Quote:
Originally Posted by A. E. Stallings
Anthologies have a huge role to play in this issue, of course.
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Just a thought arising out of what Alicia wrote on this subject nine years ago. One of my favourite anthologies of all time is a little Signet volume edited by Auden entitled
19th-Century British Minor Poets (and I have just failed to find it on the bookshelf where it should be). It has a great introduction by Auden and the choices show his wonderful taste and breadth of interest. In particular, he is very good in his choice of comic poetry, which, as he says in the introduction, is what had been automatically excluded by such influential anthologists as Quiller-Couch. My question is why aren't there more anthologies like this? I don't need anthologies that include Wordsworth, Byron, Tennyson, Browning... I do need ones that introduce me to the best poems of Praed, Barnes, Felicia Hemans. It also makes the book a manageable size.