THE GOLDEN BOOK OF ENGLISH SONG. CONTAINING Choice Selections from the Principal Poets of EDITED, WITH BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL NOTICES, PARALLEL PASSAGES, BY W. H. DAVENPORT ADAMS. The poet in a golden clime was born, With golden stars above; Dowered with the hate of hate, the scorn of scorn, The love of love TENNYSON. LONDON: T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW; EDINBURGH; AND NEW YORK. 1875. HE present volume is intended as a sequel and com panion to the "Household Treasury of English Song," a book of poetical selections which has been received by both the Press and the Public with great favour. In our preface to that volume we remarked that it was designed to furnish youthful readers with a New Manual of English Poetry; a manual which might be of service in their systematic studies, and yet a source of recreation in their leisure hours; while, at the same time, it was intended to supply the tutor and the parent with a poetical text-book of unpretending character but comprehensive scope. In the following pages our object is the same; but it should be observed that they are intended for more advanced readers, and are confined, in their selections, to the poets of the present century. Within this limit we have endeavoured to extend our choice of suitable passages over the widest possible range. We have endeavoured to introduce almost every distinguished name in modern English poetry; and if some are omitted whom the student would fain have seen represented, while others are but sparsely quoted whom the reader would fain have seen quoted The University of Iowa at length, we beg the reader to believe that the absence in the one case and the deficiency in the other are not due to our want of appreciation, but to such causes as these: the want of space, restrictions of copyright, the indecisive position of several recent writers, or the difficulty of finding material suitable for quotation in pages intended for a wide circle of readers of both sexes. We presume to entitle the present volume the "Golden Book," because it contains the " golden verses " of our best poets, and, moreover, possesses some features which, we think, will recommend it to the youthful critic. 1. For instance, the extracts have been made with the view of exhibiting, so far as possible, the different sides of the genius of the poet which they profess to illustrate. 2. They are neither exclusively didactical nor exclusively narrative in character. In truth, every branch of poetry is represented, from the sonorous majesty of the epic to the graceful freedom of the ballad. 3. The Marginal Quotations, it is hoped, will prove of great value. If committed to memory, they will furnish the student with pleasant food for the fancy and suggestive matter for reflection. Each quotation is, literally, a "pearl of price," which will shine with an undying lustre as long as our language endures. Most of them inculcate, in melodious words or pithy phraseology, some truth well worthy of being borne in mind. Others are remarkable for their felicity of expression or imagery. And, at all times, they will serve to "point a moral or "adorn a tale;" to refresh the mind with agreeable recollections of favourite poets, just as the dried flower or leaf reminds the traveller of landscapes which have delighted him in bygone |