William Lyon Phelps

by William Lyon Phelps

The material in this volume originally appeared in The Bookman, 1917-1918. It is now published with much addition and revision.

  Meaning of the word “advance”—the present widespread interest 
  in poetry—the spiritual warfare—Henley and Thompson—Thomas 
  Hardy a prophet in literature—The Dynasts—his 
  atheism—his lyrical power—Kipling the Victorian—his future 
  possibilities—Robert Bridges—Robert W. Service.

  Stephen Phillips—his immediate success—influence of 
  Stratford-on-Avon—his plays—a traditional poet—his 
  realism—William Watson—his unpromising start—his lament on 
  the coldness of the age toward poetry—his 
  Epigrams—Wordsworth's Grave—his eminence as a critic 

  John Masefield—new wine in old bottles—back to Chaucer—the 
  self-conscious adventurer—early education and 
  experiences—Dauber—Mr. Masefleld's remarks on 
  Wordsworth—Wordsworth's famous Preface and its application to 

  Two Northumberland poets—Wilfrid Wilson Gibson—his early 
  failures—his studies of low life—his collected poems—his 
  short dramas of pastoral experiences—Daily Bread—lack 
  of melody—uncanny imagination—whimsies—poems of the Great 

  Rupert Brooke—a personality—the spirit of youth—his horror 
  at old age—Henry James's tribute—his education—a 
  genius—his poems of death—his affected cynicism—his nature 
  poems—war sonnets—his supreme sacrifice—his charming 

  Irish poetry a part of English Literature—common-sense the 
  basis of romanticism—misapprehension of the poetic 
  temperament—William Butler Yeats—his education—his devotion 
  to art—his theories—his love poetry—resemblance to 

  American Poetry in the eighteen-nineties—William Vaughn 
  Moody—his early death a serious loss to literature—George 
  Santayana—a master of the sonnet—Robert Underwood 
  Johnson—his moral idealism—Richard Burton—his healthy 

  Lindsay the Cymbalist—first impression—Harriet Monroe's 
  Magazine—training in art—the long vagabond tramps—correct 
  order of his works—his drawings—the “Poem Game”—The 
  Congo—General William Booth—wide sweep of his