THE EDUCATIONAL TIMES

London, England

2 February 1914

(PAGE 87)

GENERAL NOTICES.

ENGLISH.

Cambridge Poets, 1900-1913. Chosen by Aelfrida Tillyard. (Pp. 215. 5s. net. Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons.)

Criticism of this volume is disarmed by the modest claim which Sir A. Quiller-Couch puts forward in his introduction. It would seem that the public are asked to accept its contents, not as offering any achievement of permanent value, but as affording evidence of a body of poetic sensibility and technical skill out of which some one worthy of the name of poet may eventually arise. Taken on this level, the selection may be welcomed, though it cannot be said that many of the thirty-eight writers whose names appear are either well known already to the reading public or are likely to become so. Most of the contributions must be definitely classed under the heading of minor poetry, such as demands no very warm encouragement in the interests of literary art. The writing of verses is an agreeable pastime which is well fitted to develop the artistic appreciation of those who practise it; but we do well not to make the approach to Parnassus too easy. Of the writers represented here, perhaps the most promise is shown by Rupert Brooke and James Elroy Flecker, but praise is due also to the work of John Alford, Frances Darwin Cornford, Aleister Crowley, Dermot Freyer, and Victor B. Neuburg.