has come, in the course of our national literature, for proving all
things and holding fast that which is good.

The fact that the title of this compilation instantly calls to mind that
of Mr. Palgrave's scholarly collection of English lyrics need not prove
a disadvantage to the book if the purpose which led to the choice of
name is understood. The verse of a single century produced in a new
country should not be expected to equal the poetic wealth of an old and
intellectual nation. But if American poetry cannot hope to rival the
poetry of the mother country, it may at least be compared with it; and
the fact of such a comparative point of view will aid rather than hinder
the student of our native poetry in estimating its value.

American verse has suffered at the hands both of its admirers and its
enemies. Injudicious praise, no less than supercilious contempt, has
reacted unfavorably on the fame of our poets. Again and again has some
minor versifier been hailed as the "American Keats" or the "American
Burns." Really excellent poets, though distinctly poets of second rank,
have been elevated amid the blare of critical trumpets to the company of
Wordsworth and Milton. All this is unprofitable and silly. But not much
better is the attitude of certain critics who patronize everything in
the English language which has been written outside of England. Though
America has added--leaving Poe out of account--no distinctly new notes
to English poetry, it has added certainly not a few true ones. A nation
need never apologize for its literature when it has produced such
lyrics--to go no further--as "On a Bust of Dante," "Ichabod," "The
Chambered Nautilus," and the "Waterfowl."

My method of arrangement is roughly chronological. The First Book, which
is shorter than the others, might be called the book of Bryant; the