FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS, COLLEGES, AND GENERAL BY St ROBERT N. WHITEFORD, PH.D. HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LITERATURE "Ther nis no newe gyse, that it nas old" - Chaucer οὐ πόλλ ̓ ἀλλὰ πολύ BENJ. H. SANBORN & CO. BOSTON, U. S. A. COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY ROBERT N. WHITEFORD, PH.D. The Fort Hill Press SAMUEL USHER 176-184 HIGH STREET BOSTON, MASS. PREFACE THAT there is need of an Anthology of English Poetry for use in the upper classes of the secondary school recent correspondence with a large number of schools has amply proven. Too much emphasis cannot be put upon this study, and pupils who are ignorant of the great body of English poetry should not be graduated from any English course in a secondary school. As the book follows the plan by which literature, both prose and poetry, is taught in most colleges, it is believed that here also the book will find a cordial welcome. In this Anthology a background of the historical periods in the development of English literature has been used as a setting for poems which have been carefully selected. The poems are linked together by notes and quotations calculated to make pupils susceptible to philosophical and æsthetic criticism. The few questions introduced possess the formal unity of showing the indebtedness of best poetry to preceding poetry. To illustrate, when pupils are studying Collins' "Ode To Evening," they are asked to interpret it by applying as a touchstone the imagery of Milton's "Il Penseroso." By this method, as advance is made from masterpiece to masterpiece, pupils realise that they are responsible for previously mastered material. This Anthology does not contain a bibliography. The books mentioned in the "Introduction" supply such a need, and teachers of English are always well provided with reading guides and handbooks. The arrangement of the subject |