The fireside encyclopedia of poetry

Front matter

Qass- Book_

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT w5

THE

Preface

Nine years ago tliis month this work was coninicnccd, principally to while away the long fall and winter evenings, whieh threatened to hang heavy on the Editor's hands, and, thongh laid aside for months at a time, it has been a labor of love ever since ; and now it is with feelings akin to those felt at parting with an old and valued friend that he pens these prefatory lines, whicii mark the completion of his task.

It has been his aim to present a comprehensive collection — an En'cyclo- PJETHA, in fact — of the poetry of the Englisii language, one that will be a welcome companion at every Fireside; and whieh, while representing all that is best and brightest in onr poetic literature, should contain nothing that would tend to undermine any one's faith or destroy a single virtuous impulse.

Fully aware of the danger of trusting to the caprices or fancies of any individual judgment, the I'^ditor has diligently consulted the works of the best critics and reviewers, and has not hesitated to accept such pieces as have received their united commendation, or such as, through some jieculiar power, have touched the popular heart. Each poem has been given complete, and great care has been taken to follow the most authentic and approved editions of the respective authors; and though the quantity of s|)ace assigned to each ancl the selections made may not, and probably will not, satisfy every judgment, it is believed that none of the most famous minor poems of the English laii^uai'e will be found niis--inir from these i)aires.

At the very outset it was deemed best to discard the chronological arrangement followed by most compilers, and to adopt the plan of classifying each poem according to its subject-matter, originated by Mr. Charles A. Dana in his excellent IIoxiHchohl Book of Poetry. In many cases this lias been found exceedingly diflicult; as often, under-currents so run in opposite directions as to threaten the entire foundation upon which the title of a poem is based; and in many poems the " moral " is dwelt on at greater length than the tale itself, so tliat the Editor has often been sorely tempted to end his perplexity by throwing them into tiiose convenient "olla podridas," " Poenu of Sentiment" and " Moral and Didactic Poetry." But with all these drawba(rks the advantages of the system are so great that there has been no hesitation in adopting it. By it, every taste may be gratified, all moods and humors the l)etter served. Here are "Ps;ilms and Hymns and Si>iritual Songs" for Sunday reading, Poems of Home Life and Domestic Bliss for the cold winter nights when the logs are blazing brightly on the cozy hearth, Poems on Nature for the bloom-

PHEFACE.

ing Spring-time and melancholy Autumn, Poems for the lover, and Historical

Poems, Old Legends, and Ballads for all.

From tlie days when

" Adam delved and Eve span "

to the present, human nature has been ever the same. Kingdoms have risen and been forgotten, languages been formed and fallen into disuse, but love, patriotism, sorrow and death, are the same in all ages and climes. The language may be ditferent and the allusions seem strange to our ears, but the same old, old story was told by gallant knight to high-bred dame in the good old days of Queen Bess as is now whis]X'rcd into the ear of rustic beauty or ball-room belle.

"Each heart recall'd a different name, bnt all sang 'Annie Laurie.' "

The same impulses animated Horatius as he faced Lars Porsena's army on the banks of the Tiber centuries ago, as actuated the brave boys who flocked to their country's standard during the late civil war ; while the parent even now mourns for his erring child in the same language of the heart as did the sweet Singer of Lsrael for his erring Absalom. For, though long cycles have intervened between Shakespeare and Tennyson, Sir Walter Raleigh and Longfellow, Herrick and Burns, Herbert and Whittier, rare Ben Jonson and Mrs. Browning, one animating purpose breathes alike through the voices of the poets of the past and the present.

As many poems are founded upon some historical fact or some interesting incident or legend, a knowledge of which greatly aids the reader in his appreciation of them. Explanatory and Corroborative Notes have been appended at the end of the volume. This plan has been adopted in preference to placing the notes at the bottom of the jiage ; as many readers, who are familiar with their sidjstance, naturally object to such an arrangement as distracting their attention and marring the continuity of the poem.

The compiler would express his thanks to the various authors and publishers who have so kindly permitted him to use the copyright poems contained in this collection, and especially to Messrs. Houghton, Osgood & Co., who, notwithstanding that they publish excellent works of a similar character, generously granted the use of the various poems by Longfellow, Whittier, Emerson, Lowell, Holmes, Bret Harte, Saxe, Bayard Taylor, Stedman, Stoddard, Trowbridge, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Parsons, Lucy Larcom, Julia W^ard Howe, and Phoebe Gary, the brightest galaxy of names ever collected together by any American publishing-house.

Originality cannot be claimed for a work of this character, notwithstanding the labor and thought bestowed upon it; all the glory, all the praise, belongs to the poets themselves. In the words of Montaigne : " Here is a nosegay of culled flowers, to which I have brought nothing of my own but the thread (hat tics them."

H. T. C.

Philadelphia, October 18th, 1878.