The New Poetry: An Anthology

by Unknown

It remains only to explain the plan of this anthology, its inclusions and omissions.

It has seemed best to include no poems published before 1900, even though, as in a few cases, the poets were moved by the new impulses. For example, those two intensely modern, nobly impassioned, lyric poets, Emily Dickinson and the Shropshire Lad (Alfred Edward Housman)—the one dead, the other fortunately still living—both belong, by date of publication, to the ’nineties. The work of poets already, as it were, enshrined—whether by fame, or death, or both—has also not been quoted: poets whose works are already, in a certain sense, classics, and whose books are treasured by all lovers of the art—like Synge and Moody and Riley, too early gone from us, and William Butler Yeats, whose later verse is governed, even more than his earlier, by the new austerities.

Certain other omissions are more difficult to explain, because they may be thought to imply a lack of consideration which we do not feel. The present Laureate, Robert Bridges, even in the late ’eighties and early ’nineties, was led by his own personal taste, especially in his Shorter Poems, toward austere simplicity of subject, diction and style. But his most representative poems were written before 1900. Rudyard Kipling has been inspired at times by the modern muse, but his best poems also antedate 1900. This is true also of Louise Imogen Guiney and Bliss Carman, though most of their work, like that of Arthur Symons and the late Stephen Phillips and Anna Hempstead Branch, belongs, by its affinities, to the earlier period. And Alfred Noyes, whatever the date of his poems, bears no immediate relation to the more progressive modern movement in the art.

On the other hand, we have tried to be hospitable to the adventurous, the experimental, because these are the qualities of pioneers, who look forward, not backward, and who may lead on, further than we can see as yet, to new domains of the ever-conquering spirit of beauty.

