New-York tribune., 1901-03-02
ANTHOLOGIES.
AN OXFORD COLLECTOR OF VERSE, AND
SOME OTHERS.

SOME OTHERS
THE OXFORD BOOK OF ENGL.sHr NEhHE. dniIier.
l2lseo Chosen and Edited tfarpy Py FroHde r.
A TREASURY OF IRISH POETRY IL THE
ENGLISH TONGUE; Edited by So StoT,ofI pc xlii, a.
SIS The Macmillan Company. -
A TREASURY OF cANADIAN Nd5 VERSE sId t,6ted Mhed
by Theodore II. Rand; d. {. l.. Svo pp. XIV
42 f. r Dutton q Co r,,,,,
,tsE TREASURY OF AMERICAN SACRED
SONG With Notes EkP1naiW2ry M W anG aorder
Ee,; PI;iseS and Enlarged Edition. svo., PIP. X
4Ol Henry Fro~ce
The title chosen by Mr. Quler-Couch Tor ms
anthology is not the only tribute he pays therein
N his university. The dedication runs as foi-
lows. ITO the President, Fellows and Scholars
Of Trinity College oxford, a House of Learning
Ancient Liberal, Humane, and My Most hlnoly
,urse" q" We wonder what oxford thinks of the
hook and OF its title. Matthew Arnold was
once professor Of poetry at oxford. He thought
Shelley inferior to Byron. But this "oXford
anthology gives only six pages to Byron and
tu,entv TO Shelley OF course no one wants MI
Ouiller-Couch to rest supine beneath the dicta
~ Arnold or anybody else. Yet we wish ne had
bowed 10 authority in this particular case, ana
after careful study Of the whole book IL is
impossible to avoid feeling of regret that IL
did not after ALL get itself called simply os
Book Of English Verse Certainly il represents
a taste which one would rather attribute to him
than to oxford Mr.. Wilfred Scawen Blunt
very minor poet. rejOices nevertheless IN the
,ossession Of seven full pages. Aubrey DE
xrere.s ..T5urona" 3" which is not alone his best
poem hut one of the finest in modern literature
is omitted. one Of Lockers poems is enough for
Mr. ouiller-Couch. but he prints five OF Cow
entry Patmore's He quotes from Walt Whit
man but gives nothing Of Lowell or Holmes or
stedman. If Mr. Richard lie Gallienne can be
included II seems odd that Mr.. Arthur Symons
and Mr. stephen Phillips should not also be al
lowed within the fold. In short. this book has
a very personal flavor. Like every such an
thology prepared by man of culture and en-
thusiasm for good poetry it is good so far as IL
goes Since il contains hundreds Of the ac-
knowledged masterpieces Of English poetry II
could not help but be worth reading. But the
selection might have been made on somewhat
different and better lines. Perhaps if living
poets had been excluded altogether the result
would have been more satisfactory.
The living poet is indispensable to the Treas
ury Of Irish Poetry which makes its appear
ance we fancy, less because there is any great
need for collection Of the Irish verse written
IN English in the past, than because a Celtic
movement has for several years been exciting
a
they have grown 10 take it very seriously. The
transatlantic reader may be forgiven if he re-
ceives the boon with less gratitude than is pre-
sumably expected of him. There some good
verses scattered through reams of inconsequen-
tial stuff by the earlier writers. There are the
national street ballads. like The Night Before
. Larry Was Stretched" Mangan is worth know
ing. So also is George barley; so also are few
others Aubrey De We're. 20 whom we have just
alluded is as Celtic" as any of his country
men. and helps strengthen this anthology
We are far from undertaking.. either. the writ
ines Of Mr. Yeats MORA O'Nein" Mrs. Siger-
son, Lionel Johnson and A e. Fiona Mac
Leod, by the way who has been of transcendent
Importance 10 this movement, is omitted) But
so few of these writer's belong in the first class
that the spectacle they make gathered together
tn a stout volume all by themselves, with some
Of the living singers exchanging compliments IL
the shape of little prose introductions to one
anothers work, is not i'll calculated TO make the
unfeeling critic smile. An Irish anthology Of
some interest might be made about half the
size Of this one. But even then the world would
not be much richer.
Mr. Rand's Treasury Of Canadian Verse" is
a very dantily made book. and il contains some
excellent poems; but on the whole it inspires
thoughts similar those that spring from an
examination Of the Irish collection. The themes
are Canadian and the authors born in
Canada, but there is practically nothing else to
differentiate most Of them from the ordinary
minor poets Of England and America. In fact
the average is not so high that the Canadian
who is not only patriotic but critical can take
much pride in the collection.
The Treasury Of American Sacred Song has.
as pointed out on the occasion of its first an
pearance, a valid reason for existing IL trav-
erses a special field OF American poetry and a
fruitful one. Mr.. Horder is a good anthologist
sound in taste and skilful in the arrangement OF
his materials The new edition of his book de-
serves cordial welcome