of his volumes are instances of his fondness for the brief melody, the sudden snatch of song: Madrigals and Catches (1887), Lyrics for a Lute (1890), Little-Folk Lyrics (1892), Lyrics of Joy (1904). A sumptuous, collected edition of his poems was published, with an Introduction by Clinton Scollard, in 1917. AT MIDNIGHT See, yonder, the belfry tower That gleams in the moon's pale light— Or is it a ghostly flower That dreams in the silent night? I listen and hear the chime And out of this flower of Time BACCHUS Listen to the tawny thief, Is the precious draught he asks. Who, who makes this mimic din Wears a golden-belted coat; Loiters in the dainty room Bacchus 'tis, come back again Louise Imogen Guiney Louise Imogen Guiney was born at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1861. Although she attended Elmhurst Academy in Providence, most of her studying was with private tutors. In 1901 she went to England, where she lived until her death. Traditional in form and feeling, Miss Guiney's work has a distinctly personal vigor; even her earliest collection, The White Sail and Other Poems (1887), is not without individuality. Her two most characteristic volumes are A Roadside Harp (1893) and Patrins (1897). Miss Guiney died at Chirping-Camden, England, November 3, 1920. THE WILD RIDE I hear in my heart, I hear in its ominous pulses, All night, from their stalls, the importunate pawing and neighing. Let cowards and laggards fall back! But alert to the saddle Weatherworn and abreast, go men of our galloping legion, With a stirrup-cup each to the lily of women that loves him. The trail is through dolor and dread, over crags and morasses; There are shapes by the way, there are things that appal or entice us: What odds? We are Knights of the Grail, we are vowed to the riding. Thought's self is a vanishing wing, and joy is a cobweb, I hear in my heart, I hear in its ominous pulses, We spur to a land of no name, outracing the storm-wind; Bliss Carman (William) Bliss Carman was born at Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, April 15, 1861, of a long line of United Empire Loyalists who withdrew from Connecticut at the time of the Revolutionary War. Carman was educated at the University of New Brunswick (1879-81), at Edinburgh (1582-3) and Harvard (1886-8). He took up his residence in the United States about 1889 and, with the exception of short sojourns in the Maritime Provinces, has lived there ever since. In 1893, Carman issued his first book, Low Tide on Grand Pré: A Book of Lyrics. It was immediately successful, running quickly into a second edition. A vivid buoyancy, new to American literature, made his worship of Nature frankly pagan as contrasted to the moralizing tributes of most of his predecessors. This freshness and irresponsible whimsy made Carman the natural collaborator for Richard Hovey, and when their first joint Songs from Vagabondia appeared in 1894, Carman's fame was established. (See Preface.) Although the three Vagabondia collections contain Carman's best known poems, several of his other volumes (he has published almost twenty of them) vibrate with the same glowing pulse. An almost physical radiance rises from Ballads of Lost Haven (1897), From the Book of Myths (1902) and Songs of the Sea Children (1904). A VAGABOND SONG There is something in the autumn that is native to my blood Touch of manner, hint of mood; And my heart is like a rhyme, With the yellow and the purple and the crimson keeping time. The scarlet of the maples can shake me like a cry And my lonely spirit thrills To see the frosty asters like a smoke upon the hills. There is something in October sets the gypsy blood astir; We must rise and follow her, When from every hill of flame She calls and calls each vagabond by name. HEM AND HAW Hem and Haw were the sons of sin, Hem lay 'round and Haw looked on Hem was a fogy, and Haw was a prig, Hem was the father of bigots and bores; But God was an artist from the first, While over his shoulder sneered these two, And advised him to rub it out. They prophesied ruin ere man was made; "Such folly must surely fail!" And when he was done, "Do you think, my Lord, He's better without a tail?" And still in the honest working world, With posture and hint and smirk, These sons of the devil are standing by They balk endeavor and baffle reform, And over the quavering voice of Hem |