The Advance of English Poetry in the Twentieth Century   By: William Lyon Phelps (1865-1943)

THE ADVANCE OF ENGLISH POETRY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

BY

WILLIAM LYON PHELPS

Lampson Professor of English Literature at Yale

Member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters

O! 't is an easy thing To write and sing; But to write true, unfeigned verse Is very hard!

HENRY VAUGHAN, 1655

TO MY FRIEND FOR FORTY YEARS

FRANK W. HUBBARD

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The publishers of the works of the poets from whom illustrative passages are cited in this volume, have courteously and generously given permission, and I take this opportunity of expressing my thanks to The Macmillan Company, who publish the poems of Thomas Hardy, William Watson, John Masefield, W. W. Gibson, Ralph Hodgson, W. B. Yeats, "A. E.," James Stephens, E. A. Robinson, Vachel Lindsay, Amy Lowell, Edgar Lee Masters, Sara Teasdale, J. C. Underwood, Fannie Stearns Davis; to Henry Holt and Company, who publish the poems of Walter De La Mare, Edward Thomas, Padraic Colum, Robert Frost, Louis Untermeyer, Sarah N. Cleghorn, Margaret Widdemer, Carl Sandburg, and the two poems by Henry A. Beers quoted in this book, which appeared in The Ways of Yale ; to Charles Scribner's Sons, publishers of the poems of George Santayana, Henry Van Dyke, Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, Alan Seeger; to Houghton, Mifflin and Company, publishers of the poems of Josephine Peabody, Anna Hempstead Branch, and W. A. Bradley's Old Christmas ; to The John Lane Company, publishers of the poems of Stephen Phillips, Rupert Brooke, Benjamin R. C. Low; to the Frederick A. Stokes Company, publishers of the poems of Alfred Noyes, Robert Nichols, Thomas MacDonagh, Witter Bynner; to the Yale University Press, publishers of the poems of W. A. Percy, Brian Hooker, W. E. Benét, C. M. Lewis, E. B. Reed, F. E. Pierce, R. B. Glaenzer, L. W. Dodd; to the Oxford University Press, publishers of the poems of Robert Bridges; to Alfred A. Knopf, publisher of the poems of W. H. Davies; to John W. Luce and Company, publishers of the poems of John M. Synge; to Harper and Brothers, publishers of William Watson's The Man Who Saw ; to Longmans, Green and Company, publishers of the poems of Willoughby Weaving; to Doubleday, Page and Company, publishers of the poems of James Elroy Flecker; to the Bobbs Merrill Company, publishers of the poems of W. D. Foulke; to Thomas B. Mosher, publisher of the poems of W. A. Bradley, W. E. Henley; to James T. White and Company, publishers of William Griffiths; Francis Thompson's In No Strange Land appeared in the Athenaeum and Lilium Regis in the Dublin Review ; the poem by Scudder Middleton appeared in Contemporary Verse , that by Allan Updegraff in the Forum , and that by D. H. Lawrence in Georgian Poetry 1913 15, published by The Poetry Bookshop, London.

The titles of the several volumes of poems with dates of publication are given in my text.

I am grateful to the Yale University Librarians for help on bibliographical matters, and to Professor Charles Bennett and Byrne Hackett, Esquire, for giving some facts about the Irish poets.

W. L. P.

PREFACE

The material in this volume originally appeared in The Bookman , 1917 1918. It is now published with much addition and revision.

The Great War has had a stimulating effect on the production of poetry. Professional poets have been spokesmen for the inarticulate, and a host of hitherto unknown writers have acquired reputation. An immense amount of verse has been written by soldiers in active service. The Allies are fighting for human liberty, and this Idea is an inspiration. It is comforting to know that some who have made the supreme sacrifice will be remembered through their printed poems, and it is a pleasure to aid in giving them public recognition.