Evening star., 1925-07-11
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the BoOkLoper.

ID HleCIaIllcdl, nlSnlyt Speeueu-up age.
Can 1t by any possibility also be a
poetic age? Is good poetry now writ
ten, published and read? The Book
lover will not attempt any general an
swer TO these questions, but will con-
tent himself with presenting some con-
crete evidence for an affirmative an
Swer, in the shape of an anthology of
American and English poetry which
bears striking testimony to the vital
ity of poetry today. This anthology is
the well known Home Book of Verse"
and its recent extension, THE Home
Book of Modern Verse;" both compiled
by Burton E. Stevenson.
X X X X
1t is believed that the history Of this
enterprise affords convincing proof of
the vast body of good poetry on which
the anthologist may draw, of the rapid
production of good poetry in recent
years and of the demand for poetry
by the public. The first edition of
THE Home Book of Verse" was pub
lished in 1872. The compiler's aim
was to include the best short poems
in the English language from 1880 to
the date of publication. Notwith-
standing the limitations of copyright
which caused the omission of some
poems desired for inclusion, the book
by the use of India paper could it be
comprised in a single volume. The
editor records that there was tenta-
tive agreement with the publisher
! that the anthology should be revised
and enlarged from time to time, pro-
vided the demand for the book should
justify the expenditure. 1t proved
success from the start, due in part TO
the fact that it was published when
M ral h a mr.
when public interest in poetry was in
creasing to a remarkable degree. But
this situation both compelled and JUS
titled the revision of the anthology to
include the new generation of poets,
such as Masefield, Alfred Noyes,
Frost, Robinson, Lindsay and Walter
de la Mare, so that within five years
from the first publication a new edi-
ton was issued with nearly 600 addi-
tional poems. With the fifth edition.
published in 1922. the book had been
swelled to more than 1000 pages,
fat. bulky volume, since there is
limit to the thinness even OF India
paper. But present day poets are not
to be held in leash by any such limita-
tions. Many Of the older members OF
the guild have gone on doing better
work, and a still younger generation
has been coming on bringing much of
SOllu dCHlehcInelll. 10 SlNS piOPSA
representation to these later poetic
offerings, Mr.. Stevenson has prepared
an extension of the older book in the
form of a separate volume, The
Home Book of Modern Verse This,
too, already makes a rather formidable
tome, extending to nearly 1,200 pages
and containing more than 1900 poems
by more than 400 writers.
X
Too much emphasis has been put on
mere bulk in what has been said of
this anthology. Big as both volumes
are, the exceedingly skillful and dis
eliminating anthology emphasizes the
facts that three or four times as much
material was assembled as could be
used, that the poems finally selected
had survived repeated readings and
repeated winnowings, and that their
survival was due solely to their con
tent and quality and not at all to their
authorship. In the case of both vol
umes the results have been highly
satisfactory, whether the reader is in
search of the full text of old faVorites,
whether he wishes representative Sc
leCtions from specific poets, or just
good verse. The arrangement of the
books is likewise excellent and serv-
iceable. Grouped by subject accord
ing to an interesting classification that
heightens the pleasure of reading in
sequence, the librarian-compiler has
furnished each volume with tables of
contents. indexes of authors, of first
lines and of titles, thus making the
volumes of the utmost value as books
of reference. In quality and execution
THE Home Book of Verse and its
modern extension to cover twentieth
century verse fully deserve their popu-
larity.
1t seems almost as if May Sinclair
must have had some compunctions, or
perhaps some complaints from her
readers, after she wrote "a Cure for
Souls" which made her, in justice to
the English clergy, hasten TO assure
the public that they are not all like
the selfish, ease-loving rector in "A
Cure for Souls" In 1.-THE Rector of
Wyck" she has drawn an exactly op-
posite type, a saint and yet SO real a
man that we suffer with him in the
undeserved troubles which make him
old before his time. His is no life of
luxury and self-indulgence; of eating
sun-ripened peaches in his garden be-
fore breakfast, of driving out for
pleasure on fine days and reading and
doing by the drawing room fire on
the dinner of an epicure. The days of
John Crawford, rector of Wyck, and
his devoted wife, Matte, are spent in
visiting the sick, feeding the hungry
and trying to reclaim sinners. When
they sit down together BY the evening
lamp they are both so tired that often
they are equal to no occupation eX-
cept talking about their two children,
Milly and Derek. There is never
Il, -, al.
modish clothes or beautiful home fur
nishings. Whatever can be spared
must always be spent on the poor of
Wyck and on saving for the educa-
ton of the two children. Even the
little pony cart has to be given up
after Johns drunken brother Charles
departs for America, leaving his wife
and children for John to support. And
the Summer trip to Switzerland,
Southern France and Italy, which
John and Matte have talked of ever
since before they We're married, is
never taken. The satisfaction from
their children which might perhaps
have been expected to follow their un-
selfish devotion, does not come. Milly
is always 80 good" that her mother
and every one else wonders at her,
but her goodness develops into self
Righteousness, and in doing her duty
to the world she entirely neglects her
parents. Derek leads his father and
mother into the Valley of Humilia-
ton, when they discover that the son
whom they have believed so clever, so
wonderful, is a drunkard. Yet the
life of the rector of Wyck is not en-
tirely story of Job. He is absorbed
in his parish and his work, the de-
voted love between himself and his
wife is unimpaired by time or trouble,
and nothing even seriously disturbs
the deep faith and peace in his soul.