TO THE POETS OF AMERICA
SINGING TODAY
THE SOUL OF THEIR COUNTRY
TRUTH, BEAUTY, BROTHERHOOD
THEIR NAMES ARE TORCHES
CONTENTS
| Page | |
| Introduction | [v] |
| Hymn to Demeter, by Louis V. Ledoux | [1] |
| Over the Wintry Threshold, by Bliss Carman | [2] |
| In April, by Margaret Lee Ashley | [3] |
| May Is Building Her House, by Richard Le Gallienne | [3] |
| In a Forgotten Burying-ground, by Ruth Guthrie Harding | [4] |
| Wind, by Fannie Stearns Davis | [5] |
| The Speckled Trout, by Madison Cawein | [5] |
| Trees, by Joyce Kilmer | [7] |
| In the Hospital, by Arthur Guiterman | [7] |
| Love of Life, by Tertius van Dyke | [8] |
| God’s Will, by Mildred Howells | [8] |
| On the Birth of a Child, by Louis Untermeyer | [9] |
| To a Child Falling Asleep, Robert Alden Sanborn | [9] |
| A Roman Doll, by Agnes Lee | [12] |
| Sappho, by Sara Teasdale | [13] |
| Of Moira Up the Glen, by Edward J. O’Brien | [16] |
| Morning Glories, by John G. Neihardt | [17] |
| Lest I Learn, by Witter Bynner | [18] |
| Later, by Willard Huntington Wright | [18] |
| The Old Maid, by Sara Teasdale | [19] |
| Departure, by John Hall Wheelock | [20] |
| An Adieu, by Florence Earle Coates | [20] |
| Heart’s Tide, by Ethel M. Hewitt | [21] |
| Waiting, by Charles Hanson Towne | [22] |
| Desiderium, by Richard Le Gallienne | [22] |
| Human, by Richard Burton | [23] |
| The Ghost, by Hermann Hagedorn | [23] |
| A Mountain Gateway, by Bliss Carman | [24] |
| Perugia, by Amelia Josephine Burr | [25] |
| Ghosts, by Marguerite Mooers Marshall | [27] |
| St. John and the Faun, by George Edward Woodberry | [28] |
| School, by Percy MacKaye | [30] |
| The Marvelous Munchausen, by William Rose Benét | [34] |
| Train-mates, by Witter Bynner | [38] |
| The Kallyope Yell, by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay | [39] |
| Thanksgiving For Our Task, by Shaemas OSheel | [43] |
| A Likeness, by Willa Sibert Cather | [46] |
| The Field of Glory, by Edwin Arlington Robinson | [48] |
| Rich Man, Poor Man—, by Francis Hill | [49] |
| The Sin Eater, by Ruth Comfort Mitchell | [50] |
| Night-sentries, by George Sterling | [52] |
| The Swordless Christ, by Percy Adams Hutchison | [54] |
| What of the Night?, by Willard Huntington Wright | [55] |
| A Threnody, by Louis V. Ledoux | [57] |
| November, by Mahlon Leonard Fisher | [61] |
| Salutation, by Ruth Sterry | [62] |
| Here Lies Pierrot, by Richard Burton | [62] |
| List of “Distinctive Poems,” Their Authors, and the Magazines in Which They Appeared | [64] |
| The “Best Poems” Chosen from the “Distinctive” List | [69] |
| Titles and Authors of All Poems Appearing in the Seven Magazines For 1918 | [71] |
| Index of First Lines | [99] |
INTRODUCTION
Poetry is one of the realities that persist. The façade and dome of palace and temple, the monuments of heroes and saints, crumble before the ruining breath of time, while the Psalms last. So when another year passes and we sum up our achievements, there is no achievement more vital in registering the soul of a people than its poetry. But in all things that men do, their relationship is objective except those things in which art, religion, love, and nature express their influence through the private thoughts and feelings of men. These four things are the realities, all the others are symbols. And the essence of art, as well as religion and love and nature, is a conscious and mysterious thing, called Poetry. And men will find, if they will only stop to look, that at the bottom of all this poetry, no matter what the theme or the particular artistic shaping, there is something with which they are familiar, because in their own souls there has been an unceasing mystery which they find named in the magic utterance of some lonely and neglected maker of verses.
The poetry in the magazines for this past year has been of a general high standard. The long poems have been well sustained, and there has been a larger quantity of pure lyric pieces than in the past two or three years. The influence of Masefield has shown itself in American verse, notably in the two long poems by Harry Kemp, “The Harvest Hand” and “The Factory.” One of the noblest poems of the year is Henry van Dyke’s “Daybreak in the Grand Cañon of Arizona,” which breathes a fine national spirit, full of reverence for the greatness with which the American destiny is symbolized in the natural grandeur of our country. Mr. Markham has a long narrative in “The Shoes of Happiness,” full of his visionary and spiritual promptings. And in “The Vision of Gettysburg” Mr. Robert Underwood Johnson reflects also the national spirit with particular significance.