uniformly helpful and obliging; not only have they cordially assented to this use of their poems, but they have made suggestions, have revised copy and have read proofs. Their sympathy and interest have been never-failing, and it was very largely their enthusiasm and encouragement which enabled the compiler to carry through to completion a task before which he faltered more than once. To them and to their predecessors in the field of English song belong whatever honor and glory it may bring; for, to paraphrase Montaigne, the compiler has contributed to this nosegay nothing but the thread which binds it; theirs is its perfume and its beauty. CHILLICOTHE, OHIO, B. E. S. INTRODUCTION TO THE THIRD EDITION WHEN the first edition of this book was published in 1912, there was a tentative agreement between publisher and compiler that, if it was still alive at the end of ten years, it should be revised in an effort to keep it abreast of the times, and so for every decade thereafter. On neither side was there any real expectation that the agreement would ever need to be carried out; certainly there was no reason to suppose that such a revision would be possible, or in any way necessary, at the end of five years; and yet this third edition represents a far more complete revision than was then contemplated -the addition of five hundred and ninety poems, and the deletion of one hundred and sixty-nine; entire repagination, and innumerable minor changes. It is, of course, primarily because the book has been commercially successful that the publisher is able to spend still more upon it, but that alone would not have warranted a revision such as this. What really warranted it-almost compelled it--was the astonishing renaissance in English and American poetry which the present century has witnessed. "The Home Book of Verse" was launched, by a fortunate chance, just when this renaissance was gathering volume, and its success was due largely, no doubt, to the new interest in poetry thus evoked. But this also had the effect of putting the book more quickly out of date, and anyone in touch with modern verse could not but be disappointed to look through a volume such as this and find nothing by such poets as Lascelles Abercrombie, and John Masefield, and G. K. Chesterton, and Walter de la Mare, and Robert Frost, and Vachel Lindsay, and Richard Middleton, and Ralph Hodgson, and Rupert Brooke. It is from the work of this younger choir that the additions have very largely been made, and among them will be found some lyrics as fresh and lovely as any in the volume--and as true to the great traditions of English poetry. The dele tions are partly of verses whose inclusion was originally determined as the compiler now realizes-by quotability rather than by merit, and partly of those which failed to stand the test of repeated re-reading-the deadliest test there is. The revision is based upon a careful examination of every significant book of poetry published in this country since 1912, and of many published in England, as well as of a number of older books to which the compiler had not previously had access. He has also had the assistance of the many columns of critical comment evoked by the appearance of the original edition, and he is not ashamed to say that his attention was called in this way to many notable poems with which he was entirely unfamiliar. Second in value only to the printed criticism was the great mass of correspondence which came and is still coming from all over the country-delightful letters which prove how widespread and genuine is the love of poetry. The one general criticism-as against specific complaints of certain omissions-which seemed best founded was that no adequate representation was given to the great odes of English poetry. The compiler's first thought had been that they were too long to be included in a book which is essen-.! tially a collection of lyrics; but reflection convinced him that these odes did have a place here, and some six or seven of them have been added. The well-grounded specific criticisms were too numerous to be enumerated; but a particularly striking one was that, while the "Rubáiyát," the great skeptical poem of the nineteenth century, was given entire, there was nothing, or practically nothing, from the century's great poem of faith, "In Memoriam." A careful selection from "In Memoriam" will be found in this edition, preceded by two sections from another great poem, which also in a way counters the "Rubáiyát," though from a vastly different angle---Sir Richard Burton's "Kasidah." Then, too, the prestige which the book had gained made it possible to secure permission to use certain poems which were denied to an unknown adventure. Lovers of H. C. Bunner will find nine of his poems here, and a number of other Introduction to the Third Edition xix poets are represented more adequately than was possible five years ago. When the compiler says that he believes this third edition to be a far finer achievement than was the first one, he will be pardoned, since the merit is so largely that of others. Not least that of other anthologists. Every general collection such as this must have its foundations in other collections, from the very first ones which preserved the "Reliques" and "Pastorals," to the very latest which preserves the magazine verse of the year. The debt varies, of course, but it is nevertheless a debt which the compiler has often felt should have been acknowledged in his original introduction, and which is most heartily acknowledged here. The general plan of the book has remained unchanged, except in one or two very minor details. The compiler found that, in spite of his best efforts, a few incomplete poems had crept into the first edition. These have either been completed or labelled as extracts; and two or three other incomplete ones have been added-notably Suckling's "Ballad Upon a Wedding," minus five stanzas. It simply had to come in! Several questions of uncertain authorship have been solved. There is no longer any doubt in the compiler's mind as to who wrote "Hoch! der Kaiser," and "There is no Death," and "Little Drops of Water," and "At a Cowboy Dance." And a number of disputed readings have been settled-to his satisfaction, at least. For example, after examining forty-three editions of the "New England Primer," he has found the weight of authority to lie on the side of rather than "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, "I pray Thee, Lord, my soul to keep." He has taken a real joy, by discovering a misplaced comma, in changing the mediocre line, "Her hand seemed milk, in milk it was so white," to the far more striking "Her hand seemed milk in milk, it was so white." He has corrected all the typographical errors he had himself discovered or which had been pointed out by many correspondents; he has labored to make the biographical data as complete as possible; he has checked up the poems in the book with such definitive or revised or collected editions as have appeared since 1912; and he feels that the text may be relied upon as accurate and authoritative. Finally, he must again express his deep sense of obligation to those living poets, both English and American, who have been so unstinted in appreciation, and so generous in permitting the use of their work. Without their help, this new edition would have been impossible. CHILLICOTHE, Оно, December 1, 1917. B. E. S. |