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larryhammerNow here's odd duck ---- er, let me rephrase.
Here's yet another odd duck: The English Poets: Selections with Critical Introductions by Various Writers edited by Thomas Humphry Ward with a long introduction by his wife's uncle, Matthew Arnold. What first caught my attention is the publication date of "1880–1918." It's a five-volume work, and internal evidence strongly suggests that volume 4 was published between 1882–88, probably in the earlier side of that span, and volume 5 was compiled no earlier than 1915, after Rupert Brooke's death, and probably late in the War.
That is an interesting gap. I have not yet explored the changes in the editor's (editors'?) taste in those 30+ years, but I suspect I'll find some. The list of commentators almost completely changes, certes, unlike the continuity of the first four volumes. As it is, the structure of the whole goes wonky around that chasm, as the until-then roughly chronological organization trips over the inclusion criteria of date of death. (This probably also causes some issues at the end of volume 5.)
Curious, though, that the front-matter doesn't acknowledge the hiatus -- or if you prefer, the new addition/edition.
Also, Matthew Arnold would not have been my first choice to introduce Keats, but I did in fact learn a few things from him.
---L.
Here's yet another odd duck: The English Poets: Selections with Critical Introductions by Various Writers edited by Thomas Humphry Ward with a long introduction by his wife's uncle, Matthew Arnold. What first caught my attention is the publication date of "1880–1918." It's a five-volume work, and internal evidence strongly suggests that volume 4 was published between 1882–88, probably in the earlier side of that span, and volume 5 was compiled no earlier than 1915, after Rupert Brooke's death, and probably late in the War.
That is an interesting gap. I have not yet explored the changes in the editor's (editors'?) taste in those 30+ years, but I suspect I'll find some. The list of commentators almost completely changes, certes, unlike the continuity of the first four volumes. As it is, the structure of the whole goes wonky around that chasm, as the until-then roughly chronological organization trips over the inclusion criteria of date of death. (This probably also causes some issues at the end of volume 5.)
Curious, though, that the front-matter doesn't acknowledge the hiatus -- or if you prefer, the new addition/edition.
Also, Matthew Arnold would not have been my first choice to introduce Keats, but I did in fact learn a few things from him.
---L.