PREFACE. This edition of Select Poems of Coleridge, Wordsworth, Campbell, and Longfellow is designed as an aid to the study of literature in High Schools, more especially the Literature prescribed for Matriculation and Departmental Examinations, 1896, in Ontario and Manitoba. The present volume, like its predecessor, the Select Poems of Tennyson, endeavours, by bringing together from many quarters whatever critical apparatus elementary students will require, to make possible for such as use it the thorough study of the poetry it contains. The text of these Selections has been drawn in every case from the authoritative editions issued by the authors themselves. Wherever possible, each poem has been followed from earliest edition till latest, in the hope that the text might be made trustworthy in every detail. The variant readings have been carefully noted, and will be found of interest to readers as well as useful for instruction in literary expression. For similar reasons, care has been taken to cite the sources of poetical passages, not only that a clearer sense of poetic excellence may be attained, but also that an insight may be afforded into some phases of poetical composition. The Appendix contains many poems that furnish interesting comparisons with the prescribed Selections, but in the main it is designed merely as a collection of poetry suitable for literary study without the aid of notes or other critical apparatus. 104X4.33 9 A The Editor Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture, by THE W. J. GAGE COMPANY (Limited), in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five. PREFACE. This edition of Select Poems of Coleridge, Wordsworth, Campbell, and Longfellow is designed as an aid to the study of literature in High Schools, more especially the Literature prescribed for Matriculation and Departmental Examinations, 1896, in Ontario and Manitoba. The present volume, like its predecessor, the Select Poems of Tennyson, endeavours, by bringing together from many quarters whatever critical apparatus elementary students will require, to make possible for such as use it the thorough study of the poetry it contains. The text of these Selections has been drawn in every case from the authoritative editions issued by the authors themselves. Wherever possible, each poem has been followed from earliest edition till latest, in the hope that the text might be made trustworthy in every detail. The variant readings have been carefully noted, and will be found of interest to readers as well as useful for instruction in literary expression. For similar reasons, care has been taken to cite the sources of poetical passages, not only that a clearer sense of poetic excellence may be attained, but also that an insight may be afforded into some phases of poetical composition. The Appendix contains many poems that furnish interesting comparisons with the prescribed Selections, but in the main it is designed merely as a collection of poetry suitable for literary study without the aid of notes or other critical apparatus. It is a pleasure to acknowledge here the kindness of the Librarian of Harvard University in giving the editor opportunity to photograph from its MS. collections the letters of Coleridge and Campbell and the original draft of Longfellow's Excelsior, facsimiles of which find place in this volume. To Dr. Fred. Robinson, of Harvard, the editor is likewise indebted for the use of his precious 1798 edition of Lyrical Ballads, which has associations not possessed by Mr. Dowden's reprint. Now on thy mission, haply of usefulness, go, Little Book! |