The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Future of English Poetry, by Edmund Gosse

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Title: The Future of English Poetry

Author: Edmund Gosse

Release Date: May 22, 2010 [eBook #32477]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

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The English Association

Pamphlet No. 25

THE FUTURE OF ENGLISH POETRY

by

EDMUND GOSSE, C.B.

June, 1913

A copy of this pamphlet is supplied to all full members of the
Association. They can obtain further copies (price 1_s._) on application
to the Secretary, Mr. A. V. Houghton, Imperial College Union, South
Kensington, London, S.W.

The English Association

Pamphlet No. 25

THE FUTURE OF ENGLISH POETRY

by

EDMUND GOSSE, C.B.

June, 1913

THE FUTURE OF ENGLISH POETRY

J'ai vu le cheval rose ouvrir ses ailes d'or,
Et, flairant le laurier que je tenais encor,
Verdoyant a jamais, hier comme aujourd'hui,
Se cabrer vers le Jour et ruer vers la Nuit.

HENRI DE REGNIER.

In venturing this afternoon to address an audience accustomed to listen to
those whose positive authority is universally recognized, and in taking
for my theme a subject not, like theirs, distinct in its definitions or
consecrated by tradition and history, I am aware that I perform what you
may, if you choose, call an act of blameworthy audacity. My subject is
chimerical, vague, and founded on conjectures which you may well believe
yourselves at least as well fitted as I am to propound. Nevertheless, and
in no rash or paradoxical spirit, I invite you to join with me in some
reflections on what is the probable course of English poetry during, let
us say, the n