The advance of English poetry in the twentieth century

by William Lyon Phelps

The Advance of English Poetry in the Twentieth Century: Large Print William Lyon Phelps Where forlorn sunsets flare and fade On desolate sea and lonely sand, Out of the silence and the shade What is the voice of strange command Calling you still, as friend calls friend With love that cannot brook delay, To rise and follow the ways that wend Over the hills and far away? Hark in the city, street on street A roaring reach of death and life, Of vortices that clash and fleet And ruin in appointed strife, Hark to it calling, calling clear, Calling until you cannot stay From dearer things than your own most dear Over the hills and far away. Out of the sound of ebb and flow, Out of the sight of lamp and star, It calls you where the good winds blow, And the unchanging meadows are: From faded hopes and hopes agleam, It calls you, calls you night and day We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.

Genres: Poetry

Hardcover

First published April 1, 2005

About the author

Professor of English at Yale University, 1892-1933.

Reviews

[Chrissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up because of Christopher Morley's The Haunted Bookshop, in which one of the characters mentioned this as being more appropriate to appear in 2018 rather than 1918, an argument with which I disagree. Phelps' work is fascinating for its glimpse of the way poetry was published, consumed, and judged in the early part of the 20th century and I would love to have works at various points in the century (from 1955, 1978, and 2000, for example) giving similar snapshots of how poetry functions, the printed matter in which it's conveyed (the book references the author cutting out poems from the newspaper and keeping them in his back pocket), and surveys the major poets working. Phelps seemed to be arguing that poetry functioned in creating a civic "manliness" that supported strength in arms and appreciation of nature, that allowed for some humor and for brief glimpses of spectacle but that pursued order through form, consistency, and the education required to appreciate it. Would the same be true of poetry in the decades to come? Was it true at the time that this was written?

Because this functioned as a survey of poets in various locations (Ireland, England, America) during a set time period (late 1800's - 1917), I found myself skimming through some brief biographical information but interested in all the names of poets that, by the time I was introduced to poetry by my parents' mid-20th century collections of "important" or "family" poems were mostly unfamiliar to me. Few women were mentioned until the very end of the book and then were mostly praised for their efforts at creating places for poetry to thrive and keeping in their (lesser? domestic?) lanes in terms of subject...the impression was that the Angel in the House was alive and well in Phelps' conception of female creativity and experience. Phelps also uses some words no longer considered appropriate that I refuse to dignify with excuses (acceptable at the time, etc.)

I rated this highly because the it made me curious and drove me to hunt down both poems Phelps praised and those he considered unworthy and to think about what and how I read.

[Luís Branco · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a great book, I believe that all poets must read books like this! I enjoyed very much, got my five stars!