ON
ENGLISH POETRY
ON ENGLISH POETRY
of This Art, from Evidence Mainly Subjective
By ROBERT GRAVES
New York ALFRED·A·KNOPF Mcmxxii
COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY
ALFRED A. KNOPF, Inc.
Published, May, 1922
Paperfurnished by Henry Lindenmeyr & Sons, New York, N. Y.
Bound by theH. Wolff Estate, New York, N. Y.
MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
To T. E. Lawrence of Arabia and All Soul’s College, Oxford, and toW. H. R. Rivers of the Solomon Islands and St. John’s College,Cambridge, my gratitude for valuable critical help, and thededication of this book.
problemis to paynt, it longyth to his arte.
John Skelton.
all irreconcilable things.
P. B. Shelley.
NOTE
The greater part of this book will appear controversial, but any criticwho expects me to argue on what I have written, is begged kindly toexcuse me; my garrison is withdrawn without a shot fired and hisartillery may blow the fortress to pieces at leisure. These notebookreflections are only offered as being based on the rules which regulatemy own work at the moment, for many of which I claim no universalapplication and have promised no lasting regard. They have beensuggested from time to time mostly by particular problems in the writingof my last two volumes of poetry. Hesitating to formulate at present acomprehensive water-tight philosophy of poetry, I have dispensed with acontinuous argument, and so the sections either stand independently orare intended to get their force by suggestive neighbourliness ratherthan by logical catenation. The names of the glass houses in which myname as an authority on poetry lodges at present, are to be found on aback page.
It is a heartbreaking task to reconcile literary and scientificinterests in the same book. Literary enthusiasts seem to regard poetryas something miraculous, something which it is almost blasphemous toanalyse, witness the outcry against R. L. Stevenson when he merelyund