H. M.

Note. A word about the typography of this volume. No rigid system of lineation, indention, etc., has been imposed upon the poets who very kindly lend us their work. For example, sonnets are printed with or without indention according to the individual preference of the poet; also other rhymed forms, such as quatrains rhyming alternately; as well as various forms of free verse. Punctuation and spelling are more uniform, although a certain liberty has been conceded in words like gray or grey, the color of which seems to vary with the spelling, and in the use of dots, dashes, commas, colons, etc.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Conrad Aiken:			PAGE
	Music I Heard		[1]
	Dead Cleopatra		[1]
	Dancing Adairs		[2]
Zoë Akins:
	The Tragedienne		[3]
	I Am the Wind		[3]
	Conquered		[4]
	The Wanderer		[4]
Richard Aldington:
	The Poplar		[5]
	Lesbia		[6]
	Images, I-VI		[6]
	Choricos		[7]
Mary Aldis:
	Barberries		[10]
	When You Come		[11]
	Flash-lights, I-III		[12]
Walter Conrad Arensberg:
	Voyage à l’Infini		[13]
	At Daybreak		[14]
	To Hasekawa		[14]
	Dialogue		[14]
	Song of the Souls Set Free		[15]
Wilton Agnew Barrett:
	A New England Church		[15]
Joseph Warren Beach:
	Rue Bonaparte		[16]
	The View at Gunderson’s		[17]
William Rose Benét:
	The Falconer of God		[18]
	The Horse Thief		[20]
Maxwell Bodenheim:
	The Rear Porches of an Apartment-Building		[24]
	The Interne		[24]
	The Old Jew		[25]
	The Miner		[25]
	To an Enemy		[25]
	To a Discarded Steel Rail		[26]
Gordon Bottomley:
	Night and Morning Songs:
		My Moon	[26]
		Elegiac Mood	[27]
		Dawn	[27]
Rollo Britten:
	Bird of Passion		[28]
Rupert Brooke:
	Retrospect		[28]
	Nineteen-Fourteen:
		I. Peace	[29]
		II. Safety	[30]
		III. The Dead	[30]
		IV. The Dead	[31]
		V. The Soldier	[31]
Witter Bynner:
	To Celia:
		I. Consummation	[32]
		II. During a Chorale by Cesar Franck	[33]
		III. Songs Ascending	[34]
	Grieve not for Beauty		[34]
Joseph Campbell:
	At Harvest		[35]
	On Waking		[36]
	The Old Woman		[38]
Nancy Campbell:
	The Apple-Tree		[38]
	The Monkey		[39]
Skipwith Cannéll:
	The Red Bridge		[40]
	The King		[41]
Willa Sibert Cather:
	The Palatine (In the “Dark Ages.”)		[43]
	Spanish Johnny		[44]
Padraic Colum:
	Polonius and the Ballad Singers		[45]
	The Sea Bird to the Wave		[49]
	Old Men Complaining		[49]
Grace Hazard Conkling:
	Refugees (Belgium—1914)		[52]
	“The Little Rose is Dust, My Dear”		[53]
Alice Corbin:
	O World		[53]
	Two Voices		[54]
	Love Me at Last		[55]
	Humoresque		[55]
	One City Only		[55]
	Apparitions, I-II		[57]
	The Pool		[57]
	Music		[58]
	What Dim Arcadian Pastures		[59]
	Nodes		[59]
Adelaide Crapsey:
	Cinquains:
		November Night	[60]
		Triad	[60]
		Susanna and the Elders	[61]
		The Guarded Wound	[61]
		The Warning	[61]
		Fate Defied	[61]
	The Pledge		[61]
	Expenses		[62]
	Adventure		[62]
	Dirge		[62]
	Song		[62]
	The Lonely Death		[63]
H. D.:
	Hermes of the Ways, I-II		[63]
	Priapus (Keeper of Orchards)		[65]
	The Pool		[66]
	Oread		[66]
	The Garden, I-II		[66]
	Moonrise		[67]
	The Shrine, I-IV		[68]
Mary Carolyn Davies:
	Cloistered		[71]
	Songs of a Girl, I-V		[72]
Fannie Stearns Davis:
	Profits		[73]
	Souls		[74]
