Transcriber’s Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
THE NEW POETRY
AN ANTHOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
During the last three or four years there has been a remarkablerenascence of poetry in both America and England, and an equallyextraordinary revival of public interest in the art.
The editors of this anthology wish to present in convenient formrepresentative work of the poets who are to-day creating what iscommonly called “the new poetry,”—a phrase no doubt rash andmost imperfectly descriptive, since the new in art is always theelder old, but one difficult to replace with any form of words moreexact. Much newspaper controversy, and a number of specialmagazines, testify to the demand for such a book; also many lettersto the editors of Poetry asking for information—letters not onlyfrom individual lovers of the art, but also from college professorsand literary clubs or groups, who have begun to feel that the poetryof to-day is a vital force no longer to be ignored. Indeed, manycritics feel that poetry is coming nearer than either the novel orthe drama to the actual life of to-day. The magazine Poetry,ever since its foundation in October, 1912, has encouraged thisnew spirit in the art, and the anthology is a further effort on thepart of its editors to present the new spirit to the public.
What is the new poetry? and wherein does it differ from theold? The difference is not in mere details of form, for much poetryinfused with t