a wide field of verse, not without finding much to admire, but never
quite happening upon that final touch of successful achievement where
art and inspiration join. I am especially sorry to leave unrepresented
a writer--more imaginative, possibly, than any American poet except
Poe--whose utter contempt for technique in the ordinary sense places him
wholly outside my present purpose.

I wish to acknowledge various favors kindly shown by Professor C.T.
Winchester, Professor Barrett Wendell, and Mr. H.E. Scudder. Thanks are
also due Mr. T.B. Aldrich for the privilege of including the six poems
from his pen, which were kindly selected for the book by the poet
himself. The following firms deserve thanks for permitting the use of
copyrighted poems:

_Houghton, Mifflin & Co.:_

Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Christopher Pearse Cranch, Ralph Waldo
Emerson, Annie Adams Fields, Louise Imogen Guiney, Oliver Wendell
Holmes, William Dean Howells, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James
Russell Lowell, Thomas William Parsons, John James Piatt, Lizette
Woodworth Reese, Hiram Rich, Edward Rowland Sill, Harriet
Prescott Spofford, Edmund Clarence Stedman, Bayard Taylor, Henry
David Thoreau, Maurice Thompson, John Greenleaf Whittier, George
Edward Woodberry.

Selections from the works of the foregoing writers are included "by
permission of and by special arrangement with Houghton, Mifflin & Co.,
publishers of the works of said authors."

_D. Appleton & Co.:_ Fitz-Greene Halleck, William Cullen Bryant.