any subject that draws upon the unreal world and introduces strange or marvelous adventures. It is to be contrasted with the novel, which in the strict sense deals with the real world and treats its subject in a realistic fashion. With these facts in mind, we may give some further consideration to the romances written in verse or metrical form.

It is true that not all writers of romance rest content with merely telling the tale. Early poets, whether they be the unnamed revisers of popular ballads or famous poets of courtly renown, practically never mention themselves. Homer in all the fortyeight books of the Iliad and the Odyssey is completely unknown to us. We do not know what he thought of the deeds he related, we do not know his opinions of the warriors, we do not know his views of life. He and other early story-tellers were completely detached from the material of their poems. Scott in both prose and verse is very much like his predecessors in this respect. In the poets who followed the lead of Scott, however, you will note a disposition to reveal themselves. No matter what entrancing tale they are relating, they cannot refrain from letting you know how they feel or what they think. To some readers this emergence of the poet's personality is a blemish in his art; to others it is an added charm. In reading and studying the selections in this part of our book you will find it interesting to notice your own critical reactions and varying enjoyment. Poetry which reflects the opinions, thoughts, emotions, sympathies of the writer is termed subjective; that poetry which shows no traces of the author's

personality is termed objective. In the poems following, there are passages plainly one or the other, so that you will not be at a loss to find either kind and examine it carefully.

In this section are represented the main kinds of verse-stories produced during the nineteenth century, with differing ideals of personal conduct and of life. Not all of them are romances in the strict sense; yet all the leading forms of verseromance are represented. All of them reflect to a marked degree a love of adventure. The romantic lover rashly enters the house of his family's sworn enemies in order to carry off his sweetheart, in "The Eve of St. Agnes"; the political prisoner suffers for his liberty-loving convictions, in "The Prisoner of Chillon"; the lonely sailor-husband, returned to find his wife happily married, lives on in silence, nobly sacrificing himself, in "Enoch Arden"; the renowned old Greek warrior recalls the adventurous struggles of his youth, in "Ulysses"; a swift-footed maiden in the far-off days of ancient Greece at last meets someone who can outrun her, in "Atalanta's Race"; a father unwittingly slays his son, in the oriental "Sohrab and Rustum"; a rollicking Scotsman, in a midnight ride, sees wondrous sights, in "Tam O'Shanter"; a tramp has his glorious hour of triumph in fairyland, in "The Tramp Transfigured." In addition to these personal qualities, each of these poems shows a differing social or racial ideal. They offer glimpses of antique Greece, the colorful Orient; haunted medieval castles; they also reveal the quieter romance of the English fishingvillage.