this fast-closing century, is now offered.
1883-1890-1891
* * * * *
Contents
DEDICATION
PREFACE PAGE
BOOK I. 1