PREFACE. My chief aim in the pages of the present volume has been to lay before the public, in as concise a form as possible, biographical and critical sketches of popular and distinguished poets of our own time and country, together with interesting specimens of their works, in order that, haply, those readers who have known hitherto but little of the gifts of present-day poets, may be induced to seek a larger acquaintance with their works. It is believed that the field here entered has not previously been taken by any existing anthology, and although it is not pretended that the list of poets who may be termed popular is yet completed, it is suggested that the work, whilst containing reliable information of the lives of the poets included, consists also of such a representative collection of Modern Poetry as has never before appeared within the covers of one volume. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. PORTRAIT FRONTISPIECE. With the exception of that of Sir Edwin Arnold, the copyright of which belongs exclusively to Mr. Vander Weyde, I am indebted to the courtesy of Messrs. Elliott and Fry, to whom the originals belong, for permission to reproduce the group of copyright portraits contained on the frontispiece. 66 POEMS.-My best thanks are due also to Messrs. Trubner and Co. (Arnold); Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein and Co. (Barlow); the Editor of the Argosy for "By Eden's Swift Tide," Messrs. Boosey and Co. for "An Old Garden;" Messrs. Raphael Tuck and Son for Two Christmas Card Verses (Burnside); Messrs. Kegan Paul and Co. (Dobson, Gosse, and Lewis Morris); the Editor of the Argosy for "In the Cloisters" (Doudney); Mr. David Stott for 'Uriel," Messrs. Chapman and Hall for the Earlier Poems (Lytton); Messrs. Chatto and Windus (Marston); the Editor of The Girls' Own Paper (Newsam); Messrs. George Bell and Sons (Coventry Patmore); the Editor of Longman's Magazine (Robertson); the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge (Rossetti); and Messrs. Routledge and Son (Clement Scott), for permission to insert in this volume poems of which they hold the copyright. THE EDITOR OF "POPULAR POETS OF THE PERIOD." |