I have allotted little or no space to the specific discussion of epic and
drama, as these types are adequately treated in many books. Our own
generation is peculiarly attracted by various forms of the lyric, and in
Part Two I have devoted especial attention to that field.

While I hope that the book may attract the traditional "general reader,"
I have also tried to arrange it in such a fashion that it may be utilized
in the classroom. I have therefore ventured, in the Notes and
Illustrations and Appendix, to suggest some methods and material for the
use of students.

I wish to express my obligations to Professor R. M. Alden, whose
_Introduction to Poetry_ and _English Verse_ I have used in my own Harvard
courses in poetry. His views of metre have probably influenced mine even
more than I am aware. The last decade, which has witnessed such an
extraordinary revival of interest in poetry, has produced many valuable
contributions to poetic theory. I have found Professor Fairchild's _Making
of Poetry_ particularly suggestive. Attention is called, in the Notes and
Bibliography, to many other recent books on the subject.

Professors A. S. Cook of Yale and F. B. Snyder of Northwestern University
have been kind enough to read in manuscript certain chapters of this book,
and Dr. P. F. Baum of Harvard has assisted me most courteously. I am
indebted to several fellow-writers for their consent to the use of
extracts from their books, particularly to Brander Matthews for a passage
from _These Many Years_ and to Henry Osborn Taylor for a passage from his
_Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages_.

I wish also to thank the publishers who have generously allowed me to use
brief quotations from copyrighted books, especially Henry Holt & Co. for