Evening star., 1932-03-31
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES Z. TRACEWELL.

One seldom picks up an anthology
without being disappointed in soma H.
spect.
These collections Of choice poems
the main trouble with them Is that
they are some one else's choice, are
they not?
Surely the only perfect anthology Is
that which every reader Of poetry makes
for himself out Of many books Of verse.
We opened a specialized anthology
the other day hoping against hope that
we would not find some Of our favor
ties omitted.
We were not disappointed, in that
sense. at least; scarcely one Of our IA
yoriteS was presents
The compiler, evidently a stubborn
fellow, had understood well that more
than one voice of protest would go up
over his selection, or, rather, over what
he did not choose to select.
He devoted several paragraphs Of his
introduction to an explanation of why
he had chosen what he did, and espe
cially why he had left out many poems
which the lover of poetry would have
expected to find in his book.
He convinced nobody but himself
His omissions ranked. every time one
turned the pages. Argument Is useless
in matters of poetry. There are some
poems. in all languages, which belong
by right in every anthology. When they
are left out they are omitted arbi-
trarily.
Now this is the right, of course, of
the man who selects, but he need en-
pect few readers to agree with him.
To those who resent the absence of
certain favorites, there will always be
something faulty in the volume. Scores
OF other worthy things make no
difference.
The task of the anthologist. in prose
or poetry, but particularly in the latter,
is one OF mingled pleasure and pain.
Something must be left out-but
what?
No matter what is omitted. the COM
piler may feel certain that he is tread
ing on somebody's toes of literary ap-
probation
In matters Of appreciation there are
no hard and fast lines which in
dubitably mark poem as great. "
"near-great," good" fair" or poor !"
All that can be said in such mat
ters must be left b the selective
taste OF many peopla One judgment
Will not do. 1t never has and 1t
probably never will be sufficient.
On the other hand. in matters Of
taste the herd mind cannot rule.
There must be some way of balancing
the choice of best mind" against
the choice of several good minds.
Matters of taste should be left to
persons of taste, some one has well
said. That was the literary creed Of
n Nf
every one had a right to venture on
book review. Because one could
marshal q stated number of words in
massed Judgment of a new book.
according to Poe, did not mean that
the result was in any sense an ade-
quate book review.
Who, then, was Poe'S idea OF a good
book critic? Why. Edgar Allan Poe,
OF course! 1t is exactly at this point
that the difficulty of selecting poems
Tor an anthology comes in. Some
person OF taste must make the choice
yes. but who Is to select the person
of taste?
Usually It is left to some one who
has made a name for himself in the
held OF literature, preferably as a poet.
This is natural, but can 1t be said
to be the best way of gathering I'D a
wreath OF WORD mowers? Some will
question this method. The mind of
the poet is fixed on his poetry. In
the very nature of things he has his
own rules, by which he judges his own
productions and by which, unfortu-
nately, he will judge the poems Of
Others
Therefore it may be questioned
whether any poet, no matter how
brilliant. can be considered the ideal
person for making an anthology. With
the best will in the world he will be
inclined to leave out certain works
which do not appeal II him. He will
realize their greatness, but will be