New-York tribune., 1883-10-26
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
A NEW ANTHOLOGY.
rxaLlsIi VERSE Edited by W. = IL L,Sr1S aHS iS

III 900, oo,lcct;on of English poetry of which an
;,oIort l. hero presented 10 the public is 10 COM
prise five volumes each having certain mdepen"-
ent completeness and each purchasabie separ"eiy
The first volume covers the whole held 1roin 'n0
1ao,nninc of English poetry in Chaucer 10 the sud
dem outhreak Of modern song IN Burns. lhe secoh"
embraces the Lyrics Of the XIXth Century from
xyords,yo,tb 70 onr owa day, ample space being al
Iotted TO living singers both sides OF the ocean
A third volume will be devoted to Ballads ana
RomapcesD n fourth to Dramatic Selections,
and the fifth and last to Translations' Mt. o'ou-
darl writes critical and historical introduction u
each volume and each has its own Ciograpnlc'I "l'
pendix and explanatory notes. Ihe DOCKS arc "
he praised for their convenient size clear and hand
some type neat binding and an attractive arrange
ment of the page
There 10 10 preface TO tell us precisely what the
scheme of the editors was in undertaking TINS new
anthology: they mOdestly leave it TO speak iof IT.
self; but o circular from the publishers declares
that the work was directly suggested by the defects
of the existing collections, aud that 1T eNpcciaIy
evcels its predecessors in compTehenS1CneSs 9nd III
absolute accuracy of text. The pUrihcaton % the
text has been the particular st0dy OF Mr. LINTON
who has spent year entirely in tn" minute CON-
narison of editions aud critical commentaries III the
library of the British Museum. This IL !aCor ior
which he deserves the w9rInest thanks Oh al s'uu
euts of poetry and if il has been successfully per
forned-yybich we see no reason to donbt-it wal
give these volumes a very high value In" "i'ei
notes are not TO be taken the measure oI VH>
task but they show close, AGATE and mfeil'gehe
research and many Of them are extremely ulter,S'-
ing In the work Of selection the edltCts pave "is
played & fastdious taste. We should expect
no loss indeed from srch experienced ana accom-
rlished critics of poetry Messrs. Linton ana S'O
dard In The few instances in which we We're dlS-
po,ed at first 70 ud fault with ther choice OF sperI-
mems. we have generally decided further retec-
tion that. considering the limitations Of their pan'
their Judgment was rRh;-riEht at least 80 far as
this. that whatever they have admitted has a
title TO he here Whether they have always made
the best possible choice is question upon Wmch
critics must be expected 20 differ. But x VIII ne
conceded that the general level of merit n Their
selections is high. and that the fidelity with which
they have maintained this high stands'd ts one
of their strongest claims to our fevGr
With the ballads trauslatiors and dramatic spec
imens there is no doubt that this collection wll be
much fuller than any rival publication. and even
the two volumes now before US contain m'ny hoi-
able things which are not TO be found in tie most
satisfactory of the previous collections, namely. IL
Wards English Poets" Apart from living writ
ers who are not included In Wards plan, the most
imuortant additions made by Mcssrs. Linton aad
Stoddard 10 the standard anthoiOgeS are frcm the
Ininor poets of the sixteenth century II these neg
lected singers exerted no great influence upon the
deveiopment of English poetry, they 1T least left
many channing pieces which bctray a true poetic
eprit in the quaint disguise Of their time. John
HevwooA. John Harrington. Bamabe Googe, John
Dav;es of Hereford Francis and Walter Dawson.
are few of the old worthless who here set forth
again in ,hc light; and 1T may be said in genera
that the sixteenth century period Is treated ny 0ur
editors with especial thOrOughncSS. The verse o1
an earlier date wliCh after ali has an anti
ouarl.n ather than pOccal interest. is more fully
exhibited in Ward. Perhaps We can well spare u.
When we come tn the writers of the eighteenth cen
turv the pcculiarites of the collection are 20
tjceabe Mr. Stoddard has some remarks
nop the sterili.y of that age and the essentially
nrosaic character of the compositions which passed
for poetry during the era of which Pope was the
central figure, bEt whatever may be thought oi
those productions as "pOetry," there should be 10
ouestion of their Importance in a survey o. Eng
li,h verse" Not only in the matter of literary
STYLE but in certain intellectual qualities also the
poets of the artificial school have significance III
The history of English letters which no critics dis
nute Yet there is host of prominent names il
This class which Messrs linton and dSioadad,through
what We can only call critical freak have deber-
atc!y ycxcludcd-among thclG Prior, Swift, Gay, Gold
smith johnson, Bcattic. Sheus5one, Crahhe, Blair
Young Bow les. Rogers anG--cOming down 1.-the
later-Pracd collection without these writers,
and dozen others almost wGil-knowp whom,
miss here may be preferred to its predecessors as
more select and more strictly poeticai. hut IT
cannct be called comprehensive survey
of the field Of English vclsc. Even Pope, who.
whether poet not, is aSSuTcdly one of the great
verse-makcrs aud oIc Of the great literary artists,
is represented here by uothms except his boyis h
stanzas Jaiscalled bT him Ole Solitude"
which show neither lis highest achievement nor his
characteristic quality note lancnts that the
. scope of the present volume fnrldliug fragments
not even the perfection of smoothly measured YER
sifcaton for which he is most % br considered can
have fair reIrcseutuF' If that were true il would
he conclusive proof that the volume was made upon
false plan. Hut it must te evident to every stu
dent of Pope that II not true. &ad that tie real
reason why the perfection of popes smoothly
ured verSfcation is not fairly represeuted-say by
one If the Moral Essays" even by inferior
and sharter piece-is that the editors d. not ike
Pope. As 4 consequence OF mdulging personal pre-
iudce treir book far it relates 70 the literary
product of abOut one hundred years. j. a very
remarkable failnrc.
This brings MS TO the consideration Of another
point A great uany editors Of an:hOloges have
hampered themselves 10y self-mpoaed rule ia pass
over every poem which is too long To be printed in
full We never could discover an adequate reason
for this restriction. Some OF the most perfect
poems in the world are better adapted for extracts
than for reading in tull. and some Of the greatest
poets cannot he exhibited by their short pieces.
We see q conspicuous illustration Of the iuconven-
Iencc of the prohibition in the case just cited,
where the editors complain that it prevents them
from representing an author of great fame and i'll
fmencc by the qualities for which he is most t" Ice
considered and there is an equally striking proof
of II IN the of CHANGER from whom we have
only two short pieces Of three stanzas each-rathcr
less than third Of the allowance Of Walt Whit
man. One has only to read Mr. Stoddards apprecia