THIS is a companion volume to our French Prose from Calvin to Anatole France, and its purpose and plan are similar. Its main object is to trace in its broad lines the evolution of French verse from epoch to epoch and, by providing representative specimens of the work of the chief poets, to convey in some measure the spirit of French poetry. Such a method necessarily excludes well-known but isolated poems and confines the attention of students to poets whose influence has been profound. The book is not an Anthology, since it is a selection of the most characteristic, not necessarily of the most beautiful, pieces, and it omits many poets of no little worth. Yet we hope that it affords a basis on which a reasoned knowledge of the development of poetry in modern French Literature may conveniently be based. We have to express our thanks to MM. Alphonse Lemerre and Albert Messein for permission to print a number of copyright poems; also to the Director of the Mercure de France for allowing us to include some poems of Albert Samain. R. L. G. R. |