A Hundred Years of English Poetry, selected by Edward B.
Powley (Cambridge University Press, 4s. 6d.) should prove of use to students and others. Palgrave's Golden Treasury was published in 1855, and in the early pages of his book Mr. Powley chooses from poets whose work did not appear in that famous collection. Mr. Powley believes, rightly enough, that there is still a large public competent to " distinguish good poetry from bad," and in his selection he has been guided by popultir instinct. R. L. Stevenson, for example, is repre- sented by " Requiem," Francis Thompson by " The Hound of Heaven," W. B. Yeats by the ever-popular " Inisfree." As the book includes present-day poets, such as Walter de la Mare, Ralph Hodgson, and Edmund Blunden, one is startled by the omission of W. H. Davies, since no reason is given in the preface where the new versifiers " are attacked rather unnecessarily and with ill-humour.
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