been withheld because they were unfinished. These it seemed best not to
suppress, now that they can never receive their completion. Others,
mostly of an early date, remained unpublished, doubtless because of
their personal and private nature. Some of these seem to have an
autobiographic interest sufficient to justify their publication. Others
again, often mere fragments, have been admitted as characteristic, or
as expressing in poetic form thoughts found in the Essays.

[1] _Selected Poems_: Little Classic Edition.

"In coming to a decision in these cases it seemed, on the whole,
preferable to take the risk of including too much rather than the
opposite, and to leave the task of further winnowing to the hands of
Time.

"As was stated in the preface to the first volume of this edition of
Mr. Emerson's writings, the readings adopted by him in the Selected
Poems have not always been followed here, but in some cases preference
has been given to corrections made by him when he was in fuller
strength than at the time of the last revision.

"A change in the arrangement of the stanzas of 'May-Day,' in the part
representative of the march of Spring, received his sanction as
bringing them more nearly in accordance with the events in Nature."

In the preparation of the Riverside Edition of the _Poems_, Mr. Cabot
very considerately took the present editor into counsel (as
representing Mr. Emerson's family), who at that time in turn took
counsel with several persons of taste and mature judgment with regard
especially to the admission of poems hitherto unpublished and of