The Advance of English Poetry in the Twentieth Century | Page 2

soldiers in active service. The
Allies are fighting for human liberty, and this Idea is an inspiration. It
is comforting to know that some who have made the supreme sacrifice
will be remembered through their printed poems, and it is a pleasure to
aid in giving them public recognition.
Furthermore, the war, undertaken by Germany to dominate the world
by crushing the power of Great Britain, has united all English-speaking
people as nothing else could have done. In this book, all poetry written
in the English language is considered as belonging to English literature.
It should be apparent that I am not a sectarian in art, but am thankful
for poetry wherever I find it. I have endeavored to make clear the
artistic, intellectual, and spiritual significance of many of our
contemporary English-writing poets. The difficulties of such an
undertaking are obvious; but there are two standards of measure. One is
the literature of the past, the other is the life of today. I judge every new
poet by these.
CONTENTS
I SOME CONTRASTS--HENLEY, THOMPSON, HARDY,
KIPLING
II PHILLIPS, WATSON, NOYES, HOUSMAN
III JOHN MASEFIELD
IV GIBSON AND HODGSON

V BROOKE, FLECKER, DE LA MARE, AND OTHERS
VI THE IRISH POETS
VII AMERICAN VETERANS AND FORERUNNERS
VIII VACHEL LINDSAY AND ROBERT FROST
IX AMY LOWELL, ANNA BRANCH, EDGAR LEE MASTERS,
LOUIS UNTERMEYER
X SARA TEASDALE, ALAN SEEGER, AND OTHERS
XI A GROUP OF YALE POETS
APPENDIX
INDEX
THE ADVANCE OF ENGLISH POETRY IN THE TWENTIETH
CENTURY
CHAPTER I
SOME CONTRASTS--HENLEY, THOMPSON, HARDY,
KIPLING
Meaning of the word "advance"--the present widespread interest in
poetry--the spiritual warfare--Henley and Thompson--Thomas Hardy a
prophet in literature--The Dynasts--his
atheism--his lyrical
power--Kipling the Victorian--his future possibilities--Robert
Bridges--Robert W. Service.
Although English poetry of the twentieth century seems inferior to the
poetry of the Victorian epoch, for in England there is no one equal to
Tennyson or Browning, and in America no one equal to Poe, Emerson,
or Whitman, still it may fairly be said that we can discern an advance in
English poetry not wholly to be measured either by the calendar and the
clock, or by sheer beauty of expression. I should not like to say that

Joseph Conrad is a greater writer than Walter Scott; and yet in The
Nigger of the Narcissus there is an intellectual sincerity, a profound
psychological analysis, a resolute intention to discover and to reveal the
final truth concerning the children of the sea, that one would hardly
expect to find in the works of the wonderful Wizard. Shakespeare was
surely a greater poet than Wordsworth; but the man of the Lakes, with
the rich inheritance of two centuries, had a capital of thought
unpossessed by the great dramatist, which, invested by his own genius,
enabled him to draw returns from nature undreamed of by his mighty
predecessor. Wordsworth was not great enough to have written King
Lear; and Shakespeare was not late enough to have written Tintern
Abbey. Every poet lives in his own time, has a share in its scientific and
philosophical advance, and his
individuality is coloured by his
experience. Even if he take a Greek myth for a subject, he will regard it
and treat it in the light of the day when he sits down at his desk, and
addresses himself to the task of composition. It is absurd to call the
Victorians old-fashioned or out of date; they were as intensely modern
as we, only their modernity is naturally not ours.
A great work of art is never old-fashioned; because it expresses in final
form some truth about human nature, and human nature never
changes--in comparison with its primal elements, the mountains are
ephemeral. A drama dealing with the impalpable human soul is more
likely to stay true than a treatise on geology. This is the notable
advantage that works of art have over works of science, the advantage
of being and remaining true. No matter how important the contribution
of scientific books, they are alloyed with inevitable error, and after the
death of their authors must be constantly revised by lesser men,
improved by smaller minds; whereas the masterpieces of poetry, drama
and fiction cannot be revised, because they are always true. The latest
edition of a work of science is the most valuable; of literature, the
earliest.
Apart from the natural and inevitable advance in poetry that every year
witnesses, we are living in an age characterized both in England and in
America by a remarkable advance in poetry as a vital influence. Earth's
oldest inhabitants probably cannot remember a time when there were so

many poets in activity, when so many books of poems were not only
read, but bought and sold, when poets were held in such high esteem,
when so much was written and published about poetry, when the mere
forms of verse