Walter de la Mare:
	The Listeners		[74]
	An Epitaph		[75]
Lee Wilson Dodd:
	The Temple		[76]
	The Comrade		[77]
John Drinkwater:
	Sunrise on Rydal Water		[78]
Louise Driscoll:
	The Metal Checks		[80]
Dorothy Dudley:
	La Rue de la Montagne Sainte-Gèneviève		[84]
Helen Dudley:
	To One Unknown		[86]
	Song		[86]
Max Eastman:
	Diogenes		[87]
	In March		[87]
	At the Aquarium		[87]
T. S. Eliot:
	Portrait of a Lady, I-III		[88]
Arthur Davison Ficke:
	Meeting		[92]
	Among Shadows		[93]
	The Three Sisters		[93]
	Portrait of an Old Woman		[93]
	I am Weary of Being Bitter		[94]
	From “Sonnets of a Portrait Painter”		[95]
	Like Him Whose Spirit		[95]
John Gould Fletcher:
	Irradiations, I-IV		[96]
	Arizona Poems:
		Mexican Quarter	[98]
		Rain in the Desert	[99]
	The Blue Symphony, I-V		[100]
F. S. Flint:
	Poems in Unrhymed Cadence, I-III		[104]
Moireen Fox:
	Liadain to Curithir, I-V		[106]
Florence Kiper Frank:
	The Jewish Conscript		[108]
	The Movies		[109]
	You		[109]
Robert Frost:
	Mending Wall		[110]
	After Apple-Picking		[111]
	My November Guest		[112]
	Mowing		[113]
	Storm Fear		[113]
	Going for Water		[114]
	The Code—Heroics		[115]
Hamlin Garland:
	To a Captive Crane		[119]
	The Mountains are a Lonely Folk		[119]
	Magic		[119]
Wilfrid Wilson Gibson:
	Color		[120]
	Oblivion		[121]
	Tenants		[121]
	Gold		[122]
	On Hampstead Heath		[122]
	Battle:
		The Going	[123]
		The Joke	[123]
		In the Ambulance	[123]
		Hit	[124]
		The Housewife	[124]
		Hill-born	[125]
		The Fear	[125]
		Back	[125]
Richard Butler Glaenzer:
	Star-Magic		[126]
Douglas Goldring:
	Voyages, I-IV		[127]
Hermann Hagedorn:
	Early Morning at Bargis		[128]
	Doors		[129]
	Departure		[129]
	Broadway		[130]
Thomas Hardy:
	She Hears the Storm		[130]
	The Voice		[131]
	In the Moonlight		[132]
	The Man He Killed		[132]
Ralph Hodgson:
	The Mystery		[133]
	Three Poems, I-III		[133]
	Stupidity Street		[134]
Horace Holley:
	Three Poems:
		Creative	[134]
		Twilight at Versailles	[135]
		Lovers	[135]
Helen Hoyt:
	Ellis Park		[135]
	The New-Born		[136]
	Rain at Night		[137]
	The Lover Sings of a Garden		[137]
	Since I Have Felt the Sense of Death		[138]
Ford Madox Hueffer:
	Antwerp, I-VI		[138]
Scharmel Iris:
	After the Martyrdom		[143]
	Lament		[143]
	Iteration		[144]
	Early Nightfall		[144]
Orrick Johns:
	Songs of Deliverance:
		I. The Song of Youth	[144]
		II. Virgins	[146]
		III. No Prey Am I	[146]
Joyce Kilmer:
	Trees		[150]
	Easter		[150]
Alfred Kreymborg:
	America		[151]
	Old Manuscript		[151]
	Cézanne		[152]
	Parasite		[152]
William Laird:
	Traümerei at Ostendorff’s		[153]
	A Very Old Song		[154]
D. H. Lawrence:
	A Woman and Her Dead Husband		[155]
	Fireflies in the Corn		[157]
	Green		[158]
	Grief		[158]
	Service of All the Dead		[159]
Agnes Lee:
	Motherhood		[159]
	A Statue in a Garden		[161]
	On the Jail Steps		[161]
	Her Going		[162]
William Ellery Leonard:
	Indian Summer		[165]
Vachel Lindsay:
	General William Booth Enters into Heaven		[166]
	The Eagle that is Forgotten		[168]
	The Congo (A Study of the Negro Race):
		I. Their Basic Savagery	[169]
		II. Their Irrepressible High Spirits	[171]
		III. The Hope of Their Religion	[172]
	Aladdin and the Jinn		[174]
