ENGLISH POEMS Spenser to Tennyson SELECTED AND EDITED BY HENRY S. PANCOAST NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY TO THE Rev. 3obn kemper Murphy, D.D., WHO TAUGHT ME LONG AGO TO DELIGHT IN THE MASTER POET OF England, AND WHO HAS SINCE HELPED ME IN MORE WAYS THAN MAY BE HERE SET DOWN, THIS BOOK OF ENGLISH POETRY IS REVERENTLY AND AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. This One S6E8-L81-4XEE PREFACE. Not only is poetry one of the noblest and most uplifting of the arts; it is peculiarly fitted, from one aspect at least, to be the art most universally enjoyed. Few can hope to own-even to see-the greatest pictures or statues; their beauty must of necessity be monopolized by a country, or a class, while the elaborate requirements of performance keep much of the greatest music from the multitude; but the beauty of the greatest poems is spread for men's delight almost as liberally as the wonders of dawn and sunset; it is almost as free as sunlight or the stars. Yet it is not unlikely that many of us are deceived by the very ease with which the greatest poetry can be obtained; it is not unlikely that many of us who would cross the Atlantic to see the master-works of Raphael, and approach them in reverence and awe, would leave the master-works of Milton neglected on our shelves or glance over them with an easy selfassurance. It is easy to confuse the physical ownership of a book with the actual or spiritual possession of it; it is easy to forget that, obtainable as poetry may seem to be, it is often made inaccessible |