VI
This anthology, as a whole, is romantic; its language is simple; its philosophy is that of everyday life, and is entirely undisturbing. It contains a large proportion of poems by authors who write more particularly for children, such as P. R. Chalmers, Rose Fyleman, Queenie Scott-Hopper, and Marion St John Webb, or of children's poems by authors who do not actually specialize in that style, such as "The Ragwort," by Frances Cornford; "Cradle Song," by Sarojini Naidu; "Check," by James Stephens, and others. Two of its authors remain necessarily unmentioned here, namely, the compiler of the book and the writer of this Introduction.
Some people make it their business to pick anthologies to pieces, and they seem to enjoy themselves. "Why is this included?" they cry; "Why is that left out?"—a form of criticism nearly always beside the point. Inclusion or exclusion is in the taste and discretion of the anthologist.
This Introduction may, it is hoped, stimulate the reader of the poems which follow to think about them carefully in their relation to each other, and in their relation to English poetry as a whole. For though it has frequently been emphasized that the object of poetry (and particularly of lyrical poetry) is to give pleasure, it should nevertheless be added that intellectual pleasure cannot be gathered at random, or without certain preparation of the mind to receive it.
HAROLD MONRO
For permission to use copyright poems the Editor is indebted to:
The Authors—H. H. Abbott, Hilaire Belloc, P. R. Chalmers, G. K. Chesterton, Frances Cornford, W. H. Davies, Walter De la Mare, John Drinkwater, Rose Fyleman, W. W. Gibson, Robert Graves, Ralph Hodgson, Teresa Hooley, Margaret Mackenzie, Irene R. McLeod, John Masefield, Alice Meynell, Harold Monro, Sarojini Naidu, H. D. C. Pepler, James Stephens, Sir William Watson, Marion St John Webb, and W. B. Yeats.
The Literary Executors of Rupert Brooke, Mary E. Coleridge (Sir Henry Newbolt), James Elroy Flecker (Mrs Flecker), Julian Grenfell (Lady Desborough), Lionel Johnson (Mr Elkin Mathews), Edward Wyndham Tennant (Lady Glenconner), Edward Thomas (Messrs Selwyn and Blount), R. E. Vernède.
And the following Publishers, in respect of the poems selected:
Messrs Burns and Oates, Ltd.
Alice Meynell: Collected Poems.
Messrs Constable and Co., Ltd.
Walter De la Mare: The Listeners, Peacock Pie.
Messrs J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd.
G. K. Chesterton: The Wild Knight.
Messrs Duckworth and Co.
Hilaire Belloc: Verses.
Mr A. C. Fifield
W. H. Davies: Collected Poems.
Messrs George G. Harrap and Co., Ltd.
E. J. Brady: The House of the Winds.
Queenie Scott-Hopper: Pull the Bobbin!
Marion St John Webb: The Littlest One.
Mr W. Heinemann, London, and the John Lane Company, New York
Sarojini Naidu: The Golden Threshold.
Messrs Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston
John Drinkwater: Poems by John Drinkwater.
Mr John Lane, London, and the John Lane Company, New York
Helen Parry Eden Bread and Circuses.
Edward Wyndham Tennant, by Pamela Glenconner.
Messrs Macmillan and Co., Ltd., London, and the Macmillan Company, New York
W. W. Gibson: Whin.
Ralph Hodgson: Poems.
J. Stephens: The Adventures of Seumas Beg, Songs from the Clay.
W. B. Yeats: Poems: Second Series.
The Macmillan Company, New York
John Masefield: Ballads and Poems.
Messrs Maunsel and Co.
P. R. Chalmers: Green Days and Blue Days.
Messrs Methuen and Co., Ltd.
Rose Fyleman: Fairies and Chimneys, The Fairy Green.
The Poetry Bookshop
H. H. Abbott: Black and White.
Frances Cornford: Spring Morning.
R. Graves: Over the Brazier.
Messrs Sands and Co.
M. Mackenzie: The Station Platform, and Other Poems.
Mr Martin Seeker
J. E. Flecker: Collected Poems.
Francis Brett Young: Poems, 1916-1918.
Messrs Selwyn and Blount, London, and Messrs Henry Holt and Company, New York
Edward Thomas: Poems.
Messrs Sidgwick and Jackson, Ltd.
J. Redwood Anderson: Walls and Hedges.
John Drinkwater: Swords and Ploughshares.
Messrs Sidgwick and Jackson, Ltd., and the John Lane Company, New York
Rupert Brooke: 1914, and Other Poems.
Messrs T. Fisher Unwin, Ltd.
W. B. Yeats: Poems.