	The Chinese Nightingale		[175]
Amy Lowell:
	Patterns		[182]
	1777:
		I. The Trumpet-Vine Arbor	[186]
		II. The City of Falling Leaves	[187]
	Venus Transiens		[191]
	A Lady		[192]
	Chinoiseries:
		Reflections	[192]
		Falling Snow	[193]
		Hoar-frost	[193]
	Solitaire		[193]
	A Gift		[194]
	Red Slippers		[194]
	Apology		[195]
Percy Mackaye:
	Old Age		[196]
	Song from “Mater”		[197]
Frederic Manning:
	Sacrifice		[198]
	At Even		[199]
John Masefield:
	Ships		[200]
	Cargoes		[203]
	Watching by a Sick-Bed		[203]
	What am I, Life?		[204]
Edgar Lee Masters:
	Spoon River Anthology:
		The Hill	[205]
		Ollie McGee	[206]
		Daisy Fraser	[207]
		Hare Drummer	[207]
		Doc Hill	[208]
		Fiddler Jones	[208]
		Thomas Rhodes	[209]
		Editor Whedon	[210]
		Seth Compton	[210]
		Henry C. Calhoun	[211]
		Perry Zoll	[212]
		Archibald Higbie	[212]
		Father Malloy	[213]
		Lucinda Matlock	[213]
		Anne Rutledge	[214]
		William H. Herndon	[215]
		Rutherford McDowell	[215]
		Arlo Will	[216]
		Aaron Hatfield	[217]
		Webster Ford	[218]
	Silence		[219]
Alice Meynell:
	Maternity		[221]
	Chimes		[221]
Max Michelson:
	O Brother Tree		[222]
	The Bird		[223]
	Storm		[223]
	A Hymn to Night		[224]
	Love Lyric		[224]
Edna St. Vincent Millay:
	God’s World		[225]
	Ashes of Life		[226]
	The Shroud		[226]
Harold Monro:
	Great City		[227]
	Youth in Arms		[228]
	The Strange Companion		[229]
Harriet Monroe:
	The Hotel		[231]
	The Turbine		[233]
	On the Porch		[236]
	The Wonder of It		[237]
	The Inner Silence		[238]
	Love Song		[238]
	A Farewell		[239]
	Lullaby		[239]
	Pain		[240]
	The Water Ouzel		[241]
	The Pine at Timber-Line		[242]
	Mountain Song		[242]
John G. Neihardt:
	Prayer for Pain		[243]
	Envoi		[244]
Yone Noguchi:
	The Poet		[245]
	I Have Cast the World		[246]
Grace Fallow Norton:
	Allegra Agonistes		[246]
	Make No Vows		[247]
	I Give Thanks		[247]
James Oppenheim:
	The Slave		[248]
	The Lonely Child		[249]
	Not Overlooked		[249]
	The Runner in the Skies		[250]
Patrick Orr:
	Annie Shore and Johnnie Doon		[250]
	In the Mohave		[251]
Seumas O’Sullivan:
	My Sorrow		[252]
	Splendid and Terrible		[252]
	The Others		[253]
Josephine Preston Peabody:
	Cradle Song, I-III		[254]
	The Cedars		[256]
	A Song of Solomon		[257]
Ezra Pound:
	Δώρια		[257]
	The Return		[258]
	Piccadilly		[259]
	N. Y.		[259]
	The Coming of War: Actaeon		[260]
	The Garden		[260]
	Ortus		[261]
	The Choice		[261]
	The Garret		[262]
	Dance Figure		[262]
	From “Near Périgord”		[263]
	An Immorality		[264]
	The Study in Aesthetics		[265]
	Further Instructions		[265]
	Villanelle: The Psychological Hour, I-III		[266]
	Ballad of the Goodly Fere		[268]
	Ballad for Gloom		[270]
	La Fraisne		[271]
	The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter (from the Chinese of Li Po.)		[273]
	Exile’s Letter (From the Chinese of Li Po.)		[274]
John Reed:
	Sangar		[277]
Ernest Rhys:
	Dagonet’s Canzonet		[280]
	A Song of Happiness		[281]
Edwin Arlington Robinson:
	The Master		[283]
	John Gorham		[285]
	Richard Cory		[287]
	The Growth of Lorraine, I-II		[287]
	Cassandra		[288]
Carl Sandburg:
	Chicago		[290]
	The Harbor		[291]
	Sketch		[292]
	Lost		[292]
	Jan Kubelik		[293]
	At a Window		[293]
	The Poor		[294]
