Poems of To-Day, an Anthology [Anthology]

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Title: Poems of To-Day: an Anthology

Author: Various

Release Date: September 18, 2007 [eBook #22668]

Language: English

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POEMS OF TO-DAY:

an Anthology.

London:
Published for the English Association
by Sidgwick & Jackson, Ltd., 1918

First issued in August, 1915;
Reprinted October, 1915; January, March, June, September, and December,
1916;
May, July, September, October, 1917,
January, February, and July, 1918.

{vii}
PREFATORY NOTE

This book has been compiled in order that boys and girls, already perhaps
familiar with the great classics of the English speech, may also know something
of the newer poetry of their own day. Most of the writers are living, and the rest
are still vivid memories among us, while one of the youngest, almost as these
words are written, has gone singing to lay down his life for his country’s cause.
Although no definite chronological limit has been set, and Meredith at least
began to write in the middle of the nineteenth century, the intention has been to
represent mainly those poetic tendencies which have become dominant as the
influence of the accepted Victorian masters has grown weaker, and from which
the poetry of the future, however it may develope, must in turn take its start. It
may be helpful briefly to indicate the sequence of themes. Man draws his being
from the heroic Past and from the Earth his Mother; and in harmony with these
he must shape his life to what high purposes he may. Therefore this gathering of
poems falls into three groups. {viii} First there are poems of History, of the
romantic tale of the world, of our own special tradition here in England, and of
the inheritance of obligation which that tradition imposes upon us. Naturally,
there are some poems directly inspired by the present war, but nothing, it is
hoped, which may not, in happier days, bear translation into any European
tongue.
Then there come poems of the Earth, of England again and the longing of the
exile for home, of this and that familiar countryside, of woodland and meadow
and garden, of the process of the seasons, of the “open road” and the “wind on
the heath,” of the city, its deprivations and its consolations. Finally there are
poems of Life itself, of the moods in which it may be faced, of religion, of man’s
excellent virtues, of friendship and childhood, of passion, grief, and comfort. But
there is no arbitrary isolation of one theme from another; they mingle and inter-
penetrate throughout, to the music of Pan’s flute, and of Love’s viol, and the
bugle-call of Endeavour, and the passing-bell of Death.

May, 1915.
{ix}
INDEX OF AUTHORS

PAGE
A. E. (GEORGE RUSSELL)
Shadows and Lights … … … … … … . 27

ABERCROMBIE, LASCELLES
Margaret’s Song … … … … … … . . 36

BEECHING, H. C.
Fatherhood … … … … … … … . . 142
Prayers … … … … … … … … 133

BELLOC, HILAIRE
Courtesy … … … … … … … … 131
From “Dedicatory Ode” … … … … … . . 54
The South Country … … … … … … . 43

BINYON, LAURENCE
Bab-lock-hythe … … … … … … … 73
England … … … … … … … … 20
For the Fallen … … … … … … … 26
In misty blue … … … … … … … 152
O summer sun … … … … … … … . 96
The Little Dancers … … … … … … . 91
The Road Menders … … … … … … . . 93

BLUNT, W. S.
A Day in Sussex … … … … … … . . 79
Chanclebury Ring … … … … … … . . 45
St. Valentine’s Day … … … … … … 79

BRIDGES, ROBERT
Awake, my heart, to be loved … … … … . . 155
Elegy on a Lady … … … … … … . . 164
I love all beauteous things … … … … . . 125
I never shall love the snow again … … … . . 148
I will not let thee go … … … … … . . 161
London Snow … … … … … … … . 91

{x}
On a Dead Child … … … … … … . . 146
Spring goeth all in white … … … … … 78
The hill pines were sighing … … … … . . 68
There is a hill … … … … … … . . 70
When June is come … … … … … … . 152

BROOKE, RUPERT
The Dead … … … … … … … … 24
The Old Vicarage, Grantchester … … … … . 55
The Soldier … … … … … … … . 25

CANTON, WILLIAM
Heights and Depths … … … … … … . 34

CHALMERS, P. R.
Roundabouts and Swings … … … … … . . 117

CHESTERTON, G. K.
The Praise of Dust … … … … … … . 154
COLERIDGE, MARY E.
A Huguenot … … … … … … … . 8
Chillingham … … … … … … … . 37
Gibberish … … … … … … … . . 135
Street Lanterns … … … … … … . . 95
Where a Roman Villa stood, above Freiburg … … . 33

COLUM, PADRAIC
A Cradle Song … … … … … … … 146

CORNFORD, FRANCES
Pre-existence
To a Lady seen from the Train … … … … . 85

CRIPPS, A. S.
A Lyke-wake Carol … … … … … … . 32
A Refrain … … … … … … … . . 32
Essex … … … … … … … … . 48

DAVIDSON, JOHN
A Cinque Port … … … … … … … 47
In Romney Marsh … … … … … … . . 45
London … … … … … … … … . 96

DAVIES, W. H.
Days that have been … … … … … … 60
Early Morn … … … … … … … . . 67
Leisure … … … … … … … … 101

{xi}

DE LA MARE, WALTER
All that’s Past … … … … … … . . 1
An Epitaph … … … … … … … . . 167
Martha … … … … … … … … . 135
Nod … … … … … … … … . . 77
The Scarecrow … … … … … … … 82

DRINKWATER, JOHN
A Town Window … … … … … … … 49
Mamble … … … … … … … … . 49
The Defenders … … … … … … … 24