PREFATORY NOTE THIS book is intended primarily to meet the recommendation of the Georgia Teachers' Association that applicants for admission into the Freshman Class of Georgia colleges be examined on selections from Southern poets. Yet the anthology is not compiled in a sectional spirit; for limited as was the literary expression of the old South, it has not, as a rule, had adequate attention; and it is believed that there will be a demand for such a book wherever there is desire to study American literature. To several publishers I owe a debt of thanks for their generous permission to use works of which they own the copyright. I wish specifically to acknowledge courtesies from the D. Lothrop Company and Mr. W. H. Hayne (P. H. Hayne's Poems), Houghton, Mifflin and Company (Mrs. Preston's Colonial Bal V lads), B. F. Johnson Company (Memorial edition of Timrod), H. S. Stone and Company (Stedman-Woodberry edition of Poe), P. J. Kenedy and Mr. W. J. O'Brien (Ryan's Poems), Mrs. J. H. Marr (Hope's Wreath of Virginia Bay Leaves), Dr. W. H. Browne (Wallis), R. Clarke Co. (Prentice's Poems), and The Century Co. (Russell's Poems). I have made no effort to normalize the selections in spelling and punctuation. They are, so far as possible, in the exact form given by each writer in authorized editions of his works. Many friends have expressed interest in this anthology. All these I would thank. For favors of various kinds I owe special gratitude to Mrs. Janey Hope Marr of Lexington, Virginia, to Dr. William Hand Browne of the Johns Hopkins University, and to Professor R. S. Ricketts of Millsaps College. The Bibliography may be supplemented from the biographical sketches. OXFORD, GEORGIA, October, 1900. WILLIAM LANDER WEBER. |