"Luscious-fruit and delicate-flower similes are third-date material at best"

[larryhammer]

Three ways of slicing a poetic pie: The Portable Romantic Poets: Blake to Poe ed. by Auden & Pearson (1950), The New Oxford Book of Romantic Period Verse ed. by McGann (1993), and The New Penguin Book of Romantic Poetry ed. by Wordsworth & Wordsworth (2001). Almost identical scope, yet each different.

There is, of course, the changing flow and ebb of taste, both of the period and individual editors -- not just that the 50s creates a different anthology from the 90s, but a poet like Auden won't pick the same poems as a critic like McGann. And since every editor feels the anxiety of past choices, we get meaty introductions justifying why their selection is different -- and how they see the period now.

Past that, however, I'm intrigued by their organizations. Portable works on the traditional model, chronological by poet, by date of birth, though the order of poets is sometimes jiggered to suggest associations. This is good for bringing out changes in generations. Oxford is chronological by poem, by order of publication -- and only the published poems. This brings out how poets respond to each other, work commenting on work, a dialog of many voices. Penguin is in thematic sections, arranged chronologically within a genre by date of writing, though multiple poems by a poet within a few years are often grouped together. This brings out particular obsessions, and the changes wrung upon them, of the period -- and this was, of course, an obsessive period.

I'm particularly struck by the Oxford arrangement, a system I first met here. It also works well in that fat omnibus Penguin Anthology of English Verse, though with 800 years to get through in 1000 pages, the dialog there isn't heard as clearly. But the Penguin, despite family favoritism,* works really well. The obsessiveness of the period may partly explain the success, as the thematic format works better here than in its sister anthology of renaissance verse, but the editors have a good eye for lesser-known poets: This is the first collection to convince me that Mary Robinson is, in fact, a good poet, though apparently even they cannot find enough good Hemans to rehabilitate her. They also have the sense to select Wordsworth almost exclusively from 1795 and 1805, when he was sometimes pretty good, and give the complete two-part Prelude of 1798, the least mannered of all the versions.

Yet I still circle back to that old faithful, the Auden & Pearson anthology -- part of a five-volume set that lives on my nightstand. Auden had one of the best poetic ears of his generation, and an eclectic taste. Extracts from Don Juan are common enough -- and for good reason -- but this Portable is the only anthology I've met to offer anything beyond book 5, giving book 12 entire. Selections from female poets is poor, especially in comparison to Penguin, but within poets, selections are more wide-ranging, and rarely bad. (Not that I'd call Emerson a good poet, but they managed to find some pieces that don't suck.)

In short, while any one would do if you're looking for a general-purpose anthology of the period, none of them replaces any other. It's all good. Or circling back to my opening image, no matter how you slice it, it's still pie.


* One editor is a descendent of Wordsworth's younger brother, and there's a lot of Wordsworth on display.

---L.

Comments

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

I wonder, by contrast, why Auden's taste in his Oxford Light Verse is so uninteresting? He could be funny himself, but he doesn't seem to me to have done well in his choices.

[larryhammer]

I think his sense of humor was rather different than mine. At least, that's the impression I got, reading his volume.

---L.

[maryosmanski.livejournal.com]

And no one else has commented on the amusement derived from seeing The New Penguin Book of Romantic Poetry was edited by Wordsworth & Wordsworth?

Come on now, people. How can the teacher give anyone extra credit when no one even smiles?

[larryhammer]

Sometimes, I fear I'm not suited to being the straight man, when no one bounces off my lines.

---L.