	The Road and the End		[294]
	Killers		[295]
	Nocturne in a Deserted Brickyard		[296]
	Handfuls		[296]
	Under the Harvest Moon		[297]
	Choose		[297]
	Kin		[298]
	Places		[298]
	Joy		[299]
	The Great Hunt		[299]
	Our Prayer of Thanks		[300]
Clara Shanafelt:
	To Thee		[301]
	Caprice		[301]
	A Vivid Girl		[301]
	Invocation		[302]
	Pastel		[302]
	A Gallant Woman		[302]
	Scherzo		[303]
Frances Shaw:
	Who Loves the Rain		[304]
	The Harp of the Wind		[304]
	The Ragpicker		[305]
	Cologne Cathedral		[305]
	Star Thought		[305]
	The Child’s Quest		[306]
	Little Pagan Rain Song		[306]
Constance Lindsay Skinner:
	Songs of the Coast-Dwellers:
		The Chief’s Prayer after the Salmon Catch	[307]
		Song of Whip-Plaiting	[308]
		No Answer is Given	[309]
James Stephens:
	What Tomas An Buile said in a Pub		[312]
	Bessie Bobtail		[313]
	Hate		[313]
	The Waste Places, I-II		[314]
	Hawks		[316]
	Dark Wings		[317]
George Sterling:
	A Legend of the Dove		[317]
	Kindred		[318]
	Omnia Exeunt in Mysterium		[318]
	The Last Days		[319]
Wallace Stevens:
	Peter Quince at the Clavier, I-IV		[320]
	In Battle		[322]
	Sunday Morning, I-V		[323]
Ajan Syrian:
	The Syrian Lover in Exile Remembers Thee, Light of my Land		[325]
Rabindranath Tagore:
	From “Gitanjali,” I-VI		[327]
	From “The Gardener,” I-IX		[329]
Sara Teasdale:
	Leaves		[334]
	Morning		[334]
	The Flight		[335]
	Over the Roofs		[335]
	Debt		[336]
	Songs in a Hospital:
		The Broken Field	[336]
		Open Windows	[336]
	After Death		[337]
	In Memoriam F. O. S.		[337]
	Swallow Flight		[338]
	The Answer		[338]
Eunice Tietjens:
	The Bacchante to Her Babe		[339]
	The Steam Shovel		[341]
	The Great Man		[343]
Ridgely Torrence:
	The Bird and the Tree		[344]
	The Son		[345]
Charles Hanson Towne:
	Beyond the Stars		[346]
Louis Untermeyer:
	Landscapes		[348]
	Feuerzauber		[350]
	On the Birth of a Child		[351]
	Irony		[352]
Allen Upward:
	Scented Leaves from a Chinese Jar:
		The Acacia Leaves	[352]
		The Bitter Purple Willows	[352]
		The Coral Fisher	[353]
		The Diamond	[353]
		The Estuary	[353]
		The Intoxicated Poet	[353]
		The Jonquils	[353]
		The Marigold	[353]
		The Mermaid	[354]
		The Middle Kingdom	[354]
		The Milky Way	[354]
		The Onion	[354]
		The Sea-Shell	[354]
		The Stupid Kite	[354]
		The Windmill	[355]
		The Word	[355]
John Hall Wheelock:
	Sunday Evening in the Common		[355]
	Spring		[356]
	Like Music		[356]
	The Thunder-Shower		[357]
	Song		[357]
	Alone		[358]
	Nirvana		[358]
	Triumph of the Singer		[358]
Hervey White:
	Last Night		[359]
	I Saw the Clouds		[360]
Margaret Widdemer:
	The Beggars		[361]
	Teresina’s Face		[362]
	Greek Folk Song		[362]
Florence Wilkinson:
	Our Lady of Idleness		[363]
	Students		[365]
Marguerite Wilkinson:
	A Woman’s Beloved—A Psalm		[367]
	An Incantation		[368]
William Carlos Williams:
	Sicilian Emigrant’s Song		[369]
	Peace on Earth		[370]
	The Shadow		[371]
	Metric Figure		[371]
	Sub Terra		[372]
	Slow Movement		[373]
	Postlude		[374]
Charles Erskine Scott Wood:
	“The Poet in the Desert”—Extracts from the Prologue		[375]
Edith Wyatt:
	On the Great Plateau		[377]
	Summer Hail		[379]
	To F. W.		[380]
	A City Afternoon		[382]

THE NEW POETRY

Conrad Aiken