Evening star., 1932-03-31

able to think 10 o hundred and one
good szeuses fW Ast including them
in his aabey. Perhaps he will
make up for it, in his own mind, by
putting in certain poems which make
a popular appeal, but which do not
necessarily appeal to him. These Will
show. according to him. his great fair
ness in ali things. He fairly leaned
over backward" he points out. to in
clude certain things, but he does not
saw a word about what he left out.
It is usually at this exact point that
the reader finds most anthologies go
back on him. Believing himself to be
a person of some taste, he inStinctively
has in mind. if not consciously, then
unconsciously, certain body OF fine
poems
At first reading he may not realize
just what it is about the production
which leaves him dissatisfied These
poems included-ah, they are great
enough, in their way, no dlsputlng that,
although one cannot feel that TINS par
ticular specimen Is very great.
Then, all of sudden, the reader
realizes that some one favorite poem OF
his has been left out entirely. What!
left out? He begins TO leaf over the
pages. thinking that he had overlooked
the poem which has snapped back into
his memory.
Already he has begun to boil in
wsrdly. How could any one who loves
poetry, or who processes TO love poetry,
leave out this poem? 1t Is certainly
not as fine as several which have been
included there can be no doubt OF that,
but surely it is good enough 70 go into
any self-respecting anthology chosen by
man or men OF good taste
The readers pride in his own love OF
poetry has been struck a blow. He be-
gins to lose respect for the compiler s
ability HOW could the fellow have left
that one out? He could not have
called it "hackneyed," although it is
vastly beloved the world around. 1t
has behind it the sanction of great
readers, and writer's, too.
No, the anthologiSt Is fool. The
reader now begins to turn over the
leaves of his own memory, in order to
discover what else this ignorant fellow
of a compiler has left out Of his book.
Sure enough, he finds many omissions,
now that he begins to hunt for them.
Each one leaves q mental wound. The
reader feels sorry for the authors of
the poems, for himself, as q reader, and
for this ignoramous of q compiler, who
was one Of two things, either dull Of
mind, or riding q hobby OF his own.
Then the reader tends to come to his
senses and TO realize that any anthol-
ogiSt has a difficult task before him, to
reconcile his own judgment with the
judgment OF mankind in its role as ap-
preciator Of great poetry. Certain
poems may not be left out. On these
precious things a hundred persons fit to
judge would vote as one man.
On q certain other list, almost as
precious and equally 50 to many read
ers, the same hundred impsccable
judges might vary widely. Their own
ideas Of craftsmanship would stand in
the way. Lord TennySon, for instance,
would have selected few of Walt Whit
mans poems for any anthology which
he might have edited. Swinburne. on
the other hand, although master Cf
singing verse himself, put his approval
on much Of Whitmans crude but
mighty work.
1t is inevitable, therefore, that an
anthology be Disappointing at both
ends. both because of what may be put
in and because of what may be left out.
There Is no more difficult task than
that Of selection, and inclusion invari-
ably means omission, too The wide
variance in lists of the hundred best
books" shows how impossible it is to
get real meeting of the minds on any
subject. Out Of the millions of books
published over the centuries it would
seem the easiest thing in the world for
experts to choose a hundred with some
semblance of agreement. No two lists
would agree, however When the selec-
ton OF the best poems" comes in for
consideration the variance is even wider
ana the pYDprtS or
Reader disappointment, therefore. NAV
be rated as inevitable when one comes
to anthologies, and expected as a part
OF the show.