CHAPTER IV
Some Poets of To-day
Our day is a time when more good verse is being written than ever before, much of it in our own country. The yearly output in English alone is enormous, and much of it is so strong, so original, that club women should certainly familiarize themselves with it.
To study the subject intelligently there may be a preliminary course on modern poetry and its criticism, using these books, in part or whole: "Studies in Poetry and Criticism," by Arthur Symons (Bell), "An Introduction to Poetry," by R. M. Alden (Henry Holt & Co.), "The Enjoyment of Poetry," by Max Eastman (Scribner), and "Lectures on Poetry," by A. C. Bradley (Macmillan).
As the modern poets are studied, have plenty of illustrative readings from the works of each one. Selections will be found in "Poets of the Younger Generation," by William Archer (John Lane Co.), and two volumes edited by Jessie Belle Rittenhouse, "The Younger American Poets" (Little, Brown & Co.) and "The Little Book of Modern Verse" (Houghton Mifflin). Also "The Lyric Year," edited by Ferdinand Earle (Mitchell Kennerley), will be found helpful. There are three magazines which constantly present the best new work of our poets, Poet Lore, Poetry, and The Poetry Journal.
It is of course extremely difficult to classify the writings of poets, because few devote themselves to one style of verse alone. The writer of dramatic poetry will sometimes write lyrics, and the author of philosophical verse will write poems about nature. But for this study the principal work of each poet has been selected, with references to what else has been done by him.
I—INTRODUCTORY
Before beginning with the regular program for the year clubs should devote one or two meetings, as has been suggested, to the study of poetry as a whole. Then there should follow two more on the history of poetry, showing that all early national expression takes this form; illustrate with readings from the Vedic Hymns (translated in Warner's "Library of the World's Best Literature"), and the "Song of Miriam" from the Hebrew, in the Bible. Have papers on the great epics, also, with readings from the "Iliad," the "Odyssey," the "Æneid," the "Nibelungenlied," the "Divine Comedy," the Arthurian cycle and "Paradise Lost."
Turning then to the poetry of to-day, notice that its spirit is something quite new. It is individual. It aims at truth and realism. In much of it there is a great moral purpose—the passion for justice.